Welcome to my blog. I document my life, adventures in travel and thoughts on living a sustainable lifestyle. Hope you have a nice stay!
Last week, President-Elect Joe Biden announced the appointment of former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development, a role that has been elevated by Biden to sit within the White House National Security Council. In celebration of Ms Power’s appointment, I wanted to share five women currently working in the international development space that I personally find inspiring.
How did your plastic July go? For many of us we wonder what the next steps are after we have swapped to reusables (bags and cups) and avoided plastics in supermarkets, which is why this post lists some of our favourite books that help us to explore the way we view our relationship with plastics. Each book takes on a different perspective regarding plastics, whether it’s following a true life story how one woman kicked her plastic habit, the history of plastics and how they came to be or how plastic has been used to empower communities - every read is unique!
Last week Zara announced that they are committing to 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025. Check out our latest article to see how they plan to reach new sustainable heights and what this spells out for the fast fashion industry.
In a world where we are told almost everything is bad for us, dairy has officially been added to the hit list of big, bad nasties with milk in particular being swapped out for plant based alternatives such as almond milk, tiger nut milk, rice milk, coconut milk… the list goes on. But what exactly are the benefits of Mylk vs Milk and why are people making the switch? In this article I talk about some of the different types of plant based mylks out there and the benefits each one provides.
Ready to discover some of the ideas behind the next generation of ethical fashion designers? This week is Graduate Fashion Week and with sustainable fashion being a hot topic, it's no surprise that conscious fashion dominated the rails of many upcoming designers. Check out our latest post to find out which designers made the cut according to Georgina Wilson-Powell form Pebble Mag
TOPSHOP recently announced the launch of their first ever vegan shoe line. Approved by PETA and coming in 6 distinctive summer styles, see why we are all for them and the questions it raises surrounding the extent to which big fashion brands are pushing their own sustainability agendas.
The power of the internet and social media means that everyone has ability to be activist or more accurately for most people, a social media activist. But does this new-found access to your so-called voice mean that the definition of ‘activist’ has become somewhat diluted? In this article we explore what it means to be an activist in todays modern society and highlight some of the big themes that are causing people to take a stance for what they believe in.
Vegan nail polishes offer a natural and safer alternative to conventional brands and give you a finish that is just as good, but without the harmful chemicals that other brands include and of course do not engage in animal testing. Whilst not necessarily considered mainstream, vegan nail polishes are not overly difficult to come by, with some big-name brands like Barry M (with their Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paint) providing vegan alternatives available in many high-street stores. Although vegan nail polishes tend to be slightly more expensive than other nail polish brands, consumers are recognising the huge impact that beauty products are having on our internal health and are willing to accept the slightly higher price tag.
So, what’s available on the market that you can get your hands on? Check out our post for some of our recommended vegan nail polishes!
Today marks International Women’s Day – a global celebration of women and the movement towards gender equality. With the momentum of the #MeToo movement still going strong, a record number of women, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, Jahana Hayes, Rashida Tlaib, Sharice Davids, and Veronica Escobar elected into US congress during the 2018 mid-terms and women fighting for their rights now more than ever, this International Women’s Day is even more special and important.
This year’s theme, #BalanceForBetter, however goes a step further and calls for a more gender-balanced world. Living in the Western world, where women are given the freedom to be very vocal about their entitlement to equality, it is difficult at times to remember that this is not the case worldwide.
Beauty is a huge industry and was estimated to be worth approximately $532 billion dollars in 2017 and is showing no signs of slowing down, as it is estimated by a market research firm (Zion Market Research) to be valued at up to $863 billion dollars by 2024. Whilst, sustainability seems to be successfully penetrating the fashion industry, the beauty industry has been slightly less scrutinised in the sustainability spotlight. One of the things that makes conscious beauty hard, is that when it comes to skincare or best products we have such specific needs and preferences. When you take skin concerns into consideration along side with finding a product that is suitable for your skin type or shade, sustainability can slowly slide down the list of priorities.
