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Revlon is Not Cruelty Free

in Body, Budget, Hair, Leaping Bunny, Makeup, Men, Misc, Nails, Skin, Vegan on

Revlon CEO

I guess I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to write this for anyone who may not know. Revlon is conducting 3rd party testing and can no longer be considered cruelty free. This one really bothers me, because Revlon WAS one of the few cruelty free drugstore brands available.

Revlon is now on PETA’s list of companies that DO test on animals. I have also heard from various sources within the industry that Revlon has been performing 3rd party tests, and they are doing business in China (a company that requires animal testing).

Note: I coincidentally happened upon the passage (in the photo above) in a book I’m reading (The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss – it has nothing to do with beauty, but it’s a great book).

PLUS, Almay is owned by Revlon. Almay is not on PETA’s do or don’t test lists, but I suspect the company is not cruelty free either.

So, no more Revlon for me. But, FOR NOW (and I’d better not hear any bad news or I will cry), these drugstore brands can still be considered cruelty free. This is not a comprehensive list – if you have others to add, please let me know in the comments below!

Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup:

  • Bonne Bell
  • Milani
  • Physician’s Formula
  • Wet n Wild

Cruelty Free Drugstore Skin and Body Care:

  • Abra Therapeutics (LB)
  • Alba Botanica (LB)
  • Aura Cacia
  • Avalon Organics (LB)
  • Carmex
  • Caswell-Massey (LB)
  • CertainDri (also vegan)
  • Crabtree & Evelyn
  • Freeman (LB)
  • Kiss My Face (LB)
  • Nature’s Gate (LB)
  • Queen Helene (LB)
  • Tom’s of Maine (CF but owned by Colgate who does test) (LB)
  • Yes to Carrots

Cruelty Free Drugstore Hair Care:

  • David Babaii for Wild Aid
  • Giovanni (LB)
  • KMS California
  • Mixed Chicks
  • Organix
  • Paul Mitchell (LB)
  • Trader Joe’s

Cruelty Free Drugstore Nail Care:

  • Milani
  • Wet n Wild

* Leaping Bunny certified (LB)

You can view more cruelty free brands here.

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Comments

  2. E.L.F. is now being sold at Target and is cruelty-free and very inexpensive. they have a lot of great products, from lipsticks to foundation to nail polish.

  3. Ugh, how terrible that yet another company is no longer cruelty free. That’s really so disappointing about Revlon–and wow, what a passage you found!

  4. Thank you for this post! I am so sadden by this news since I love the Revlon butter lip line and now will have to stop buying it. I will also send letters to Revlon . It is terrible in this day and age that any company has to animal test.
    Thank you
    Angela

  5. This saddens me. Revlon has been one of my favorite drugstore brands for a long time. I really hope that Wet n Wild doesn’t ever stop being cruelty free.

  6. Aside from the PETA website, where did you find your information? Did PETA give any indication why their status has changed? Not that I’m defending them, I’m just curious. It’s so hard to sort through and verify information.

  13. Well there goes my choices for the most part in my town. WnW is so highly marked-up and not easy to find here. At least they have a small NYX display here. Let’s hope no more companies jump on the bandwagon.

  15. I had a feeling they weren’t cruelty-free. I don’t know how, I just… couldn’t be confident in them. I’ve been unable to purchase from them for awhile because the idea made me uncomfortable.

    I find myself turning more & more to Milani for my cosmetics. I just HOPE and PRAY they stay cruelty-free! I love them!!

  18. Hi Carolyn – another blogger I trust (who asked not to be named) contacted Revlon and they told her there was a separate manufacturing warehouse for testing in China. They keep it separate from the US products (which are not tested) but that’s not really good enough for me.

  19. Great post. Nuance is another cruelty-free drugstore brand. If you are considering Walmart, Target then Hard Candy, ELF, Sonia Kashuk too.

    They’re dropping like flies at the drugstore. I’m going to visit Milani and Wet n Wild’s FB pages and let them how much I appreciate them for being cruelty-free.

