Vegan Makeup

I've recently being paying closer attention to the ingredients in my makeup as I'm pretty much aiming to get rid of all animal products (so that includes feather pillows, leather, fur, etc). I decided to educate myself about makeup ingredients which took well over 5 hours and a labyrinth of Internet tabs to conduct a boring, but factual, summary sheet of ingredients and tips (I may post another day). While I was individually typing each ingredient that included any animal by-product... and I'm talking about words like stearoxytrimethylsilane (fat taken from pigs' stomachs, cows, sheeps, dogs, cats, etc)... it made me realise how un-natural all these ingredients are and why on earth I was using them in the first place. If I was rich enough I would definitely throw out all the non-vegan products I own BUT I have to opt for plan B.

BYS blush in 'Pretty in Pink' - not so pretty
as the ingredient CI 42090 causes cancer
in animals

So here's plan B... use up all my makeup and take note of products that are / aren't vegan. Unfortunately I did find out that some products I was using included cancer-causing ingredients and those products were headed straight to the bin. It's funny because I don't wear makeup on a regular basis but I own a whole stash of it. I guess at the time when I bought all those cosmetics I was not well educated and if you think about it, I gave money to companies that support animal testing and basically animal cruelty.

I think it was early last year, but for science at school we had to choose a topic for some research project and I decided to choose 'animal testing'. The more I was reading into the topic, the more appalling things I was finding out. I think most people would know about the images that PETA provide that prove the cruelty of animal testing. If you have a weak stomach I probably wouldn't recommend searching it, but it's stupid that we're even using those products to begin with. I mean if some doses of a chemical have caused a reaction on an animal why should we use it on ourselves?

You may be wondering why it is stupid to test on animals well first off, animals can react differently to chemicals than we as humans do. And this may sound like a "sick" idea, but why aren't we applying these chemicals on humans instead? We're the ones who are going to be using the chemicals and not the animals. Light bulb... maybe serial killers or any other inhuman beings can be set up for the testing? What have the animals ever done? Nothing. What have the serial killers and rapists done? Exactly. I know that sounds harsh but it is sadly a fairer way. Animals are still living things! Yes, we are higher up on the food chain but if you think about it why isn't anything being done about how animals are treated? It's because people think they're only animals.

Should our decrease in squalane levels in our
20's lead to 2.7 million deep sea shark
deaths per year?

One of the most appalling ingredients I found was in Garnier's Roll-On Tinted Concealer. The ingredient was squalane. Sounds like a typical name that you would read on an ingredient list right? Hard to pronounce, never seen the word before... well sorry to break it to you but it's shark liver oil. NO WONDERRRR makeup costs so much! In one of my $25.95 mascaras (Rimmel Argan Oil Mascara...price lowered to $17.95?) I found a whole array of animal products ranging from silk powder to beeswax. SILK POWDER, no wonder it costs so much! What else are they hiding in it... crushed diamonds?! Only kidding, but seriously in a black goop I wouldn't expect so many strange ingredients. I've always been obsessed with makeup but now that I can actually identify the ingredients in the list I can't help but look at a certain product and know that there is an animal by-product in it.

The Internet is a very useful tool if you want to find vegan makeup products as most people have already made lists about some products that are 'accidentally vegan'. I should really start a new post about products and food that are 'accidentally vegan'. In case you're confused, it is a phenomenon where a certain product of any kind doesn't intend to be vegan but is.

more details and chemical-free products at pangeaorganics

Yes, vegan alternatives to makeup are expensive but for the most part I think they aren't getting the attention they deserve! Pangea Organics made this awesome fact sheet on the right about dangerous chemicals to avoid in beauty products (click to enlarge). It would be a good idea as a weekend activity to open up all your bathroom drawers and throw out any product that include those particular ingredients. Some awesome vegan makeup brands include...
- rms beauty
- 100% pure
- everyday minerals
- nudebynature although some of their range include animal by-products, their infamous mineral powder is 100% vegan :) And in their FAQ they are asked if they test on animals and their reply was "Absolutely NOT!".

I would however advise you to double-check the ingredients in those makeup products as most are organic and natural, but some ingredients are still animal-derived (beeswax is a common one). An extremely detailed list provided by logicalharmony.net can be seen here.

Yes, replacing my makeup products with 100% vegan products won't be an easy task but I think the hardest thing is continuing to use animal-derived products. My personal thoughts are that those poor animals risked their lives to provide a particular ingredient and I'm not going to let that go to waste. Yes, it is gross thinking that I'm smothering an animal fat or oil on my face but I'm not one to waste.

One of my new goals for my blog is to create attention about animals and provide information about the makeup industry's dark side. I think it is a right for us to know about what products we're using on our bodies as we absorb up to 60% of what goes on our skin. I also think that young girls are blinded by the dark side with fancy packaging and advertisements to purchase a new makeup product.

In the end, the makeup companies are just trying to make money and for most places it is a standard to set out animal testing. I think the best way to make a change is to start creating your own products from natural ingredients (coconut oil is a lifesaver!), buying products that are 100% vegan and letting your friends and family know about the issue. I hope that my post has opened your eyes to see what kind of world we actually live in.