Makeup Mole: Cruelty Free Face

Facing up to cruelty free

My latest internet discovery, unearthed through the wonders of Twitter, is a fantastic directory for people who love makeup and animals—a way to look beautiful on the outside and feel good on the inside.

Founder Melisser Elliott is a US makeup artist with ten years experience—credits include Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, GQ and New York and LA runways, so she’s no slouch in the beauty department. Her love of animals led her to go vegan and eschew all beauty products created using animal testing or animal ingredients, meaning a huge revamp of her makeup kit. Realising what a dearth of information there was, crueltyfreeface.com was born.

Every year, millions of animals are poisoned and killed in barbaric tests… some of which date back to the 1920s. Rabbits, mice and guinea pigs are forced to swallow or inhale massive amounts of substances, even though the tests are often redundant or inapplicable to humans. With improved technology and techniques they are increasingly seen as unnecessary by consumers and can be detrimental to a brand’s image.

Given it’s such a contentious issue, finding information to make informed choices can be difficult. Increasingly, you don’t need to sacrifice performance for ethics and this directory is a great place to start. Some companies don’t test on animals but have products that contain animal derivatives. Crueltyfreeface.com looks at both to help you choose the type of product you want.

I was impressed by the broadness of the coverage. The site lists not just brands but drills down to specific products. For instance, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is not one that readily springs to mind when you think cruelty free, yet she had a number of (excellent) products on her list. And Melisser says the list is growing all the time.

“More and more companies seem to be tapping into cruelty-free cosmetics, from companies making vegan products to the flood of mineral and paraben-free makeup from even mainstream companies,” she says. “I suspect the eco market will continue to grow and we’ll have more cruelty-free products to choose from in the coming years.”

For those who like their makeup with a side order of ethics… crueltyfreeface.com

[Image courtesy Bobbi Brown]

The Makeup Mole