Is your nail polish tested on animals? About cruelty free nail polish brands — an overview

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Being a lover of animals I'm always trying to be conscious of the suffering animals go through, to "serve" us people.

Hundreds of thousands of animals are being poisoned, blinded and killed every year, in outdated product tests for cosmetics, personal care products, household cleaning products, etc. If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's the fact these innocent creatures have to suffer for the sake of something trivial as cosmetic products.

94% of animal testing is carried out to determine the safety of cosmetics and household products, leaving only 6% for medical research. Often these tests are performed on mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs.

The tests these companies conduct are absolutely horrifying. One of these tests, the so called Draize eye test, involves placing substances into the eyes of restrained rabbits, then recording the progressive deterioration. Some research labs also carry out the lethal dose test, forcing substances (such as oven cleaner or nail polish) down animals’ throats, pumping it into their stomachs through a tube, or injecting it into their bodies, until a percentage of the animals die. After these tests, the animals are killed, normally by asphyxiation, neck-breaking or decapitation. Think about this, is this something you're actually willing to contribute to, by buying these products?

Europe ban

Luckily, there is some good news. In 2013 all animal tested cosmetic and household products have been banned in Europe.
However, when a company is claiming that their products are cruelty free, they're actually referring to the finished end product. So, their statement isn't saying anything about the individual ingredients that have been used, so keep that in mind.

Mother companies & China

Some companies are owned by other companies: such as Essie who falls under the L'oreal umbrella. Back in the day, when Essie was independent, they used to be a cruelty free brand. Unfortunately, L'oreal is not. Since Essie is now owned by L'oreal, you could say they're no longer cruelty free.

A good indicator if a brand carries out animal tests, is the fact whether a brand is sold in China or not:

The Chinese government conducts mandatory animal tests on all cosmetic products imported into the country. The government may also conduct animal tests on items pulled from store shelves. Therefore, even if a company does not test their products or ingredients on animals, if they sell their products in China they cannot be considered cruelty free.

humanesociety.org

Sometimes a brand, that is owned by a larger company, actually is cruelty free and not sold in China. You could argue that these companies do fund animal testing indirectly, it's up to you how you feel about this.

Cruelty free list

After doing some research of my own I was happy to find out that a lot of great brands are actually cruelty free. But, the majority of the big, popular brands are not. You can find an overview listed below:

Brands that do test on animals

• #
• • & Other Stories
• A
• • (Giorgo) Armani (L'Oreal)
  • Artistry Makeup (Amway)
• B
• • Bourjois
• C
• • Chanel
  • Christian Dior
  • Clarins
  • Clinique (Estee Lauder)
  • Collistar
  • Coty
  • Cover Girl (Procter and Gamble)
• D
• • Dior
• E
• • Ellen Betrix
  • Essie (L'Oreal)
  • Estee Lauder
• G
• • Givenchy
• H
• • H&M Cosmetics
  • Helena Rubinstein (L'Oreal)
  • Huda Beauty
• I
• • Inglot
• K
• • Kiehls (L'Oreal)
• L
• • L'Oreal
  • Lancôme (L'Oreal)
• M
• • M.A.C. Cosmetics (Estee Lauder)
  • Max Factor (Coty)
    
  • Maybelline (L'Oreal)
  • Miss Sporty (Coty)
  • MNY (L'Oreal)
• N
• • Nars Cosmetics (Shiseido)
  • Neutrogena (Johnson & Johnson)
  • Nicole by OPI (Coty)
• O
• • OPI (Coty)
• R
• • Revlon
  • Rimmel (Coty)
• S
• • Sally Hansen (Coty)
  • Sephora by OPI (L'Oreal)
  • Sinful Colors (Revlon)
  • Shiseido Cosmetics
  • Shu Uemura (L'Oreal)
• W
• • Wet ‘n Wild
• Y
• • Yves Rocher