  20. For hair dyes,I’ve been looking into this lately to replace my Wella hair color (owned by P&G). Try your local health food store or Farmer’s Market like Sprouts, Whole Foods, Henry’s. I know Sprouts carries a brand called NaturTint, which I will be trying for the first time this weekend. Read the reviews on makeupalley.com. Goldwell, Light Mountain (found on-line they have animal pictures on their boxes) and Sante are few brands I’ve found

  21. Thank you so much for posting this info. It’s a huge disappointment, but I’m glad to know the truth at least. For other drugstore makeup that’s still cruelty-free, I do love Milani, elf, wetnwild, and Prestige. Oh yeah, I remember seeing that quote when I read 4 Hr Work Week and thinking “wow uhh what?”

  25. so disappointed, Revlon was one of my go to brands 🙁 BTW: Sonia Kashuk, only sold at Target, is also cf.

  26. Thanks for the heads up! I’m upset that another drug store brand has to be crossed off my list, but thanks for including a list of those that still don’t test as well.

  27. I think a lot of those big brands like Revlon were fine with gaining our support until it meant losing a big market like China (which requires animal testing). Then we look so small to them, and we get to see who they really are.

  28. For hair color, Sally Beauty Supply sells Ion Color Brilliance and (for more funky colors) Manic Panic – they’re both cruelty free. Ion also has quite a few styling products that say “vegan” on the label. And as several other posters have pointed out, e.l.f. makeup is fabulous, vegan and cheap!!

  30. I thought Physician’s Formula removed all cruelty free stickers in 2007. And now at least tests products that go into the finished product. IS the Organic line the only line that is cruelty free? Please be more specific. Because I remember reading some horror stories of Physician’s Formula.

  31. Carolyn & All – I received the following email from PETA on 7/23/12 when I inquired about that status of another company (not Revlon) and was informed me that Revlon was removed from PETA’s “Companies That Don’t Test on Animals” list.

    Dear Nicole,

    Thank you for contacting PETA about our Caring Consumer program.

    As you have heard, the Chinese government requires tests on animals before many cosmetics and personal-care products can be marketed in China. Companies marketing and selling these products in China are required to pay the Chinese government to have their products tested on animals. These requirements do not apply to companies selling products only in Hong Kong.

    PETA was shocked to find out that some companies claiming to be cruelty-free were secretly paying for tests on animals in China. Included at the end of this e-mail is a list of companies that have been taken off our “Companies That Don’t Test on Animals” list because they no longer meet our cruelty-free standards.

    Because of the Chinese government’s animal testing requirement, many companies choose not to sell their products in China. We urge you to support these compassionate companies and continue to purchase products from the more than 1,300 companies on our cruelty-free list.

    Through a generous grant given to PETA, we are now supporting the efforts of the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which is providing training for scientists in China in the use of non-animal test methods and working with officials to accept the non-animal methods that are used in the U.S., the European Union, and much of the world. Thanks to these scientists’ guidance, China is now in the process of accepting its first-ever non-animal methods for testing cosmetics ingredients. We are urging companies to contribute to this effort to hasten the process, and several have stepped up to help.

    Thanks again for writing and for everything that you do to help animals.

    Sincerely,

    Amanda Nordstrom

    The following companies no longer qualify for PETA’s cruelty-free list:

    Almay
    American Beauty
    Aramis
    Avon
    Bobbi Brown
    Bumble and Bumble
    Caudalie
    Clinique
    Coach
    Darphin
    Donna Karan
    Ermenegildo Zegna
    Estée Lauder
    Flirt!
    Gatineau
    GoodSkin Labs
    Grassroots Research Labs
    Jo Malone
    Jurlique
    Kiton
    Lab Series Skincare for Men
    La Mer
    L’Occitane
    M.A.C. Cosmetics
    Mary Kay
    Michael Kors
    Sinful Nail Colors
    Missoni
    Mitchum
    Ojon
    Oriflame
    Origins
    Prescriptives
    Revlon
    Sinful Nail Colors
    Smashbox Cosmetics
    Tom Ford
    Tommy Hilfiger
    Weleda

  32. Hi Allison – I haven’t heard that Physician’s Formula is NOT cruelty free. Can you please link us to the site where you found that info?

