Going cruelty-free : The beginner's guide.

Becoming cruelty-free can be a bit tricky. With a little research, you will find some brands don't mention their policies, or that some do but then you find out later they're not being 100% honest, or some "parent companies" put you off cruelty-free brands.

I'm going to try and compile a "beginners guide" to becoming cruelty-free! I hope you find it useful :)
(note, I'm in the UK so this will be most beneficial to UK readers, but there will be information at the bottom that should benefit all readers).

First off, here are the brands I've spoken about on my blog as being cruelty-free (and one or two that are coming up shortly!)
Skin Blossom - face and body washes
MuLondon - Face washes and extra concentrated moisturisers, ideal for problem dry skin
Earthbound - Natural hand made facial products and lip balms
Lush - Lush do everything from soap to make-up, and they're all hand made, natural, and cruelty-free
Faith in nature - wide range of toiletires
bulldog - male toiletries (although I use them and think they're pretty unisex)
Gwdi-hw balms - from lip-balms to healing balms, handmade in Wales

So there's your washing and cleansing stuff sorted! :) Now on to make-up, and some more well-known brands. I know it's tricky to suddenly start buying from new companies you've never heard of so I'm just going to try and stick to ones we know for now.

Superdrug is a good place to start. Some people don't count them as cruelty-free as they give money to a company that test on animals. However, the company is cancer research. It's up to you what your decision is about this. The actual products in the following list are from Superdrug and have not themselves been tested on animals. Remember that all Superdrug own-brand items are BUAV approved and have not been tested on animals:
2True, GOSH, Beauty UK, Miss Sporty, Sleek, MUA.  

Bare minerals and Barry M are both great, well know brands that do not test on animals, and can be found in most shops that sell make-up, as well as online.

Urban Decay and The Body Shop have long been know to be great cruelty-free brands. However, they have both recently been purchased by L'oreal.  L'oreal as a company test on animals. They do, though, fund alternatives to animals testing, and none of the money from UD or TBS purchases go towards animal testing. Again, this is your choice. If what you want is to easily find products that have not themselves been tested on animals, these are good choices.

Unfortunately, many of your favorites probably don't appear on this list. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Rimmel, Revlon, and many more, test their products on animals. Please read my post on what animal testing is to see why I don't purchase from these brands anymore.

I know some people absolutely refuse to buy make-up tested on animals, and will boycott Urban Decay and other brands in a similar position. That's great! My own view of cruelty-free might not be "cruelty-free" to a lot of people. But I think if we all take small steps, it will send a message that we wish all companies to be cruelty-free. I know there's a new law being passed that bans animal testing in the EU, but many countries still test on animals. I would imagine a great way to get around this law is to simply launch your product in a country not bound by the law.  

If you really can't live without your MAC mascara, maybe you can make sure your eyeshadow is Barry M. If you would rather die than go without your Bobbi Brown foundation, then the rest of your make-up could be superdrug brands. If we all made these changes I think we could go a long way to ending cosmetic testing on animals.

This link leads to a much more comprehensive list, including brands you won't have heard of before. At the bottom you will find even more links to further information on how to tell if a brand is cruelty-free.  

I hope this list was helpful? Please let me know what you thought, and if you will be making any changes the next time you go cosmetic shopping? 

What is animal testing?

What's cruel about a rabbit in eyeliner?

 Sometimes when I tell people about my blog, they seem really surprised that makeup is tested on animals.
"What do they do, just put lipstick on rats?!"

I was google-imaging some photos for this, but as I don't want to upset or scare anyone, one of my hamsters is going to help me demonstrate. 

This is Jeff (or it might be Geoff...as I've mentioned, I actually haven't a clue but I love them both equally so it's OK!)

So adorable!! Now in this next picture is Jeff having applied some really bad lashes, lipstick, eyeshadow as blusher by accident [what does a hamster know about makeup], and having had Geoff give him some blonde highlights.

Ok, looks a bit creepy I admit, but no harm done. He's still got a swagger, he's keeping his chin up. Anyway, that's not what animal testing is, that's an animal experimenting with a bit of makeup.  This would be Jeff been in a lab where animal testing is conducted.

Wow, I know what you're thinking, do I have a degree in photoshop?! No, I don't guys, with practice you could all be this good!

Anyway, using a lot of imagination, we see Jeff's eye is very irritated as chemicals have been put in it, he is in constant pain and can barely see. He has a shaved patch on his front ready for irritants to be placed on there, and he has a bleeding patch on his back where he started to hurt himself in terror.  Once the lab sees how his eye turns out, he will be of no more use and will be killed.

So that's why I didn't put any actual photos, and that's why I try to keep away from companies or products that test on animals.  I don't need to look pretty to the extent where I wish for other animals to be tortured for it. Plus, I'm not a hamster, or a monkey, or a rabbit...things that irritate them might not hurt me, and things that are fine on them might irritate me! It doesn't seem efficient!

So that's a short explanation about what animal testing involves, and my views on it.

 

New Face Products!

I’ve tried a few face products in the last few months, and it’s got me thinking about our attitudes to new products. Here are a few things I’ve learnt:

1) Your face doesn’t need to “get used” to a product. If you start using it and you get spots, dry skin, a rash, or it just doesn’t do anything beneficial after about 3 days, give up on it.

2) Your skin doesn’t exactly become immune to products, but you may realise after a few months a product that used to work really well has started to plateau! What you need to do is just buy a really cheap version of that product (e.e. if it's a cleanser, get a £1 cleanser) and use it for a couple of days, and then go back to your old one, which should work good as new.

3) Things don’t “get worse before they get better”. A lot of people buy scrubs and things for spots and break out, and then decide that’s what happens and eventually the product will work. Refer to point 1).

4) Your skin changes, so if you’re stuck in a routine with the same product you had when you were 15, that you’re not sure what it does to your skin, then maybe go without for a couple of days and see what your skin does. You may already be using what’s best for you, but if your skin isn’t at it’s best then maybe it’s time to re-asses. 

Check back soon for more reviews, and feel free to message me, I love to hear from you :)

p.s. for cruelty-free "cheap products", savers, asda, and sainsbury's own-brand products aren't tested on animals. You can find the leaping rabbit logo on the back :)