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The Beginner’s Guide to Cruelty Free Perfumes

ByCordelia

The Beginner's Guide to Cruelty Free Perfumes

Quite a while ago I was asked to write the beginner’s guide to cruelty free perfumes. I’m going to share some of my favorites with you. Leaping Bunny has a list of cruelty free brands here and PETA has a list of cruelty free brands here. Logical Harmony has vegan brands here. I’m listing options available online and in stores, as some of you requested options for in Sephora or department stores. This post contains a mix of press samples and products purchased by me.

The Beginner’s Guide to Cruelty Free Perfumes

All of these brands are cruelty free and some offer vegan options or are vegan.

When it comes to perfumes, my personal preference is for vanilla to be incorporated into scents. I find vanilla to be calming. I also avoid lavender like the plague (lavender can trigger migraines for me).  I love gourmand type scents, so I list a lot of them here. Vanilla, amber, cherries, wood, pumpkin, caramel, mango and more fruits are notes I like.

TokyoMilk Perfumes
TokyoMilk makes a ton of different perfumes. I prefer the Dark line, specifically Tainted Love. Unfortunately their website leaves much to be desired, so I can’t really tell you much about the brand, other than “Unexpected essences crushed & distilled, creating a remarkably uncommon sensory experience” – the Tokyomilk Perfumarie.

  • Tainted Love – Dark Vanilla Bean, Orchid, White Tea, Sandalwood.
    (available online and in stores)
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Perfumes
Haus of Gloi Satyr with BPAL 13, Suck It, Vice

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Perfumes
BPAL, as it’s fondly referred to, makes many wonderful scents. I’ve reviewed a ton and I do still have more to review. Their scents are interesting because they make such unusual and distinct scents. I love BPAL Vice, Suck it and Lady Death. Almost all of their products are vegan.

  • Vice – Black cherry, dark chocolate and hints of orange
  • Suck It – Sexy and suckable: black cherry brandy and a whisper of red wine.
  • Lady Death: Savage – White musk, grey amber, Calabrian bergamot, vanilla absolute, French labdanum, styrax, wormwood, caraway, and bois de jasmin.
    (available online only)
Cocoa Pink Perfumes
Rainbow Honey Royal Fruits with Cocoa Pink Naughty Pumpkin and Black Chocolate Pumpkin

Cocoa Pink Perfumes
Cocoa Pink has so many great scents I don’t know where to begin. Actually, I’ll list 2 of my long-time favorites and 2 new scents for Fall / Winter that I want to try.

  • Cinderella’s Carriage – What did Cinderella really wish for? We think it was this blend of Coconut Cream Pie with Marshmallow Meringue, Sweet Pumpkin, Spiritueuse Double Vanilla, and Vanilla Bean Noel. We think this is the REAL reason the prince fell in love, who could resist Cinderella in sexy foodie?
  • Black Chocolate Raspberries ~ Fresh, juicy raspberries coated in a layer of rich dark chocolate with a hint of seduction.
  • Harlequin Mask – Smooth shea gently sweetened with tinges of warm vanilla, yellow pear smothered within gobs of golden honeycomb
  • Halloween Night –  Honeycrisp apples coated in buttery melted caramel, bourbon vanilla, crumbles of muscavado sugar, white sugar and candy corn.
    (available online only)
Fortune Cookie Soap Perfumes
Fortune Cookie Soap Wicked, Good, Lollipop Your Cherry, BFFs

Fortune Cookie Soap Perfumes
I really love my BFFs, Wicked, Good, and Lollipop Your Cherry. I plan on picking up Unicorn Farts (smells like rainbows and glitter, of course), too.

