little white truths

Total count: 121 cruelty free products.

Non cruelty free count in my makeup collection

As per above, I've noted what I own individually to help myself keep track of things - so just skip to the total count below if you're not interested in the bullet-points.

• Burberry: 3 products (2 blush pans and 1 eyeshadow quad)
• MUFE: 1 product (foundation)
• Nars: 5 products (all pans used as eyeshadows)
• Clarins: 2 products (1 bronzer pan and 1 primer)
• Laura Mercier: 2 products (1 bronzer and 1 highlighter)
• Benefit: 1 product (bronzer pan)
• Rimmel: 5 products (3 lipsticks, 1 liner and 1 mascara)
• Clinique: 1 product (mini mascara)
• Revlon: 4 products (3 lipsticks and 1 lip crayon)
• Maybelline: 1 product (lipstick)
• Sephora Collection: 1 product (mini mascara)
• L'Oreal: 1 product (mascara)
• Covergirl: 1 product (mascara)
• Coty Airspun: 2 products (1 setting powder and 1 powder foundation)
• Bobbi Brown: 1 product (bronzer)

Aims, plans and rules/exceptions

My aim for 2018 is to have a makeup collection that is 90 per cent cruelty free by year's end.

I will continue to use the older items in my collection first - whether they're cruelty free or not - because it's just as important to me to ensure that I'm not allowing anything to expire (therefore wasting it) as it is to aim for a higher percentage of cruelty free products.

I will do my best to avoid purchasing any non cruelty free items from now on (more on that below), but I will not automatically declutter items from non cruelty free brands that come my way by other means: for example, products that have been sent to me for review, given to me as presents or included in orders as GWPs. 

Why? First, we don't have enough money for me to be passing on usable items just because they're not cruelty free. Second, I'm a panner and I use and enjoy everything in my collection. If I were to pass non cruelty free items on to others for only that reason (ie, not because they don't work for me), there's no guarantee that others will use them as much as I would have if I'd kept them (or that others will attempt to finish them before they expire), nor can I say for sure that others will share my concerns when it comes to re-purposing/recycling packaging and reusing empty containers (eg for 'toys', games or arts/crafts for children). 

For me, this is about balance. I want to consider both the environment and animal testing at the same time. Hopefully that makes sense.

Rules/exceptions ctd

Now here's a point that I need to explain. We live in Australia. Prices are ridiculous here and we also don't have access to as many of the brands that you'll easily find in the US especially. Wet n Wild is a good example here.

So unless I want to pay exorbitant rates on eBay or the like (which I do not), there may be times when I'll have to make choices based not only on price, but also on availability. I'm mostly talking about budget/drugstore brands here. We only recently had the cruelty free NYX arrive in Priceline (the US equivalent of Ulta), and while other cruelty free options exist in Australian chemists/drugstores, I haven't had a lot of luck with many of them. What I'm saying is, I'm not going to buy something from a brand that generally doesn't work for me just because it's cruelty free. Otherwise the item may end up being decluttered or sitting there gathering dust in my collection, which would of course be wasteful.

Also, my local Priceline and Chemist Warehouse stores are tiny so they don't eg stock the cruelty free brand Essence. I'm not going to make a huge online order of items that I may or may not need just to get free shipping (nor am I going to pay shipping for a few items) - nor do I want to encourage more packaging to be used in the shipping process. And unfortunately I can't just wander out to any Priceline or Chemist Warehouse because I'm the primary carer of two toddlers and I work on weekends to help cover household expenses, so I've been hamstrung in that respect. Getting two heavy, screaming and active children into the car/double pram to source brands like Essence isn't something I feel able to do at the moment. My body and sanity are borderline expired as it is (especially my back), so there's a line and I need to tread it carefully. 

I guess what I'm saying is, if Maybelline is 50 per cent off at Priceline and I need to replace a mascara that I already know I'll use and love, then I'll do that. Or if I happen to eg be in the CBD and I find Essence in one of the larger chemists, then I'm not going to buy an Essence mascara unless it's on sale. Australian prices are too ridiculous to do otherwise, and so many Australian families do not have enough spare cash lying around to be paying full-price for things when they don't need to.

In future I'll have more energy and freedom to source products from cruelty free brands that I've heard great things about but that aren't readily available in my local chemists, but for now I'll continue to put finances and physical/mental health first. Hopefully people understand this.