The other day in the mail I received what has now come to be known as the ‘dreaded letter’, if you are a woman in your twenties then you may know exactly what I am talking about. I am indeed referring of course to our invite for a smear test or what it’s more pleasantly known as now, a cervical screening.
For years, the number of women attending their triennial cervical screenings has been declining. Considering the importance of smear tests in the early diagnosis of cervical cancer and the rate of women avoiding their examinations higher than ever, it is important that we break down the main reasons why women are skipping on our trips to the nurse’s office
Hemp has always been seen as the cornerstone of sustainability.
Hemp based products have always acted a as signal to the world that you are embracing a sustainable lifestyle, the only problem is that many of us still associate hemp with burlap sacks and bad interpretations of boho chic. We know some of you may think that no way there is no way that you could bring yourself to shop hemp because of all the fashion faux pas that it represents, which is why we are sharing with you some other ways that you can incorporate hemp into your lifestyle.
It is very exciting to introduce you all to Marieke Eyskoot in this edition of SOMADINA… meets. Marieke is a sustainable fashion and lifestyle expert who through her 15 years of work in the industry has helped put conscious living on the map.
Many of you have probably already heard of Marieke after binging on her book ‘This Is A Good Guide For - A Sustainable Lifestyle’. Marieke’s book gives a clear and comprehensive guide on how to pursue a sustainable lifestyle, whether you’re a sustainability veteran or a newbie. I couldn’t wait to chat with Marieke about all things conscious lifestyle and how sustainability not only affects the environment but also our mental well-being.
Christmas is just around the corner (it really sneaks up on you!) and if you are anything like us you have left your Christmas shopping a little bit late. That’s why we’re helping you out by providing you with some of our favourite stocking fillers and gifts all from brands that we love! You may remember we did a Kind Guide for Mother’s day which you can see here, so we hope that you enjoy our Christmas selection just as much! Don’t forget to tag us in the comments or on instagram so we can get a sneak peek at your last minute, but still very thoughtful Christmas gifts!
Commuting can really take its toll on our physical and mental well being.
The average person travelling 1 hour to get to work, we spend an average of 520 hours a year commuting. Yep, that’s 520 hours of our time every year just moving from one place to the next. It doesn’t help that living in London trains and buses tend to be extremely crowded during rush hour, which can really out you in a sour mood by the time you finally get to work. This is is why we have put together a list of some the best ways to overcome your commuting blues!
One of the things that we spoke about during our interview with Marieke Eyskoot is our relationship as women with our bodies. It’s probably one of the most important relationships in our life and and it’s gained a lot of attention recently.
So, for this blog post we decided to speak to some of the women in our lives, across all age ranges, to find out about how their relationship with their body image has changed over the years.
This week, Stella McCartney announced that she will launch a United Nations fashion industry charter for climate action in December in a bid to get more designers to think about climate change. Read our latest post to get a break down of why the charter is being launched and what this means for the fashion industry.
Today is Friday and no doubt we’ll all be putting up FriYAY posts (myself included) but does our living with the weekend have a negative effect on us? By living only for the weekend it means that we spend most of the week in countdown mode, day dreaming about any plans that we have for the weekend. So we’ve created a list of some of the things that we have incorporated into our week to make each day have a little bit of that Friday magic.
Vegan has been a buzzword for a little while now but for good reason! After watching what the health, we’ve been a bit more conscious of what we eat and tried to opt for vegetarian or vegan options when we can. So, we decided to list some of our favourite vegan restaurants in London for those of you that fancy a meat (and diary free) week.
In the lead up to Black Friday today many brands have announced that they are not taking part in Black Friday sales and instead are putting a twist on the day and embracing what is now known as Green Friday. This is a new movement that has emerged that encourages us to move away form the overconsumption that Black Friday brings and instead appreciate what we currently own.
