Hey guys.
I had been corresponding with a representative from Nars for about a month now. Of course, to get the details on their cruelty-free status. As I researched, I managed to learn bareMineral's cruelty-free status as well, along with a collection of other companies. Some I'm sure you probably never heard of and some maybe you have. I'm just listing Nars & baraMinerals because they are the most well known.
They will also be on my cruelty-free list.
So get ready, this is going to be lengthy.
I know a lot of you are anxious to hear whether these very popular & lusted after companies are cruelty-free.
I hope to help clear the rumors you might have heard.
I began by emailing them. I won't share it, just to save you some time and to get to the point. (If you're really curious, it went something like: "I'm a [potential] costumer and I demand to be listened to!!"
I then received a series of email, so get ready to do a bit of reading.
Dear Camila,
Thank you for contacting NARS Cosmetics.
While NARS is not a member of PETA, Nars does not test on animals, nor do we have any other parties, including our suppliers, conduct 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. If you are questioning a particular product ingredients, please specify the product and we will be able to better answer your question. If we can assist you further please don't hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
[I've omitted any names]
Customer DesiresNARS Cosmetics
I have a few problems with that email. For one, they say "nor do we have any other parties, including your suppliers, conduct animal testing.." To me that says, 'although we do not encourage third party animal testing, we do not exactly demand that third party companies DO NOT conduct animal testing'. Hopefully, you understand what I'm getting at.
They were not clear on the China issue. I had included that as a question in my original email. Therefore, I emailed them again.
"Thank you for contacting me so promptly.
Why doesn't Nars become affiliated with PETA? It would help people, like myself, that only purchase cruelty-free products. Also it would open a huge new market target. Also, does Nars sell to China? I'm sure you are aware of China's animal testing policy.
-Camila AlvarezI always like asking them about becoming affiliated with a animal rights group.(i.e. PETA, LeapingBunny). I feel that it saves time for people who only purchase cruelty-free products.
Maybe a day or two later I received this email:
Dear Camila,
We are not aware of any plan to retail in China.
NARS is owned by Shiseido.
If we can assist you further please don't hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
[I've omitted any names]
Customer DesiresNARS Cosmetics
This is where my research became interesting. As you know, from the description of this blog. I do not support companies who are "cruelty-free" but are owned by companies that are NOT cruelty-free.
It does not make any sense to me. If you buy from those types of companies, your money is going toward who knows what. You might be funding the animal testing.
I then went on Shiseido's website. Before this correspondence I had never heard of Shiseido. Apparently, they are a separate beauty company and the parents of Nars, bareMinerals, etc. They apparently own: Nars and bareMinerals, and a bunch of other companies. Click here to see that list.
They own makeup companies, they also own skincare, haircare, body care companies.
After my eyes starting hurting from looking at all the companies they own. I went to see if they sell in China. And I'm sure you can guess, that of course they sell in China. Here is their Chinese website. That's evidence enough for me.
So, are Nars & bareMinerals (they are both owned by Shiseido) cruelty-free?
Of course not. I didn't even bother to check the section where, they mention all the work they have done to end animal testing, because frankly I'm tired of reading that crap over-and-over again.
I hope this post helped you in some form. I know I was not surprised to hear that Nars is not cruelty-free, I was however somewhat surprised to hear that bareMinerals is not. Either way, I don't own any of their products so I wont be missing them. I'm sorry if you are a huge Nars or bareMinerals fan, and this news is hard to swallow. Just remember that the life of an innocent bunny, cat, or dog is more precious than participating in a beauty trend. Also, bunnies, dogs, and cats are not going to be using these products, so it's not fair for them to sacrifice their lives, for something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Don't get me wrong I'm a true, girls-girl but I know where to draw the line. Do you?
Wow what an interesting post, thanks so much for sharing and raising awareness of the issue. I am totally against animal-cruelty as well!
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting! I'm glad it was helpful!
