CRUELTY-FREE?! COSMETICS?!

Hello everybody!

Today I'm going to attempt to summarize some of the research I've been doing into cruelty-free cosmetics. If you are new to the cruelty-free club then be prepared for a few difficult truths to swallow as I'm sorry to say that you will probably feel betrayed by some of your most beloved brands, and if you are not new to this, then I'm sure you are as sick as I am of the complete and utter mine-field that is the world of research into cosmetics companies that do and do not test their products on animals.

Now before I go any further, it is important that I clear a few things up:

Firstly, a cosmetics company stating on their website that they do not test on animals means nothing. The company may employ third-parties or other companies to test their ingredients or products on animals, meaning they are still allowed to say that they are cruelty-free because they technically aren't the ones doing the testing. Technicalities aside, however, they are: the products you buy have been tested on animals and the money you use to buy those products will subsidize animal testing. That alone should be enough for you to not consider a brand cruelty-free.

Secondly, cosmetics companies are required by Chinese law to have their products tested on animals before they can be sold in China. There are other countries that also adopt this law but the mega-market of China makes it tantalizingly tempting to big-time money-making cosmetics-giants. Many companies drop their cruelty-free status to get a slice of this this lucrative market and in short, are more concerned about the money in their pockets than innocent animals. That doesn't sound very cruelty-free to me.

Now here's where things get just that little bit more confusing: thirdly, some companies are owned by giant cosmetics conglomerates, known as parent companies, that do conduct animal testing. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer when it comes to buying from these companies and it's a very grey area for me. Put it this way: do we take a point of having nothing to do with either of the companies, regardless of whether the 'child' company is cruelty-free, OR do we support the cruelty-free companies owned by the cosmetics conglomerates as another way of making a point? For example, The Body Shop, known as a serious advocate for cruelty-free beauty, is owned by L'Oreal, a company definitely not for the cruelty-free list. The decision is up to you.

You can find below two lists: one compiled of companies that I have found to be cruelty-free and another of companies that I do not consider to be cruelty-free. This is not a list of companies that are vegetarian and vegan friendly - I'll deal with that in another post - but even though a lot of them are, it's still worth checking the ingredients anyway. Here we go!

Cruelty-free
This is an on-going list of companies that I have personally researched and concluded that they do not test on animals. I would not put any company on this list I would not purchase from myself:

• Barry M
• Urban Decay - owned by L'Oreal
• Superdrug
• Kiko
• Lime Crime
• Butter London
• Liz Earle - owned by Avon
• The Body Shop - owned by L'Oreal
• NYX - owned by L'Oreal
• Illamasqua
• ELF
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Models Own
• Sleek
• Beauty UK
• Too Faced
• LUSH
• OGX
• Nails Inc
• Soap & Glory - owned by Boots

Not Cruelty-free

We would be here forever if I listed all the cosmetics companies that test on animals, but here are some well known names that you should be aware of:

• MAC
• Estee Lauder
• Yves Saint Laurent
• Bobbi Brown
• Rimmel
• Bourjois
• Maybelline
• Garnier
• Revlon
• MaxFactor
• Avon
• Sally Hansen
• Clinique
• Dior
• Chanel
• Simple
• Lancome
• Collection Cosmetics
• Neutrogena
• Michael Kors
• Elizabeth Arten
• Clarins
• Giorgio Armarni
• L'Oreal
• Essie
• Vaseline

If you would like to know the cruelty-free status of a company that I have not mentioned, or would like further information on any of the companies listed above, simply comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I am able!

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading!

See you soon,

Bye!

Georgia xo

- BLUSHER DUPE - Mac in Sincere and B.Cheeky in Golden Peach

Hello everyone!

I've got a dupe for you today! It is the MAC Sheertone Blush in the shade Sincere and the B.Cheeky blusher in the shade 081 Golden Peach by the B. range of Superdrug cosmetics.

First of all, I would like to explain that I purchased the MAC Sheertone Bush in Paris last year, prior to my commitment to buying cruelty-free cosmetics products. There has been a lot of speculation about the cruelty-free status of MAC Cosmetics as once upon a better time they were openly against animal testing, claiming to test their products on models, not animals. However, they now state that their products are not tested on animals "except when required by law," and so this basically means yes, they do test on animals (aside from the fact that they are actually owned by the cosmetic giant Estee Lauder, a company who openly tests on animals which is enough really to not consider MAC a cruelty-free brand).

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to move on to talk about both blushes, starting with the MAC:
I'm not going to lie, this is a gorgeous shade. The lady that sold it to me described it a not being a peach yet not being a rose, but really I would definitely describe the shade as a warm peach. Having said that I'm really pleased about this, as rose shades generally make me look a bit ruddy. The texture is light and velvety and is really easy to build up colour. It's also great for contouring and can act as a very light matte bronzer on fairer skin in the winter.

But here is the best part: I have essentially found a cruelty-free version. Now I will say this: reviewing products and cosmetics that test on animals is not something that I want to keep doing because I don't want to be affiliated with those companies in any way. However, I may do so from time to time in posts like this for the sole purpose of comparing them to the far cheaper, cruelty-free dupes so as to show how utterly great (and a lot cheaper!!!) the animal-friendly products are in comparison.

And here we are! The B. Cheeky blush by Superdrug's cosmetics range. While you get a little less in the pan, the MAC is about four times the price so we can give that one a miss. The texture is uncannily similar: almost silky, and is easy to blend on the face and to build up colour. The one major difference is that this blush has a slight shimmer. I can't make up my mind whether I like that or not but I will say that the shimmer is very, very subtle on the face and does actually give the cheeks a nice glow. A tell-tale sign of the price difference is the lasting time of this blush. I feel like you would need to keep topping it up throughout the day BUT - look how small and cute and compact it is! And for such a good price, you can apply this stuff to your face as often as your heart desires without feeling in the slightest bit guilty. The colour is also not as pigmented, so you may want to combine this blusher with a matte bronzer or maybe a similar peachy shade to build up a lot of colour. I would say you only need to do this if you're going on a night out or for drinks and the like, but for everyday wear, the strength of the colour is perfectly adequate, especially on fairer skin like mine.

Overall I really do like the blushers by B. (is that it's actual name? I dunno!). I also have the shade 069 Rosy Brown, so if you would like me to do a little review of that just let me know!

I hope this little dupe/review was helpful or even the littlest bit insightful!
If you would like to see more of these kinds of posts or have found any cool dupes or alternatives to non-cruelty-free/high-end products, let me know in the comments below!

Bye for now!
Georgia xo