Since we've already established that MAC tests on animals, would Inglot be a better alternative?
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it.
1. PETA Approval and Certifications
Inglot can be found on PETA's Caring Consumer list, under the cruelty-free brands. This means that Inglot signed an agreement of no animal testing with PETA.
However, Inglot can't be found on Leaping Bunny's list. For more information about the difference between Leaping Bunny and PETA certification, click here (opens in a new tab).
2. Official Policy
My questions are in bold, followed by responses from Inglot. The following is their official animal testing policy.
CFK: Does Inglot test finished products or ingredients on animals at any point during the production?
INGLOT: As required by the Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products, we do not test on animals - nor ingredients, neither finished products - at any point during the production.
CFK: Do your ingredient suppliers test on animals?
INGLOT: Ingredients intended to be used in our cosmetic products are not tested on animals by our suppliers.
CFK: Does any third party test on animals on your behalf?
INGLOT: There are no third parties testing on animals on our behalf.
CFK: Does Inglot test on animals when required by law? Are your products sold in mainland China?
INGLOT: INGLOT does not test on animals when required by law. Our cosmetics are not sold in mainland China.
3. My Commentary
Based on the above responses, we can trust that Inglot themselves don't test on animals. They also don't test on animals where required by law, which is fantastic.
However, a red flag was raised when Inglot mentioned their suppliers.
I asked for more clarification and got the following response:
INGLOT: "Please be advised that our policy is to check every single cosmetic ingredient whether it is tested on animals, before we introduce it into our formulations. In case we came to know that such tests are being conducted, or if the supplier refuses to confirm that he would not test his substances on animals, we would not purchase such ingredients."
INGLOT: "Please note also that we do not buy and process any ingredients that are of non-cosmetic use."
What this means is that Inglot cannot guarantee that their suppliers don't test on animals, because it's highly possible that their suppliers test non-cosmetic ingredients on animals.
It's not uncommon for suppliers of raw materials to provide a wide variety of ingredients, ranging from cosmetic to skincare to medical. For a makeup company to be cruelty-free, they must choose a supplier that doesn't perform any animal testing on any ingredients.
Although Inglot themselves don't purchase any non-cosmetic ingredients, it's sound to say that the ingredients found in their products aren't tested on animals. However, because they might support suppliers that test on animals, this doesn't make Inglot a cruelty-free company.
2. Bottom Line: Not Cruelty-Free
Because Inglot couldn't guarantee that their suppliers don't test on animals, I won't be adding them to my list of cruelty-free brands.
It's really unfortunate that yet another PETA-approved brand is revealed not to be cruelty-free.
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Good job!
Ya’ll should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. Regardless of whether or not you consider Inglot to be cruelty-free there’s no reason to personally attack Suzi, especially since she’s providing a free service for all of us. You’re a bunch of entitled brats.
I cannot understand what people stating “it is cruelty free”, “add it to the cruelty free list” don’t understand on 100 % cruelty free.
If you are shopping in a company like for instance Tesco, which has a huge sortiment of non-vegan and full of cruelty products, yet you are buying only those you consider vegan, you still support an enormous corporate company whose only interest is to make money no matter what. Not very “cruelty free”.
Don’t get me wrong I shop there too. I need to eat. But still I’m very unhappy to admit I am supporting such business. Similarly with Inglot (of course they seem to be way more ethical oriented company).
On the other hand, I find it almost impossible to be 100 % sure about the product’s origin. People are filled with shit and trained to sell shit successfully to anyone.
You can buy anything you want but if there is no legit proof that Inglot is 100% cruelty free company, I am glad Suzana didn’t add it to her list. I consider the list even more reliable now!
Thank you for your work Suzana.
Please take down your blog, you’re not only ruining some companies’ reputation. You also misleading the public. Thank God many people here knew how to read and understand the context.
