Is Philosophy Cruelty Free?
Is Philosophy Cruelty Free?
Is Philosophy Cruelty Free? Unfortunately, the brand Philosophy is not cruelty free. Someone messaged me that they were cruelty free again, so I contacted Philosophy to find out the truth. Below is the series of emails I had with Philosophy.
I asked
Is Philosophy cruelty free?
Are the finished products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are the products tested on animals during the production process by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company to comply with any laws and regulations?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals, or do they contain ingredients that have been tested on animals, by the company, an ingredient supplier, an affiliate company, or a 3rd party supplier in order to comply with laws such as TSCA, CEPA, ELINCS, EINECS, REACH, NICNAS, SCCP, etc?
Are the products sold in any markets where animal testing is required by local law and regulations (China, etc)?
Are the products vegetarian? (no animals killed for the products – i.e. some forms of collagen, squalane, etc.)
The answer I received back
Thank you for contacting philosophy. Coty Inc, philosophy’s parent company, is fully committed to using alternatives to animal testing to ensure the safety of our products. Please be assured that we absolutely do not conduct animal testing on philosophy products, nor do we commission any third parties to conduct them on our behalf, for any of our ingredients or finished products.
To read the complete company statement on animal testing, please visit www.coty.com/faqs.
For your reference, our Product Development Team has confirmed that the only philosophy products derived from animal products are as follows:
Pure Grace Shampoo, Bath & Shower Gel (contains hydrolyzed milk protein)
Amazing Grace Shampoo, Bath & Shower Gel (contains hydrolyzed milk protein)
Kiss Me Intense Lip Therapy (contains beeswax)
Fresh Cream Lip Shine (contains beeswax)
All other philosophy products contain ingredients of botanical or synthetic origin. For your convenience, the ingredients are listed on each of our products as well as on our website, www.philosophy.com. We hope this helps and will allow you to continue to enjoy philosophy products without further concern.
Please contact us at t 1-800-568-3151 if you have any additional questions. We are happy to assist you by phone Monday-Friday between 9:00am – 8:00pm (eastern time).
Thank you for your interest and have a wonderful day!
I emailed back asking for clarification.
But you didn’t answer all of my questions.
Are the products tested on animals during the production process by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company to comply with any laws and regulations?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals, or do they contain ingredients that have been tested on animals, by the company, an ingredient supplier, an affiliate company, or a 3rd party supplier in order to comply with laws such as TSCA, CEPA, ELINCS, EINECS, REACH, NICNAS, SCCP, etc?
Are the products sold in any markets where animal testing is required by local law and regulations (China, etc)?
I got this response back
Thank you for your message. Our Product Development team has confirmed that the only Philosophy products derived from animal products are as follows:
Pure Grace Shampoo, Bath & Shower Gel (contains hydrolyzed milk protein)
Amazing Grace Shampoo, Bath & Shower Gel (contains hydrolyzed milk protein)
Kiss Me Lip Balm (contains beeswax)
Fresh Cream Lip Shine (contains beeswax)
All other Philosophy products contain ingredients that are of botanical or synthetic origin.
Thank you for your interest in Philosophy. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us. For your convenience, we are available 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday.
I pressed again.
Are the products sold in any markets where animal testing is required by local law and regulations (China, etc)?
Are the products tested on animals during the production process by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
Are any ingredients used in the products tested on animals by the company, a parent company, a third party or an affiliate company?
They said
As mentioned, a complete corporate statement regarding animal testing, international sales, and third-party vendors can be found on cotyinc.com/faqs. Please visit this page in answer to your questions.
When you visit https://www.coty.com/faqs it says
Coty Inc. is a leader in the global beauty industry. We have developed a portfolio of notable brands and offer innovative products of outstanding quality for which we are committed to maintaining the highest possible standards of consumer safety. Before we place a product on the market, we assess it thoroughly to ensure that it is safe for human use and for the environment and that it complies with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Our safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients is based on the use of recognized alternatives to animal testing, the use of existing safety data and, increasingly, the sharing of such data with other industries.
We do not perform, nor do we ever commission any third parties on our behalf to perform, testing of our products or ingredients on animals. COTY voluntarily ceased testing finished cosmetic products on animals in 1991, long before the official European ban on such testing in 2004, and we have been actively involved in the research and development of alternatives to animal testing for many years. COTY is a party to SEURAT-1, the single largest Private-Public Partnership initiative aimed to develop alternatives to animal testing of cosmetic products, with a total contribution of €50 million funded in equal by the European Commission and the cosmetics industry, which managed to provide sufficient ground for setting the strategy and strategic collaboration that will be essential for the development of further alternative methods, e.g. for systemic toxicity.
