After putting together our Slow Fashion Shopping Guide and sharing more recent posts on brands offering stylish vegan shoes for the office and clothing and accessory brands for the stylish vegan professional, we thought it was time to take a look at cruelty-free makeup — so today we’re featuring the best cruelty-free beauty products, as well as a list of resources to help you find even more.
Labeling a product “cruelty-free” typically means that it hasn’t been tested on animals, but you may also encounter other phrases: “not tested on animals,” “against animal testing,” etc. Here’s another complicating factor: Animal testing within the U.S. has thankfully become rare, and the E.U. has banned animal testing of both cosmetic ingredients and finished products, but in China, imported cosmetics must be tested on animals. If, say, your company’s mascaras are tested on animals, you can’t sell them in Europe — but you can’t sell them in China without testing them on animals, either by your company itself or by the Chinese government. To make it easier to find beauty products that are cruelty-free — and to check the brands you’re currently using — we’ve listed many online resources at the bottom of this post.
Psst: Have you seen our post on beauty empties — the products you finish and then buy again?
Here are Corporette readers’ picks for the best cruelty-free products, from drugstore to higher-end brands:
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The Body Shop: Aloe Soothing Night Cream, Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter, Camomile Eye Makeup Remover- e.l.f.: Cream Blush Palette, Shadow Lock Eyelid Primer, Lip Lock Pencil, plus brushes, bronzer, and lipstick
- IT Cosmetics*: Hello Lashes 5-in-1 Mascara, Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream
- Jane Iredale: Active Light Under-eye Concealer, Liquid Minerals foundation, Lip Pencil, PureGloss Lip Gloss
- Jordana: Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stain
- Juice Beauty: Cleansing Milk, Stem Cellular CC Cream
- Lily Lolo Mineral Makeup: Natural Vegan Mascara
- Lush: Buffy body bar, Sleepy Body Lotion, T For Toes, Celestial moisturizer
- Meow Meow Tweet: Deodorant Cream
- NYX*: Micro Brow Pencil, Makeup Setting Spray
- Pacifica: Mineral Face Shade Coconut Probiotic, Solid Perfume
- Physicians Formula: Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker, Talc-Free Mineral Face Powder, Organic Wear Tinted Moisturizer
- Sonia Kashuk: brushes
- Tarte*: Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara, Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush, palettes
- wet n wild: Max Volume Plus Mascara, CoverAll Crème Foundation
The Body Shop*Brand’s parent company is not cruelty-free.
Beyond that, here are some resources that simplify the process of finding the best cruelty-free beauty products:
- Leaping Bunny / Cruelty Free International: Find out which products are Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free (also has an app).
- PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies: Find out which products PETA considers cruelty-free.
- Cruelty-Free Kitty: Offers lists such as Companies That Test on Animals, Official Cruelty-Free Brands, Cruelty-Free Brands at Sephora, and Ulta Cruelty-Free Guide. (Also helpful: Leaping Bunny vs. PETA: Who To Trust?)
- Phyrra.net: A beauty blog that partially focuses on cruelty-free beauty and has lots of cruelty-free tips.
- My Beauty Bunny: A beauty/lifestyle blog with resources like How to Find Cruelty Free Products, Favorite Cruelty Free Brands, and Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup. (Also monitors the Sephora China website to note which brands are being sold in China.)
- Buying Cruelty Free: Includes a dupe list to help you find cruelty-free alternatives for your current favorites. (The dupes often cost less, as well.)
- You can use “cruelty-free” as a search term at retailers like Amazon, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus.
What do you think are the best cruelty-free beauty products? Have you found any good cruelty-free substitutes for certain items that you once used? Where do you get your information on what to buy?
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Picture via Stencil.