DeleteI agree with you there. if the brand is owned by a company that tests, we should not support them unless they are BUAV certified because that is one strict organization. you should check out their list too, because their qualifications are stricter than peta and leaping bunny :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I have been recently introduced to them. I'm glad there are more organizations out-there, they really help us out . I hope this blog is helpful to you. :)
DeleteI've recently gotten into cruelty-free cosmetics, and was just Googling different brands to see if they were into animal testing. I've never purchased from NARS and bareMinerals, and certainly won't ever do so! Thanks for the insightful article :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found this information!! You're not alone, I've never purchased from either of them :) Thank YOU for your lovely comment. <3
ReplyDeleteI've read that shiseido is now going cruelty free since the banned of animal testing in Europe
ReplyDeleteThat's good news! I'm not sure what to think about them claiming that, I'll have to look into it. But it is exciting to imagine. I will definitely be contacting them and share what I find. I wish the US could ban animal testing as well, so many good things are coming from the EU ban :) <3 Thanks for letting me know, I truly appreciate it :)
DeleteHi Camilla,
DeleteI am from Australia and was currently researching new make-up to buy when I came across your blog! I absolutely adore it! I was wondering whether any news regarding this comment has arisen? If not I may have to contact them myself.
Thanks, Ally
Thank you for doing this :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to comment & I'm glad you found this helpful :)
DeleteHi I found your site because I'm also doing research on makeup brands to determine whether they are cruelty-free or not and PETA lists Bare Escentuals on their Cruelty-Free list. http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdonttest.pdf But PETA also lists Shiseido as NOT Cruelty-Free http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdotest.pdf So I'm just a little confused. I understand what you're saying about parent companies forcing their views on the little brands and all that, and this does remind me of the whole Urban Decay being cruelty-free and having vegan products but are now owned by L'Oreal who have recently fallen onto the NOT Cruelty-Free list. So where do we cut the line? How can we be sure that the products we are buying are actually Cruelty-Free?
ReplyDeleteHi Steph,
DeleteThank you for taking the time to comment! I truly appreciate it.
Well, as you can see on PETA's cruelty-free list, next to Bare Escentuals "Shiseido" is in parenthesis. This tells you that Shiseido is the parent company of Bare Escentuals, meaning that they own that company. Many companies that are owned by non-cruelty-free companies are "cruelty-free". For example, Burt's Bees that is owned by Clorox is technically "cruelty-free" or UrbanDecay. (BTW: when I say cruelty-free I refer to the fact that no animal ,what so ever, is hurt in the process; from raw ingredients to finished product.)
Although Burt's Bees (this is an example) might not test on animals, their parent company "Clorox" does test, and funds those cruel tests. You cannot be certain that your money goes just to Burt's Bees, it might end up in the pockets of those CEOs, etc ,that knowingly fund animal testing.
Meanwhile, some don't care-- or maybe don't give much thought-- to where their money ends up, but I care, and I care a lot. I think voting with your money is powerful and when you purchase from a company who indirectly funds animal testing, you are keeping the torture of those animals alive. (by "you" i mean everyone ).
That is why the finding out who the parent company is so important to me when I conduct this research.
Now to answer your second question. We can never be 100% sure that a company is cruelty-free, which is unfortunate :( Unless you go into the factors, labs, etc where the products are manufactured, which most companies won't allow that.
Also, in the USA ,at least, the FDA does not require animal testing, but it is also not illegal. I think the best bet is to purchase only from LeapingBunny's list. LeapingBunny requires that companies go through an audit process to accredit them as cruelty-free. Be sure to read the symbols next to the companies (such as **); see what they mean at the lower left side of the list. Some companies listed are technically 'cruelty -free', but are owned by non-complying parent companies.
I hope this clears things up! Thanks once again for commenting! I love that you are concerned and care so much! It makes me more motivated!
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI run a facebook page to raise awareness about animal testing and encourage people to boycott products tested on animals. I just featured this blog post on my page https://www.facebook.com/PledgeAgainstAnimalTestedProducts
I am looking for a new admin for the page. If you are able to assist, that would be great as we need people passionate and knowledgeable about this topic to actively raise awareness. Please let me know if you are able to help :)
Hello Sabz,
DeleteYes, I have checked out your facebook page and think it's truly amazing!!!! Thank you sooo much for featuring my blog! I can't thank you enough. <3 I would love to assist with the page. Email me at ca.alva@yahoo.com. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for your research. I'm ghostly pale and have spent months searching for a foundation that actually matches my skin colour. Now I recently came across NARS and when I saw their almost white Siberia-foundation, I had a little voice in my ear saying "too good to be true".
ReplyDeleteFunnily when I asked the sales girl in Selfridges if NARS was cruelty-free before agreeing to try on the foundation, she said "Of course!" ... I even specified that I was concerned about the parent and supplier companies too, she brushed away all of those concerns. Didn't 100% believe her and went home to google it myself.
