Cruelty free makeup is something that is becoming more and more popular. However, figuring out what exactly is cruelty free as there are certain “rules” that go along with being cruelty free. For example, a brand can advertise themselves as cruelty free but still buy ingredients from companies that are not. I’m not going to cover all aspects of cruelty free but we’ll jump in and cover a few aspects.

Leaping Bunny

Leaping Bunny is one of the leading organizations behind the cruelty free movement. Since there are no federal regulations governing when a company can/cannot call themselves cruelty free, Leaping Bunny serves as a kind of regulator for it. While not all companies register with Leaping Bunny most tend to as it’s like getting a seal of approval for the cruelty movement.

Parent Companies

Parent companies are companies that own other brands. In the cruelty free market a company can be listed as cruelty free and still be owned by a company that is not cruelty free and vice versa. Some great examples of this are Bite Beauty who is cruelty free while their parent comapny Kendo is not; The Body Shop, NYX Cosmetics, and Urban Decay are all cruelty free while their parent company L’Oreal is not; and Tarte is cruelty free while its parent company KOSE is not.

Losing Status

One thing to note is that just because a company is currently cruelty free doesn’t mean that it will always be cruelty free. A great example of this is Estee Lauder who has decided to sell their products in China, which requires animal testing for products that will be sold their. Due to the fact that Estee Lauder is a parent company to a lot of other companies and has decided to sell those in China as well several companies lost cruelty free status. Some of those companies are Estee Lauder itself, Clinique and MAC Cosmetics.

Drugstore Cruelty Free

Finding drugstore brands that are cruelty free can be somewhat hard to do. Some well known drugstore brands that are not only cruelty free but are also Leaping Bunny certified are Burt’s Bees, Hard Candy, Jordana, and Milani. As mentioned above there are other drugstore brands that are cruelty free (Wet n Wild and Physician’s Formula) but aren’t Leaping Bunny certified.

As I said at the beginning I’m not going to cover all aspects of cruelty free makeup, there’s really no way I could in one post, but this is a great starting point. If you’re wanting to check and see if any of the brands you use are Leaping Bunny certified you can check their site here. At the site they not only cover cosmetics but household items as well!