Our Cruelty Free Guide' promotes beauty, skincare, body care, household and other products that are genuinely cruelty-free and available to purchase in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
We have strict criteria that have to be met before a company can be featured in our Cruelty Free Guide.
The criteria
Companies featured don't:
- Test any product ingredients or final products on animals.
- Pay anyone else to test any product ingredients or final products on animals.
- Have a parent company that conducts or funds animal testing.
- Sell their products in mainland China (companies that sell in Hong Kong, Taiwan or in China via e-commerce only can still be added to our Cruelty Free Guide)
Companies featured also have to:
- Sell some vegan-friendly products. As we are opposed to any form of animal exploitation, we only promote vegan products made by cruelty-free companies.
- Sell their products in NZ — either in stores or online.
Other information about the NZAVS Cruelty Free Guide NZ
Vegan lists:
We only provide a list of vegan products for the companies that sell some or mostly vegan products. We don't make these lists for companies that are 100% vegan since you can view all available products on their website.
Some companies do not have a complete list of available vegan products. In these few cases, we have not been able to provide a list.
Information source
We trust that company representatives tell us as the truth. If new information comes to light proving that a company on our list is affiliated with animal testing, then it will be removed from our Cruelty Free Guide immediately.
Products sold in China
According to experts we have spoken with, products sold in China via e-commerce do not require regulatory animal testing. Therefore, companies selling in China but only via this method are included in our Cruelty Free Guide. For other distribution channels, products must fulfil certain requirements to avoid animal testing.
Cosmetics sold directly in Hong Kong or Taiwan don't need to be tested on animals, so companies selling here and not in the rest of China will also be included in our Cruelty Free Guide, given they avoid animal testing for those markets, too.
According to The Leaping Bunny, toothpaste is treated as cosmetic in China, so as of May 2021 can avoid pre-market animal testing under certain circumstances (I.e., if there are additional “claims” like whitening, then animal testing may be required).1
Read more about animal testing in China here.
Annual reviews
We aim to review the content in our Cruelty Free Guide annually so that it contains up-to-date and accurate information.
Type of products included
Our Cruelty Free Guide covers the following product categories:
- Face Makeup (foundation, primer, concealer etc.)
- Eye Makeup (mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow etc.)
- Lip Makeup (lipstick, lip liner, lip gloss etc.)
- Cheek Makeup (blush, bronzer, highlighter etc.)
- Makeup Brushes
- Deodorant & Perfume
- Face Care (moisturisers, scrubs, cleansers etc.)
- Eye Care (eye cream, eye serum etc.)
- Body Care (soap, moisturisers, body oil etc.)
- Hand & Nail Care (soap, nail polish, hand cream etc.)
- Foot Care (cream, treatments etc.)
- Lip Care (lip balm, lip exfoliator etc.)
- Hair Care (conditioner, shampoo, hair dye, hair spray etc.)
- Dental Care (toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash etc.)
- Hair Removal (wax, shaving gel etc.)
- Beard Care (beard oil, shaving cream etc.)
- Sun Care & Tanning Products (sunblock, fake tan etc.)
- Tattoo Care
- Insect Repellent
- Animal Care (dog shampoo, anti-itch cream, healing balm etc.)
- Baby/Child Care (baby powder, baby oil, kids shampoo etc.)
- Household products (washing powder, dish-washing liquid, toilet cleaner etc.)
Adding a company to our Cruelty Free Guide
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Cruelty-free companies selling products in NZ can apply to be added here.
- If you are a supporter and you'd like to suggest a company for us to send an invite to, send us a message — nzavs@nzavs.org.nz.
How to use the NZAVS Cruelty Free Guide
We've tried to make this resource as easy to use as possible to use. Below we've briefly outlined the two ways which our Cruelty Free Guide can be used.
Search by the company name
You can select between two different view options by clicking the button circled below:
- By name of the company (in alphabetical order)
- By vegan status (from 100% vegan to some vegan)
Once you click on a company name, you will be able to see relevant information. We've explained this further in the image below.
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Searching by product category:
Just select one of the many different product categories we have listed and you will be directed to a list of companies featured on our Cruelty Free Guide that sell that type of product.
If you have any other questions, please send them to nzavs@nzavs.org.nz.
References
