Is Lipstick Queen Cruelty Free?
Is Lipstick Queen Cruelty Free?
Recently, I reached out to ask via email, Facebook and Instagram, is Lipstick Queen cruelty free? The brand Lipstick Queen did not respond at all. I was upset because I’d bought into the hype and purchased the Black Lace Rabbit Blush. One of the awesome ladies (thank you Lori!) in the PhyrraNyx Facebook Group reached out to Space NK to see if she could get a response.
The response that Lori received to the question, ‘is Lipstick Queen cruelty free?’ is that Lipstick Queen is currently cruelty free, but they will start selling in China later this year. The phrase ‘they have had to comply with the regulations in the market’ means ‘we’ll be testing on animals or the Chinese government will be testing our products on animals.’ Needless to say, I’m disappointed in this response.
It makes me so sad that any cruelty free brand will decide to say ‘who cares about the animals, let’s make lots of money selling in China’ and lose their cruelty free status.
So no, Lipstick Queen is not cruelty free. I’ll be returning that blush, too.
And while I know people like to use the straw man argument of ‘every ingredient was tested on animals, so nothing is truly cruelty free’ it’s b.s. for a reason. Every ingredient, including water, was tested on animals at one point in time. That doesn’t mean that we need to test ingredients on animals today. There are much more accurate means of testing ingredients and products.
EpiDerm, an in vitro test that is made up of culture human skin cells, is more accurate at identifying chemical skin irritants than animal tests. Animal tests for this have up to a 40% error rate. (source)
That “regretfully” guilt-trip makes me SUUUUUUUUUUUPER angry. Like, they made the decision to sell to China, but they’re also upset they did? That’s one of the sleaziest ways to gain sympathy that I’ve ever seen.
Well, sh!t.
I just spied a Lipstick Queen lippie, “Rose Sinner,” that I love the looks of, and was all set to buy, thinking Lipstick Queen is cruelty-free.
Oh, well; finding a cruelty-free dupe is half the fun. :/
Grrrrrr. Super ticked off. Always am of course when any brand jumps ship/ sells out but I really liked LQ. Liked. As in past tense. I was psyched when my local ULTA started carrying LQ in store a few years ago & it was love at first swatch, in particular for their Saints & Sinners line. Theirs was one of the few high end lipsticks I felt was worth it (though not their $50 line?) & had been excited to be able to purchase several during ULTA’s last 21days of beauty @ a decent discount. Too late to return those but I’ll be using them up ASAP & certainly not buying any more from the brand
Another one bites the dust…???
It’s so disappointing. I totally agree. The UD Vice lipstick formula is my favorite.
It’s so infuriating, that beauty companies choose to sell in mainland China stores, when they could easily retain their Cruellty Free status, by bypassing the physical stores, by selling directly to their Chinese consumers, through online shopping sites.
So many beauty companies profess to be Cruelty Free, yet go to great lengths to hide the fact that theyre NOT really Cruelty Free, because they choose to sell in mainland China.
Also infuriating, is the fact that they choose to and/or allow animal testing, and they knowingly choose to NOT do more accurate tests, such as EpiDerm.
Thanks for a great article, very informative and disappointing to know that I can’t ethically buy Lipstick Queen products. You have forewarned me, from supporting Lipstick Queen and their sheer greediness.