The difference between vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics

The demand for cruelty-free and vegan products is increasing every day.
Consumers are more likely to buy and include animal-friendly make-up in their beauty routines.

A clarification must be made when speaking about vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics because these two terms are not synonyms.
A product can be considered vegan when it is free from animal-derived products and by-products. The term ‘cruelty free’ means that the final product is not tested on animals and its ingredients are either not tested on animals at all or have not been tested on them since a cut-off date decided by the company selling the products.

In Europe, animal testing of final cosmetic products has been banned since 2004, while for ingredients the ban has been applied since 2009 and since 2013 for three specific health effects (repeated dose toxicity, reproductive toxicity and toxicokinetics).

This means that all cosmetic products marketed in Europe are not tested on animals in conformity with the provisions of 1223/2009, regardless of whether they claim to be cruelty-free or not. 

Although this is very encouraging, it is possible that tests on animals are still performed when required by law. This could happen in Europe with regard to ingredients where there is a requirement to comply with the Reach regulation for chemicals, and  in some non-European countries with regard to finished goods, where animal testing is mandatory to sell products.

Art Cosmetics’ choice of vegan products

Currently, there is still no regulatory definition for the term “vegan” in cosmetics, but Art Cosmetics understands it to mean the absence of ingredients of animal origin in products.

Art Cosmetics uses vegan raw materials in the majority of the cosmetics it sells. This choice allows the company to fully meet the demands of brands that adhere to the vegan philosophy.