CLE Cosmetics is about finding beauty in your natural self, including imperfections. This brand wants to create your ultimate ‘go-to’ products, but are they cruelty-free and vegan?
CLE Cosmetics is 100% cruelty-free and vegan. It doesn't conduct animal testing on its products or use any animal-derived ingredients.
For founder Lauren Jin, beauty has always been more about rituals than societal standards. A refreshing take on a country like South Korea with such strict beauty standards.
Because of this, you can buy ‘ritual kits’ with everything you need for your AM or PM ritual.
Using clean, vegan ingredients is crucial to CLE Cosmetics- they call using animal-based ingredients ‘archaic.’
CLE Cosmetics’ cruelty-free and vegan policies sound great, but do they have the certification to back up these claims?
CLE Cosmetics Ethical Overview
CLE Cosmetics Is Not Cruelty-Free
Test any of its products or ingredients on animals
NO
Purchase any ingredients tested on animals within its supply chain
NO
Distribute its products to any countries that require animal testing by law.
NO
CLE Cosmetics is not owned by a parent company that tests on animals.
CLE Cosmetics Does Not Test on Animals When Required By Law
CLE Cosmetics has always been committed to creating clean, effective, cruelty-free cosmetics.
What Is CLE Cosmetics’s Cruelty-Free Status in 2023?
Here is a screenshot of CLE Cosmetics’ official statement regarding its cruelty-free policies and vegan products, taken from its website:
CLE Cosmetics Has No Cruelty-Free Certification
We would love to see CLE Cosmetics stepping up by getting cruelty-free certification.
Ideally, all brands that consider themselves cruelty-free should be Leaping Bunny certified.
While you might know PETA very well – it surprisingly doesn't hold the strictest cruelty-free regulations. Leaping Bunny certification is the gold standard to live up to.
Did you know that in the US, most animal testing is regulated by the Animal Welfare Act (1966)? If you did know this, did you know that this act does not include birds, rats, and mice, which comprise 95% of animals used in research?
CLE Cosmetics Is Sold Where Animal Testing is Required By Law.
CLE Cosmetics does not distribute any of its products to 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?
CLE Cosmetics is Vegan
This clean makeup and skincare brand is entirely vegan. It does not use any animal-derived ingredients in any of its products.
However, it's worth knowing that CLE Cosmetics is the exception, not the rule.
Most mainstream skincare brands are not 100% vegan. These are certain animal-derived ingredients to look out for in general include honey, beeswax, lanolin, collagen, squalane, and carmine.
If you're interested in the best CLE Cosmetics vegan products or finding brand alternatives – keep reading or click on this link: (brand name) vegan products.
The Best Vegan CLE Cosmetics Products
With a brand that’s all vegan, cruelty-free, and clean – there’s little room for ethical error. So it’s more about choosing something you like.
To save you some time, here are some of its most popular skincare products:
For a complete list of CLE Cosmetic’s vegan products, you can find everything on the website: https://clecosmetics.com/
Vegan Alternatives to CLE Cosmetics
Brand | price range | 100% vegan | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
$14 - $17 | Yes | Leaping Bunny | |
$20 - $50 | Yes | Leaping Bunny | |
$21 - $67 | Yes | PETA, KARA | |
$15 - $40 | Yes | PETA | |
$16 - $32 | Yes | PETA |
CLE Cosmetics is Not Considered Natural, and Organic
CLE Cosmetics isn’t considered natural or organic.
However, it does claim to use safe, simple, and clean ingredients.
Its whole ethos is to make clean formulas and products that anyone can use.
All products use a certain amount of synthetic ingredients in their formulas. CLE Cosmetics is no exception – but it does choose to use better or clean synthetics.If a synthetic ingredient is "clean," it means it is safe and non-toxic for us. Its purpose is to preserve the stability of a beauty formulation.
CLE Cosmetics Has An 91% Allergen-Free Ranking
According to Skin Safe, CLE Cosmetics has a 91% allergen-free ranking for each product.
Many of CLE Cosmetics’ products are free of allergens such as talc, paraben, lanolin, topical antibiotics, gluten, MCI/MI, nickel, soy, irritant, dyes, and SLS.
Reading the ingredient list is crucial because CLE Cosmetics is not 100% hypoallergenic or non-comedogenic, and they do not claim to be.
However, certain products specifically address these concerns, so make sure you buy what your skin needs.
The EU/UK Have Stricter Ingredient Regulations
We don’t want to scare you, but you HAVE to read up on any product’s ingredient list before you make a purchase – especially if you live within the United States. The reason why will shock you.
The FDA has only banned or restricted 11 harmful chemicals from cosmetics within the country. Europe and the UK, on the other hand, have banned 1,328!
Luckily, CLE Cosmetics sets a great example of what true clean beauty is meant to be, and you shouldn’t have to worry about any serious hidden nasties in its products.
With skincare and cosmetics, you want to avoid these ingredients:
CLE Cosmetics Is Moderately Sustainable and Ethical
It's no secret that the world has a huge waste problem, and cosmetic brands only make it worse by using unsustainable packaging and harmful ingredients.
CLE Cosmetics takes environmental accountability by:
Final Thoughts
We love that the CLE Cosmetics brand is cruelty-free and vegan! However, we don’t think the brand is doing enough for animal welfare without cruelty-free accreditation.
CLE Cosmetics has great transparency about its sustainability initiatives and packaging.
We think they’ve built a good foundation to do more with, but CLE Cosmetics has existed since 2014.
They could step up their game by finding ethical initiatives that align with their values. It would be great for CLE Cosmetics to tell fans about sourcing their ingredients, especially for palm oil and mica- which they do use!
But we must acknowledge that in the K-Beauty world, so few cosmetics brands are cruelty-free or vegan, and most are masters are greenwashing.
In that way, CLE Cosmetics is leading the way as a more trustworthy brand.
