MACs stand on Cruelty-free!

Jul 27, 2015

CPT- Lili R.

Very interesting topic tamara, I personally think every company
need to stop testing on animals its not fair to them, unfortunately most things are tested on them and its hard to avoid anumal tested products unless you make that your lifes mission, I try my best to avoid animal tested products but thats not always the case I'm with you on the vegan line mac should try it out and see how it goes and take it from there I think it qould be a huge game changer and maybe even start a vegan trend 😊

Jul 27, 2015

Diana T.

I try my best to buy cruelty free but it's almost impossible to do so since even companies that claim to be cruelty free are owned by a parent company that isn't cruelty free - so it's tough but I do try to do it - I personally hate Mac and don't buy from them but I do buy from EL - but I do agree that animal testing needs to stop - it's completely unnecessary for cosmetics and some brands are completely cruelty free and their business is doing just fine (like lush) so it is possible to be big and cruelty free - most European brands are cruelty free because animal testing is banned in Europe - it should be banned everywhere else too.

Jul 27, 2015

Shelley W.

I've been keeping my eye on animal testing for some time now being that my other half was heavily into formulation/manufacturing. His lab personally did not conduct testing and relied on human lab rats such as myself and other staffers. What really angers me about the whole cruelty-free movement is that a lot groups don't understand that switching over from one testing method to another is not something that will happen overnight. The protocols involved are so vast it will boggle your mind. Plus, in the past three years the big cosmetic/toiletry companies have made huge gains in designing cruelty-free methods that don't involve using animals but the reason why no one hears about them is because the cruelty-free groups don't even discuss them or turn a blind eye to the press releases that are sent out giving updates. I only know about them because my husband has gone to industry events here in the US and in EU where they discussed nothing but the new testing methods that will go into play hopefully by next year. With a full-phase by 2018.

Vegan items...tough one. From a formulation stand-point its a very expensive endeavor. I won't bore you will the deets but when my husband helped one start-up with formulating a vegan lipstick line at the last minute the owners scrapped the project and lost about $25k because the cost to mass produce and bring it market was just too much for them to handle financially. Essentially they ran out of money just trying to get a formula that they could be happy with while trying to maintain quality. There aren't that many sources to obtain vegan ingredients and those companies know that so they charge a mint to manufacturers.
When it comes to MAC they will never go over to vegan. They are under the EL umbrella of companies and so they have stockholders and board members to answer to. And they are all about numbers. To even have a vegan line one would have to have a completely new set up of equipment and even wherehousing it. Yes, the EL family of companies is huge but its all about numbers with them. Its a corporation. They are going to do what is best for their bottom line. I buy cruelty-free, vegan, tested products...I'm all over the place. Vegan products are very hard for me to buy because they either infuse ingredients that are major skin irritants for me or their performance is not on par to more mainstream items. Plus, when it comes to cosmetics they just aren't on point when it comes to darker skintones.

Jul 27, 2015

Tamara F.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Although hearing from others doesn't change my mind often about how I'm feeling in regards to skincare and cosmetics, I do learn more listening to others point of view. I'm still going to check out Leaping Bunny and other cruelty free list. Something I learned just a few days ago is that a lot of makeup users who support only cruelty free brands forget that this also applies to small over the counter items such as lip balm. Lip balm used beeswax which is considered an animal product. I had this discussion with a couple of people on a closed FB forum in beauty and needless to say they were shocked to learn that. One thing I do stand by completely is reducing my carbon footprint. You may think it's completely off topic, but what do most people do with their beauty products when they are finished? I reuse and recycle.

Jul 27, 2015

Shelley W.

The carbon footprint...my fave topic. We'll have to chat about that one on our profiles as that is big thorn in my side. ;) I repurpose some containers I have and so does my daughter as she goes thru a lot of product as a MUA. I also recycle as well but I also question if my city government actually recycles what I put out on the curb every Monday (I'm a soft conspiracy theorist). Depending on the boxes (product packaging ) is thrown in my mulching bin...the requirements to make it there...vegetable dye printing and biodegradable paper. If it has a plastic lining (which is common in box packaging) then it sees the curbside recycling bin.

Jul 27, 2015

Tamara F.

I completely understand Shelley! I try my best to find the recycle places myself and go directly there or ship it there. I don't think it's conspiracy for me. I just doubt people do the right thing when the wrong thing is so easy. I also try to buy things that state they are from recycled products. Where I live now doesn't do the recycling bin so it really makes me responsible for my actions.

Jul 28, 2015

Diana T.

I'm with you on recycling in the You.S. Shelley - if it's not exactly the recyclable material they are looking for they must throw it in the dump - and only a few people in the You.S. Actually recycle correctly anyways - but here in Germany - girl it's like a foreign concept to NOT recycle and there are like a million different rules about what goes in what container and the recycling bins are bigger than the trash bins! It's sorted by plastics (different colors go in different bins) then glass (also sorted by color) and compost able /biodegradable material (like leftover food, etc) and then paper and cardboard - it's really complicated here but they are really serious about recycling here and it makes me feel better about the carbon footprint of the nation as a whole - they also conserve electricity and water in ways that the You.S. Would never do! It makes for extremely expensive utility bills but it's helping the planet so it's all good - they don't even have street lights on the autobahn because your car already has lights so they figure it's unnecessary.