★★★★★ 4.9/5 ( +550 verified reviews )

Made in France ⸱ Rated "Excellent" on Yuka app

Your cart 0

BIENVENUE15 to get 15% off your first order

-5% on your order for purchases over €50.

Free samples included with your order.

No more products available for purchase

Congratulations! Your order qualifies for free shipping Spend an extra 49€€ to get free shipping
KERATO-REDUCING TREATMENT

KERATO-REDUCING TREATMENT

100ml

HYDRA-REGENERATING CREAM

HYDRA-REGENERATING CREAM

50ml

METAMORPHOSIS BALM

METAMORPHOSIS BALM

125ml

SKIN RENEWAL SERUM

SKIN RENEWAL SERUM

30ml

Subtotal Free
Estimated delivery fee: Offerts
Estimated total: 0,00€
Estimated delivery date:
ORDER

Secure payment by credit card, PayPal, or Apple Pay.

Your Cart is Empty

Clean and/or vegan cosmetics?

Cosmétiques clean et/ou vegan ?

Vegan cosmetics seem to be the absolute must in terms of respect for the planet and animals. Indeed, with a vegan formula it is the assurance that no animal substance enters into the composition of the product, and thus that no being, from insects to marine animals, has been exploited. But is vegan beauty necessarily clean and virtuous? The point.

Vegan cosmetics, definition

Being vegan means choosing not to use or consume any animal product or product derived from animal exploitation, in all areas of your life. No fish, meat or dairy products on your plate, no leather, wool and even less fur for clothing and no ingredients of animal origin in cosmetics. Indeed, it happens that animal products or by-products are used in the composition of creams or makeup. Fortunately, some ingredients have already been banned or abandoned because they are too expensive, such as animal musk used in perfumes and responsible for the near-disappearance of the chevrotins from which it was extracted, whale fat or hyaluronic acid which previously came from rooster combs and which are now no longer of animal origin. Furthermore, the ingredients of animal origin still used can only come from animals farmed for the manufacture of cosmetics in Europe and can be used in the composition of an organic product. These can include honey and beeswax (in lip balms, for example), lanolin, an emollient ingredient used in moisturizers obtained from sheep's wool, or "carmine," a red pigment used to color lipsticks derived from cochineal insects that are crushed. Makeup brush bristles can also be of animal origin!

Vegan, organic, cruelty-free, slow cosmetics: what are the differences?

There are many names to classify the different families of cosmetics.

If organic labels indicate formulas based on ingredients from organic farming that respect the organic charter, they authorize animal materials such as honey, but also carmine, from cochineal, and lanolin.

Slow Cosmetics brings together products recognized by the independent label of the same name which supports the planet, local manufacturing and natural formulas.

On its side, "cruelty free" is a label given to products that do not contain any ingredients tested on animals but which are not necessarily vegan, because it accepts ingredients produced by animals (milk, honey). It is therefore available in a "cruelty free vegan" version.

The names of vegan cosmetics are also varied and numerous: Expertise Vegan Europe with the acronym Eve Vegan, the acronym Vegan from Vegan Society for products certified by the Vegan Association, Vegan from the Awareness Foundation, a vegan logo issued by Vegan Awareness or the VeganOK label. Overall, they guarantee that the products do not contain ingredients of animal origin. However, the One Voice label accepts organic honey, pollen and beeswax, which can therefore be found in the formulas it certifies.

It is not mandatory to certify vegan cosmetics to claim it: brands can invent their own logo and communicate on it, without control, which can give rise to abuse. In France there is only one vegan certification body, it is Expertise Végane Europe. Finally, unlike natural and/or organic labels dedicated to ecology which guarantee that the products do not contain any polluting synthetic ingredients, vegan products may not be natural, not be produced in a virtuous manner, or even be very artificial, as long as there is no animal matter. The "vegan" criterion is therefore not enough to be sure of buying ecological and healthy cosmetics.

Vegan cosmetics are not always clean

Buying vegan cosmetics would therefore mainly respond to the concerns of consumers - vegan or not - for animal protection. Problem: if the acronym "vegan" does not guarantee that the formula is clean, nor that it is free of controversial ingredients, it also does not guarantee animal protection for the ingredients it uses. For example, coconut oil is vegetable and therefore completely compatible with a vegan formula, and yet, it often exploits small monkeys. The same goes for palm oil which involves deforestation and the death of orangutans... yet it can replace squalene which comes from shark livers... Furthermore, certain ingredients of animal origin that do not involve the death of animals may seem tolerable, such as lanolin (a fat made from sheep's wool), goat's, donkey's, sheep's or cow's milk, or even beehive products. However, when looking at their production, we see that many bees die during the industrial process of harvesting wax or honey. Finally, when a brand wants to make its products vegan, it often has no choice but to turn to petrochemical substitutes to remain competitive, in particular.

Beware of the "castor oil" that is often found in ingredient lists, it is a false friend: it is indeed a vegetable oil, castor oil, and not castor oil! Phew!

Vegan or Clean Cosmetics, How to Choose?

vegan-rabbit-clean beauty<!--nl-->

Given the ecological emergency, consuming vegan products makes sense: industrial farming finds in cosmetics an easy outlet for its animal by-products. Intensive farming and overfishing are extremely harmful to the planet, devastating natural spaces while being hell for animals. Unfortunately, it is much easier for a cosmetic to be vegan than clean, organic or natural, and some formulas highlight their vegan character to mask very synthetic formulas: you can be clean without being vegan and vegan without being clean.

To ensure that you choose a virtuous product, you must therefore turn to those that meet an ethical, ecological and sustainable commitment. The ideal is clean or certified organic AND vegan products in order to ensure the origin of the ingredients and their naturalness, but also the sustainable nature of the packaging: reduced packaging, recyclable and recycled material, cardboard cases, vegetable inks, etc. while avoiding any ingredient from animal exploitation. Vegetable waxes, such as carnauba wax, then replace beeswax, shark squalene can be replaced by vegetable "squalene" from olive, wheat or rice oil, lanolin will be ousted in favor of vegetable oils that are much more effective for treating skin problems. Plant active ingredients can also act on the production of collagen instead of putting animal collagen in the formula, just like using keratin in its vegetable version. Only the carmine pigment does not find an equivalent to its color intensity in the mineral or plant world, but very beautiful vegan lipsticks manage very well to do without it today and to offer vibrant colors: no more excuses!

Vegan cosmetics can come from truly committed and virtuous brands whose products are ecological, just as they can be derived from petrochemicals and be undemanding about quality as long as there is nothing animal in them. But by turning to brands stamped clean or organic, with a real ecological commitment, we can find truly virtuous products to make ourselves beautiful and feel good, while respecting and protecting the planet, its animals and its ecosystems. So the rejection of ingredients of animal origin in cosmetics makes perfect sense. Go vegan and clean!

WANT TO READ MORE?

Subscribe to the newsletter to make sure you don't miss any articles.

Collaboratrice