WHY I LOVE CRUELTY FREE LIPSTICKS

Photography by Iain Philpott

I NEVER wear cruelty-free makeup anymore. As a beauty editor of a leading women’s magazine, until recently, I had to review all brands (many leading advertisers that supported the magazine), but as an independent journalist once more, it’s utterly MY choice. So if a brand sells in China - still ‘required by law to test end products and ingredients on animals’ - I do not need this in my life.

Fact is I rarely wore lipstick, usually just a balm, and partly because we ingest around 9lbs of those inedible waxes every year - just NOT necessary for the old gut health eh!?

So I’m loving my chance to explore more conscious beauty than ever before. I always loved naturals, but now it’s a passion. So love this gorgeous lip colour collection by Nude By Nature, an Australian makeup brand dedicated to being clean and green (and cruelty-free obviously - check out their website for ingredients info on plants indigenous to Australia) which is proving more and more possible in beauty as the power of knowledge about what's in your makeup matters just as much as it does your diet.

I mean, did you know women on average ingest between 4-9lbs of lip colour over their lifetime - so if we're eating it how come lipstick is still, in 2018, primarily filled with toxins ranging from aluminium and lead that are neurotoxic, plus multiple petrochemicals that can disrupt the body's hormones and liver. 

Equally, animal-testing. The testing of cosmetics and toiletries on animals has long been 'banned' in the UK, and across the EU since 2013,  but (and it's hoped within the next year to be reversed) certain countries such as China, still make it compulsory for any cosmetics sold there, to pay for the products to be tested on animals, thus making companies that have been cruelty-free for years turn their backs on ethical policies for financial gain. 

I am currently compiling my own list of truly ethical brands that I love, so here are the names of the natural makeup that have great results and can help you embrace a more natural, botanical way of living beautifully.

There's: NudebyNature ... plus Inika, Jane Iredale, MOMMA, Ere Perez, Savi Organics, Adorn Cosmetics, Living Nature - I'll post some of my favourites for you very soon.

Tell me what you think of natural botanical brands you've tried, if any, if not why not give it a go. Feel free to comment, do share, like, and follow my other instagram accounts: @therandomrusticredhead @randomthatch too.