It is common knowledge that China is currently the only country that requires mandatory animal tests on all cosmetic products imported into the country. However, we have been actively involved in the dialogue with the Chinese authorities and regulators, including through our membership to the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI). As a result, China has recently started to investigate ways to replace animal testing and has sought the assistance of European scientists.
The common goal of all these efforts is our aim to completely replace animal testing.
So no, Philosophy is not cruelty free. They sell in China. They test on animals. They’re owned by Coty.
I’m so glad I did some research before placing my first order with Philosophy! Thank you for the information! There is ZERO need to test on animals and the only real stand we have as consumers is to boycott products, companies and parent companies that condone this! So many people just purchase blindly, not wanting to know the answer because they would have to change their beauty routine or leave a brand that they like the results from. Come on people, isn’t the suffering of innocent animals who feel and hurt worth making the change? There are SO MANY other brands to choose from that are cruelty free!! Do your research and feel good about not being part of the problem.
Thank you for reaching out to them and pressing for answers. It’s absolutely true if a company is vague it’s because they don’t really want to tell you and lose business!
Thank you for this, Phyrra.
Any company this cagey doesn’t deserve my hard-earned money. Do you test or not, Philosophy? It’s not a multiple-choice OR diffcult question! Yes or No? We want a straight-up answer, not the lawyer-written weasel-words you gave – and kept giving.
why can’t brands just be straight forward -_-
it’s so irritating~!
also.. if they’re doing successfully globally, why do they need a place in china?
Ugh. I wish the brands would just own up to it. If you can’t handle answering these emails, why not just NOT conduct animal testing? (If only it were that simple :P) Yeah. definitely not going to buy from Philosophy, thanks for sending these emails!
I agree with you. I would not buy their products. Since they wouldn’t even respond to your questions, I would not trust them and assume they tested. Thank you for letting us know!! Sad.
You’re welcome!
Ugh, how sad. 🙁 I feel like if they can’t actually say “YES, WE DO NOT TEST ON ANIMALS” then they’re totally skirting the question. >:(
It bugs me for sure.
Yep all that double talk means nothing if they sell in China. One of my favourite budget skincare brands has now decided to sell in China (they are setting up a shop even) and suddenly on their website comes the words ‘we can’t guarantee that one of our third party producers are not cruelty free” Why not, I ask? I am sorry Ego you have lost my business. There you go. Money, budgets, ‘expansion’ wins.
So sorry one of your favorites did that too.
I’m super confused…I feel like I missed something. Everything they said says they haven’t used animal testing since the 90s. I don’t see where it says they sell in China, just that they’re in talks with China about alternatives.
Coty is a brand that does test on animals. Philosophy’s statement is vague. They refused to directly answer my questions and kept copying and pasting the same response over and over and referring me to Coty’s website. Paula’s Choice also lists Philosophy as a brand that does test on animals, as does NAVS. So their response is in alignment with what I expected. They test on animals where required by law.
Ahhhh. Gotcha. I misread something then. It’s so insanely frustrating to not get a response to a direct question from a company.
It’s ok! It’s really frustrating / confusing sometimes because brands will flat out refuse to answer my questions and I’m like ok, well, I won’t buy from you then because I think you’re shady.
Thanks for the confirmation-I always had them on my NOT CF list..And then I would see different people on social media saying that it was, and I would always tell them politely that is was not. But it’s always good to get confirmation. I’m also maybe planning on emailing Caudalie and putting that issue to rest-because I always trust your list and from other sources I’ve never heard that they stopped selling in China(However, you go to one of their products, and read the details at Sephora, they say that Caudalie is cruelty free. But the same thing with the Sephora brand, most all of their brand products are sold in China) So maybe that is what some of the confusion is coming from. And yes, you really have to press and ask those 3 specific questions, and whenever I receive an ambiguous response, or one that is well this but that etc-then I just say no. And the other confusion is that the EU has banned animal testing, so it would lead you to think that a brand from a country in the EU such as France, would be a cruelty free one, but we know that isn’t true due to the issue of selling in China. Thanks for all that you do with keeping your list updated, I so appreciate it love! 🙂 🙂
You’re welcome! xoxo