Taking it old school beauty blogger with the pics in this post, I really want the writing to speak for itself. As some of you may know, in the past few months I have started buying only cruelty free beauty products. Although I do eat meat (this is for health reasons that I’m not going to go into in this post) I feel quite strongly about animal cruelty and after being educated in the world of vivisection I totally oppose buying from brands that test on animals.
The education came after an RE lesson that detailed the ins and outs of how products can be tested on animals; I was disgusted but mostly because I was contributing to this treatment in an indirect way. I questioned; but I’m not going to stop animal cruelty on my own? That is not a valid excuse for buying products that don’t test on animals and neither was the fact that most cheaper brands test on animals either – with a little bit of research you really don’t have to spend a huge amount to have a cruelty free makeup collection.
More than ever I’m noticing bloggers and Youtubers having a ‘cruelty free’ makeup routine and a ‘cruelty free’ skincare routine and it’s making me realise that collectively the ‘single’ person that didn’t think buying these products wouldn’t make a difference actually are. The more we talk, the more people realise that this matters. It’s an issue that should be talked about, because it’s an issue that otherwise goes unnoticed and animals will continue to be tested on for our benefit. If we have a say and we make our voice heard then brands will notice and stop testing, or at least notice the change.
I know that a lot of brands don’t always test their products on animals but they are sold in China (in China it is mandatory that products are testing on animals in China) so you do have to do a little research into the brand you’re buying from. But most brands have a statement on their website that is clear of their view on animal testing; and if they don’t then this may be a brand that has something to hide.
So how do you go about going cruelty free?
With a little research into brands, it is surprisingly easy to switch to cruelty free beauty. Generally I don’t impulse buy beauty products so I didn’t find this hard but if you do impulse buy beauty products well that doesn’t have to happen if you buy cruelty free. If I don’t know whether a brand is cruelty free or not quite sure then I simply won’t buy it. I made the mistake when I was on holiday in Barcelona this year of buying products from Tony Moly. They were Korean face masks, I’d never seen them before and I bought them purely because I’d seen people use them before and wanted to try them. After getting back home I googled them to include them in a post and it came to my attention that the brand tested on animals. In fact it was even worse, there was conflicted information on whether they tested on animals. Needless to say, research is the most important part in buying cruelty free.
Skincare is a harder area to switch your products as you know what works for your skin, it may take a while for your skin to adjust to new products. Luckily, most of my skincare bits were already from The Body Shop and my body butter was easy to change from Nivea to a Superdrug own one (a product that I love even more than the Nivea one).
Now, I don’t even contemplate buying from brands that test on animals. Walking past MAC in John Lewis and I don’t even give it a second glance, nope I do not wish to purchase Velvet Teddy again because guys what I found a dupe from Nars and NYX – both totally respective cruelty free brands with amazing products. You may have noticed that whilst I do still use MAC, it is purely because I am against wasting products as well. I bought them when I was uneducated and ignorant to the product I was buying but I still want to use them all up.
So… will you convert for a cruelty free makeup collection? I know quite a lot of you that read my blog are under 18 or students so if you wanted me to do a post on how you can buy cruelty free on a budget then I would definitely be up for doing that! Leave me a comment on your thoughts 🙂
Love, Eleanor xx
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