A common question: What Is Cruelty Free Makeup, really?
Make-up paired with activism have been a trend over the last few years as buyers are getting more conscious about the products they use on their faces. Cruelty-free make-up lines have emerged for this reason–we as consumers feel more confident and less guilty about our purchasing decisions, when we see a “cruelty-free” badge.
“Cruelty-free make-up” though, isn’t as easy it appears, as it a general term that leaves room for misinterpretation. This is why we have gathered some truths and facts about what is actually cruelty-free make-up and which is not.
Cruelty-free make-up, as its name suggests is a type of make-up that’s not being tested on animals and no animals were harmed during its testing process. “Animal testing” refers to applying or feeding a product to an animal (usually it’s skin), to test any possible allergic reactions, redness, skin irritation, acne, and other skin reactions to the product. However, many companies go beyond that and kill the animals right after and open their insiders to examine possible effects of the cosmetic product on organs. Rats, rabbits, monkeys, and guinea pigs are usually the subject of animal testing in labs. Many cosmetic companies use such animals to test either separate chemical ingredients or whole formulations before finalizing the formula of the product. So when a cosmetic is labeled as “cruelty-free” it means that generally, the product isn’t tested on animals.However, this doesn’t mean that it excludes ingredients of animal origin.
Why Should We Go For a Cruelty-free Product?
For ethical reasons and for animal welfare, we can’t contribute to animal cruelty by purchasing from brands that have tested on animals. The animals suffer from irritation, pain, and burns and in extreme cases, they are slaughtered and killed after getting externally tested. This is the main reason why many buyers stay away from brands that are not cruelty-free. Some also argue that due to the fact that cruelty-free products are many times vegan and more natural, there are also less likely to cause skin irritations, even though this doesn’t apply to all cruelty-free brands and formulas
How To Spot A Cruelty-Free Product
In general, a badge that says “cruelty-free” means that a product has been found by a national or an independent regulatory body like “Cruelty Free International” as not tested on animals. However, many countries like U.S and China have very loose cosmetic labeling practices and a product can sometimes be labelled as “cruelty-free” when the entire product hasn’t been tested on animals but the ingredients separately may come from animal-testing labs. To make sure you spot a cruelty-free make-up product, apart from the obvious badge, check the following:
- Ingredients list. If all you see on the ingredients are fancy chemical names you have no clue what they mean, chances are, they’ve already been tested on animals. Some ingredients like lanolin, which come from sheep, are also of animal origin.
- New formula with unknown ingredients. Many make-up and cosmetic companies in general re-launch a product with a new, improved formula. If you compare the list of ingredients of the formula with the new one, you will probably find a list of chemicals of unknown origin and chances are, they’ve been tested on animals.
- Country of Origin: Different countries have different regulations regarding cruelty-free cosmetics. The strictest rules and cruelty-free initiatives come from E.U which has passed an act to prohibit animal-tested cosmetics (importing and exporting) by European companies. However, in China the exact opposite applies and the country imports and exports products only if they are animal-tested first. In U.S and Australia, things are somewhere in the middle as they allow both animal-tested and “cruelty-free” products, which bear the cruelty-free bunny badge.
Cruelty-free Make-up Brands
Currently, there are over 50 cruelty-free make-up brands, according to “Cruelty-free” International, PETA and cruelty-free kitty, even though new companies are constantly added in the database:
- Too Faced
- Kat Von D
- Urban Decay
- Anastasia Beverly Hills
- Charlotte Tilbury
- Marc Jacobs Beauty
- Illamasqua
- Wet-N-Wild
- Milani
- The Balm
- Barry M
- Ciate
- Jane Iredale
- Sugarpill
- Natasha Denona
- NYX
- Jordana
- Lily Lolo
- Pixi
- Colourpop
- Make-up-Geek
- Zoeva
- Becca
- Gosh
- Pacifica
- Sonia Kashuk
- By Terry
- Chantecaille
- Bare Minerals
- 100% Pure
- Catrice
- Korres
- Elf
- Physician’s Formula
- Duwop
- BH Cosmetics
- Young Blood
- Perfekt
- Cover FX
- Blinc
- Fairy Girl
- Bellapierre
- Alima Pure
- RMS Beauty
- Ilia
- Dose of Colors
- Cailyn Cosmetics
- Prestige
- Edward Bess
Myths about Cruelty-free Make-up
No 1: If a product hasn’t been tested on animals, it suggests that it isn’t safe for humans. This isn’t true as there are safe and more ethical alternatives to test ingredients and formulations e.g tissue and cell cultures and complex mechanisms and mathematical models.
No 2: Animal reactions are similar to humans. Another misconception and false belief of animal-testing advocates is that animal skin reacts similarly to humans which isn’t true as animals have different skin structure than humans.