Going cruelty-free : The beginner's guide.

Becoming cruelty-free can be a bit tricky. With a little research, you will find some brands don't mention their policies, or that some do but then you find out later they're not being 100% honest, or some "parent companies" put you off cruelty-free brands.

I'm going to try and compile a "beginners guide" to becoming cruelty-free! I hope you find it useful :)
(note, I'm in the UK so this will be most beneficial to UK readers, but there will be information at the bottom that should benefit all readers).

First off, here are the brands I've spoken about on my blog as being cruelty-free (and one or two that are coming up shortly!)
Skin Blossom - face and body washes
MuLondon - Face washes and extra concentrated moisturisers, ideal for problem dry skin
Earthbound - Natural hand made facial products and lip balms
Lush - Lush do everything from soap to make-up, and they're all hand made, natural, and cruelty-free
Faith in nature - wide range of toiletires
bulldog - male toiletries (although I use them and think they're pretty unisex)
Gwdi-hw balms - from lip-balms to healing balms, handmade in Wales

So there's your washing and cleansing stuff sorted! :) Now on to make-up, and some more well-known brands. I know it's tricky to suddenly start buying from new companies you've never heard of so I'm just going to try and stick to ones we know for now.

Superdrug is a good place to start. Some people don't count them as cruelty-free as they give money to a company that test on animals. However, the company is cancer research. It's up to you what your decision is about this. The actual products in the following list are from Superdrug and have not themselves been tested on animals. Remember that all Superdrug own-brand items are BUAV approved and have not been tested on animals:
2True, GOSH, Beauty UK, Miss Sporty, Sleek, MUA.  

Bare minerals and Barry M are both great, well know brands that do not test on animals, and can be found in most shops that sell make-up, as well as online.

Urban Decay and The Body Shop have long been know to be great cruelty-free brands. However, they have both recently been purchased by L'oreal.  L'oreal as a company test on animals. They do, though, fund alternatives to animals testing, and none of the money from UD or TBS purchases go towards animal testing. Again, this is your choice. If what you want is to easily find products that have not themselves been tested on animals, these are good choices.

Unfortunately, many of your favorites probably don't appear on this list. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Rimmel, Revlon, and many more, test their products on animals. Please read my post on what animal testing is to see why I don't purchase from these brands anymore.

I know some people absolutely refuse to buy make-up tested on animals, and will boycott Urban Decay and other brands in a similar position. That's great! My own view of cruelty-free might not be "cruelty-free" to a lot of people. But I think if we all take small steps, it will send a message that we wish all companies to be cruelty-free. I know there's a new law being passed that bans animal testing in the EU, but many countries still test on animals. I would imagine a great way to get around this law is to simply launch your product in a country not bound by the law.  

If you really can't live without your MAC mascara, maybe you can make sure your eyeshadow is Barry M. If you would rather die than go without your Bobbi Brown foundation, then the rest of your make-up could be superdrug brands. If we all made these changes I think we could go a long way to ending cosmetic testing on animals.

This link leads to a much more comprehensive list, including brands you won't have heard of before. At the bottom you will find even more links to further information on how to tell if a brand is cruelty-free.  

I hope this list was helpful? Please let me know what you thought, and if you will be making any changes the next time you go cosmetic shopping?