I wanted to talk about cruelty free products. Specifically – but not limited to – nail products. Before I get into it I just have to mention a few things. I love animals. If I could I would take every single rescue animal home. I might not be a marching, blogging activist but these things matter to me. If it doesn’t matter to you then that is your decision. This is mine. I am not sharing this to preach or ‘change you’. I am sharing this because it was interesting to me and, again, it matters to me. Also, it certainly is not easy to get accurate, current information. I have spent hours going through hundreds of links and I have found a bunch of contradicting information. The information seems to change quite often. I use PETA to check on products but this is also tricky. Most labels have parent companies and these parent companies are usually the ones that test on animals. In my opinion, that label is then not a cruelty free product.
Again, it was quite hard to find 100% accurate information without having to go to each product website and finding the information there. I do think the best idea is if you are not 100% or it doesn’t appear on their website then emailing them is the best option. I will be listing all the website / pages I got this information from at the bottom of this post. I can not guarantee that all this information is 100% accurate so if there is anything you want confirmation on please contact the company or check their website. If you do find any discrepancies please let me know and then I will update this post as well.
I am glad to say that my three favourite brands of nail polish are cruelty free:
Essence
According to the information I got here and here:
These are companies that DO test on animals:
- Aziza
- Aussie
- Aveeno (Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lubriderm, Neutrogena, Rembrandt, ROC, tests cosmetic products in addition to their medical products)
- Avon. Avon was the first major cosmetics company to end animal testing on both on its finished product and ingredients in 1989, but appears to have re-started to expand into the China market.
- Bic
- Borghese
- Clairol
- Clean and Clear
- Clinique– owned by Estee Lauder, who has resumed testing in 2012.
- Coppertone
- Cover Girl (Proctor and Gamble)
- Dial
- Dolce & Gabana
- Dove
- Elizabeth Arden
- Essie– used to be cruelty free as an independent brand but was acquired by L’Oreal, which is not cruelty free.
- Estee Lauder- unfortunately resumed animal testing in 2012 after a two decade moratorium. Boo! This affects Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Bumble + Bumble, La Mer, Prescriptives, Origins, Clinique, MAC and several other subsidiary companies.
- Garnier
- Givenchy
- Gilette
- Hawaiian Tropic
- Head and Shoulders
- Johnson and Johnson
- Jovan
- JOOP
- Kiehl’s
- Lancome
- L’Oreal (Kérastase, Matrix, Mizani, Redken, L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, SoftSheen-Carson, Biotherm, The Body Shop, Cacharel, Diesel Perfumes, Giorgio Armani Parfums, Guy Laroche, Helena Rubinstein, Paloma Picasso, Ralph Lauren, Shu Uemura, Victor et Rolf parfum, Dermablend, La Roche-Posay, SkinCeuticals, Vichy Laboratoires.)L’Oreal says they don’t “generally” test but will not sign a statement confirming it, so for safety’s sake, they go on the Bad Guy list).
- Mary Kay. Resumed in 2012 in order to comply with Chinese regulations to sell in China. What a joke.
- Marc Jacobs (perfumes and cosmetics)
- Max Factor
- Maybelline
- Neutrogena
- NYC
- Philopsophy
- Proctor and Gamble (Always, Aussie, Cover Girl, Clairol, Crest, Downey, Eukanuba, Febreze, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Iams, Infusium 23, Ivory, Joy, Max Factor, Mr. Clean, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, Physique, Puffs, Scope, Secret, Swiffer, Tampax, Tide, Zest, Old Spice)
- Rimmel
- Sally Beauty Supply (Alberto Culver)
- Shisiedo
- Unilever (Axe, Dove, Lux, Ponds, Suave, Sunsilk, Vaseline, Caress, Degree, Lever 2000.)
**Some of these companies above might not test on animals themselves but continue to buy, use and benefit financially from chemical ingredients that have recently been tested on animals by their suppliers.
Based on same information as above. These are companies that DO NOT test on animals:
- Almay
- American International Industries (China Glaze, Seche, 5 Second Nail Glue, ESN European Secret Nails)
- Barielle
- Barry M (vegan)
- Bath and Body Works
- BB Couture
- Bobbi Brown
- Bonnie Belle
- Color Club (vegan)
- Clinique
- Deborah Lippmann (vegan)
- DuWop Cosmetics
- E.L.F. Cosmetics (transitioning to vegan!)
- Garden Botanika
- GOSH Cosmetics (vegan too)
- Hard Candy
- Jane Cosmetics
- Jesse’s Girl
- Jordana
- Kiss Products (nail glues, etc.)
- Kleancolor.
- Milani
- Misa (vegan)
- NFU Oh
- Nubar (vegan)
- NYX- New York Cosmetics
- Orly
- OCC Cosmetics (vegan too)
- Rescue Beauty Lounge
- Revlon
- Seche
- Spa Ritual- vegan too
- Urbay Decay (vegan)
- Wet N’ Wild
- Zoya (vegan)
I can’t find conclusive information about the following two:
- Sally Hansen Status unclear. They have been sold and reacquired in the last couple years but now looks like their parent company is a tester. They are on neither list on PETA.
