My makeup is cruelty free... what about yours?

Do we need to kill animals in order to be beautiful?

For me it’s impossible to stop eating meat. I love eating meat (Japanese yakiniku, ughh!) and I think that I will never ever give up eating it. I find it difficult because if you’re not doing right vegan diet it can cause you health problems + it might be expensive, especially when you live in the country which has quite small variety of vegan-friendly foods.

Okay, I know that this sounds hypocritical, because all obstacles are surmountable if you really has a desire to overcome it, but I’m just psychologically not ready to stop eating meat. I’m sorry, but at least I’m honest here.

But when it comes to makeup and skincare products, I can try to reduce the harm I’m making to animals by purchasing cruelty-free products. It’s not like I will die if I don’t buy any MAC eye shadow or Dior mascara. Right now I have a lot of products which are from animal testing companies and I’m not going to throw it away because I spent my honest earned money on it, but step by step I’m going to exchange it for these which are cruelty free.

Animal testing is cruel (a lot of bunnies, guinea pigs, cats, dogs or monkeys are tortured and killed for the sake of beauty). Many companies choose animal testing because it’s more cheap than alternative methods, but it doesn’t mean that animal tested products are 100% safe for using (often these tests give false results). In Europe it’s forbidden by law to sell animal tested cosmetics or ingredients which were animal tested, but in China we have completely opposite picture. All imported make-up products are tested by law there. A lot of major companies see great opportunity in selling their products on Chinese market. When company expands its business there it automatically becomes non cruelty free. It means when you buy MAC/Dior/Chanel/etc in Europe you’re sponsoring animal testing in China.

What are alternatives methods?
Human cell based tests, computer modeling and researches with human volunteers. Read more about it here.

How would I know if the company is cruelty free or not?

• Search for Leaping Bunny logo. It looks like this ->
  Some companies don't use it on their packages, so I would suggest checking Leaping Bunny website for more information. 
• Do you research. Check official websites - if you find message saying that "we don't test on animals except when required by law" it means that company is selling in China (isn't cruelty free). If you don't find anything at all regarding company's policy on animal testing - email them directly and ask if they test on animals/do they ask others to test for them/do they plan or are selling in China/etc. If they ignore you or provide you incomplete answer, probably they're testing. Since there're a lot of companies with false cruelty free status it's important to see through the bullshit.
• Note that only products which are physically sold in Chinese stores are required to be tested on animals. Animal testing law doesn't apply to online shopping and to cosmetics sold in Hong Kong. Read more here.
• Products which are made in China can be cruelty free. Foreign company can make their products in China and stay cruelty free as long as it doesn't sell it on Chinese market. Good article here.
• Learn who owns whom. There are cruelty free companies who are owned by non cruelty free parent companies (for example, Leaping Bunny certified Urban Decay and The Body Shop are owned by L'Oreal who is famous for its cruelty against animals). Some people believe that buying from such companies means that you support non cruelty free companies indirectly, but I think it's up to you to decide. Personally I buy from both Urban Decay and The Body Shop, because no animals are harmed in the making of their products + they pay a lot of money every year in order not to lose their Leaping Bunny certificate.
• Join CFbloggerschat on Twitter and ask fellow cruelty free products lovers!
• Logical Harmony and Cruelty Free Kitty are the best sources for beginners to cruelty free cosmetics.

Cruelty free companies I love and use:

 = approved by the Leaping Bunny = approved by Peta.org = 100% vegan

Avalon Organics

Anastasia Beverly Hills
Barry M
Beauty without Cruelty  
Bellapierre Cosmetics
Badger Balm
Ciate
Concrete Minerals 
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps 
Ecotools 
e.l.f. 

Everyday Minerals 

Gosh 
Hourglass
Hurraw! Balms  
Idun Minerals
Illamasqua
Joik
Lily Lolo 
Lime Crime  

Lush
Make Up Store
Milani Cosmetics 
Nars* – owned by Shiseido
Natio
NYX cosmetics* - owned by L’Oreal 
Nurme seep

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics 
Paul Mitchell 
Pixi
Pumpkin and Poppy 
Real Techniques

Shiro Cosmetics 
Tarte Cosmetics* - owned by Kose 
The Body Shop* - owned by L'Oreal 
Too Faced 
Urban Decay* - owned by L'Oreal 
Urtekram  

Yes to 
Zoya 

Removed:

Naturigin Organic Beauty - since they provide misleading information regarding vegan ingredients, I temporary removed this brand from my cruelty free list (see the whole story here).

Since currently I'm living in Estonia (small country in Eastern Europe) we don't have many cruelty free products available in stores. If you have similar situation, I'd suggest checking such web shops as Feelunique.com, Beautybay.com, Lookfantastic.com and Iherb.com. (If you're in Estonia, also check Levelzone.ee, they have pretty new Organic Corner).

Correspondence with Make Up Store:

Hello Katya,Please see below answers:

1. Do you test your ingredients and/or finished products on animals? No

2. If you answered no to question 1, do you get another company to test for you and do they use animals in their tests? No

 3. Are you owned by a parent company or is this company the sole brand? We are not owned by any parent company.

4. Why do you not say on your products that you do not test on animals? Since we are a EU-based company and animal testing is not allowed for products placed on the EU market there is no need for us to say that.

5. Do any of your products have any animal ingredients? Yes, some contain animal derived ingredients such as Carmine, Beewax, Lanolin.

6. Do you sell your products in China? No 

Med vänlig hälsning / Best Regards 

Liselotte LarssonMake Up Store AB

 Correspondence with JOIK (a brief translation from Estonian language):

JOIK products have never been tested on animals. Also all our distributors don't practice animal testing. Even though there was huge interest and potential customers we gave up expanding our business on Chinese market because of their animal testing laws. We hope that soon they will refuse these cruel practices as the rest of the world. 

Kadri

I will be updating this post with new cruelty free companies.