About Cruelty-Free Check: who checks the brands and how

What does Cruelty-Free Check do?

Cruelty-Free Check rates makeup brands and picks the best certified products in each makeup category. Every rating rests on the public lists of Leaping Bunny, Cruelty Free International and PETA, and on the brand’s own written policy, quoted word for word.

Who writes Cruelty-Free Check?

The Cruelty-Free Check editorial team writes every page and signs it as a collective author. The site does not attribute its pages to experts who do not exist, and it uses no invented names or photos.

How does Cruelty-Free Check rate a brand?

Cruelty-Free Check rates a brand in one of 3 states, with the same rule on every page.

1. Cruelty-free: Leaping Bunny, Cruelty Free International or PETA lists the brand as cruelty-free today.
2. Not certified: the brand states that it does not test on animals, but no certifier lists it as cruelty-free.
3. Not cruelty-free: PETA lists the brand among the companies that test on animals, or the brand states that it sells where animal testing is required by law.

Each brand page shows the date of its last check. Each price shows its store and date, each shopper rating its store and number of reviews, and each formula claim the brand or store that makes it. Cruelty-Free Check does not run product tests and does not claim to.

Is Cruelty-Free Check the former Choose Cruelty Free certifier?

No, Cruelty-Free Check is not the former Choose Cruelty Free certifier, and it has never been. Choose Cruelty Free was an Australian not-for-profit organisation that certified cruelty-free brands. It merged with Cruelty Free International on June 1, 2021, according to its last president, and many of its former brands moved to the Leaping Bunny program.

The domain choosecrueltyfree.org never belonged to that organisation: Internet Archive captures show it parked from 2007 to 2018, before this guide. Shoppers who look for the former Choose Cruelty Free list can find its brands on the Cruelty Free International list of approved brands.

How does Cruelty-Free Check make money?

Cruelty-Free Check makes no money from its pages today: it shows no ads and uses no affiliate links. The pages that carry an ad or an affiliate link will say so as soon as that changes, and no brand can pay to change its rating.

How can you use the images on Cruelty-Free Check?

You can use the images made by Cruelty-Free Check under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0), crediting Cruelty-Free Check with a link to the page of the image. Brand names and logos belong to their owners.

How do you contact the editors?

You contact the editors by email at [email protected]. Brands can send a change of policy or certification with its source, and the team checks it before updating the page.

What privacy policy does Cruelty-Free Check follow?

Cruelty-Free Check follows a minimal-data privacy policy: the site has no accounts, forms or comments, and it sets no cookies.

What data is processed on the site?

The data processed on the site is limited to the technical record of each visit. The server records the IP address, the date and the page requested to keep the site secure, and Matomo counts visits in aggregate, without cookies and with the IP address anonymized.

What rights do you have over your data?

The rights you have over your data are the rights to access, correct and delete it, and to object to its processing. To use them, write to [email protected].

What terms apply to the use of the site?

The terms that apply to the use of the site are those of an information service: the pages inform shoppers and do not replace a brand’s own answer or a certifier’s list. Certification status can change, so each page carries the date of its last check.