Today I would like to take you behind the scenes to meet the Mahalo ambassador, darling Danielle. I first discovered her via one of her YouTube videos.
Being busy with life, it is not often that watch vlogs in their entirety. However, when I stumbled upon Danielle’s video, I found myself watching it beyond the 15 minute mark. Her passion for green beauty was immediately apparent. I also loved the mindful attention to detail she offered to her reviews. She took time to get to know the product, the brand, the ingredients, and to understand the synergy behind all the three. There was also an immense amount of kindness that emanated from her. What to say, I became her fan, and today I am honored to have this genuinely beautiful woman as Mahalo’s brand ambassador.
Ladies and gets, we give you the Crueltyfree Vegan Beauty:
Behind the blog: Danielle Torres
Hails from: Gilbert, AZ
YouTube : /CFVeganBeauty
Instagram: /@CrueltyfreeVeganBeauty
MAHALO: Why do you do what you do? Why green beauty blogging?
CFVB: There are so many different reasons I could give you for this question. Ultimately though, I love green beauty vlogging for the community. I would say that I am still a relative newbie to green beauty, only going natural within the last two years or so. I had a moment one day where my skin was so terrible and I was at my lowest point mentally that I thought to myself, there has to be a better way to do this. Up until then I had been using dermatologist prescribed creams and pills and every drugstore product you could think of. None of it worked. Most of it actually made my skin worse in the long run. So without knowing there even was a green beauty community or a movement, I decided I was going to go completely natural and see if that would help my skin issues. I started a blog to document my transition, but didn’t keep up with it for long. Somewhere a long the way I found the still small but growing community on YouTube and decided that would be a better platform for me. I then discovered Instagram which opened me up to an entire new world of other people in the same community. Honestly what keeps me going is the community. Knowing there are so many other like minded women here who have the same passions that I do is something I cherish. I have made some amazing friends in this community I would never have gotten to know otherwise! I vlog because I love sharing my discoveries of brands and products with people. I don’t do this for any other reason than to share and connect.
What kind of impact do you hope to leave on people via your blog/vlog and what important message do you want your followers to hear?
I hope to leave an impression and give a message of honesty, integrity, and authenticity. I have always made sure that I am nothing but true to myself and to make sure that everything that I do, every review that I film, is done with nothing but integrity and honesty. I am such a huge advocate for honesty, and I know that that comes across to not only my subscribers but also to brand owners..
How much of your time goes in to blogging/research etc?
I can’t even count. Hours upon hours. I spend so much time researching brands, products, companies, people, before I do any kind of review. I have notebooks full of notes on ingredients and what they are good for. Not only do I really strive to have as much integrity as possible when doing a review, I really make a huge effort to be the most knowledgeable that I can be about ingredients. I think its easy to tell someone you love a product and they should get it, but I love to tell people WHY I love a product. What the ingredients are and why they work and are amazing. All of the kinds of benefits the ingredients have. Basically, all of my free time outside of my job I spend working on content for my channel and researching. I love doing it though. I get such joy learning about green beauty. There is so much I am still learning!
When working with a green beauty brand – what are you looking for?
I look for brands that have the same core values about their products and themselves as I do. I look for them to be completely cruelty free, honest, and to have the best ingredients possible. I consider myself something of a green beauty “purist” and working with brands that have stellar ingredients is something I am a stickler for. And this doesn’t just apply to higher-end brands. There are some amazing indie, affordable brands out there. I look to bring a balance of both on my channel. Not everybody can afford really high-end products all the time, so I look for other brands and products that perform at the same level from smaller companies that people can look to as an alternative.
How did going green changed your life? What were the challenging moments? What would you say to your followers to inspire them to join you in the transformation of green beauty?
Green beauty has changed my life in so many ways! First of all, I have met so many amazing people that I would never have been able to meet. Through this amazing technology I have become friends with people thousands of miles away that I know will be in my life forever. Specifically going green in my products has changed the relationship I have with myself as well. I have so much more respect for my body and what I not only put on it, but in it. I can’t imagine who I would be today or what I would be doing if I didn’t take this journey. I can’t say there have been too many challenging moments. Sometimes its frustrating to not get the results from certain products you were hoping for, but the thing about green beauty is there is always something else to try that will probably work better for you! I would tell my followers that green beauty isn’t just about a growing fad. It is about changing not only our lives for the better, but also for the planet. We pollute it with so many toxic chemicals and green beauty, in some small way, helps to avoid that. This movement isn’t only about ourselves, but also about our planet. And I think that is incredibly important. And green beauty is only a gateway to a million other ways we can change our lives and the lives of others for the better.
What’s important to you in life?
People. Relationships. Honesty. Authenticity. Hard work. Compassion. Kindness. There are so many things in my life that are important to me, but I find that these are the core ideas that help me realize what is important.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about so many things. Green beauty, animals, our planet. I am hugely passionate about veganism. I have been vegan for nearly six years now and it is something I firmly believe is not only the best thing for our bodies, but also this planet. Being vegan has changed me in more ways than I can count. I am a much more patient, compassionate, loving person than I was before. I have so much respect for all life and that carries with me every single day.
Art, music, movies, books, sports – what do you love?
I love new music and books. I haven’t read nearly as much as I would have liked this year, and I hope to remedy that next year, but I have always loved reading. I do have quite interesting reading taste. Stephen King is my favorite author and I do love a good zombie novel. Culinary mysteries I also really enjoy. Music is kind of the same. My music tastes are all over the map. Mostly I love rock and indie bands. I listen to music all of the time and is something I absolutely love. There is so much beauty in music as well as the written word. I was an English Literature major in college so that might have a bit to do with my appreciation for words.
What’s your quiet moments of self-care look like?
Mostly these are spent in my bathroom at the end of the night. I have this thing where I love to sit in my bathroom and while going through my nighttime routine, to peruse the products that I have. Maybe every girl does this, but I find quiet time alone with the products that I love is actually really relaxing. Especially when I am testing products, I love to spend a lot of time getting to know them. Going over ingredients, smell, texture, color. I also love a good pamper night when I can afford the two hours the process usually takes me. A bath, facial steam, amazing face mask, luxurious body oil before bed. I don’t get to spend a lot of time on myself these days, so I really cherish these moments
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Thank you Danielle for your time to share your passion for green beauty and for being a part of the MAHALO world. To connect with Danielle, follow, read, connect with her via:
YouTube : /CFVeganBeauty
Instagram: /@CrueltyfreeVeganBeauty
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Let us know in the comments if you have been following Crueltyfree Vegan Blog, or just discovering about her work.
If you feel inspired to be feature in Mahalo’s Interesting People spotlight, or would like to nominate someone, please feel free to connect with us.
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