Is Clinique Cruelty Free? Clinique is not cruelty-free. While they don’t conduct their own animal testing or permit third parties to do it for them, their policy clearly states that there is one exception: “except when required by law.”
When they’re in control, they test their products in clinical tests, taking advantage of volunteer panels that step up to keep the animals safe. But in other markets where animal testing is required by law, like mainland China, they’ve signed off on the use of animal testing.
Simply put, a company can’t ever be called cruelty-free if they sell in places where animal testing is required by law. Clinique is owned by Estee Lauder, which overall takes the stance that they support alternatives to animal testing whenever they can, just not to the point of pulling their products from places where animal testing is legally mandatory.
One of their most popular products is their foundation. It comes as just a solo foundation, foundation plus concealer, or foundation with SPF in it. Two of their other more popular products are the eye cream and the chubby sticks.
But never fear, Clinique is not the only place to get these high-quality and versatile makeup options! Too Faced and Smashbox put out similar options to their foundations that seem to be just as popular and are completely cruelty-free. The Born This Way foundation and Skin Hydrating foundation are excellent alternatives if you’re a fan of the ones put out by Clinique.
If you’re looking for eye cream, try out the Maracuja C-brighter eye treatment from Tarte; and if you’re looking for chubby sticks that are just as good but aren’t tested on animals, try Tarte’s LipSurgence Skintuitive lip tint. When you’re looking at cruelty-free cosmetics as alternatives to traditional cosmetics, you can’t go wrong with companies like Too Faced, Smashbox, and Tarte.
Here are some other excellent alternatives for anyone who is looking to make the switch from traditional beauty and cosmetics products to cruelty-free ones, but isn’t sure where to start:
- Essence Makeup
- Bare Minerals
- Urban Decay
- Sephora’s Kat Von D collection
- Becca Cosmetics
- CoverFX
- Nude by Nature
- Lit Cosmetics
- It Cosmetics
- Jeffree Star Cosmetics
- Lush
- Everyday Minerals
- ELF Cosmetics
- The Body Shop
- Physician’s Formula
With more and more consumers increasing the demand for cruelty-free products, big beauty companies are getting sneaky with their labels. Cruelty-free claims or packages including phrases like “not tested on animals” aren’t regulated by any major organization.
What does this mean for you? Unfortunately, it means that your favorite beauty, bath, and cosmetics companies that claim to be cruelty-free on their packaging may not really be cruelty-free, after all. Companies can put these claims on their packages even if the products or the component ingredients were tested on animals.
But wait, before you start panic-checking everything in your bathroom drawer, let me tell you something: it’s incredibly easy to find out if something is cruelty-free, or if the company is just unethical. First, search for the company on Peta.org or The Leaping Bunny’s cruelty-free company list to get more information.
If you don’t see them on either list, don’t panic yet. Google search the company and their cruelty-free status. For example, before reading this article, if you wanted to know if Clinique was cruelty-free, you’d search “is Clinique cruelty-free?” and see what comes up. There are a few legitimate reasons they may not be Leaping Bunny or Peta’s list yet, like very recently making the switch to cruelty-free policies.
When all else fails, you know you can count on any of the cruelty-free companies listed in this article, as they are confirmed to be completely cruelty-free already. Along with hundreds of other forward-thinking companies, these cruelty-free brands understand what we’re looking for and they’re making it easier for us to get it.
As if that’s not enough, research in this area has also shown that cruelty-free products are typically better for consumers, too. Companies that care about creating cruelty-free products are much more likely to care about the people that are using them and as a result, they’re much more careful about the ingredients that go into the products.
Simply put, cruelty-free products are almost always made with fewer chemicals, dyes, and synthetics, and more wholesome ingredients. These swaps can include ingredients like plant-based ones that are overflowing with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that your body not only enjoys but also needs.
This makes them better for you and your skin, especially if you have particularly sensitive skin. While you’re using your products that you know haven’t been tested on innocent animals, you can also feel good about the fact that they’re far less likely to cause you to break out, lead to an allergic reaction, or get rashy, flaky, or itchy.
Turns out, cruelty-free products are the better choice for a whole bunch of different reasons. For one, we know that animal testing isn’t necessary anymore, so why are we allowing some companies to get away with it? If we stop buying their products, they’ll have to make the switch to keep from becoming irrelevant.
But for numbers two, three, and four: cruelty-free products are better for your health and skin, they’re much more budget-friendly than most people believe, and they help us make more mindful shopping choices. We have the right, and some would say the obligation, to challenge major corporations when they’re making decisions that we don’t feel comfortable supporting.
With nothing to lose and countless benefits to gain, switching to cruelty-free products just makes sense. Now is the time to be conscious of the choices we’re making and how these choices affect the innocent creatures of the world that can’t speak for themselves. Decide what you want in this life and accept nothing less.
We hope you learned everything you needed to make more informed decisions and become happy, cruelty-free shoppers with us! We’re proud of how far we’ve all come and we’re excited to see what the future holds. One day, all beauty and cosmetics companies will be completely cruelty-free, and we’ll be proud to say that we were a part of this beautiful movement; we did this together.