5 animal cruelty-free skincare brands you should support

If the recent launch of the animated stop motion mockumentary, Save Ralph, hasn’t caught your attention, here’s what you need to briefly know: launched on April 6, 2021, the animation follows a bunny from the cosmetics testing labs in a global campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics .

What is animal testing and why should you stop using skincare and makeup brands that use animal testing? Well, animal testing is basically a form of experiment.

When brands think of new products and formulas, e.g. moisturisers, toners, lotions, serums, creams, acids – everything you can name, they get an animal testing lab to have all the different formulas applied directly on animal skin, directly into their eyes, and so on.

The animals cry, they scream, and struggle (please YouTube). It’s a cruel, inhumane, and nasty process that leave the animals in perpetual pain.

Why are people all over the world lobbying against it? So, in the past decade, there have been serious advancements in the world of cosmetics – most notably all-natural, plant-based formulas that do not require animal testing.

Instead, there are other forms of experimentations that they can do to verify the efficacy of these skincare products. And I hear what you are thinking in your head: “If they can check these skincare products without the use of animal testing now, then why still use the old and cruel animal testing method?”

Hear, hear. That’s what we are thinking too. There’s a massive chunk of the skincare and makeup industry and brands that are not catching up with the times and still stuck in the world of animal testing.

And psst…. China used to mandate that all skincare, makeup, and haircare require animal testing paperwork to be submitted before the products can be retailed in mainland China. But hey, in March 2021, even China decided to end mandatory animal testing from May 1, 2021 onwards.

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If you’re wondering how to swop your family’s skincare and body care products out to an animal cruelty-free options, know that there are many animal cruelty-free brands that you can find in Singapore.

When you shop, simply look out for the words “cruelty-free”, and “animal cruelty free”. Otherwise, look for this symbol:

Otherwise, look for “vegan” products – the majority of them are going to be animal cruelty-free as well. Here, five globally renowned skincare brands with top-grade ingredients, great results, plant-based and animal cruelty-free that you can easily find in Sephora Singapore:

1. Biossance

Biossance is one vegan, cruelty-free, and non-toxic (for both people and the environment) that you need to know of. It was funded by the Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, himself, and prides themselves on research, innovation, and using only safe and sustainable ingredients that are ethically sourced.

So, where are their formulas made and tested? In a facility certified by My Green Lab - the gold standard for laboratory sustainability practices for responsible usage of energy, waste, and water.

The products also come in tubes and bottle packaging that are completely recyclable. The box packaging that your products come in are also made from renewable sugarcane paper without inks or dyes that could affect recyclability. Voila!

2. Tata Harper

Oh, the holy grail Tata Harper. Most of us would have seen these classic green bottles on Sephora shelves, but Tata's story is lesser known - the industrial engineer from Columbia realised that commonplace skincare products were ladened with industrial chemicals.

She then tried to make the cleanest and best skincare products she could think of and founded her namesake brand that way.

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How clean? We're talking about:

• 100 per cent natural
• Tata has her own own farm and lab
• Non-toxic, eco-friendly practices
• Even certified eco by external regulatory bodies and authorities
• Cruelty-free, forever

3. Indie Lee

If there's anyone who truly appreciates and understands the importance of life (and lives), it's Indie Lee. The namesake skincare brand founder's story is a globally known one - Lee was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour, and went through a brain surgery.

That promptly changed everything she understood about life and brought her on a mission to introduce a clean skincare label that's safe from industrial chemicals and all the other nasties. The products' formulas are lightweight and suitable for sensitive skin.

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Here are their eco and animal-friendly commitments:

• Non-toxic, and eco-friendly practices
• Leaping Bunny certified: means it's animal cruelty free
• Uses FSG certified paper in all of its packaging
• COSMOS certified (in the future): a global certification for biodiversity safety and sustainability

4. Pai Skincare

Pai Skincare? Is that a new brand? Yes… somewhat. Pai Skincare first arrived on Singaporean shores slightly over a year ago.

However, founder Sarah Brown started the London-based brand in 2007 after battling with long-term skin issues caused by the industrial chemicals and irritants found in commonplace cosmetics.

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Since the inception of Pai, Brown has consistently committed her brand to exceptionally high eco- and animal-friendly standards:

• Free from synthetic ingredients, parabens, alcohol, SLS and SLES, and other aggravating chemicals
• Packaging made from a combination of glass, sugarcane plastic and regular plastic
• Cardboard for boxes are sourced from sustainable forests
• 100 per cent biodegradable eco-fuel chips are used for online orders to protect products (instead of those plastic or styrofoam stuffings that you often find)
• Vegan
• Animal cruelty free

5. BYBI

Ever heard of the word Bakuchiol or Bakuchiol Booster?

Over two years ago, there was a craze over BYBI Beauty's Bakuchiol booster - a plant-based face oil that supposedly earned raving reviews for some pretty amazing skincare results like brightness, evening skin tone, tightening pores, firming and smooth skin, and lessening fine lines.

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What's little known is that this UK-based brand founded by ladies Elsie Rutterford and Dominika Minarovic is vegan (basically means they don't use any animal products in their formulas), animal cruelty-free, and fully committed to the environment. Here are the accolades:

• Sustainability: BYBI upcycles strawberry seed waste from juice manufacturers
• Creating sugar-cane packaging
• Has their own green energy-powered lab in London where everything is made
• Leaping Bunny certified: animal cruelty-free
• Vegan: no animal products used in the formulas
• Funds projects that remove C02 emissions
• BYBI is carbon-neutral status
• Carbon-negative (in the future)

This article was first published in The Singapore Women's Weekly.