Too Faced are Two Faced!

Too Faced use to be one of my favourite Cruelty Free brands – they offered great quality makeup for a good price and they seemed to truly care about animals…well thats all changed now!

Recently, Too Faced have sold their company to Estee Lauder, one of the leading large cosmetics brands that still allows animal testing to be used on their products. Now, some might argue that Too Faced are still Cruelty Free, however Estee Lauder owns the company and therefore a percentage of their profits goes to the parent company. Ultimately, if you buy from Too Faced, you are buying from Estee Lauder, and by buying through them and supporting them, you are supporting animal testing, and the thousands of animals who suffer so that Estee Lauder can sell their products in places like China.

 

I can’t understand why a brand, like Too Faced and Tarte, that claims to be Cruelty Free, and to love animals, would then sell out to a company like Estee Lauder! It seems to always come back to profits over values and animal welfare. Some brands do stick to their policies, and I am proud to support those who have an excellent stance on animal testing and seem to be truly Cruelty Free. Some brands just appear to be paying lip service to the idea so that more customers buy their products, and that seems to be what happened with Too Faced! It seems that they never truly cared about animal welfare, and the thousands of animals that suffer and die every year for the cosmetics industry, or else they would not have sold to Estee Lauder! They are two-faced about their values, their policies and have shown their true colours.They have now become another faceless brand that cares for profits instead of policies and sticking by them, that stand for money instead of for animals, and that the opinions of their consumers does not matter to them. Therefore I will not be supporting their brand anymore and will no longer be purchasing their products.

Please support TRUE Cruelty Free brands, such as theBalm, Paul Mitchell, Illamasque and Hourglass instead of false brands who only care for money instead of welfare.There are so many brands out there to choose from that are Cruelty Free, vegan and support animal welfare, so please support those who truly support animals.

For the paws.

Big News from the Netherlands!

There has been a big move forward for animal welfare in the Netherlands; The Dutch government is working to completely end animal experimentation in all capacities!

Around 7 months ago, The Netherlands passed a motion in Parliament to phase out primate experimentation, which meant labs had to reduce the number of tests carried out on monkeys, focusing instead on humane, non-animal testing methods.

Now the Dutch government has made it its goal to use only ‘human relevant, non-animal testing methods by 2025’! No other country has taken an oath like this for animals, and I think it shows the growing concern for animal welfare and the desire for the end of animal suffering to come about as soon as possible by people across the world. The changing attitude towards animals is spreading across the world, and I hope this signals the slow end of animal experimentation and exploitation.

This move away from animal experimentation will save thousands of dogs, cats, bunnies and more animals lives and will hopefully push more countries to do the same thing. If more European countries did this, not only would it save so many animals from short, painful lives of suffering and cruel deaths, but it also means we could put pressure on the Chinese government to end their animal testing, and ultimately begin the change in attitudes towards animals in China, a hub of animal cruelty in the world.

This will also make a massive change to science, bringing about cutting-edge experiments and developing methods in ways that could be interpreted as lazy and lax over the years. The fact that there is a date for the end of these experiments means there is an end in sight and labs have to actively show their move away from the use of animals in experiments, in comparison to the 3 Rs that we have in Britain, which means no lab is truly accountable in the same way. It will really push for this change to happen NOW, not later, in a few years, maybe when we get round to it.

I am so happy for this big victory for animals, and applaud the Dutch government for doing something so groundbreaking for animal welfare. Take note everyone, the Dutch did it first, but we should ALL follow in their footsteps towards a world free from animal suffering.

Top 5 Sites to Shop Cruelty Free!

It can be so difficult to find shops on the high street that sell Cruelty Free items, I know I have struggled numerous times! So below are my top 5 websites who only stock Cruelty Free items, so you can shop to your hearts content! These websites include Cruelty Free and vegan products and range from skincare to makeup products.

1) CutECOsmetics

This company is excellent, I have used them a number of times for makeup as they supply some of the really top Cruelty Free makeup brands like Sugarpill, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and theBalm. They are ‘an online eco, organic, vegan & cruelty free cosmetics specialist’ and family run! Their organic products are certified and all, and I do mean ALL, of their products are Cruelty Free.

They do free shipping over £40 and their products range from makeup, to skincare, to mum and baby products. I personally have found some new brands I love from there, like Hurraw! (BEST lip balm I have ever had!) and Shiro Cosmetics (nerdy makeup in stunning colours), and its so nice to be able to try anything and everything on their website.