  • BFFs – Blueberries and pumpkins might be considered an unexpected friendship, but in this unique scent, they’re inseparable! Sticky sugared blueberries and luscious baked pumpkin with all the fall spices atop a warm cake accord.
  • Wicked, Good – Because orange would have been too obvious! Sweet pumpkin pie filling with the perfect touch of cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar, finished with a generous dollop of fresh whipped cream.
  • Lollipop Your Cherry – Cherries, cherries and more cherries swirled with vanilla, and a hint of orange and pineapple.
  • Unicorn Farts – Even things magical and mysterious fart – like unicorns! We’ve all thought about it, don’t deny it! FCS has created a fragrance that we believe is exactly what a unicorn’s “fluff” smells like! So what does it smell like? Well, rainbows and glitter of course! What else?!
    (available online only)

Rainbow Honey Perfume
Rainbow Honey makes gorgeous nail polish, which I’m sure you know by now. However, did you also know they make perfume? I love it! Their products are all vegan.

  • Midori – Midori, brings together scents reminiscent of summer fruits…fresh, sweet and delicious!
  • Sakura Matsuri – Bright florals, exotic fruit, tea on Sunday afternoons, and just the right amount of sweetness reminiscent of lychee rice dumplings!
    (available online only)

Silk Naturals Perfume
Silk Naturals makes so many beautiful eyeshadows and skincare. They also make perfumes. All of their scents are vegan and gluten free. The two I want to try the most are Stress Relief and Potion.

  • Stress Relief – an aroma-therapy scent that’s peaceful and calming. It has a clean, almost soapy base with hints of uplifting peppermint. It’s calming and uplifting at the same time.
  • Potion – a sweet tart combination of black currant and pomegranate with backed up with a high-end almost floral citrus bouquet. It’s juicy, sexy, and romantic.
    (available online only)

LAVANILA Fragrances
They make a ton of different vanilla based favorites. As I’m a vanilla fan, I tend to like them. You’ve got Vanilla Blackberry, Vanilla Passion Fruit, Vanilla Coconut, Vanilla Summer, Pure Vanilla, Vanilla Grapefruit and Vanilla Lavender. While I hate lavender, I’ve loved the rest of my scents by Lavanila. They are all vegan.
(available online and in Sephora and other department stores)

Epically Epic Soap Co Perfumes
They make a ton of awesome vegan products including custom perfumes. However, the owner just had a new baby so she’s not doing custom scents right now.
(available online only)

Harvey Prince Perfumes
This is a new to me brand recommended to me by my friend Tashina. (Edit I apparently received a sample of Yogini in a Petit Vour box and described it as walking into a New Age shop). Below are 3 scents that sound much more delightful.

  • Eau Fling – Light, casual, charming. Playful notes of pumpkin, jasmine, raspberry, black currant.
  • Ageless – Crisp, inviting notes of pink grapefruit, pomegranate, luscious mango.
  • Madagascar Vanilla – stress relief has never smelled so good
    (available online only)

Pacifica Perfumes
Pacifica is a great choice because they’re 100% vegan and found in so many stores including Ace Hardware (say what? I know, crazy but when I checked locations closest to me that’s the first one that shows up. They’re also in Whole Foods and Target.) They’ve got a lo tof interesting scents like Waikiki Pikake, Island Vanilla, and Malibu Lemon Blossom.
(available online and in stores)

The Body Shop Perfumes
I’ve loved many a Body Shop Fragrance over the years, including Neroli and Jasmine. Right now the Madascan Vanilla flower sounds lovely.
(available online and in stores)

Bath and Body Works Perfumes
Bath & Body Works Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, Vanilla Noir, and Twilight Woods

Bath and Body Works Perfumes – No longer cruelty free. This is really upsetting to me because I’ve been a huge B&BW fan for years. (10/12/2014)
I’ve loved tons of Bath and Body Works scents including Vanilla Noir, Twilight Woods, and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Right now I’m eyeing the Peach & Honey Almond, Comfort, and Maui Hibiscus Beach. Comfort is creamy pumpkin latte and toasted marshmallows, which sounds amazing.

B&BW’s Response to my email. I’m still waiting for my response from L Brands.
Thank you for your email regarding our Animal Testing policy.  We are happy to assist with your inquiry.  L Brands policy prohibits the testing of our branded products, formulations and ingredients on animals except in rare cases when required by government regulations. Through our involvement in the Institute For In Vitro Sciences, we are supporting research to develop additional non-animal alternative methods which we believe will ultimately result in the elimination of animal testing worldwide.

