There are some fantastic ladies out there dedicating their time to making cruelty-free choices so much easier for the rest of us, researching the complex issues around animal testing and championing the brands who keep their hands clean. Over the next two weeks I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite cruelty-free blogs, that I hope you’ll love too!
Today I’m talking to Gemima from Lovely Witches who blogs all about cruelty-free beauty, with great recommendations on cruelty-free brands and in-depth guides to various issues around animal testing – like this indispensable guide to China & animal testing.
How would you describe your blog and what can people expect to find there?
Lovely Witches is a cruelty-free beauty and lifestyle blog, focusing on vegetarian and vegan beauty. You can expect to find lots of reviews of the beauty products I’m currently using, cruelty-free guides, make-up looks and the occasional lifestyle post too. My aim is to raise awareness of animal testing and to help others find cruelty-free products they love.
Tell us a little bit about your cruelty-free journey and what made you decide to go cruelty-free.
It was definitely thanks to the Leaping Bunny that I first found out about animal testing and started researching it. Immediately I only wanted to use cruelty-free products and began replacing all of my toiletries, cosmetics and cleaning products.
At first it was difficult to find out which brands were really cruelty-free, and not just saying they were. And also to find products without animal ingredients too. But now six years later it’s really second nature to check, which is why I started my blog so I could encourage and help others through the process.
What is your process for finding out if something really is cruelty-free?
Never trust a company’s website alone! Or a tweet, or anything of that nature. There are no regulations on the term ‘cruelty-free’ and no company wants to admit they test on animals, so they will deliberately mislead customers.
First, research. You can rule out a lot of companies straight away through a quick search, for example if they sell in China where animal testing is required by law. If it all looks ok, then I email them with a list of very specific questions about animal testing. That includes ingredients, suppliers, selling in China and whether they use animal ingredients. Often I don’t get a reply, or very often it’s a reiteration of the statement on their website. That’s not enough for me.
So I email again, and sometimes again and again until I’m happy that they’ve answered all my questions. This really helps me decide who to buy from, because if a brand claims to be cruelty-free but isn’t happy to have a conversation about animal testing, I’m probably not going to give them my money. The brands who are open to discussion and happy to answer questions are the ones I choose to support.
Who is your top cruelty-free brand that you couldn’t do without?
Superdrug! If you’re looking to go cruelty-free, all of their own brand range is Leaping Bunny approved and vegetarian, with lots of vegan products too. I shop there for all my essentials and I’m always excited to try their new products because they’re so affordable. But Superdrug do have a parent company that’s not cruelty-free. So I’ll point you towards my favorite make-up brand e.l.f., who have just returned to the U.K. which I am so happy about. Both of these brands really helped me make the switch to cruelty-free and I would definitely recommend them.
5 blog posts to get to know Lovely Witches:
My cruelty-free guides beginning with FAQs About Cruelty-Free