I really wonder if they actually lie to their salespeople or if those know what's really going on and deliberately mislead their customers. Anyway, I'm going to fake-tan in sunbeds from now on... that fair-foundation-search is hopeless, haha!
I'm glad you decided to look into it yourself! It's really important not to relay on what the people at the counter say. They might not mean to mislead you, but their job is to sale the product. I'm glad you found this helpful.
DeleteTHANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I WAS a HUGE Nars fan before reading this post! Not anymore. I do really really love their blushes but I defiantly don't agree with with their parent company testing on animals or the testing done in China.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a correspondence with a Mary Kay associate. I won a free makeover and scheduled the date and then looked to research if they were cruelty free. While they are cruelty free in the USA, they do still test on animals in China. I called the associate and she said," we are aware of the testing in China but we are staying in China to fight the testing. If we don't fight it who else will?" At that point I dropped the call. She was basically saying yes we will fight for the cause of not testing on animals BUT we are going to continue doing it while we do so. MOST FRUSTRATING CONVERSATION!
I can imagine! I'm glad you found this helpful!! :D
DeleteObrigada, Camila! Eu sou brasileira e algumas vezes tenho dificuldades para encontrar produtos mais elaborados e livres de crueldade. Prefiro andar sem qualquer maquiagem a financiar tanta tortura. Quase caà na falsa afirmação da Nars.
ReplyDeleteNars - nunca mais!
Camila, uma dúvida: você sabe se a BENEFIT é uma marca "cruelty-free"?
ReplyDelete: (
Obrigada!
Sadly, Benefit sells in China and China requires animal testing. No, Benefit is not cruelty-free. Sorry!!
DeleteTHANK YOU, loved this post :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this site and post and for corresponding with NARS. When a parent company tests or sells in China but the child company does not, I take into consideration the ethics of the child company. Is it like Urban Decay, who gives money to animal protection groups and promotes vegan cosmetics? Or is it like NARS, who doesn't want anything to do with Peta and doesn't tout being cruelty-free. As a general guideline to myself, though (with a couple of Urban Decay exceptions), if the parent tests, the child isn't in my shopping basket.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a recommendation for a cruelty-free mascara that is waterproof/water resistant/smudge-proof/cry-proof? I have such horrible luck with mascara it's ridiculous! Even waterproof! It winds up everywhere lol...
ReplyDeleteDo you have a recommendation for a cruelty-free mascara that is waterproof/water resistant/smudge-proof/cry-proof? I have such horrible luck with mascara it's ridiculous! Even waterproof! It winds up everywhere lol...
ReplyDeleteelf mineral infused mascara or i heart u mascara by essence. I try to show many cruelty free brands on my channel visionaryvoice if interested and would be more than happy to help!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletesorry to tell you this, but Stilla just changed their cruelty free status and now tests "when required by law" I am currently uploading video on this on my youtube channel visionaryvoice if any1 interested.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I almost wanted to get a NARS foundation. Shiseido is famous in Japan and some parts of Asia.
ReplyDeleteMay I pose a question?
ReplyDeleteI am vegan and completely opposed to animal testing; however a vegan friend of mine recently said that he buys products from companies that do not test but are owned by a company that does.
When I pointed out that his money could be used to fund animal testing he pointed out that if we buy our food from somewhere that sells meat (any supermarket) we are also contributing to the slaughter of animals indirectly. Similarly if we buy a completely cruelty free brand from somewhere like Boots who may not own the brand but sell it we are again contributing to animal testing.
I know you may not be vegan but I would like to hear your opinion on this :)
Becca xo
@wearetakingthiswaytooslow
ReplyDeleteYes, i've pondered this question a lot. I made peace with the idea that I can only do so much. I feel that supporting a "non-testing" company that is owned by a testing parent is very much directly helping animal testing survive. However we can argue that any action we take will support animal testing. For example, if I buy from all cruelty-free brands, some of that money will go to pay the employees; how can I be sure the employees don't use their money to purchase non-cruelty-free cosmetics or meats, etc.? The answer is that I cannot. I do think knowledge is power & truth is powerful. I think not buying inhumane products is just a part of supporting animal rights, educating yourself & lovingly teaching others what you know is the best way to fight the war against cruelty.