Earlier this year, I decided to make a huge switch in my beauty/skincare routine. I decided to start supporting cruelty-free brands. This decision took a long time for me to contemplate. Last year, I stumbled across a Youtube video from Mary Kaale, in which she explained her reasoning for going cruelty-free. Her reasons resonated with me but, to be honest, it seemed very overwhelming to make the switch. I thought about it off and on for about a year.
Fast forward to earlier this year, when I was doing a huge declutter of my beauty products. The declutter included makeup, skincare, body care products, etc. You name it! I threw out a lot of products that weren’t okay to give away. Those products were either used a lot or went bad or were probably close to going bad. I had an even bigger pile of products to give away to friends and family. Now, at this point, I had not decided to go cruelty free. I was still ruminating on the decision when I found the Cruelty Free Kitty website. I don’t know what it was about delving deeper into the cruelty free world at that moment, but it was exactly the kick I needed to push me over the edge.
After I read the Cruelty Free Kitty website, it made sense to go through all my beauty products and simply separate them into two different piles. I made a pile of cruelty free products, and I made a pile of non-cruelty free products. I learned two things. One, it was surprised how many of my products were cruelty free. Two, it surprised me how many of my products were not cruelty free. I realize how silly that sounds, but I was expecting to have very few products in the cruelty free category. Even further, it was surprising how many brands are not cruelty free. It made sense to me at that moment to make the switch, and I haven’t looked back.
If you’ve never really hard about cruelty free products, I will give the ‘long story, short’ of why I decided to make the switch. One, there are many ways of testing beauty products that don’t involve using animals. I can not monetarily support companies that use animals for testing, when we have pets of our own. Two, there are companies that are cruelty free but some of them are owned by parent companies that are not cruelty free. For example, Burt’s Bees does not conduct animal testing on its products. However, they are owned by Clorox, which does use animal testing on its products. For me, I will not continue to purchase Burt’s Bees products going forward. The way I see it is that supporting Burt’s Bees is the same thing as supporting Clorox. I see this is using my purchasing power for what I believe.
Third, some companies do not conduct animal testing on their products; however, if a company wants their products to be sold on mainland China they are required to let China test their products on animals. This only applies to products that are physically sold in a store on mainland China. For example, E.L.F. products are made in China but not sold in China. So, they are a cruelty free company. This information about selling products in China was a huge part of why I decided to make the switch. Why would a company not conduct animal testing but allow another country to test their products on animals? The answer is simple: money. This goes back to using my purchasing power to stand up for what I believe.
I do want to say that I am not anti-things-made-in-China. I simple believe that if a company wants to be cruelty free, they need to be cruelty free everywhere. And, to me, that means not selling their products in China until the laws have been changed.
Two other things I want to address are that I am not vegan. For health reasons, I am not vegan or vegetarian. I can see how people can see this as going against the cruelty free mindset, but I just can not be vegan or vegetarian. Also, my cruelty free switch pertains only to beauty products at this time. I find it difficult to make an entire life switch, although many products that I already use in our home are cruelty free. I would say that at this point 90% of my purchases are cruelty free, and my goal is to make the switch 100%.
The easiest way I’ve found is to make the switch product by product. For example, right now I am on the hunt for a new foot cream. I have some non-cruelty free products that I, unfortunately, love that I am currently using up. And my goal is to find cruelty free replacements when they are used up. I do not want to purchase non-cruelty free beauty products going forward, but I also do not want to be wasteful.
So, this is officially the longest intro for this post, which is supposed to be all about my skincare cruelty free faves. Without further adieu, here are my current skincare faves!
NIP + FAB Glycolic Fix Cleanser
This NIP + FAB Glycolic Cleanse Fix melts away my makeup and cleanses my skin. It has been a part of my evening skincare routine for a few months. It contains glycolic acid and amino acids that gently exfoliate your
skin. For some added moisture, it also contains olive oil. My face
feels very smooth and fresh after using this, and I love how quickly it breaks up my makeup. The scent is slightly citrus and very fresh. It is very affordable at $7.95. It used to be available through Ulta; however it’s no longer available. I’ve found it online on Amazon, Walgreens, and Target.
FARMACY Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm
When I started searching for cruelty free brands, FARMACY popped up in my searches. I’d recently purchased a set of their sheet masks from Sephora, so I dove in even further and ordered some more of their products. This cleansing balm is so pampering, I love it. It does the same thing as the NIP + FAB Cleanser — it melts away my makeup and cleanses my face. This is for super pampering evenings when I want to spend more time on my routine. I’ve tried a few more of their products recently and will post reviews when I’ve used them a bit longer!
Ole Henriksen Counter Balance Oil Control Hydration
I’m currently trying to find a cruelty free day moisturizer. For background info, the reason I have two different moisturizers is because my skin gets oily in my t-zone throughout the day. I load up on moisturizing products in the evening, and I prefer mattifying products for the day. This Ole Henriksen moisturizer ticks off a lot of my boxes — mattifying, SPF, moisturizing without being greasy, cruelty free, and the bottle has a pump. The only downside is the price. At $34, it’s definitely worth the price tag; however, I hope I am able to find something similar at a cheaper price point. If I don’t find anything cheaper, I will definitely re-purchase this one!
Well, this wins the award for longest post in the history of my blog. If you made it to the end, thank you! I hope this has been of some value to you, if only for the product reviews. I look forward to reviewing more cruelty free products, because it’s been difficult to find reviews for myself. If I can at least put out some helpful reviews of cruelty free products, that will make me very happy.
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Rebecca has been writing about style, beauty, and lifestyle topics since 2011. Thank you so much for reading this post! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I love hearing from you!