Cruelty free brands

Ⓥ = vegan

• B
• • Barry M
  • Black Dahlia Lacquer Ⓥ
  • Blu Ink Nail Lacquer Ⓥ
  • Buddha Beauty Ⓥ
  • Burt's Bees
  • Butter London
• C
• • Catrice
  • Cheeky Cosmetics Ⓥ
  • China Glaze
  • Claire's Ⓥ
  • Color Club
  • Colour Alike Ⓥ
  • Cuccio Colour
  • Cult Nails Ⓥ
• D
• • Deborah Lippman
  • Dimension Nails Ⓥ
  • Douglas (own label)
• E
• • E.L.F Cosmetics Ⓥ
  • Essence
  • ESN
  • Etos
  • Evil Shades
• G
• • Gosh Cosmetics
• H
• • Hard Candy
  • Hema/Miss Helen
  • Herôme Cosmetics
• I
• • IsaDora
• J
• • Joe Fresh Cosmetics
• K
• • Kure Bazaar
  • Koh Cosmetics
• L
• • L.A. Colors
  • Lacquester
  • Lime Crime Ⓥ
  • LUSH Cosmetics
• M
• • Make Up Store
  • ManGlaze
  • Milani Ⓥ
  • Misa Cosmetics LLC Ⓥ
  • Models Own
• N
• • Nubar Ⓥ
  • NYX Cosmetics
• O
• • Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Inc. Ⓥ
  • Orly International
  • OZN Ⓥ
  • Ozotic (Lumineye)
• P
• • Pacifica Ⓥ
  • Priti Polish Ⓥ
• R
• • RGB
• S
• • Safe’N’Beautiful Ⓥ
  • Seche
  • Smashbox Cosmetics (Estee Lauder, not sold in China)
  • SpaRitual Ⓥ
• T
• • The Body Shop (Natura Cosmeticos)
  • Trind Cosmetics
• U
• • Urban Decay (L'Oreal, not sold in China)
• Z
• • Zoya

Ⓥ = vegan

Find more cruelty free brands

Disclaimer

Please note that companies do change policies, owners etc. So, if you spot a brand that should be in the other list, please let me know!
Last edited on: june 15th, 2018

How to: find your 'borrowed' photos with Google Image Search

Play by the rules

Do you see the picture above this paragraph? It took some effort to get that photo there: I had to remove my old nail polish and repaint them with Mimosa by Chanel. After that I have to get my camera, take some photo's, sometimes more than a hundred before the lighting is good enough etc. I then have to transfer the pics onto my computer, import them in Photoshop, do some cropping, resizing and maybe even a little rotating. Which takes ages on my tantalizingly slow laptop. Finally: they're ready to upload! Sounds like a bit of work, doesn't it?

Well, it is! So with that in mind, you can imagine how frustrating it can be, when others just take your photos and repost them without even a hint of credit. Or worse: place their watermark on top of your photo. I normally don't mind, when I see my photos on the net, I love the web, it's open. It's different when the photos are used for commercially goals, like uploading them to a webshop.

This isn't the kind of post I'd normally post, but I've written blogposts for fellow bloggers before, so I thought this article possibly may be of interest to some. With the new and improved Image search by Google, it's now extremely simple to track down your own photos. Let's have a look:

1. Go to https://images.google.com

2. Drag a photo from your hard drive directly into the search field

3. Hit the search button

4. Et voila: an overview of your photos!

Of course it's up to you, what to do next. If you want your content to be removed, have a look at this article.

How to: Prevent bubbling

I like bubbles in my glass, in my bath, but definitely not in my nail polish. Since I'm following these simple steps, I'm pretty much bubble-free:

Ditch the dirt

Always make sure your hands and nails are nice and clean. Sometimes oil or dirt will react badly with your nail polish and who doesn't like clean hands?!

Thick layers

The most common thing I always read about bubbling is: let your first coat dry before applying the second. Honestly? I don't have time for that! When you apply thin layers of polish, you should be fine. When your layers of polish are too thick, it can cause bubbling because it scoops up more air than it normally would. If you happen to have an old or poor quality nail polish that is too thick, simply add some thinner and you're good to go. Never ever use acetone or nail polish remover because you might as well throw it out straight away.

