Vegan and cruelty free perfumes: how to choose them?

"And you, are you vegan? " Admit it: it's a bit of a burning question at the moment... And beyond setting the mood at family dinners, this question also concerns your beauty routine.

If you're vegan, we bet you're having trouble finding cosmetics that are consistent with your principles.
If you're not, we bet the brands aren't really helping you understand the issues behind the term - apart from making you feel vaguely guilty or annoyed by hearing about it.

In short: whatever your camp, we've concocted a little article to help you understand what veganism in cosmetics means, and avoid getting confused between vegan, cruelty free, natural, etc. No more doubts, now it's time for transparency!

Vegan in cosmetics, what does it mean?

A vegan cosmetic is a product that does not use any ingredients of animal origin and is not tested on animals. We can see you from here: "what, my day cream contains animal materials?" Indeed! You'd think our cosmetics would contain only plant or mineral ingredients... No way! Especially since the confusion can go much further: a so-called natural product is not automatically vegan (yes, yes). And by digging deeper, we can discover many other surprises, especially in perfumery. 

Vegan perfume: bullshit or not?

Centuries ago, perfumes were made from plant and animal ingredients. In fact, animal notes such as civet, castoreum, ambergris and musk were considered essential to seduction. The problem was that they came from the glands of animals (chevrotin, civet, and even sperm whale) that were hunted or bred for perfumery use.

Over the years, the fashion for animal fragrances has faded and their use has become increasingly rare - to learn more about the history of perfumery (particularly French), we suggest you read this article.

Today, most animal notes are recreated by synthesis because they are too rare, too expensive or banned to preserve animals. This is the case of musks, banned since the 1970s, or ambergris and civet, which are too rare, expensive and unethical for the big players in the perfume industry. However, some niche brands like to use them sparingly to spice up their perfume and countries like the Middle East still use them.

Other animal raw materials are still very common in perfumery: this is the case of ambrettolide and beeswax. Ambrettolide is a synthetic musk that is the subject of debate, because it is obtained from a gum generated by cochineal beetles. Technically, it is therefore a product of animal origin... but everyone can make up their own mind on the matter.

Clearly, today's perfumery is 90% vegan. You're unlikely to come across a fragrance that isn't vegan, but don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure, or if the brand doesn't make a clear claim. If you absolutely want to avoid all animal raw materials, look for brands that clearly state that they are vegan - like Bastille, where we make this point clear on each of our product sheets.

Vegan = cruelty free?

A cruelty-free product is one that is not tested on animals. Don't confuse the two notions: a vegan product is necessarily not tested on animals, but the opposite is not true. In Europe, since 2009, we are lucky to have a law that prohibits the sale of any product or ingredient tested on animals. To be clear: if tomorrow you buy a cream at the chemist's on your street corner, you can be sure that none of the ingredients of this cream, nor the cream itself, will have been tested on animals (the "cruelty-free" mention that you sometimes see on the packaging is therefore essentially a reassurance factor). On the other hand, if you buy a cream on your next holiday in the Philippines, you will have no guarantee on this point!

Non-vegan ingredients to avoid

Here is a small list of ingredients to avoid if you are sensitive to the animal cause:

• Carmine [INCI: Carmine or CI75470], a red dye often found in lipsticks and blushes, obtained from ground cochineal beetles.
• Chitosan [INCI: chitosan], a thickening agent derived from the shell of crustaceans
• Lanolin is derived from the wool of sheep.
• Allantoin [INCI: allantoin] is derived from snail slime.
• Honey, beeswax or propolis [INCI: cera alba, propolis, royal Jelly, beeswax].
• Beware of false friends! The Castor Oil ingredient is none other than castor oil, which is good for the skin and hair, and does not come from the beaver :)

Also beware of keratin, squalane, collagen and glycerine which can sometimes be of animal origin - mainly because this lowers their cost. Unfortunately, we don't have any tips on how to differentiate between the origins... We therefore advise you to ask the brand directly if they come from animals, and to rely on the product labels. By the way, if you get caught up in reading the labels on your cosmetics, you'll find our advice on the matter in this article, right here.

So, now that you know everything... are you vegan, or not? 🙂