3+ Reasons Why You Should Choose Cruelty Free Makeup?

You can choose Cruelty Free Makeup!

In this blog post I would like to draw your attention to 3 things:

1) what is animal testing?

2) What exactly does a company mean when they say they are ‘cruelty free’

3) What you can do as a consumer?

1) what is animal testing?

Animals such as mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, dogs, cats, monkeys, baboons and chimpanzees are all used for testing the safety of new drugs, cosmetics, food additives, pesticides and household reagents (enforced in the US in the 1920s). These tests were essentially developed to establish whether a drug or ingredient is safe for public health before allowing it onto the market.

Animal testing has a long and dark history but that’s essentially what it is…history, or at least it should be, because there are tons of tests these days which can be performed (and in fact are being performed) that don’t involve animals). Testing on animals is cruel and outdated and nothing justifies it anymore. 

Governments all over the world have already banned animal testing for cosmetics. This has been the case in the European Union, Norway, Israel, and India — and many other countries are considering a ban.

2) what exactly does a company mean when they say they are ‘cruelty free’

There seems to be a little grey area about this statement however the following rules should apply: a) the finished product is NOT tested on animals, b) the ingredients are NOT tested on animals and c) the company does not test on animals when required to do so by law. For instance some brands don’t test on animals in the country they are manufactured in…but in other countries they do test on animals; is this the grey area?

And finally 3) what you can do as a consumer?

Even though the definition of “cruelty-free” is universal and simple, it’s tricky to determine which brands are truly cruelty-free. This is partly because terms like “cruelty-free” and “not tested on animals” don’t get regulated. And the other very serious issue on this is brands that sell in China are now considered not to be cruelty free. This is because these brands can at any stage be tested on animals and this only applies to brands NOT made in China.

Hopefully the Chinese government will sort out this problem soon but until then brands like Mac will always be considered as a brand that tests on animals. I have written a longer blog post about this and you can find it HERE.  This post explains how things work in China and I highly recommend you reading it.

1st and foremost you need to change the products you buy….I know this can be hard but it can be done?

So because this issue is contentious I have tried to sit on the fence…..but it isn’t easy…all our brands because they are made in the EU are Cruelty Free because it is mandatory not to test on animals.

These brands pay for animal testing in China which means they are NOT cruelty free.

For me personally because there are tests available that don’t involve animals these brands should choose to preform them. It doesn’t have to be hard – we all have choices and I feel that it would be the best one to make. Just like you have the choice as well.

What is your take on cruelty free makeup? How do your kids feel? More and more people are becoming aware of this issue they are asking questions and this makes me happy.

I look forward to your thoughts on this. For more information you can visit this wonderful up to date website Cruelty Free Kitty.

Thanks for reading.

Gxxx