Have your Products been Tested on Animals?

Think of all the products you use on a daily basis... toothpaste, shampoo, soap, cleaning detergent, washing up liquid, make up etc. Have you ever wondered before buying them, 'how are these tested?' 'What ingredients make up these products?'

If your answer is no, then don't worry, your not alone, most people don't. Its not the first thing that goes through your mind when you quickly run into Boots to buy a new foundation. But this is where I would like to help. I want to share with you my story of how I transitioned into living a cruelty free life so hopefully I can inspire you to do the same.

I have been living completely cruelty free for over 3 years now. Before that I was completely oblivious to how our products that we use gets tested. I had been using brands such as MAC, Benefit, NARS, Bobby Brown etc not having a clue how unfriendly they were to animals. It wasn't until I was on one of my train journeys home where I read a report exploiting MACs unethical testing.

I was devastated! How could I be an animal lover and only just realising that I had been supporting a companies that puts innocent animals through pain and torture just for our superficial benefit?

I won't go into too much depth about what happens during these tests (if you want to know more please contact me) but often the animals such as Rabbits, Rats, Guinea Pigs

and in some rare cases Beagles, have the substances/chemicals dripped into their eyes or spread onto their shaved skin whist in full body restraints, which stops them to relieve the pain with their paw because it would cause interference to the experiment. Most animals are killed after the experiment is over!

The good news is, its illegal in the EU to test cosmetic on animals. The bad news is, its not illegal to import products over that has been tested on animals.

These animals don't have a voice or a choice to do this. They have feelings just as we do, despite if people believe that or not, they do. Its a well known fact that an animals skin is completely different to humans therefore meaning the tests aren't even accurate! Its just 'convenient'. So why are we still doing this?! They are suffering for something that isn't even a necessity! Its not Okay!

I spent the rest of my train journey researching about the other brands in my makeup bag to find out if they too were tested on animals and unfortunately 90% of them were. THIS HAD TO CHANGE!

I spent the next few days reading various different blogs and articles about which brands WERE in fact cruelty free. As I was researching I discovered that a lot of mainstream products that say they are cruelty free are sold in China, where by law they require to test EVERYTHING on animals even if its been approved else where without animal testing they will still do it! This means the company pays someone else to test on animals so they can have their products sold over there, meaning they aren't really cruelty free.

It did take sometime but I found some amazing animal friendly products! My make up bag now consists of a lot of Urban Decay products (most of their products are vegan now too!), Anastasia Beverly Hills and Revolution. (More blog post to come about different companies).

It didn't stop there, I then realised that I should check all my hair products and then my skin care routine and then all my toiletries and basically everything that I use that could be harmful for someone including cleaning products. Most people wouldn't even think that their cleaning products would be animal tested but most brands are! Luckily I found Ecover and Method cleaning which are all cruelty free and really effective as well!

It took some time find alternatives for everything that I had been previously using and sometimes it could be quite difficult but I enjoyed the journey. I learnt so much and became more aware and compassionate toward living creatures and I personally feel it made me grow into a better human being. Now that I know what products I like and know what to buy its so easy and I want to make it easy for you too!

In one of my future post I will be making an ultimate guide to cruelty free living so keep you eyes peeled for that! In the mean time if you would like any recommendations for products just give me a shout and make sure you look out for the leaping bunny logo on the packaging on your products.

I hope you enjoyed the read!

With Love

Lottie xx