How to ensure your cosmetics are vegan this Veganuary
More and more cruelty-free brands are popping up on supermarket shelves and sneaking their way into vegan shopping baskets – but the cruelty-free guarantee doesn’t always mean the product is free from animal-derived ingredients.
Cruelty-free means the product has not been tested on animals, but it doesn’t ensure the product is vegan. In fact, some ingredients sneak their way into cosmetics without being clearly labelled as animal-derived.
To help you choose kindly in 2020, we’ve compiled the most common hidden animal ingredients so you know what to avoid:
- Keratin – this ingredient, often found in hair products, is a protein taken from the hair and horns of various animals.
- Cera Alba – this is the name sometimes used for beeswax in cosmetics. Look out for lip balms, lipsticks, soaps, moisturisers and other products.
- Tallow- this is animal fat, most often taken from farmed animals. You can find this in nail polish, soap, foundation, and eye makeup. It’s sometimes listed as oleic acid, oleyl sterate, and oleyl oleate.
- Guanine – ever wondered what makes highlighters and eyeshadows so shimmery? Fish scales are often used to create this glittering effect.
- Lanolin – sheep’s wool used in lip balms, sticks, and glosses. This is also a common allergy so a plant-based version is available of the same name, be careful to check which one you are buying.
- Shellac – most people don’t know the popular manicure product refers to an ingredient made from insects! Crushed lac bugs give your nail polish the shine and strength shellac is known for!
- Carmine – if you want that vibrant red lipstick, be careful of Carmine or natural red 4, E120 and C.I 75470. It’s most commonly used in lipsticks, blushes and nail polish, and made by crushing tiny insects called cochineals that give a vibrant red.
We know it can seem overwhelming to avoid animal products in your cosmetics, but the stress can easily be taken out by buying from a certified vegan beauty brand such as Be at One. Not only can you be sure you’re not harming animals, but you’re also supporting vegan businesses to help maximise the benefits.
Be at One have replaced all animal products with plant-based ingredients that are kind to animals, the environment and your skin while also being richly pigmented and easily blendable.
To make your Veganuary even more beautiful, shop the Be at One range here.
About the author
Louisa Kendal
Louisa is the Digital Communications Officer at Viva! Louisa has been vegan for four years and is passionate about eradicating injustices and exploitation in our world. After graduating from the University of Bristol with a degree in Theology, she worked as a journalist in Malaysia before joining Viva!'s marketing team. She now leverages social media and the online world to forward the vegan movement and keep Viva! growing in influence. Click here for more info.
