Snail slime, animal pee, hair?

Or maybe it’s ground up hooves and feathers, boiled up skin and bones, genital secretions or ground up beetles? Urghh gross!

Sounds like some kind of witches brew doesn’t it? But actually these animal-by products are used widely in skin care, makeup, and hair care products. If you’ve not checked the ingredients you could be spreading any of these all over your beautiful face. So if you’re looking to choose cruelty free, its not just animal testing you’ll need to look out for, but the ingredients listed on the back.

To give you a helping hand here’s a list of the main ones to look out for:

‘Ambergris’ – wax-like substance found in the intestines of sperm whales.

‘Carbamide’, or ‘Urea’ – a compound derived from animal pee.

‘Carmine’, ‘crimson lake’, ‘carmine lake’, ‘cochineal’, ‘natural red 4’, ‘C.I. 75470’, or ‘E120’ - red pigment made from crushing female cochineal beetles.

‘Civet’ - scraped from a gland very near the genital organs of civet cats.

‘Gelatin’, or ’collagen’ - boiled up pig and cows bones, tendons and ligaments.

‘Helix aspersa muller glycoconjugates’, or ‘snail cream’ – snail mucus.

‘Honey’, ‘beeswax’, ‘cera alba’, ‘cera flava’ – from bees.

‘Keratin’ - from the ground-up horns, hooves, feathers, quills, and hair.

‘Lanolin’, ‘aliphatic alcohols’, ‘cholesterin’, ‘isopropyl lanolate’, ‘laneth, Lanogene’, ‘lanolin alcohols’, ‘lanosterol’, ‘sterols’, or ‘triterpene alcohols’ - the grease that coats sheep wool.

‘Mink oil’ – oil from the fat of Minks slaughtered for their fur.

‘Musk oil’ – secretion obtained from musk deer, beaver, muskrat, civet cat, and otter genitals.

‘Placental polypeptide protein’, or ‘placenta’ - placenta taken from the uterus of slaughtered animals.

‘Sodium tallowate’, ‘tallowate’ or ‘sodium taloate’ – rendered cattle or sheep fat.

‘Stearic Acid’ - when animal-derived, a fat from cows, pigs, and sheep.

‘Squalene’ – shark liver oil.

Yep that’s a pretty gross list! And there are others, PETA keep a list of all animal ingredients on their website if you want to go over and check it out.

But don’t’ despair there are plant-based ways to pamper your skin.

Extra Virgin Organic Coconut oil has many uses in skin and haircare, including lip balm, eye makeup remover and shaving cream. Just check it says it's 'Vegan' as many coconut producers exploit monkeys to harvest them.

And we make 100% vegan mositurisers, including day and night creams and body butter - no animal derived ingredients, and no animal testing. Just 100% natural plant-based pampering that's kind to you and our furry (or slimey!) friends.