Going Vegan & Cruelty Free For Makeup Purchases in 2022

 For the new year of 2022, I decided that I wanted to start being a better consumer, and in addition to paring down my purchases, I only want to purchase from cruelty-free brands, and if they're also vegan brands, even better. I found a list of officially cruelty-free makeup and skincare brands on another website if you'd like to check it out.

Why did I say "cruelty-free" first, though? Cruelty-free means that the brands don't test on animals at all. Vegan brands might not contain animal products, but some do actually still test on animals. Since I don't have that much knowledge about the makeup I already own and whether or not they are vegan and cruelty-free, it just makes more sense to me to start with cruelty-free brands first.

I won't be getting rid of any makeup I currently have if it's not vegan or cruelty-free...That would just be ridiculous! I just want to be a more informed and thoughtful consumer going forward. Just remember that just because a brand has one of these images on their products, there's no real governing body that checks them out to make sure they are in fact vegan or cruelty free. You gotta do the work yourself to make sure!

I'm also not that worried about non-vegan products yet in my makeup, because I also am not a vegan. I'm not even a vegetarian. But I did find a list of animal-derived products that can be found in makeup if you were interested:

• silk powder
• carmine (carminic acid)
• beeswax (cera alba)
• honey
• propolis
• lanolin (and various derivatives, including triterpene alcohol)
• allantoin
• alpha-hydroxy acids (often in anti-wrinkle creams and exfoliants)
• ambergris
• arachidonic acid
• biotin (often in shampoos)
• caprylic acid
• cochineal
• castor (castoreum – from beavers’ anal glands, oh yes)
• cerebrosides
• cetyl alcohol
• cholesterol
• collagen
• chitosan
• L-cysteine
• cystine
• emu oil
• oestrogen (estradiol)
• fish scales (in shimmery makeup!)
• gelatin
• glycerin
• guanine
• hyaluronic acid
• keratin
• lard
• linoleic acid
• lecithin
• monoglycerides, glycerides
• mink oil
• myristic acid
• oleic acids
• nucleic acids
• panthenol (provitamin B5 and derivatives)
• palmitic acid
• polypeptides
• polysorbates
• pristane
• progesterone
• shellac
• RNA
• royal jelly
• snails
• squalene
• stearic acid
• turtle oil
• urea (uric acid)
• vitamin A (retinol)
• vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)

I did get this list from this website.