Urban Decay is a world famous makeup brand and a common name in most households. They release drops of new varieties of makeup on a regular basis and have received lots of accolades for their success. However, cosmetics testing is unfortunately a very common practice in large makeup brands and has a huge negative impact on animals.
Urban Decay is presently a 100% cruelty-free makeup brand. It is certified by PETA to be a cruelty-free brand, which is committed to ending animal testing. They do not perform any tests on animals, nor are any performed on their behalf. Moreover, they try to ensure that this is a known fact. On their website they have specifically said that- “We love and respect animals and the Earth, so we try to create vegan formulas wherever possible.”
They make sure that their suppliers do not use raw materials, which have been tested on animals. They also have some vegan makeup products for people who don’t want makeup with animal products or animal-derived products. Urban Decay is making the effort to completely turn all their products plant-based or vegan without any sort of compromise in quality. They have truly made a remarkable effort in this field. They are evidently against animal cruelty and testing in all forms and this has been shown time and time again.
Urban Decay is a personal care company that was founded 26 years ago and has its headquarters in Newport Beach California. It is a subsidiary of the parent company L’Oréal. Now this is where things get interesting, because L’Oréal itself is not a cruelty-free company.
How is Urban Decay Cruelty-Free as a subsidiary of L’Oréal?
L’Oréal is a huge makeup brand with several makeup companies under it like Maybelline New York, Garnier, NYX Professional Makeup and more. It has met the needs of millions of people worldwide, ranging from makeup to shampoos to skincare.
With this wide range of product and recipients, L’Oréal has become a top company name in the world of cosmetics. This means that L’Oréal products are sold in 130 countries and they have employed more than 50,500 people to carry out this huge mission. They sell their products in many countries like Russia, India, USA, China etc due to which they need to ensure that they meet the criteria and requirements of every nation to sell their products.
China has laws in place, which do not allow the sale of cosmetics without mandatory animal testing. Therefore L’Oréal has multiple subsidiary companies, which test on animals so that these products can be sold in China. Urban Decay is not one of these companies and none of their products can be sold in mainland China.
L’Oréal has spent 900 million euros in the past 40 years to find alternatives to animal testing. They have worked on methods such as reconstructed skin models so as to find a suitable replacement, which will not hurt animals and the Earth that we have been given.
This method has been doing in vitro safety tests since 1979. They are still not cruelty-free because they refuse to adopt a complete ban on animal testing. Although they claim that they do not do any animal testing themselves, they have permitted health authorities to do it for their products. They are trying to work with China to find a solution, but unfortunately animal testing is still prevalent linked to the L’Oréal brand name.
Urban Decay is one of their better companies for it does not comply with the above rule. It doesn’t allow any Urban Decay products to be tested on animals at present. In the past, Urban Decay used to sell products in China and was not completely cruelty free. However, in 2014 they made a huge shift in their policies related to animal testing. Urban Decay has been certified by the Leaping Bunny program as well.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it took several years for Urban Decay to reach where it is and to assure product quality without any animal testing. It is completely free of animal cruelty and is committed to this belief. Although they are under a company who supports it, they have differentiated themselves on this subject and continue to produce large quantities of makeup products, which are loved by their consumers.
FAQs
Q: Is Urban Decay cruelty-free and vegan?
A: Urban Decay is 100% cruelty free but it is not completely vegan. It has a large number of completely vegan products in all its makeup categories. They are working on converting the remaining products as well without any decrease in quality. These non-vegan makeup items contain ingredients like beeswax and carmine.
Q: When did Urban Decay become cruelty-free?
A: Urban Decay became cruelty-free in the year 2014.
Q: Do they allow anyone else to perform animal testing for them?
A: Strictly no. They are a PETA certified cruelty-free company.
