L’Oréal’s Faux Vegan Products

Earlier this week I saw L’Oréal release yet another product with a ‘vegan formula’. It makes me so angry that they use ‘vegan’, a now trendy beauty buzzword, to sell their products. L’Oréal and it’s brands cannot be truly vegan as they are not cruelty free. By continuing to sell in China, L’Oréal makes it clear that they condone animal testing.

You can find more details on why L’Oréal are NOT vegan on my Garnier is NOT vegan post.

For a full list of L’Oréal’s brands please click here.

Botanicals

This is the latest range I’ve seen advertised with ‘vegan formula’. I can see these products fooling many new vegans as it looks like a cliche vegan product: botanical, sulphate-free and ‘vegan*’. Sharing to my @veganbeautygirl account, it was clear that many other conscious shoppers shared my rage over the misleading marketing.

To clarify, L’Oréal Botanicals is not vegan. It is a L’Oréal product and therefore comes from an animal-testing brand.

Garnier

Garnier were the first L’Oréal brand I saw use the ‘vegan formula’ claim. My Garnier is NOT Vegan post goes into great detail on why this isn’t vegan and also offers a template for emailing L’Oréal and the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency).

Pureology

Most likely found in salons, but also available for home use, Pureology also likes to pretend to be vegan:

Pureology’s sulphate-free, dual-benefit formulas are 100% vegan, and guarantee maximum hair colour protection. – www.pureology.co.uk

Again, see the subtle wording ‘Pureology’s… formulas are 100% vegan’ – not the product, the formula. Even more frustrating, it’s almost impossible on their site to find any signs that they’re owned by L’Oréal – there’s not even a mention of this on their ‘About’ page (although the word vegan appears 4 times!).

Urban Decay

Leaping Bunny and PETA certified as cruelty free … whilst owned by L’Oréal. This is enough to give you trust issues! You can find more on their cruelty-free and vegan commitments here.

Urban Decay was once a great ally for vegan beauties, but cannot be supported now they are owned by animal-testing L’Oréal.

Seed Phytonutrient’s

At face value, this brand looks amazing: plant based, ‘no animal testing’, paraben free and made from recycled packaging. But unfortunately this is also part of the L’Oréal family which condones animal testing.

Looking at their site, I can’t find any mention of their Parent Company L’Oréal which is hugely frustrating. I can only link the two by searching through L’Oréal’s Discover Our Brands page.

Love vegan beauty?

If you’re looking for some truly vegan and cruelty free beauty products, check out some of my posts:

• Autumn Favourites – makeup, tan & perfume
• Is Superdrug’s Botox Vegan?
• Clearer Skin with Pretty Athletic
• Ultimate Vegan Foundation Guide

Be sure to follow me on instagram @veganbeautygirl for beauty and @veganbynicole for lifestyle.