Cosmetics: Cruelty Free Cosmetics

Thursday 17 January 2013

Cruelty Free Cosmetics

In order to find brands that are truly cruelty free it is important to first understand what cruelty free means. In general, a cruelty free brand is one that does not test on animals, does not use ingredient suppliers that test on animals, and does not allow 3rd party animal testing on its products. Some companies that claim to be cruelty free are only such as long as it is lucrative. In some cases, a company may start off being cruelty free then switch to animal testing when the market turns and it becomes beneficial (i.e. selling in China, a country that currently requires animal testing).

Since most companies do not advertise their testing procedures on their packaging (and some are not very truthful), it is important that you use the resources offered by the internet to find companies that test on animals. (Editor’s Note: At My Beauty Bunny, we do our best to keep up with the brands that are cruelty free – you can see a list of cruelty free brands here.) You can also do a quick search on the PETA or Leaping Bunny websites to find companies that do and do not test on animals (note that the Leaping Bunny list is the gold standard for cruelty free brands – the brands are required to submit to random audits). You may also want to search the company websites and recent news headlines to see if they test on animals.

Finding cruelty free makeup does not have to be difficult. In a day and age where more and more companies are becoming environmentally and morally conscious it is now easier than ever to find companies that are cruelty free. Cruelty free makeup is not only good for the animals, but also good for you.