If you love cruelty free cosmetics, skincare, beauty products, supplements, and healthy foods and snacks, you will LOVE the Natural Products Expo! There are two each year – one on the west coast and one on the east coast (known as Expo West and Expo East). I went to the Expo two years ago, and I was lucky enough to go again this year. Gregg (my fiance and writer for My Beauty Bunny) joined me as my assistant – camera man, taste-tester, and bags of goodies holder! I could not have done it without him!
We spent two whole days there even though the expo started earlier (we went Saturday and spent one night at the Marriott which is in the same area as the expo). First of all – this expo is HUGE! It’s mainly housed in the Anaheim Convention Center (across from Disneyland), but has become so large that it’s starting to spill over into the Hilton and the Marriott hotels next door!
I got to spend some time with my fiance’s parents, Zel and Reuben, from VegParadise.com, and we got to hang out with the Mamma Chia guy (or girl?). LOL! I love the Chia Seed pouches – a great way to get an energizing fix of chia seeds (which are not always easy to work with so I like the convenience factor)!
I got to see my friend Peter of Sibu Beauty. I talk about their sea buckthorn products all the time because they REALLY DO WORK. I’m not joking when I say the supplements and juices make my nails grow harder and faster without splitting, and my digestive system works better when I use their products on the regular. You need to drink the juice and/or take the supplements daily for at least two months to see major improvements. It’s an all-over good for you product, and can help hair and skin as well. Even better, the Omega 7’s in the sea buckthorn products can help your heart and lower cholesterol. SLIGHTLY more important than your looks, but hey – why not get both in one shot? They also make great skincare products. Everything is cruelty free and vegan. Peter gave me a bottle of the hardcore Omega 7 Pure – just pure Tibetan sea buckthorn puree without water or juices for flavor. It’s SUPER tart, and I’m a wuss so I shoot it with a chaser or mix it with juice. They have a mixed version (and a vegan gel cap supplement) for those of you who can’t handle the hardcore stuff. 😉
Our inner beauty shining! With Stacey, CEO of Andalou Naturals. A cruelty free brand that you’ve heard me rave about before. They have new products that I am just obsessed with! The 1,000 Roses line is an absolute must if you’re a rose freak like me or have sensitive skin (or both!), and the Mandarin Vanilla body wash and lotion smells like an orange creamsicle! So good! The products are made with fruit stem cells and the products have a minimum 70% organic content. You can find them online and also at Whole Foods Market stores.
I got to meet Nikki and some of the other gals at 100% Pure. I’m a huge fan of their natural, vegan cosmetics, body care and skin care. If you haven’t checked them out, stop what you’re doing and do it now. Seriously amazing products. They gave me a couple of nail polishes, which I will be reviewing later on. They are also Leaping Bunny certified (as are many – but not all – of the beauty and household brands at the expo).
Oblige is a new brand to me, and I’m excited to try out their products. They use no synthetic chemicals, parabens, phthalates, sulfates, artificial fragrances and dyes, and they are 100% cruelty free and vegan.
Lots of goodies on display from Pacifica. I actually brought these awesome coconut water wipes WITH me to the conference. I hate washing my face when I’m traveling, and these are one of the few brands of wipes that remove makeup, don’t irritate my skin and are not sticky. They have a fresh, clean scent and I can’t recommend them enough.
Aubrey Organics is a cruelty free line that has been around way before “natural” and cruelty free products were in vogue. They are one of the OG natural brands! Their conditioners are now NSF-certified. They’ve updated their packaging and it looks great.
Emani is a great all-vegan mineral makeup brand. They have a wide range of cosmetic shades for eyes, face, lips, cheeks, and even a line of makeup brushes.
Gabriel Cosmetics is another Leaping Bunny-certified favorite. They have a new line of eyeshadow trios, and the beautiful nail polishes shown here.
I got to meet Matt and the gang from cruelty free skincare brand, Derma E (love them!). And they even brought out the bunny ears for me – they must have heard me coming! LOL! Their Microdermabrasion Scrub and Hydrating Serum with Hyaluronic Acid are two of my all-time faves.
Beauty Favorites:
- 100% Pure
- Acure Organics
- Andalou Naturals
- Aubrey Organics
- Deep Steep
- Derma E
- Emani
- EO
- Gabriel / Zuzu Luxe
- Oblige
- Pacifica
- Sibu Beauty
- Thayers
- The Seaweed Co
- Yes To
Food, Snack and Beverage Favorites:
- Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop
- Annies
- Bai5
- Bare Snacks
- Brain Toniq
- Garden of Life supplements and shakes
- Good! bars
- Go Raw
- Harbor Creek Farms vegan foods
- Honest Fizz
- iQ Juice
- KIND bars
- Luke’s
- Marley’s Mellow Mood drinks
- PureFit
- Qia bars
- Skinny Pop
- The Daily Crave Veggie Sticks
- World Peas
A few of my favorites – Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop Kettle Corn is super delicious and only has 70 calories per cup. Love the packaging too! Bai5 is a great antioxidant-infused tea with only FIVE calories that I’ve enjoyed many times. Brain Toniq is one of my favorites. I buy it all the time. It’s got choline, DHEA, blue green algae, rhodiola extract and eleutherococcus extract to boost brain power – plus it’s a got a great carbonated flavor. It’s flavored with agave nectar and has 80 calories per can. There is also a Brain Toniq Light with zero calories (made with stevia) that I haven’t tried yet. Barnana snacks are delicious (see below), and Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies cheese snacks are always a My Beauty Bunny favorite!
The Bakery on Main Nut Crunch was delicious and entirely vegan and gluten-free! They also have gluten-free granola, granola bars, oatmeal and chia/nut bars.
This Dry Lavender Soda is ridiculously good! I want bathtubs full of it! OMG so good! Each can has only 4 ingredients. It also comes in blood orange, vanilla bean, ginger, apple, cherry, rhubarb, juniper berry (what could that taste like?), cucumber (very popular at the expo) and wild lime. I want to try them all!
These vegan Barnana snacks are made with bananas + water and nothing else! They make a healthy, chewy snack, and they also have other varieties – including chocolate covered bananas – yum!
I also got to meet up with Jean from White Rabbit Beauty (an online beauty shop full of ONLY Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free products) and Kim from Leaping Bunny. Major anti-animal testing crusaders and wonderful women. We were so busy that we forgot to take a photo together! But I left the conference proudly sporting my Leaping Bunny temporary tattoo. 🙂
SO MANY amazing brands – I didn’t even get to see them all. I highly recommend checking out Expo West or Expo East if you can. It’s definitely a unique experience, and you learn so much by talking to all of these healthy beauty, food, supplement, drink and pet brands!
I wish I could go to that expo one day. You look like you had a blast and came back with a ton of cool products. I see a lot of my faves there. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Oh wow I didn’t know about this expo. It looks huge. Definitely have to check it out next time.
This place is huge! Love the vegan products.