- Revlon: Everywhere I looked they were on the Does NOT test list but they are still on the PETA website as a company that DOES test on animals.
I am sure there are tons more that are cruelty free. Also, many of these are not even available in South Africa. It really just takes a little bit of effort to find out if the product you use is cruelty free. I must admit I do have one or two polishes that is not on the cruelty free list. I didn’t even know that they are not cruelty free. I have 2 Maybelline polishes and a Rimmel and I was quite surprised to find they were not cruelty free. Will I stop using them? Probably not. I have them and I’ve paid for them. Will I buy more from them? Probably not. To be honest it was finding out that Essie is not on the cruelty free list that really shocked me and got me interested in finding as much info as I can.
If you are in any doubt if cruelty free is cruel and unnecessary and harmful then just google images of cosmetic testing on animals. No judgies. 🙂
The sources I used for this information as well as what I use to check if a product is cruelty free:
- http://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/en/
- http://www.gocrueltyfree.org/consumer
- http://www.leapingbunny.org/indexcus.php
- http://apolishedlife.blogspot.com/2011/01/nail-polish-and-animal-testing.html
- http://nevertoomuchglitter.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/cruelty-free-nail-polish-say-no-to-animal-testing/
- http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personal-care/companies/default.aspx
- Also a huge thanks to @WhoopseyDaisy for all the info 🙂
Again, if this isn’t your thing then consider this just some interesting information. If this is your thing then I hope this is useful information. If you have any accurate or additional information that can be verified please let me know. I would like to keep this list as updated as possible.
Considering I focused my searches mainly on nail products do you only buy cruelty free cosmetics or do you expand it to household products as well?
I try to always shop cruelty-free but sometimes things slip under the radar. I do avoid Johnson & Johnson like the plague. I am a bit shocked because I thought Kiehl’s didn’t test on animals? They say they don’t. That is one of my main criteria when selecting a skincare brand.
I agree. It’s easy for products to slip through. I was also under the impression Kiehls doesn’t test on animals but that is the information I could find. I will admit I didn’t email then to ask directly (because of time constraints) but would love to verify all those companies.
Thanks for your comment. It’s good to know more people shop cruelty free as much as they can.
I am horrified at the list of testers and the fact that anyone would allow themselves to be dictated to and manipulated by China is appalling to me.
Strange that China is communist and yet flourishes in every capitalist system and country in the world! Love your posts. xx
I couldn’t agree more! It’s actually terrible!
Thanks so much for the comment and compliment 🙂
The reason why Revlon isn’t on the Cruelty-Free list is because their polishes are sold in China also. In China you are not allowed to sell cosmetics if it hasn’t been tested on animals. Surprised Sinful Colours is on the list as they are owned by Revlon. Love this article though! Especially after seeing that my favorites are good! Lol
Can I just say I don’t get the whole ‘must test on animals to sell in china’. Surely the Chinese people use the products and not the animals. I really don’t get it. Stupid china.
As far as I understand sinful colors is brought into SA by revlon but is not owned by them or falls under their label. I could be wrong though. Will see what I can find out.
Thanks for the comment 🙂
Bleh, sorry, forgot you mention about the China thing in your post! Brain fart! Lol
Hahaha. No worries. It needs to be said more often 😉
This is such a great post! People really need to be more aware of animal testing… I try to steer clear of the brands I know are really bad (L’Oreal, Unilever, etc) but its getting harder and harder as they buy out all of our house hold brands! It’s so hard to buy everything cruelty free!
Thank you! Yes I agree it is getting so much harder. Things change so quickly and it’s not always obvious who the parent companies are to some products. I try my best to stick to cruelty free products as well but sometimes it is near impossible. I think as long as I do my best it counts for something!
I was so sad when Loreal took Essie over, cuz they’re my favourite brand. I detest Loreal and their cruelty
Hear hear!!! Animal cruelty stinks!!!!
Hi there, please include Lush cosmetics! For people who want efficient, effective and also cheap and affordable beauty products Lush is one of them 😀 They have many stores across the world, or buy them online~ What’s great about them is they only deal with suppliers who are also 100% cruelty free, their products are also 100% vegetarian and more than 80% vegan, and 100% no animal testing with all ingredients that were bought from fair trade organisations. Oh and their products are all natural and hand-made with an approved sticker that states who made the product and what date it expires, so they are a very transparent company. Sorry to rave on, I recently found Lush and I’m so glad to have found a product that is genuinely good-hearted and ethical 🙂
I think it’s fantastic for people to buy cruelty free products, I believe animals should not suffer for superficial reasons such as vanity. So it’s really good that if consumers KNOW there are alternatives to preserve their beauty without any association towards cruelty (may that be towards animals or humans) then they should make that switch as a consumer, consumers have a huge social responsibility that most of us seem to neglect. We as consumers are the reason why companies exist, we are the incentives to push all corporate entities to become 100% ethical and socially responsible on all levels from environmental to the welfare of humans and animals ~
Love your blog <3
Thanks so much Jenny! I will definitely add them.
I couldn’t have said it better myself! Thanks so much for the info and the support!!
xx
hey i know this is an old post but maybe you will see: logicalharmony.com is the best source of info on animal testing