When I decided to go cruelty free with my cosmetics this year, one of the issues I faced was not knowing what was cruelty free and what wasn’t. There are a number of companies that claim to be cruelty free, but sell their products in China, where animal testing is mandatory (you can read about that here)! So, how do you figure out who you can trust?
New Zealanders can download the new SAFE Shopper app – an online guide to help you choose cosmetic and household products that have not been tested on animals!
The SAFE app has the latest products available in Aotearoa, and you can search by product type to make it easy to find those cruelty free companies.
The SAFE Shopper app uses symbols to identify which companies are vegan; which ones include some vegan products; those whose products are sourced and made in New Zealand; those with a parent company who may conduct animal testing on other brands; and ones whose entire range contains animal products.
When you click on the company, you can opt to be taken to their website, where you can see information about the products you’re purchasing.
Why do I love this app?
It contains information about New Zealand companies – something that’s often missing from information given by organisations such as PETA that are based in other countries. New Zealand has lots of amazing natural cruelty free beauty companies, and I hope that this will help you to not only make cruelty free choices but also support local businesses!
Why isn’t X company on the list?
There are two reasons why they might not be listed in the app: either they do test on animals, or they haven’t completed the required paperwork to confirm that they are cruelty free. You can get in touch with your favourite companies and ask them to apply for this paper work by sending them a letter – here’s the one SAFE has suggested. If you want to get your own cruelty free company listed, please write to safeshopper@safe.org.nz with your company name and details to be sent the necessary paperwork.
Where can I find the app?
For IPHONE http://tinyurl.com/sshopperiphone
For ANDROID http://tinyurl.com/sshopperandroid
Happy shopping!
xo Meagan
So, so thrilled to see that SAFE have created an app. I am so against animal testing, there is simply no excuse to harm another creature for the sake of putting a product on our face to make ourselves look pretty. Animals testing is selfish and not pretty at all. I wish everyone could see that. One day I hope! Thanks for sharing this
This is brilliant, and it will really help with my shopping, really hope people use it and then companies that still test on animals hopefully will eventually feel pressured to stop or at least stop selling to China, so those that were once were cruelty free, can become cruelty free again 🙂
I hope so too Jackie! There are so many cruelty free companies these days that it’s obvious that it’s not necessary to ensure amazing products, so there’s really no excuse for it!