Lush Perfumes
Lush has a ton of perfumes available. I’ve never tried any (can you believe it?) but I want to try Vanillary, which is supposed to be warm vanilla and delicious caramel.
(available online and in stores)

Haus of Gloi Perfumes
This all vegan body shop makes some really great scents. My favorite is Satyr, Italian blood orange drizzled with a blackened vanilla.
(available online only)

KleanSpa Perfumes
In searching for more scent options, I found a new to me brand, KleanSpa that is on my lust list. Some of their scents sound awesome! I believe they’re vegan.

  • Simply Chai: Notes of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger blend with rich vanilla, sandalwood with a dry-down of chocolate.
  • Black + Blue: Refreshing notes of black raspberry seed with a dash of juicy blueberry and black pepper essential oil.
  • Perfect Pumpkin: The sweet notes of pumpkin pie and vanilla with cinnamon & clove make this scent a perfect holiday treat.
  • Awesome Autumn Apple: Fresh picked red apple essence married with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter rum…oh YUM!(available online and in some stores)

John Russo Perfume
While I’ve tried the John Russo nail polish, I haven’t tried their fragrances. They have a men’s and women’s available.
(available online only)

The All Natural Face Perfumes
I just recently discovered that they have vegan perfumes. Sweet Tangerine sounds nice.
(available online only)

Pure Natural Diva Botanicals Perfumes
This is a luxury line of perfumes.
(available online only)

Mbeze Perfumes
They make interesting scents like Once Bitten and Cruizee.
(available online only)

Sweet Anthem Perfumes
This is a PETA approved, vegan perfumery. I don’t think I’ve ever tried their scents but they sound interesting.

  • Petra – American teenage nostalgia. Lingering candle smoke, tart cherry, a powdery, vintage style floral center, and a dry-down of real vanilla and resinous myrrh.
  • Emily – head notes of almond and yuzu, heart notes of honey and milk, base notes of oatmeal, sandalwood and turkish mocha
  • Margaret – head note of guava, heart note of rose otto, base notes of vetiver and white tea.
    (available online and in select locations)
Tru Romance Sinful and TokyoMilk Dark Tainted Love 62
Tru Romance Sinful and TokyoMilk Dark Tainted Love 62

Tru Fragrance Perfumes
Tru Fragrance is a perfumery that sells their line in stores like buckle.com, charming charlie etc. I love their Sinful fragrance (top notes of mandarin, grapefruit and raspberry, mid notes of rose, gardenia and sparkling mimosa, base notes of sandalwood, patchouli and tonka bean.
(available online and in stores)

The Rhinestone Housewife Perfumes
The Rhinestone Housewife sells a ton of scents. Some of the interesting ones to me are:

  • Strigoi – Unwelcome even in Hell, these Romanian super vampires are disproportionately likely to be redheads. Black rose petals and violets with dragonsblood resin and kush.
  • Candy Floss – Sugarspun blackberries folded into lush marshmallow cream & buttery vanilla taffy.
  • Choco Pumpkin Spice – Cemetery autumn pumpkin, haunted spices (cardamummy, nutty nutmeg, white cinnamon and terrified clove), spooky choco cocoa and wickedly delightful Vanilla with a touch of undead Musk.
    (available online only)

Cleanse Your Soul Perfumes
While I haven’t ordered from them in a long time, they have a ton of interesting scents. My two favorites were Over the Moon and Blueberry Coconut Cake. Here are some other nice sounding scents.

  • Over the Moon – Amber blended with black cherries and vanilla
  • All Hallow’s Breakfast – Gingerbread Pancakes topped with pumpkin whipped cream, with a big mug of apple cider and hazelnut coffee
  • Apparition– Vanilla Bean blended with creamy sandalwood and a hint of musk
  • Gummy Bats – Sour lime, tart cherries and marshmallow
  • Monster Bread – Vanilla Nut Bread topped with pumpkin marshmallow icing
    (available online only)

I know some of you were hoping for more options at Sephora, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t find very many.