Stirred, not shaken

Shaking your nail polish isn't necessarily bad. In fact, all nail polish needs a good shake every now and then! But maybe not right before applying it. Whenever you shake your bottle of nail polish, air bubbles can get trapped in your polish. Instead of shaking, roll the bottle in your hands.

Environment

Painting your nails in a humid room, or during hot weather, can also cause bubbling. When it's hot, air particles spread out far and wide and are easier absorbed by your polish. Nail polish molecules expand as well, making it even easier to let those damn air bubbles in. Heat is a culprit, for sure.
Also, applying nail polish in an air conditioned room, or in front of fans etc, won't help much either.

 

EDIT: Apparently I'm all kinds of wrong, oops? Read more below

Commenting system

As you might have noticed I have installed a new commenting system! It makes replying so much easier and I don't have to put up with weird anonymous comments anymore. If you don't have stuff like Twitter or Wordpress, you can simply log in with your name and email address. If you run into any kind of trouble, please let me know!

Guiltfree Glam: B3F FTW!

"What is B3F?" is a question I find almost daily in my inbox, so for today I've got a little writeup on the matter. I always redirect everyone to this awesome post by All Lacquered Up, since I'm no chemist AT ALL, but the requests kept coming, so bear with me. I won't get into all the bad stuff certain ingredients can do, as I don't want to have people panicking!

B3F wha?

What are B3F or Big 3 Free nail polishes anyway? These are polishes that are free from Formaldehyde, DBP & Toluene. Formaldehyde in its pure form is a colorless gas. Formaldehyde is anti bacterial and acts as an anti dissolvant and improves adhesion. DBP or Dibutyl phthalate is used as a plasticizer which should keep surfaces smooth and unbreakable. Toluene is a substance that keeps your polish liquid.

Why?

Each of these ingredients have certain dangers attached to them. There is still debate over whether these are actually harmful: usually these ingredients only trip you up when you're exposed to huge amounts during a longer period of time or when they are being incinerated. However, long term consequences are still unknown and there are many people who suffer from allergic reactions from these substances. Formaldehyde is hardly used these days, except in hardeners/strengtheners. You might want to give those a body check. A product from Formaldehyde, called Formaldehyde Resin, is more often used nowadays, I'm not entirely sure about that one, but it's considered safe by the FDA. If you're allergic to Formaldehyde you might be allergic to the resin as well though.

Just a marketing tool?

I know a lot of people don't care at all, but better safe than sorry goes a long way. I know I don't want to to cause unnecessary harm to my health. Why risk it if there are plenty alternatives - especially when you're pregnant or breastfeeding! Maybe the fuzz is a little overblown and I do think a lot of brands are using this as a clever marketing tool, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
A lot of older polishes are not B3F, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that companies still choose to produce nail polish the oblivious way. For example: Models Own polishes are still crammed with Toluene. Why?! I know producing non B3F polish is a lot cheaper than its healthy alternative, but the price of Models Own polishes ($8 each, where Nubar costs &7.49 & Zoya $7 each) hardly reflects that. It does take some companies a while to get their new formula to work, but practice makes perfect right?

Brands

You can check the labels to see whether your nail polish is B3F, but brands like Nubar, Zoya, SpaRitual, Orly, Chanel, RBL, Lippmann, Revlon, Del Sol (as pictured above), newer Misa, China Glaze and OPI are definitely B3F. However, some of these still contain Formaldehyde Resin.

I hope this was helpful and thanks so much for stopping by!
- With love, Michèle

Sources: Cosmeticsinfo.org, Wikipedia

Summary of the survey results!

Hi guys! First, huuuuuge thanks to all of you who took the time and effort to fill in my survey. I appreciate this so much, you have no idea. A blog is nothing without its readers really! The main reason I put up the survey was to get some feedback on blogging, I understand we can't please everyone, and that's not really something I'm after because I do realize this is impossible. But, feedback is always an excellent way to find out how one can improve yourself. I'm also hoping some of you might find this information helpful as well! I'm incredibly thankful for all your input. In return, I promised a little overview, so here it is!

