Hourglass || Cruelty-Free Correspondence

Hey guys. I wanted to share the correspondence I had with Hourglass. It’s a good one.

I emailed them saying:

Hello, My name is Camila Alvarez. I am the writer for HumanelyChic (humanelychic.blogspot.com), a cruelty-free beauty blog. I am interested in buying from your company but would like to be assured that your products are cruelty-free. I have some questions I would appreciate you address. Please be sure to answer all of them as the answers you provide are very important to both my readers and myself.

1. Does your company test ingredients or/and finished products on animals?

2. Do you test ingredients or products on animals through a 3rd party? If your answer is no, how do you ensure that your manufacturers do not test?

3. Do your manufacturers test ingredients or products on animals?

4. Are you owned or affiliated with any companies that test products or ingredients on animals?

5. Do you have a parent company? If so who are they?

6. Do you/your parent company currently or have plans to market and sell your products in the Chinese market, which requires animal testing by law to sell in that country?

7. Do you use palm oil/carnuaba wax in any of your products? If so, is it from an organic and sustainable source?

8. Could you provide a list of all of your current vegan items available for purchase?

Thank you in advance for you cooperation!

By the way, feel free to use this format when you contact companies. Obviously, use your name.

This was their reply:

Hi Camilla, thank you for your email. Please find answers to your questions below.  

Best,

{names omitted}

1. Does your company test ingredients or/and finished products on animals?

Hourglass does not test products on animals.


2. Do you test ingredients or products on animals through a 3rd party? If your answer is no, how do you ensure that your manufacturers do not test? 

Hourglass does not test ingredients or products on animals through 3^rd parties.  Written confirmation is provided by all contract manufacturers.


3. Do your manufacturers test ingredients or products on animals?

Hourglass contract manufacturers do not test ingredients or products on animals.


4. Are you owned or affiliated with any companies that test products or ingredients on animals?

No


5. Do you have a parent company? If so who are they? 

No, we are privately owned.


6. Do you/your parent company currently or have plans to market and sell your products in the Chinese market, which requires animal testing by law to sell in that country? 

No


7. Do you use palm oil/carnuaba wax in any of your products? If so, is it from an organic and sustainable source? 

Hidden Corrective Concealer & Femme Rouge Velvet Crème Lipstick – both contain carnauba wax from organic source.

Film Noir Kohl Pencil, Film Noir Mascara, Superficial Lash Mascara and Trace Lip Liner do contain this ingredient but not from an organic source. We are currently discontinuing Film Noir Kohl Pencil, Superficial Lash Mascara and Trace Lip Liner.


8. Could you provide a list of all of your current vegan items available for purchase?

Ambient Lighting Powder – Diffused Light

Ambient Lighting Powder – Dim Light

Ambient Lighting Powder – Ethereal Light

Ambient Lighting Powder – Luminous Light

Ambient Lighting Powder – Radiant Light

Ambient Lighting Blush – Diffused Heat

Ambient Lighting Blush - Luminous Flush

Ambient Lighting Palette

Brushes

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Ballet

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Child

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Ignite

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Imagine

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Lush

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Nectar

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Origami

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Primal

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Reflect

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Siren

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Truth

Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss – Verse

Illume Bronzer Duo

Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation

Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick

Panoramic Long Wear Lip Liner

Veil Fluid Makeup

Veil Mineral Primer

 I’m really excited and happy with their correspondence. They answered all the questions and even listed their vegan products. I will be supporting Hourglass and hopefully you also feel safe supporting them.

Lots of Love,

Camila

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Day 4 - Dream Job || 30 Day Challenge

As the days roll on the questions are getting so much more personal. Which is cool but also more difficult to come up with an answer. Anyway, so what is my dream job?

Age 8:

I couldn't see myself doing anything but dancing or singing. I was in love with High School Musical and knew (still know) all the dances. I forced my friends to practice everyday.

Age 12:

I wanted to be a lawyer and a doctor. 

Age 15 & 16:

An author, lawyer, and a doctor. 

Age 18:

Doctor...dancer and actress.

Age 19 going on 20:

I want to create beauty products. I want to make products that make women feel beautiful and that don't torture innocent creatures. 

I also kind of want to be a doctor. 

I'm in between these two! 

Lots of Love,

Camila

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Day 3 - My Favorite Quote || 30 Day Challenge

Hey guys.

Sorry this is up late. Well, at least for me it's late. I want to get these 30 Day Challenge posts up early. 

The reason I waited until later to post this is because I have no idea what my favorite quote is. I thought about it all day and couldn't decide. 

I think instead of having one favorite quote I have a favorite quote for how I'm feeling and certain topics. Instead of choosing something very deep and insightful, I went with this quote because it's what I've been thinking as of late. 

I live far-ish from my University. During summer I don't get to spend as much time with my friends. While that can be suck-ish and lonely I also realize I have other blessings around me. I have my wonderful parents, my annoying yet lovable sister, and my soul-mates aka my dogs. 

When I was a kid I wanted a dog. Every time I tossed a penny into a pond I wished for a puppy. Finally when I was twelve I got not a puppy but two puppies. One is named Scruffy and the other is named Bruno. They are truly a big part of my family and my family wouldn't be the same without them. 

Basically if you have a puppy, a cat, a snake (well maybe not a snake, idk I've never had a snake) go hug them. Animals are blessings. 

Lots of Love,

Camila

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Milani and Jordana || Still Cruelty-Free ?

Hey guys.

 If you read LogicalHarmony.net you’d know that the article titled Milani and Jordana nolonger has caused much panic in the cruelty-free-blogger world.

I won’t go into too many details about the article but basically there is speculation that some of the ingredients in Milani products have been tested on animals.