I do need to point out that there are many indie perfume companies online, so if you’re not afraid of ordering samples, there are many more options than I list here. You can always search etsy for ‘X clone’ to find cruelty free options of your favorite name brand perfume. You can also find perfumers who will create a cruelty free clone if one doesn’t already exist.

More Cruelty Free Posts

What are your favorite cruelty free perfumes? What are your all time favorite scents?

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

53 Comments

  2. Wear what you want. Most vegan fragrances smell like armpit or one has not bathed in years sadly.
    The whole vegans smell better than meat-eaters slogan that I’ve seen on some of these sites are retarded. Sadly most of my vegan friends smell awful. I am not a meat-eater either.

  3. I got the Harvey Prince Hello! rollerball in my Ipsy Glam Bag last month. Wore it for the first time today. It has a very unique smell – I like it!!!!

  4. I have emailed Nest Fragrances (sold at Sephora) and the response they gave me definitely sounded like they’re cruelty-free! Their Midnight Fleur scent is to die for.

    1. I saw. I’ve been talking to Logical Harmony about it. I’m also waiting on an email back from the staff at L Brand. I got an email response from B&BW Customer Support, which was pretty snarky and really upset me. I haven’t yet updated this post but will soon. This is really upsetting to me.

      1. I figured you possibly knew, given your love of B&BW. 🙁 But just in case, thought I’d post it.

        I have to admit, the part that bothers me just as much as the animal testing is how they responded to Tashina’s Facebook query. And now with the email response you report as being snarky, I’m even less impressed. There are plenty of other places to spend money that treat their customers respectfully.

        1. I responded back to the initial form letter email they sent me asking when exactly was the policy updated and where were they selling that required testing. The email response I got back was ‘we don’t understand your query. Call us for an answer to your question.’ and well, no I want the answer in writing. (I took this to be snarky, but maybe they didn’t mean it in that way.)

          I commented on their Facebook but I think I was deleted. I commented on other people’s posts and other people were like ‘you eat meat, shut up.’

          I didn’t bother to respond with ‘just because someone eats meat doesn’t mean that they can’t want animals to stop being tortured for cosmetics.’

          I want an elimination to animal cruelty.

  6. Have you tried anything by Possets? According to the website, their blends are also cruelty-free.

  8. Finding vegan perfumes in Australia that are actually sold in physical stores has been proving difficult. We did however start to get Pacifica in some stores so hopefully that grows into a bigger name here.

  12. Such awesome selections… I am addicted to Lavanilla. I wish that they wouldn’t charge such a hefty shipping to Hawaii – thank goodness for Sephora. I love Pacifica and many of these too.

  13. Great perfume roundup. I love the type of scents you describe. Vanilla is a must for me in my perfumes.

  14. Seriously this post came at the right time because I’ve been searching online for some perfumes. I think I’ll start off by checking out Cocoa Pink!

  17. I think we are on opposite ends of the fragrance spectrum for scents we like! I usually avoid heavy vanilla, and prefer citrus notes. Good to have options that are cruelty-free, though! Great list.

  21. I have a Pacifica Sandalwood rollerball in my purse and I just love it. I am a BBW hoarder. Good to see they make the list. What about big name fragrances like Thierry Mugler, etc?

    1. Most of the big names are not cruelty free and are either selling their perfumes in China – which require animal testing or are animal testing themselves. Very sad about that.

  22. This is an awesome post. I’ve never tried any of these but I’m familiar with the brands and am a fan of many of them.

  24. Awesome post!! Some of these are new to me. Gosh, I miss shopping at Bath & Body Works – comfort sounds delicious!!

  25. BBW comfort – do it! I LOVE it, it’s got the right amount of pumpkin and headier scents, I need to go back for a full size bottle!

    1. Not now, they just changed their policy so that they’re testing on animals. I won’t be buying B&BW again unless they return to cruelty free

  26. This list is an incredible resource for those searching for cruelty-free and/or vegan fragrance options. I wish there were more options available in stores. I am so picky when it comes to scents that I like buying them online isn’t an option, unfortunately.

  27. I LOVE Sweet Anthem! I don’t wear perfume often, but I’m compelled to buy samplers of almost all of their scents, as they’re always unique and amazing.
    Great list!

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