Hey guys! So I just wanted to stop by and give you a (long overdue) update (in case any of my viewers were curious and all). First off, I would like to thank everyone who has been supportive of me in my time off. You guys are the best, seriously! I've been literally driving myself crazy with the amount of studying I've been doing. Mad props to bloggers who are full time college students and blog on a consistent basis (and I bow down to bloggers who blog on a daily basis). I don't know how you guys do it!
Long story short, school has really taken a toll on me within the past couple of months. It took over any allotted time that I had planned for blogging and making youtube videos. As such, I've been a ghost on almost all my social media (minus instagram). While I genuinely love blogging and do use this as a stress relief of sorts, blogging still placed an enormous amount of pressure and stress that I could not have upon me with the class load I am taking.
Now that I have successfully completely my first round of exams (YAY!), I have decided to slowly reintegrate myself back into blogging. I'll probably start off with one post a week and hopefully work my way up. I take my blogging very seriously, and I never want to half-ass my reviews or makeup looks. They'll come whenever they are ready, and they will come I promise. Youtube videos... may not come until December (aka whenever my semester is over). Videos are more time consuming than blogs...and somethings gotta give, ya know? School comes first at the end of the day.
That being said I have a bit of an announcement to make in regards to my makeup purchasing philosophy. I have decided boycott all makeup brand that supports Israel. I first heard of the boycott from the lovely Iqra over at The Blushing Giraffe (her post here is very informative and detailed and I highly suggest you check it out!). I've followed her blog extensively for awhile now (I want to say easily more than six months...maybe more than a year?! Don't recall an exact date unfortunately). Essentially, I have decided that boycotting Israel was the right thing to do.
For years I have been thoroughly disappointed by the International Community for not actively addressing and pursuing for Palestinian people to finally have a state of their own. Approximately 5 million Palestinians have been displaced since the 1940s and a number of human rights violations have been inflicted on the Palestinian people. By boycotting these makeup brands, I am am showing my voice where I will not stand by and condone this any longer.
That being said, please do not think that because I am boycotting companies affiliated with Israel that I am an Anti-Semitic. I am a firm believer in human rights, and I believe that the people of Palestine have been silenced for far too long. As a (newly minted) Political Science major myself, I cannot turn a blind eye to this whatsoever.
So as such, I urge to you my fellow bloggers to boycott major corporations such as Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, and Proctor and Gamble to stop funding Israel. If you need any additional motivation, the majority of these companies also condone animal testing. Furthermore, CoverGirl (one of my favorite brands and part of Proctor and Gamble) refuses to drop its NFL sponsorship in the face of the domestic violence scandal. After addressing my conscience and morals, it is clear what I need to do.
However, I will fulfill my promise to you guys and review any makeup products that I have previously promised for the brands I am boycotting. Those reviews are now on a top priority list and will probably be turned around within the next couple of weeks.
For those of you who are interested in boycotting, check out here for a comprehensive list of brands that are known to be affiliated with Israel. If you are still interested, check out here for another 11 well known brands that fund Israel.
For those of you who stuck around and read through this whole entire post, thank you guys so much for listening to me. While I understand that not everyone will share my opinion, I hope that I did bring some awareness to the boycott. I won't be surprised if I will have some followers unsubscribe from me. If you are sticking around for the long run, stay tuned to me updating my blog with old youtube videos that I haven't gotten around posting (bad Pauline, I know!) and a new blog post that will come out soon! Oh, and to my fellow Canadians, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
hello there! and the stand you're taking is admirable. :)
ReplyDeletehello dear! and it was a difficult decision to make to be honest, but I knew at the end of the day it would be worth while!
ReplyDeleteAYYY welcome back!! I have been attempting to go cruelty free (I think I'm doing good so far), but sometimes its hard to keep track of which brands are cruelty free or not when you're at the store looking at ~snazzy new makeup~. Same with buying from brands that support Palestine, because you need to remember who owns what too, ergh.
ReplyDelete(On another note, I wonder how many people actually know the history behind Israel and Palestine and the displacement of the latter group)
Thanks for the welcome! :D Keeping track of which brands are cruelty free is SO difficult! Especially when the associates don't necessarily know for either. From what I've noticed the brands that support Israel tend to not be cruelty free (so basically, I usually don't have to check two lists :B). And snazzy new makeup is so distracting...especially with the holiday products out (like, I don't remember holiday products being out this early do you?!)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how many people actually know the history behind Israel & Palestine... and its really upsetting me that school systems and media outlets don't do enough to actually educate. It's such a polarizing topic to a lot of people and I wish people knew more.
Welcome back my lovely <3
ReplyDeleteTotally understand about school kicking butt!! Uni has started here and I'm being consumed with reading and group work and I'm just about managing to makeup my face let alone blog haha, we understand!
You have no idea how heart warming it was to read this post, I have so so much respect for you in taking up the boycott, and I know we've spoken about it already on twitter how it's not just a 'Muslim' problem so to speak, but an international one. I think you're amazing for doing this I honestly do, because they own a whole freaking LOAD of the beauty market! But not funding Israel is something that will always be vital for me, because their treatment of the Palestinians and the blatant disregard for human life is unacceptable and that face that I know my money is now not supporting them in any way, makes me feel a lot better. Thank-you for joining me and others in this, it really speaks volumes for how much of a wonderful person you are, inside and out <3
:D its good to be back! I can't barely manage putting on makeup on my face on most days, its honestly a special occasion when I dress nice and wear makeup xD
ReplyDeleteThey honestly own SO much of the market, I was shocked when I found out. I didn't realize how much of a impact they had until I read your blog post on it. I can honestly see myself sticking to this until Palestine fully gains their rights as a sovereign nation, which I sincerely hope happens soon. This is something I truly believe in and thank you so much for raising awareness about this, or else I wouldn't have found out about the boycott!
New to your blog but am totally on-board with the cause!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are on board with the cause! And thank you for stopping by!
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