I've been wanting to write about this for a while. About 6 months ago, I decided to go cruelty-free with my makeup. That just means that I only buy makeup from brands that do NOT test their products on animals. It was such an easy decision, and the only reason I haven't done it sooner was that I hadn't thought about it. I LOVE animals, and I think it's disgusting that we even have brands that would test products on them. I can't imagine giving them my money or using their products.
It has been surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I thought I would have a really hard time finding brands that are cruelty-free, but it turns out that some of my favorite products are already cruelty-free! In addition to that, I've found some amazing products that I now love when I otherwise wouldn't have found them. I can promise you that any product you have that is not cruelty-free MOST DEFINITELY has a very comparable if not exact duplicate in a cruelty-free brand.
Now that I've said that, I must say that I am NOT an expert on this. I'm still learning, and I still have a long way to go. This is simply just me sharing my experience. I want to share a few steps to make transitioning to cruelty-free easier. This post will be strictly about makeup, but I would love to do other posts talking about skincare, nail polish, hair products, etc. I am still learning, so I want to do more research on those categories, but I definitely want to share what I've learned.
*DON'T throw away all of your non cruelty-free makeup. Use up what you have, because it does no good to waste a product you already have. Vow to use what you have and start buying cruelty-free products as you need them.
*Check out Logical Harmony's comprehensive cruelty-free brand list. This website is amazing. The brand list is a COMPLETE list of all brands that are cruelty-free. This is a great resource if you are in the store and need to quickly check and see if a product you're looking to buy is actually cruelty-free. Sometimes brand websites will be quite vague about their cruelty-free status, so I recommend always checking this website before you buy.
*Keep in mind that if a brand is sold in China, it has to undergo animal testing to be sold, so you absolutely CANNOT purchase from a brand if they are sold in China.
*Don't get discouraged. I was under the impression that going cruelty-free would be expensive. Absolutely not! There are some amazing cruelty-free drugstore brands. In my opinion, the ones that are not cruelty-free (Maybelline, L'Oreal, Revlon, CoverGirl, etc.) do not offer great quality products anyway. I didn't miss them at all when I went cruelty-free.
*Be open to trying new products. This goes hand in hand with what I said in the last point, but like I said, I have found some of my favorite, can't-live-without products just by randomly buying some new ones to try out.
I'm going to include some of my favorite drugstore and high-end cruelty free brands (plus some of my favorite products from those brands!), as well as some brands you need to AVOID. For a complete list, don't forget to check out the Logical Harmony list above. It's incredible!
FAVORITE High-End Cruelty-Free Brands + Favorite Products:
*Tarte - Available at Ulta, Sephora, and the Tarte website
Shape Tape Concealer
Amazonian Clay Blushes
These are SO long-wearing. Probably my favorite blush I've ever tried. I love the shade Captivating (shown in the picture).
Rainforest of the Sea Lipsticks - My favorite is the shade Salt Lyfe.
Anastasia Beverly Hills - Sold at Ulta, Sephora, and the ABH website
Modern Renaissance Eyeshadow Palette - This is probably the most popular eyeshadow palette in the last 5 years. The colors are beautiful, and the shadows blend together amazingly well. You really can't go wrong with any eyeshadow from ABH.
Brow Wiz - This makes it so easy to get natural looking brows.
Lipglosses - These glosses are so pigmented and stay on your lips much longer than a typical lipgloss. I love the shade Toffee.
The Balm - Sold at Kohl's and The Balm website
Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter - The prettiest natural highlight!
Take Home the Bronze Anti-Orange Bronzer
FAVORITE Affordable Cruelty-Free Brands + Favorite Products:
*I have SO many favorite drugstore brands. I have a few high-end products that I love and that I feel like can't be replaced, but I have so many favorite affordable products. It's so much fun for me to go in CVS and just walk around seeing what's new. If you find the right products, you honestly don't need to worry about purchasing high-end products.
ColourPop - Sold at the ColourPop website.
Single Shadows - These are some of the best eyeshadows I've ever used. I have a whole bunch of these in a Z Palette, which is just magnetic palette that you can add all your single shadows to. It makes it so easy to combine all your favorites. You really can't go wrong with any of ColorPop's products.
Essence - Sold at Ulta
Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara - This is my absolute favorite mascara including high-end mascaras. All of Essence's mascaras are incredible. And they're all around $5!
Pure Nude Highlighter
Eyeliners - These are really pigmented and creamy!
NYX - Sold at Ulta, Target, CVS, Walgreens, the NYX website, etc. (Very easy to find!)
HD Finishing Powder in Banana - Just for underneath the eyes. This is great!
Lip Liners - They have great lip liners!
L.A. Girl - Sold at Ulta, Walgreens, CVS, and the L.A. Girl website
Pro Matte Foundation - This is new, and it's my new favorite foundation!
Those are just a few of my favorite products, but there are so many more! I hope this was informative and interesting and gives you something to think about the next time you go shopping for makeup.