There were 1002 (!!) entries and at that point I had to shut it down, because I had to process some information manually, haha. Most charts really speak for themselves but I'll try to add some of my thoughts here and there.

What's the most important thing when it comes to a blog?

When we're looking at this outcome, we can see that the amount of swatches and reviews are considered quite valuable. It's a lot about the products!

What makes a good review?

When it comes to reviews, pictures tell a lot! I guess pictures will always attract more attention than text, so this confirms what I already suspected. I usually post 1 or 2 pictures with a review, but after seeing this outcome I might add some more from now on!

What makes a good picture?

Color accuracy and good lighting are considered almost equally important. It's definitely something I always try to keep in mind, but it's good to find out about the importance of these things.

What would you like to see more?

Now I was most curious to see the answers to this question. I thought it was so awesome that the majority of you asked for more how-tos because I really really like doing these! If you have how-to requests pleeeease let me know and I'll see what I can do.

The second thing that scored really high was swatches of entire collections, this is something I eventually would LOVE to do, but for now, it can be very hard since I cannot buy them all and I don't blog full time, haha! Definitely something I'll keep in mind though.

What do you expect from the person behind the blog?

I was really curious about this outcome too. I mean, I do the best I can, while staying true to myself, so I was wondering what everyone's answers would be to this question.

Do you want the blogger to respond to your comments?

This is something I struggle so hard with, you have no idea. Ideally I would like to reply to every single comment I get, it really bothers me when I can't. And lately stuff has come up and I just wasn't as present in the comment section as I used to be. I was really relieved to see your opinions on this, however, I do want to try replying more, because I appreciate all your words so much.

What brand(s) do you wish to see more represented?

To my big surprise the responses were all over the place. Someone said "a blog should be about what you want to represent, not what we want to see" and while that's true, there are times when I just don't know what to do next, because there are so many awesome brands and products to choose from, it's overwhelming really!

A LOT of people requested easy to get/drugstore polishes. Since my visitors mostly come from the US, Brazil and Europe this is almost impossible to do. In contrast, a lot of people asked for unique, unknown brands as well. Another big group of people requested cheaper brands, while others requested more swatches from high end brands.
I got a lot of requests on doing more China Glaze, Zoya and Orly, and I did see that coming since I never really covered these before (without reason really!), but I'm really looking forward to post more about these in the future. Other than that, I guess I will just keep posting whatever pop ups in my head, but if you're in dire need of something you can always let me know :-).

Before I forget, there is one thing I can't or won't do and that's showing brands like Rimmel, Sally Hansen, Maybelline/Colorama, L'Oreal and Essie... A lot of you would love to see these brands covered, especially since they're so easily available, but since they're not cruelty free (or owned by not cruelty free companies), I just can't do it.

Please list your top five of favorite nail polish bloggers

Now, this question wasn't about who's the most popular, even though it might look that way, but I was really curious to see what blogs everyone likes to read, especially since every blog has its own style and set of cool features. I left myself out of the end result, but I want to thank everyone that wrote such sweet words about me! I couldn't believe it!

In total there was a grand total of 248 blogs being mentioned, how awesome is that. I found out about quite some new blogs too!
So anyway, here's the top 10 that I gathered. Maybe the results would've been completely different if this was asked on another blog, but I think it's a pretty cool list :-D. If you haven't heard of one of these blogs, make sure to check them out, because they're wicked cool!

votes	blog
353	Scrangie
287	All Lacquered Up
130	Vampy Varnish
077	Polish Hoarder Disorder
073	The Nailphile
059	The Lacquer Files
056	Little Music Boxes / Nihrida
046	Dr. Frankenpolish
044	The Daily Nail
036	All You Desire

Conclusion

Conclusion is I'm veeeery thankful for all your input and I enjoyed reading all of your messages you left me in the survey. There were some really sweet, interesting, hilarious and random notes, VERY NICE :D. For me, it's so nice to have this overview and I hope there will be some interesting or helpful things in it for others as well, who knows!