Sifting through countless cosmetics and their meaningless marketing clauses can be so frustrating. Luckily, Anastasia Beverly Hills is transparent with consumers about its take on cruelty-free and vegan cosmetics.
Anastasia Beverly Hills is cruelty-free. It doesn't conduct animal testing on its products, nor does it distribute its cosmetics where animal testing is required by law. While ABH does offer a range of vegan cosmetics, it is not considered a vegan brand.
The Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetic empire was founded in 1997 by Anastasia Soare. According to Forbes, it distributes its products to retailers in more than 25 countries and is worth $730 million.
This article helps you understand who you are supporting by looking at ABH's animal testing policies and its cruelty-free and vegan status.
We share some of the brand's most recommended vegan products or alternatives if it's not easily accessible to you.
We then look at how safe the brand's ingredient choices are, what to avoid, and whether you can confidently spend your money knowing animal welfare and the environment are considered too.
In the end, you'll know whether to click "add to cart" for your next Anastasia Beverly Hills buy or if you need to fill out a feedback form with the words, " we think you can do better."
Is Anastasia Beverly Hills Cruelty-Free and Vegan?
Anastasia Beverly Hills is 100% Cruelty-Free
It does not:
Anastasia Beverly Hills does not test any of its products on animals. The brand believes that beauty should be cruelty-free and is proudly PETA certified.
However, it does have a set of makeup brushes made with animal hair – including goat, pony, or sable.
The brand still claims to be cruelty-free and only supplies its animal hair from reliable sources that do not harm these farm animals in the process.
This brings us to the next point:
Anastasia Beverly Hills is Not Vegan
Although the brand is not entirely vegan, ABH has come out with vegan ranges, and many of its products were created with vegan formulas before the demand rose.
ABH has a dedicated page to help vegan shoppers find the right products for them. But individual product pages also share whether they are vegan on the right of the product image.
Here's an example of a clearly labeled product:
Some of the most common animal-derived ingredients that ABH uses include:
If you're interested in which products are vegan or finding vegan brand alternatives – keep reading or click on this link: ABH vegan products.
Animal Testing Policy and History
Anastasia Beverly Hills has been committed to creating modern, exciting and innovative cosmetics that are also cruelty-free. This has been their intention since it was founded 24 years ago.
Cruelty-Free Status in 2022
Here is a screenshot of Anastasia Beverly Hill's official statement regarding its cruelty-free policies and vegan products, taken from their website:
Certification
Currently, ABH is PETA-approved which is not a bad start. But we would love to see more certification from them since it’s a proudly cruelty-free brand.
While you might know PETA very well – it surprisingly doesn't hold the strictest cruelty-free regulations. It seems only to require a brand's written consent that abides by the PETA code of conduct.
Certification from Leaping Bunny is ideal because it holds rigorous standards and does regular audits to ensure they are upheld.
The Leaping Bunny association’s strict and reliable regulations stipulate that:
But some certification is better than nothing at all.
If you see a bunny stamp on the back of your product bottle – that's an excellent sign. But don't let the image itself fool you. A lot of brands are using fake logos to deceive consumers.
Do your homework and see which products are genuinely cruelty-free first. This article will help you: Which Cruelty-Free Logos Can You Trust?
Is ABH Sold Where Animal Testing is Required By Law?
Anastasia Beverly Hills does not distribute any of its products to retail stores in mainland China or any country that requires animal testing on cosmetics by law.
China has a shocking track record. It is the country with the most animal testing globally, with over 20 million animals used per year.
However, if you live in China or are concerned about its cruel beauty policies, there are a couple of loopholes. Here's how to find cruelty-free cosmetics in China: Are Cosmetics Made in China Cruelty-Free?
What ABH Products Are Vegan?
Anastasia Beverly Hills has a great range of vegan products that continues to expand. The website holds over 45 vegan products with a "vegan" stamp next to the price.
This doesn't include ABH's range of synthetic brushes.
Although some brushes are made with animal hair, you will know which ones are vegan by looking at the description.
