I'd spend most dinner breaks and trips into town trailing through the shelves of TKMaxx looking for beauty bargains and looking for offers in Boots and Superdrug. TKMaxx is great if you're looking for a bargain. I've had mid high end make up for so much less! There are some hidden treasures in there, as they sell make up brands that can't be found in other beauty stores within the UK. I've had a couple of items where I haven't heard of the brand before, but impulsively bought as it looked interesting and they've become staples in my make up collection. The only issue with TKMaxx is that you can't test the product and I've fallen victim to this a couple of times. Boots and Superdrug are good for 3 for 2 deals and if you spend so much money and you receive an item free. But I find that I end up buying things that I don't really need, purely for the free gift, which isn't necessarily something that I need, but I want it because it's 'free.'

I saw an article that had been shared onto my Facebook news feed in January 2016 and it intrigued me. The article was from August 2015 and posted on the Daily Mail website. The headline which caught my eye was, 'The cruelty-free cosmetics con: The top make-up brands testing on animals abroad (and the ones you CAN trust).' The article explains how the European Union made it illegal for cosmetics to be tested on animals back in 2013 but that loopholes in the law allow companies to refer to themselves as being 'cruelty free,' when in fact they are not. The article explains how the companies sell cruelty free products within the EU, yet they still have to comply with the rules of other countries which they sell their products in, for example probably the worst culprit of testing on animals, China. For an item to be sold in China, the products have to be tested in Chinese laboratories, which includes testing on animals. I'm not a tabloid reader and I never buy the paper, but I thought I'd do some research myself.

I found out that companies that sell their products in China have started stating that they do not test on animals, nor ask other companies to test their products on animals 'except when required by law.' I think that this can be misleading to many people - as I was under the impression that testing on animals was a thing of the past, that since the EU passed the law regarding animal testing, I just assumed that other countries had followed suit and also made it illegal. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Therefore, people who read their statement saying that they only test on animals 'when required by law,' wouldn't mean much to some people as they don't know about China's rules and regulations in regard to trading and selling.

After reading this article I started to look into this a bit further. The article, which I will link at the end of this post, gives a small list of brands that test on animals. There were some companies on there that I was completely shocked by and they all seem to be your typical 'high end' and more expensive brands. You also wouldn't believe which companies own certain brands. The list is a long one, but I'm going to list a few of the more marketed companies below, which you will have most likely heard of or have used:

Avon
Bobbi Brown
Benefit
Covergirl
Clean & Clear
Clarins
Chanel
Dove
Dior
Dolce & Gabbana
Estee Lauder
Elizabeth Arden
L'Oreal
Revlon
Rimmel
Stila
Vaseline
Yves Rocher

This is only a portion of the list. I'll leave a link at the end of this post to a search engine provided by PETA in which you can search singular brands to find whether they test on animals. When I realised that so many companies still tested on animals, I was frustrated and annoyed. I had many of these make up brands in my collection. I had a load of Rimmel lipsticks, I'd got some Stila bargains from TKMaxx and who doesn't have a pot of Vaseline hanging around their house somewhere? So I decided to go through my entire make up collection and see exactly how much of my make up was bought from companies that test on animals. I found the PETA search engine really useful whilst I was doing this and also gave me further information on the brands I had bought.

This is where it gets a little complicated. Some brands are owned by other 'brands' that we see on the market, however these brands are in fact huge companies that own many other brands you see in your local drug store. Once I had emptied my make up collection, I looked into some brands which classed themselves as cruelty free and carried the PETA bunny logo. This is a fool proof way of knowing as to whether a brand tests on animals or not. I looked at NARS statement on their website regarding animal testing and it states, 'NARS does not test on animals, nor do we have any other parties, such as suppliers, conduct any animal testing on our behalf. NARS uses only the highest quality ingredients which have a proven safety record and are widely used in the cosmetics industry,' so I bought a couple of items from NARS, (yet more TKMaxx bargains!) under the impression that I was purchasing cruelty free make up. Little did I know until a couple of weeks later when reading a blog post that NARS is owned by a company named Shiseido, which is not a cruelty free brand and does test on animals. In cases like this, it has been debated about buying from cruelty free brands which are owned by animal testing companies. Some people believe that buying the cruelty free brands will show the parent brand that they are only willing to buy products that are not tested on animals, trying to show them in sales profits and popularity that they should go 100% cruelty free.  This then made me look into which companies owned which brands and their animal testing policies. I'll list a few examples below:

