Do you see the little bunny at the bottom of your foundation bottle? Cute. Right? Some of your cosmetics may also have a leaf sitting next to them, almost like a meal for the fluffy critter. Well, it’s more than just cute. Those pictures mean your makeup is cruelty-free and vegan-friendly.
The 411 of Cosmetics
Dry skin, brittle nails, weak hair, chapped lips, and thin eyelashes are a few reasons we look for products that can help heal and improve our appearance. We pour money into moisturizers, foundations, and skin treatments to get a hydrated and energized look. Brands, ratings, reviews, commercials, smells, and item abilities influence our choices because the need for the product is the main focus of why we are searching for them in the first place.
The Bunny and the Leaf
So what does this have to do with bunnies and leaves? The rabbit icon below the ingredients of your makeup symbolizes the product’s certification status as “Cruelty-free”. Cruelty-free products are made and approved without the use of animal testing. As for the leaf icon, that means the product is certified vegan. Vegan-friendly cosmetics do not contain a single ounce of ingredients taken, derived, or sourced from an animal.
Vegan Does Not Equal Cruelty-Free (and Vice Versa)
Both certificates center around the involvement of animals, but they are not interchangeable with one another. Cruelty-free relates to animal testing, while vegan relates to the absence of animal-based components. A product could be stamped as cruelty-free, but it can contain animal-based ingredients and byproducts. The following are a few examples of animal products in cosmetics:
- Beeswax (bees)
- Lanolin (lamb)
- Carmine (beetles)
- Sericin (silkworm)
- Animal-sourced Collegian
A product can be 100% devoid of any animal-based ingredients; however, it can be sent to a laboratory in a different county, state, or country with different cosmetics testing procedures, such as animal testing. Thus, the product is vegan but not cruelty-free by those parameters.
Why Should We Bother?
Animal testing is seen as a viable stepping-stone to human trials, but the testing is a waste of time and money. Animal testing would be used to see the effects of the products, but when the testers moved to human subjects, the resulting reactions would be very different. We can use better methods with the advancements in scientific testing, such as computer simulations and predictions, human volunteer research, and lab-synthesized tissues.
Many other sources can be used as makeup ingredients besides animals. Plants and minerals can be extracted, while others can be synthesized in a laboratory. Now this does not mean those non-animal sources are sustainable or a cheater substitute, but it can help reduce the amount of animals being cultivated for cosmetics.
Final Thoughts
The Bunny and Leaf icons bring awareness to the underlying issues in the makeup industry that we as Earthlings need to address. Do some research on the makeup you use, find out what companies are certified brands, test out those recommended products, and spread the word about developing a more animal-friendly cosmetic industry.
