The 2020 Global Green Beauty awards is aimed at beauty brands who are trying to bring out more green beauty lines or clean beauty lines.  The idea is to educate and to move towards a more eco conscious direction for beauty brands and to celebrate those brands which are already greener and cleaner.

There are many ways to be green and clean, for example being plastic free, zero waste, natural, organic, vegan and cruelty free.  But being one doesn't necessary mean you are the other.  So in today's blog post we thought we would go through some environmental and ecological terminology as it isn't always that clear.  It is one thing when you're in the supermarket picking up organic eggs, but another thing when you are browsing for the latest beauty products.

What is Vegan beauty?

Vegan beauty products by definition contain no animal products or animal derivatives.  That means, no lanolin, no beeswax, no honey, no collagen, no gelatin for example. 

Vegan cosmetics does not necessarily therefore mean it is not tested on animals.  The term purely means it contains no animal products or derivatives.  Saying that, many many ethical brands try to tick all the boxes and they will often be both vegan and cruelty free beauty products.  However, saying it is Vegan is not enough to ensure it is cruelty free, it also needs to state that too in order to be certain it is.  Often this is written on the packaging, or on the website, otherwise you can check with the manufacturer directly.

What are cruelty free beauty products?

Ok, so for a brand to be cruelty free, it needs to not test the products on animals at any stage. 

That sounds easy, so where does the gray area begin?

Often companies say they are 'required by law' to test on animals.  This is more often than not for global brands where in some countries it is necessary to test on animals for the product to be able to be sold there.  That means, those companies are not cruelty free, as at some stage (to sell the products in some countries) they have to test on animals, even if it is through a third party.

So is my cruelty free product vegan?
As we said above, being cruelty free does not equate to the product being vegan.  This is as though no animals may have been tested on, the product may still contain a product like honey, and therefore not be considered as vegan as the ingredients include animal derivatives.

That's quite a lot of information when looking at vegan and cruelty free cosmetics brands, but we hope that cleared up some questions for you for when you are next browsing for your next beauty purchase.

We celebrate all brands that are making efforts to support the environment, whether in its ingredients, ethics, testing or more.  Slowly slowly, we are all becoming more aware about the environment and our impact on it, as well as its impact on us.  We look forward to sharing the winners showcase with you for the 2020 Global Green Beauty Awards on the 10th August when we announce the winners in the Global Makeup Magazine.  This awards is for all brands who have products which are in some way, ethical, green and of course clean.

Have a great day, 
​The Global Makeup Awards team xx