The Cruelty Free Tag

I guess this is a long overdue post for someone who's only intention is to spread the word about cruelty free make up. So here it is; I'm answering the 8 questions of The Cruelty Free  Tag. 

Before I do that, let me just go into detail what I believe is a cruelty free company and which online resource I use to look for them.

Since March 8, the EU no longer allows for products tested on animals to be sold within the EU. How this is put in practice I have no idea and I am very sceptical, to be honest. 

Firstly, I ignore Peta altogether. As far as I'm concerned they are liars.

I want my product to be cruelty free through all stages of it's manufacture. None of the individual ingredient should be tested nor should be the final product. I feel companies should not comission third party to conduct animal testing. 

A lot of the companies make misleading claims to make it sounds like they do not test, when in fact they do. How to spot a lying company is explained in this guide at Uncaged.co.uk. 

The best list of cruelt-free make-up for central Europeans can be found at the Croatian site Prijatelji životinja. But do not worry, they have translated their WHITE LIST into English.

That is what I use when I go shopping. I also go by uncaged's guildeline that say that Hofer's own brand of cleaning products and cosmetics are cruelty-free.

I do not buy anything from the list of companies that still test on animals

The best way to ensure you are getting an ethical product is to look for natural cosmetics certificates. I find that the Vegan Society Certificate is the only one that meets my cruelty-free standards. 

However, please be careful - while a range may pride itself in being certified that does NOT necessarily mean that eve ry single product within the range is certified. If they bottle you are trying to buy has the certificate's logo on it, it's fine. If it doesn't have it, it means you have no guarantee you are buying a cruelty-free product even if the rest of the range might be.

I only fully trust three certificates; Vegan Society, Leaping Bunny and One Voice certificate. I also use BDIH and Natrue certified cosmetics.  You can learn more about natural cosmetic certificates and what their logos look like here.  

So what the heck do you even buy, you might ask. I'm including a list of some of the things I use here: 

1. Mineral and indie make-up companies

e.g Lily Lolo, Mineralissima, Bella Pierre,Alima Pure

American online minerals companies such as Fyrinnae, Darling Girl Cosmetics, Meow, Sugarpill

2. Slovene companies

Kimi d.o.o does stuff for Mercator's own cleaning products and Intespar too (but not the new ''Despar'' line!)

Afrodita

Ilirija (particulary Green Line)

Biotopic

3. Natural Certified products

Alverde (Natrue certificate)

Terra Naturi (Vegan Society certificate, BDIH)

Logona

Benecos

100 % Pure

Sante

Melvita

home cleaning line Sonett (Vegan Society)

4. Drugstore 

The only drugstore company I know of is that is cruelty free is Cosnova (Essence and Catrice), dm's own certified Alverde and Mueller's own brand Terra Naturi. And make-up from Hofer made by Perfumes And More.

 Within the price range there is also Barry M and Sleek.

(I do not buy the following drugstore brands because they test: Avon, S-he, Deborah, Bourjois, Revlon, Manhattan, Loreal, Maybelline, Misslyn, Miss Sporty, ArtDeco, BeYu:, Makeup Factory)

5. Department store

Isadora, Inglot, Nvey Eco, Illamasqua

Kryolan (more of a pro line not so much a department store)

QUESTIONS:

1.What is your favorite cruelty free brand?

My favorite cruelty free brand of all times is Fyrinnae. It's a well established independant company now ( such companies are affectionatley known as "indie"). They offer a wide array of eyeshadow with out of this world complexity, as well as blush, face powders, primers ... Not to mention they were the pioneers of the foiling medium that now everybody and their momma are copying, but Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy remains the cult product till this day.

On top of that, they NEVER conducted animal testing and all of their products are completely vegan.

2.What brand did you love until you found out it wasn't cruelty free?

Nyx Cosmetics - they do thrid party animal testing I didn't not know about and I sincerly believed they were cruelty free.

MAC - i'm sure you all got sucked into thinking they were an ethical company

BeYu  is a sister company of Art Deco who test on animals.

Balea, Drogerie Markt's (dm drugstore's) own skincare line is manufactured by Nivea. Nivea tests on animals.

3.What is a cruelty free drugstore brand you like?

Alverde is pretty awesome with it's price point and natural ingredient. 

4.Have you found a nail polish that is cruelty free?

To my knowledge as of present (March 2013) I consider Essence, Catrice and Zoya nail polishes cruelty free. I don't like using nail poilsh so this isn't something I buy or use more than a few times per year.

5.Have you found a perfume that is cruelty free?

I have no sense of smell so I never buy perfumes.

6.Why did you want to become a user of cruelty free products and how did you find out about cruelty free options?

 I will never understand why people do not care about animals being hurt. I think it's because they do not realize a vast amount of product is tested on cats, dogs and not necessarily just lab animals. It's not just rodents, guys, IT IS NOT JUST RODENTS. This article from uncaged.co.uk explains animal testing better than I ever could.

I was always against animal cruelty, very strongly so. I was only misinformed about the regulation. I thought that the European Union implemented a ban on all animal testing, therefore it was safe to buy anything sold in Europe. That was completely false.  I also followed PETA's guide, which is full of bullshit. I bought so many products tested on animals, because Peta's listed them as cruetly free when they absolutely weren't.

I was also unaware of how this China business works and I do now.

7. Do you eat meat?

After seeing Earthlings I have reduced my meat intake.

 I am not a vegan, however; I am trying to be more animal friendly with my eating choices. It's rarely easy when the budget is tight like mine and don't assume that I could be investing in vegan grocery if I didn't spend so much money on make-up. Its a false assumption I go out spending all my money on cosmetics. I don't.

At the momement I have successfully eliminated eggs out of my diet, I am not buying sea food as a regular thing, even though it's my favorite, and I have my animal protein source intake down to one serving of cca 100 g per week.

Unfortunately, I am unable to cut down on cottage cheese and low-carb plain probiotic yogurt. These two are a staple to my diet and no amount of soy milk has thus far converted me to completely vegan alternatives.

8.What is your favorite fruit and/or veggie?

Any berry and broccoli.

I love practically all fruit and veggie avaible in supermarkets in Slovenia.