To save you some time, here are the numbers for their vegan brushes:
These are some of their best-selling vegan products:
For a full list of ABH's vegan products, you can find them listed here: Anastasia Beverly Hills Vegan Product List
Vegan Alternatives to Anastasia Beverly Hills
Overall, Anastasia Beverly Hills has a good track record and noteworthy transparency with its consumers. For a multi-million dollar brand – it's commendable.
While we love that it is cruelty-free and offers vegan options – it would be great to see some more certification behind the claims.
If you will not support a brand that isn't entirely vegan – ABH's might not be your first choice.
If you're looking for 100% vegan brands that are sustainable, some great options include:
Is Anastasia Beverly Hills Natural and Organic?
ABH is not a natural or organic brand, but they do claim to use safe and clean ingredients.
Clean vs. Natural Ingredients
The term "natural" is not regulated for cosmetics and skincare. In other words, it doesn't hold one specific meaning.
Usually, it means a product is free of certain more toxic synthetic ingredients, including parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and more. But people also interpret "natural" to mean ingredients of immediate plant origin.
To ABH – it means both.
Here's the thing: "natural" doesn't mean it's good for you. Take gluten, for example. It's a natural protein that certain people are highly allergic to in wheat. Even topical application can lead to terrible health issues.
All products use a certain amount of synthetic ingredients in their formulas. ABH is no exception – but it chooses to use a few of the safest synthetics possible.
If a synthetic ingredient is "clean," it is safe and non-toxic. Its purpose is to preserve the stability of a beauty formulation.
Does ABH Use Safe Ingredients?
According to Skin Safe, ABH usually has a 73% - 91% allergen-free ranking for each product, but some score as high as 100%.
For a makeup brand, ABH has a relatively decent spread of ingredients that can benefit your skin, and they also avoid using anything that could be harmful where possible.
Many of ABH's products are free of allergens such as common preservatives, irritants, gluten, nickel, fragrance, parabens, soy, propylene glycol, and lanolin.
Reading the ingredient list is crucial because Anastasia Beverly Hills is not hypoallergenic or non-comedogenic, and they do not claim to be.
The EU/UK Have Stricter Ingredient Regulations
As a conscientious shopper, you must read up on any brand's ingredient list before you make a purchase – especially if you live within the United States.
This is because the FDA has only banned or restricted 11 harmful chemicals from cosmetics within the country. Europe and the U.K., on the other hand, have banned 1,328!
Luckily, most ABH's products are free of these harmful ingredients altogether, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.
So when you read any makeup labels, remember to avoid these ingredients:
Are Cruelty-Free Ingredients Safe?
If you're worried about how safe it is to use cosmetics that are not tested on animals – please relax and take a sigh of relief.
There is no reason why cruelty-free products shouldn't be just as safe, if not safer, than anything tested on an animal.
Not only is it easy to test ingredients without using animals altogether, but there are so many pre-approved ingredients you can use to make cosmetics that there really is no need.
Here's more on the subject if you're interested: Are Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Safe?
Is Anastasia Beverly Hills Sustainable and Ethical?
Something commendable about ABH is that they really want to be transparent with their customers.
They have an entire page dedicated to their code of conduct and supply chain transparency act on their website.
As it stands, the brand has:
In saying this, ABH has not jumped on the sustainability bandwagon altogether yet.
It's no secret that the world is a huge waste problem, and cosmetic brands are only making it worse by using unsustainable packaging and harmful ingredients.
So while the brand is cruelty-free, has vegan options, and sources ethically – it does not really consider sustainable packaging, and it still uses palm oil as an ingredient.
One of the biggest problems with using palm oil is that it is a huge deforestation contributor.
Final Thoughts
All in all, ABH is a well-developed cosmetics brand that takes various ethical factors into consideration. The fact that they are cruelty-free is a step towards a more sustainable future in cosmetics.
We appreciate the fact the it has a transparent supply chain and is open to the public about its testing, purchasing and distribution policies.
Since ABH is not 100% vegan – it might not be the best choice for any activists who go the extra mile. Especially since the brand also uses palm oil as an ingredient and unsustainable packaging.
Finally, it would also be nice to see some further cruelty-free accreditation from other reputable organizations. So let's push to make that happen!