  33. I would like to know about Physicians Formula as well. Their website states the following in their FAQ section:

    Q. Does Physicians Formula test on animals?
    A. Physicians Formula Inc. does not conduct tests, or commission any outside facility to conduct tests that involve the use of animals.
    The safety of our products is determined using such alternate methods as “in-vitro” testing, human clinical evaluations and human use-trials under the supervision of a Board Certified Dermatologist.

    located here – http://www.physiciansformula.com/en-us/staticpage/faqs.html#q3

  35. Also Jordana (available here in NE FL at Walgreens) is CF – owned by Milani. Great stuff – just like Milani – but lower prices. And Physicians Formula will soon be (or already is) owned by Markwins (makers of Wet n Wild) – so *hopefully* that means PF will be CF too (for certain, I mean)!

  36. To the hell with them, I’m never buying them again! And make sure everyone I know don’t as well!!!

  37. I’m really confused as how all of this is going to work with the new EU directive coming into play in March in Europe. Are companies trading such as Revlon, Maybelline etc going to have bases in Europe *not* animal testing to continue to sell products in Europe? If anyone knows how this’ll work I’d love to know thanks!

  38. I am saddened comments like the first one. When it says things on the back of packaging…it is clever wording to fool the naive. We dont support animal testing means they claim to not like it but..they do it. “We don’t test our products” means they test the ingredients before they are in the finished product or they pay someone else to to either.
    The best references are bvua and uncaged not Peta. The issue of Peta being animal killers (but ahainst torture and offer painless deaths) and the issue of them naming celebrities of the year who are also spokespeople for the very companies they boycott is not the main issue, but their sliding scale that qualifies companies. Check Uk orgs first! And dont forget that companies like MAC are constantly going back to testing with no public announcement.

  39. Oh this is so sad! I wear revlon and almay when I can’t afford elf. In fact I just bought a bounch of revlon’ matte lipstick 🙁

  40. Please add Pacifica (pacificaperfume.com) to your awesome cruelty free list! They make lotions, makeup and candles! Best of all, they are 100% vegan and donate a portion of proceeds to support clean water.

  41. Molly, totally agree with your comment with re: to e.l.f. People like me on a budget can’t ask for more 🙂

  42. Salma Hayek’s Brand “NUANCE” is availabel at CVS and is legitimately awesome! I use everything from make-up to lotion to haircare. Huge fan. Doesn’t break the bank for the quality either 🙂

  43. Same here with the Revlon Lip Butters!!! Do you (or anyone?) know of any good cruelty-free lippy alternatives?

  45. Sorry, but I checked today, and TreSemme is owned by Unilever, which definitely tests on animals. 🙁

  46. KMS is no longer on PETA’s list of cruelty-free brands, like they used to be. Any idea why they have removed them? I think KMS was removed just recently, not really shure. I really like this hair care brand and hope they’re still cruelty free.

  47. They used to be cruelty free, but stopped a few years ago. I use now use Yes To Carrots or Giovanni hair products, both of which can be found at Target.

  51. Major difficulty trying to find hair dye that doesn’t engage in animal testing. ISO a good hair dye that you can actually find at a common drug store…suggestions?

  53. The Body Shop (TBS) is also owned by Revlon. I emailed aTBS directly to see if their products contained any ingredients that are or ever were tested on animals or contained any animal products. They maintained their innocence BUT be aware your purchase may be funding animal testing for its subsidiaries.

    Revlon neglected to respond to multiple inquiries.

  58. rusk only doesnt test on animals on the finished product
    they do test on animals
    if that has changed pls let me know
    thanks

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