After I took down a post featuring two Milani lipsticks, I decided to email Milani and ask for an explanation. Side note, be sure to follow this blog on Facebook because that’s where I post when I email a company and when I receive a reply from them. 

I wanted to share (as promised) the correspondence I’ve had with Milani so far.

I emailed them saying:

Hello, My name is Camila Alvarez. I am the writer for HumanelyChic (humanelychic.blogspot.com), a cruelty-free beauty blog. I am interested in buying from your company but would like to be assured that your products are cruelty-free. I have some questions I would appreciate you address. Please be sure to answer all of them as the answers you provide are very important to both my readers and myself. 

1. Does your company test ingredients or/and finished products on animals?

2. Do you test ingredients or products on animals through a 3rd party? If your answer is no, how do you ensure that your manufacturers do not test? 

3. Do your manufacturers test ingredients or products on animals?

4. Are you owned or affiliated with any companies that test products or ingredients on animals?

5. Do you have a parent company? If so who are they? 

6. Do you/your parent company currently or have plans to market and sell your products in the Chinese market, which requires animal testing by law to sell in that country? 

7. Do you use palm oil/carnuaba wax in any of your products? If so, is it from an organic and sustainable source? 

8. Could you provide a list of all of your current vegan items available for purchase?

Thank you in advance for you cooperation!

Another sidenote, they replied to my email the next day which I really appreciated!

Here’s their reply:

Hi Camila,

Thank you for your inquiry. Please see our stance on animal testing here: http://milanicosmetics.com/t-faq.aspx.

Additionally, we are in the midst of compiling a list of our vegan items, which we will be sharing on our website. In the meantime, we provide all of our ingredient on our website. If there is a specific shade you would like to know about I’ll be happy to let you know if it is vegan.

I didn’t like this reply because, obviously, it’s very vague. So I emailed them back:

Hello {names are omitted},

Thank you for replying to my email. I checked out the link you provided. Meanwhile, a very well know blog (LogicalHarmony.net) has a post that worries me. According to the post, Milani (Jordana) did test some of it's ingredients on animals to comply with law and regulations of certain countries. Is this correct? It would be really appreciated if Milani came out with a statement clearing this up. I know the reader of my blog and the thousands that only shop for cruelty-free cosmetics and have long supported Milani would appreciate it. 

Thank you again for your attention. 

Again the representative emailed me right away.

Hi Camila,

We are aware of the blog post from LogicalHarmony.net. There was miscommunication between our company and a few customers that prompted her post. We did make an official statement on our Facebook page addressing the miscommunication and our stance on Animal Testing. The post was made on June 4^th. You can see it on our page, but here it is as well:

Milani apologizes for causing recent confusion regarding our practices related to the use of animals for the safety testing of its products. The confusion was caused in part by a company response made to a Milani website inquiry that unintentionally was vague and in certain respects inaccurate. Milani will use its best efforts going forward to ensure such confusion does not occur again.

From the inception of the company, Milani has been opposed to the use of animals for the safety testing of cosmetic products. Our company philosophy has never changed in this regard. We have never tested our products on animals, and never have allowed others to test our products on animals.

All Milani cosmetic products are manufactured by reputable suppliers who do not use animals for product testing. Milani is now in the process of obtaining certifications from all of our suppliers regarding this fact, as well as the fact that the raw materials used in our products are not tested on animals. We will confirm receipt of these certifications when they have been obtained. 

We do not sell our products in any markets where animal testing is required by local law or regulations.

We endorse the published efforts of many who oppose testing on animals at any point during production, as a finished product, or with respect to ingredients used in the manufacture of the product.

Milani currently is in the process of receiving certification as cruelty free under PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies Program.

We hope this resolves any confusion that may exist regarding our positions on these issues.

Granted, they did not answer my original eight questions, but I think we can all admit this clears this up a lot. To be safe, I will ask whether they sale their products in China. According to what was stated above the answer should be no, but we’ll see. After hearing their explanation about the origin of the miss communication and confusion, and reading about their animal testing policy I would feel safe supporting Milani again. What’s your opinion? Let me know.

Lots of Love,

Camila

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Day 2 - 20 Facts About Me |:| 30 Day Challenge

♥︎ 1.     I was born in Colombia

♥︎ 2.     Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book. Of all time. I’ve read it too many times.

♥︎ 3.     It was surprisingly easy for me to go vegetarian. It happened in a day.

♥︎ 4.     I never have to curl my eyelashes.

♥︎ 5.     I’ve been sketching dresses/outfits since I was a kid.

♥︎ 6.     I wanted to be a pop star growing up. I loved Hilary Duff and Ashley Tisdale.

♥︎ 7.     I am a huge lover of Cupcakes.

♥︎ 8.     My dream vacation is a road-trip across Europe

♥︎ 9.     I started a draft for a novel. Have yet to finish it.

♥︎ 10. This is shameful to admit but, yes. I was a Twi-Heart.

♥︎ 11. I’m majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Mathematics.

♥︎ 12. I am a Proud Christian!!!

♥︎ 13. Flower Child.

♥︎ 14. I’m a sucker for romance novels.

♥︎ 15. I absolutely hated High School up until my last semester.

♥︎ 16. Introvert.

♥︎ 17. I made up a type of folk-tale when I was in elementary. Kids still believe it to this day.

♥︎ 18. I want to write a story.

♥︎ 19. I’ve always been creative and hated the stereotype that you can’t be artsy while being good a science and math.

♥︎ 20. I want to own a farm in the future. (A cruelty-free farm of course).

I hope you are enjoying these posts so far. I know I am. 

Lots of Love,

Camila

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