Vegan, organic, natural, or other “homemade” and cruelty-free cosmetics… you don’t know where to start with all the latest beauty trends swarming the Internet, and we get you. Moreover, labels are proliferating in stores without anyone necessarily knowing what they stand for. But don’t panic. Today we’re taking stock of the situation together, and we’ll explain to you why we at Sillages Paris have chosen to only use vegan ingredients.
What are vegan cosmetics?
For starters, it is simply a product that does not contain any ingredients derived from animals (be it fat, milk or even honey) nor from animal exploitation, and that has not been tested on animals.
You may not realize it, but there are a lot of animal-derived ingredients used in the cosmetics world, and once you are familiar with them, you won’t really want to use them on your skin. Trust us!
Here are a few examples of ingredients to avoid if you want to have a clean conscience when you are grooming yourself:
- Carmine: widely used in lipsticks and blushes, the red pigment is obtained by crushing cochineals (hence the name cochineal red). And it’s really not sexy to have crushed larvae on your lips…
- Lanolin: a fat derived from sheep’s wool that is used in moisturizing creams.
- Collagen: can be of animal origin, and in such cases, it is derived from cooking cartilaginous materials like skin or bones. Do you still feel like plumping up your cheekbones with it?
- In perfumery, we talk about leather or musks. Musky scents used to be derived from the abdominal gland of the musk chevrotain, but are now largely synthesized.
Fun fact: if you see beaver oil listed as an ingredient in your shampoo, don’t worry. It is just castor oil and not beaver oil!
Anyway, all this is to tell you that it is good to stop eating animal products, but if you want to wear fur items and use a carmine lipstick (aka crushed larvae), it’s a real pity.
And yes, veganism is not simply a diet, but a genuine lifestyle opposed to animal exploitation. Vegans differ from vegetarians who do not eat any products resulting from the slaughtering of animals such as meat, fish, or even gelatine. While vegetarians do not eat any animal products, they only do so in their diet and not necessarily as part of their daily lifestyle.
And perfume is an essential part of this lifestyle…
Organic, slow, vegan, or cruelty-free cosmetics: kesako?
You are confused and we can understand why because the three are actually intertwined. Firstly, organic cosmetics are products that only have to conform to organic standards. That is to say, they only have to contain a minimum number of natural ingredients from organic farming, but they can also use materials from animals such as organic honey, lanolin, or even carmine.
Slow cosmetics only use animal-derived ingredients if they come from an organic farm that respects the animals and does not cause their deaths. Vegan cosmetics do not contain any animal materials or products made by animals (milk, honey, etc.). Lastly, cruelty-free means that the final formula and its components have not been tested on animals. It is important to note that a vegan product is necessarily cruelty-free, but not the other way around.
Let’s talk about labels
In the cosmetics world, we are used to being confronted by a multitude of new labels, all of them more or less relevant and trustworthy, as soon as a new trend emerges. So to make your life a little easier, here are the top 3 vegan cosmetics labels:
- PETA’s “cruelty-free and vegan” label is the strictest and most trustworthy label, and when it’s displayed on a product, it is valid for all the brand’s cosmetic products.
- “Vegan” from the Vegan Society.
- “Once Voice” from the Once Voice Association.
These labels are a guarantee that the product does not contain any ingredients or by-products of animal origin, and that it has never been tested on animals. There are also cruelty-free labels such as the HCS Leaping Bunny.
And us, what is our label, you ask? Yes, you have the right to ask the question! We comply with the requirements of all these labels and can provide certificates on request. Moreover, all our fragrances are made in France, and we closely monitor our suppliers’ (the market leaders) compliance with these standards. The problem with the labels is that in addition to being numerous they are unfortunately also very expensive, and for a small perfume house like us it is too expensive. We have therefore chosen to rather invest this money into quality ingredients and to be transparent with our customers.
What’s a vegan fragrance for?
At Sillages Paris, we strive to create the highest quality fragrances possible. So, we don’t limit our creativity or our budget when it comes to creating formulas. We use high-quality natural ingredients whenever possible. The snag with some ingredients is that they are impossible to extract naturally like fruits or nuts. We are therefore obliged to formulate them synthetically (but always using molecules that are naturally occurring in nature and are completely safe). As to our notes that imitate ingredients derived from animal materials like musk, milk, and leather, it has always been evident to us that we should not use products derived from animals when it is possible to create such high-quality raw materials in the laboratory without exploiting them.
So yes, at the moment, being vegan and natural is trendy, but for us, it’s much more than a fashion that will pass us by. When we created Sillages Paris, our goal was not to exclude any client, and to disrupt the world of perfumery. This doesn’t simply mean using digital and new technologies, but also changing and improving the perfume market significantly. To do so, it was obvious to us that we should use materials and processes that respect the environment and animals. So for us, being part of the vegan cosmetics world is an obvious choice and a part of our identity, more than just a business opportunity.
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