L'Oreal Group own:
- Lancome 
- Giorgio Armani
- Yves Saint Laurent
- Ralph Lauren
- Garnier
- Maybelline New York
- NYX (does not test on animals)
- Keratase
- Essie
- The Body Shop
- Urban Decay (does not test on animals)

Estee Lauder Companies own:
- MAC Cosmetics
- Bobbi Brown
- Clinique 
- Estee Lauder
- Jo Malone 
- Michael Kors
- GlamGlow
- Origins
- Bumble & Bumble
- Tom Ford
- Smashbox
- Tommy Girl

Coty Inc own:
- Calvin Klein
- Chloe
- Marc Jacobs
- Philosophy (does not test on animals)
- OPI
- Rimmel
- Sally Hansen (does not test on animals)
- Miss Sporty
- NYC Color

None of the brands that are listed above and owned by Estee Lauder Companies declare to be cruelty free as they all use the 'except when required by law' statement.

On the plus side, I have found some great make up brands which are 100% cruelty free and some vegan and vegetarian. Since going cruelty free, I had grown a love and passion for Too Faced Cosmetics. I'd heard a lot about their products before purchasing, like their famous eyeshadow palettes which are in serious demand, so when they launch a new product it's out of stock pretty sharpish. Too Faced packaging is quite easily the cutest I've ever seen, from the brightly coloured tins to the heart shaped pans. I now own numerous Too Faced palettes including the Chocolate Bon Bons palette which includes eyeshadows in pretty pink and gorgeous brown shades, the Bonjour Soliel Bronzer Collection, which has become a daily must have and is great for travelling with and the Better Than Sex mascara, which I bought recently and have been using for around a week, but I'm pretty impressed with it.

I know that Too Faced Cosmetics isn't the cheapest brand around, but you really can pick up a bargain if you look in the right places. I found the Soulmates Blush and Bronzer Duo in the shades Carrie and Big and Ross and Rachel in TKMaxx for only £9.99 each, when these items retail for £26.00 each. If you know where to look you can get good quality high end makeup for so much less - and cruelty free!

Since making my make up collection cruelty free, I've felt a lot better about myself and I also have a lot of respect for the companies that refuse to test on animals just so that they can sell their items in countries like China. I personally, think it is extremely selfish of companies to agree to test on animals for the purpose of gaining money. I understand that 'money makes the world go around,' and companies have to make money in order to produce products, I just think testing on animals is disgusting. I'm not going to post any horrific images of animals that have been tested on, you can google that if you wish to. I think people need to be educated about animal testing, they need to know that some companies do test on animals and they need to see the repercussions on the animals. Maybe it might make people think twice when buying their 'staple' MAC 'Ruby Woo' lipstick or their 'amazing coverage' Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation.

I guess it is up to the person themselves as to whether the buy from the companies that state they don't test on animals, but their parent company does. I, myself, own Urban Decay and NYX products, but I don't think I'll be buying anymore. NYX currently carries the PETA bunny logo, but after L'Oreal Group bought Urban Decay they lost their bunny, so I'd say NYX probably will too. I understand where people are coming from stating that buying only the cruelty free brands will show the parent companies that they are making more money, but I don't think it will make any difference. Companies like these which are huge are making money and that's all they care about. If they cared about testing on animals, they'd pull their trade from China and go 100% cruelty free.

I think that a lot of people are unaware how bad animal testing is, how popular it still is and how many household and high end brands still test on animals. I see people reviewing and testing out products and telling their audience, 'It's great! Go and buy this!' when really, I think they should be putting it out there that they shouldn't support this brand and they shouldn't give their money to a company that abuses and ultimately kills innocent animals. But that's just my opinion!

For me, animal testing gets a..










**
Please take a look at these articles and web pages-
Daily Mail article - 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3127995/The-cruelty-free-cosmetics-make-brands-testing-animals-abroad-ones-trust.html
PETA search engine - 
http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/index.aspx
List of companies that test on animals (verified by PETA) - http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdotest.pdf
List of companies that don't test on animals (verified by PETA) - http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdonttest.pdf
**
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post, it is very appreciated! Make sure to follow so you can see the next time I post! ♥