 

2) There Must Be a Better Way

As someone who suffers from sensitive and acne prone skin, this website has been invaluable to me. They offer a wide range of products for numerous skin conditions from normal to sensitive to acne prone to people with eczema, and these range across all skin and body treatments. They also offer well-being, nutrition, baby, home and aromatherapy products as well

Their products are harmful chemicals and pollutants free, and offer 100% vegetarian (most of which is vegan), fair trade, sustainable Cruelty Free products. They have a strict Integrity Ingredients policy which states that they do not carry any items which contain animal by products of any kind, including animal hair in brushes and all products have to comply with their no animal testing policy. They audit and update their ingredients list regularly and ensure their suppliers adhere to this.

They are also very friendly and are happy to help with any queries you might have for what kind of products might suit your skin/needs. I have bought numerous items from this site and will continue to use them as its such as great source for skincare that is Cruelty Free and that doesn’t affect my skin.

3)Honesty Cosmetics

This company has been manufacturing Cruelty Free products since before it was such a hot issue, in 1984. Their products are endorsed by the Vegan Society, BUAV, the Ethical Company Organisation and Naturewatch, but they also stock other brands who are animal and environmentally friendly, and some organic products too.

They stock products that are vegetarian, vegan and Cruelty Free but more than that, they come from companies who believe in what they are selling and their vegan/vegetarian/Cruelty Free beliefs are part of their core business ethical as well as personally believing in it too (see my last blog to read about companies who don’t believe in what they are selling…).

4) I Choose What I Use

This company stocks men, womens and childrens skincare as well as aromatherapy and sun care products. An excellent feature of this website is that you can filter by which certification you want to shop by e.g. only looking at PETA approved products or Fair Trade products.

They only sell Cruelty Free and vegan products, the majority of which are made up of naturally derived products. They are an excellent company which you should definitely check out.

5) PHB Ethical Beauty

This isn’t a stockist website like the other 4, however I have included this website as I believe it to be an excellent resource for those looking for Cruelty Free, vegan and ethical products.

PHB products are made in the UK, Cruelty Free, vegan, halal certified, palm oil free and organic! Phew! Plus, 20% of their profit goes to charity, so they really do seem to be a really great company, and one that Cruelty Freers and vegans alike can shop with, with no worries about what the products contain and where their money might be going.

Image from Cosmeti.co.uk

Of course, you can also buy own-brand products from Supermarkets such as Marks and Spencers (though they do sell leather and other animal products), Tesco, Sainsburys and Aldi, all of which are Cruelty Free, available to most people and at a great price!

So please think about going Cruelty Free and help stop cruelty to animals!

For the Paws xx

 

 

 

 

Duty Free Cruelty Free?

I recently went on holiday with my boyfriend and we travelled through Gatwick North Terminal. As many of you know, buying duty free items is significantly less than buying them on the high street, so I was eager to see what was available and if I could snag some of my favourite brands at a good price.

However, I was dismayed to go through the entire lounge at Gatwick and discover that there were NO Cruelty Free brands or items available at the airport. Throughout the entire duty free shop, there were many beauty and perfume brands, however the majority of these were high-end designer brands, all of which were not Cruelty Free. There were also no shops/brands that sell Cruelty Free items outside of the main duty free shops; there were bag shops with leather items (and I do not trust buying leather anymore after my Dog Leather post), alcohol shops, electronic shops, and book shops but no beauty or lifestyle brands to buy from. This meant that I was unable to make ANY purchases, other than food from WH Smiths.

Considering that there are many higher end, trendy brands out there that ARE Cruelty Free, such as Jeffree Star, Too Faced, Illamasqua and Sugarpill, there should be no reason why these brands cannot appear within Gatwicks duty free shops.

I think that this is appalling; Cruelty Free and vegan lifestyles are far more common than they ever use to be and yet they are not catered for or even represented at all within Gatwick Airport. There should be the option to shop at the airport for Cruelty Free/Vegan people, and to take advantage of the duty free perks of being at the airport. Representation of lifestyle choice should be available in all shopping places, as it is to some extent on the high street and Gatwick is simply not representing a large portion of the UK market, which I think is a huge oversight on their part and ultimately means they are losing money, and quite a lot I think as people do stock up at the airport…