What’s the difference between “cruelty free” and “vegan” cosmetic products?
What’s the difference between cruelty-free and vegan makeup?
“Cruelty-free” means the cosmetics were never tested on animals at any point in their production. Individual ingredients were not tested on animals, there wasn’t a third-party agency paid to test the product, and the company itself did not perform any tests or authorise any outside group to perform animal testing with their products.
“Vegan” means that the product does not have any animal derived ingredients in the formula. If it’s labelled vegan, it doesn’t contain any products that come from animals, such as gelatine, lanolin, carmine, etc.
So, in short, “vegan” is referring to what is in the products formula, where as “cruelty-free” has to do with who the product was tested on. And this isn’t just makeup—it goes for any product. For example, cleaning products or even house paint can also carry cruelty-free or vegan labels.
Is all vegan makeup also cruelty-free?
In short, not necessarily.
However, if a company is marketing their products to a vegan crowd and is taking the time to make sure their formulas don’t contain animals products, it doesn’t make sense for them to then test those formulas on animals; most people who are looking for a vegan label wouldn’t be comfortable purchasing a product tested on animals.
So, in my experience, most vegan makeup products that are explicitly labelled as vegan (not just accidentally-vegan) do tend to be cruelty-free.
The thing to look out for in this case is sneaky labelling - those who say they don’t test on animals except where required by law. That means they are fine with their products being tested on animals as long as it gains them entry into a lucrative market (such as mainland China where agreeing to test is required by law). You can make your own choices, but personally, if a company is willing to test products on defenceless animals in order to make a buck, I don’t consider them cruelty-free (and neither does Leaping Bunny, PETA, Logical Harmony, etc).
And of course, as mentioned, sometimes a product is accidentally vegan. Those products may not be cruelty-free, as the company wasn’t setting out to appeal to those who are conscience of animal welfare.
Is all cruelty-free makeup vegan?
No, actually quite the opposite. Lots of brands who are proudly cruelty-free are not vegan or only a selection of their products are vegan.
This one is tricky, because you would think that “cruelty-free” means that no animals are harmed in the making of a product. But, as we learned above, cruelty-free really only refers to animal testing.
Take carmine for example. Carmine is a red pigment, used in everything from red lipstick to pink and purple eyeshadow, and it is derived from crushing the cochineal beetle. Yep, they crush bugs to put into your makeup. However, even if a product contains dead beetles, as long as that product is then not tested on any animals (for example, putting that pink eyeshadow in the eye of a bunny) it can be labelled cruelty-free. (Check out my video on carmine to learn more.)
Some of the non-vegan ingredients used in makeup are a lot less gross than crushed beetles. For example, honey and beeswax is used often in lip products. But then again, some of them as even grosser, like gelatine. It’s really up to you to decide what ingredients you’re comfortable with.
When I started my journey, I made the switch over to cruelty-free products first (which are plentiful and easy to find, and typically well labelled). It’s only recently that I moved towards also checking if the product is vegan. I have a video on this topic, and at that point I wasn’t as concerned about if a product is vegan, but as we learn more we should do better, so I am now working on replacing all my non-vegan products.
As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, know that you can hit me up on Instagram. I always love hearing from you!
Big hugs,
Kassia