Isn’t this another ‘one step removed’ situation though? Like Urban Decay being owned by L’Oreal? I’d buy UD products because they don’t test, even though they’re owned by a testing company and surely some of the money ends up back in L’Oreal’s coffers.
INGLOT sells in China. If they said they do not sell in China, it is NOT true.
Hi CFK! I am a South African trying to promote a cruelty-free beauty lifestyle… and trust me when I tell you options are pretty limited down here! No Sephora and limited cruelty-free brands. However, we do have Inglot. Have you heard anything further from Inglot regarding their suppliers cruelty-free policy? I currently do not use their products but would love to have them has another option. I look forward to your response and thank you for a wonderful site!
Hi there, I am confused: reading Inglot’s response about suppliers, don’t they say (see below) that they ask, and if the supplier either tests on animals or won’t confirm that they don’t test on animals, Inglot’s policy is NOT to use them to supply ingredients? Surely this would make them totally cruelty free?
INGLOT: “…In case we came to know that such tests are being conducted, or if the supplier refuses to confirm that he would not test his substances on animals, we would not purchase such ingredients.”
Can you clarify please? Thanks! Emma
I use this site religiously when I’m buying new products but this article is making me question this entire site now. I agree with so many of these comments on here stating that inglot is a cruelty free brand. One of the comments really hit me when it stated something to the effect of: “this is like saying that a person isn’t really vegan if they’re buying vegan products from a store that sells animal products”. So have you made sure that every single makeup brand on your cruelty free list doesn’t buy from suppliers that test other products on animals? Because if you have, that list would be significantly smaller. And the brands that have parent companies like L’Oréal, you still consider cruelty free? That just doesn’t make any sense. inglot actually puts in effort to make their company a cruelty free company and you take that away from them because they buy ingredients that aren’t tested on animals from a supplier that may or may not sell ingredients to OTHER companies that are tested on animals? And it bothers me that you say “another brand that peta deems to be cruelty free that actually isn’t”… so if you don’t trust peta then why do you rely on peta approval for other brands? A lot of your brands have that little symbol by it that is peta approved… so if you don’t trust peta to approve inglot, how can you trust any of the other peta approved brands? This just made me see how contradicting some of your information is.
beautiful answer!
Hi suzi, while I do not agree with your conclusion, thank you for the detailed info which helped me form my own opinion! You’re my no.1 zource on cruelty free cosmetics, thank you so much!
Hi! I recently learned that in Europe animal testing in cosmetics is illegal. I also learned from a friend that Inglot is in fact a polish company. Would that make it, by default, illegal for Inglot makeup to have anything testing by animals being sold? Please let me know! Please feel free to email me if you have any further information, and the time to pass it on personally.
Just to add to it- I know you mentioned earlier they are a Euro company- what I don’t understand is if animal testing is illegal across the board, how their suppliers would be able to do anything through the legalities, to clarify, if they in fact did test on animals. Since it is testing that is illegal, not selling products that test. Sorry if this is confusing- I myself am very confused! ^^’
I must say that I do not agree with this article. This is tantamount to saying that a vegan should never buy their groceries from a shop which also sells animal products. Just because you shop there doesn’t mean that you are supporting the meat or dairy industry. In fact it actually encourages the store to sell more vegan products when they see that a larger percentage of their sales go towards vegan items. This is what Inglot are doing. By choosing to only by cruelty free products from their supplier they are encouraging their supplier to produce more cruelty free items.
I agree with this statement and the same could be said for those of us who shop at Sephora and Ulta. Although I only buy cruelty free/vegan brands from Sephora, to use your logic I wouldn’t receive your cruelty free/vegan consumer status since I’m purchasing from Sephora and they sell in China which means their own product line is not CF (again even though I don’t buy the Sephora line) and who stocks other non CF brands like Dior, Guerlain, and now NARS etc even tho I don’t buy them. I only buy CF brands like Hourglass, Ilia and Bite at Sephora but to use your logic I’m not a cruelty free consumer because I purchase from company that is not exclusively cruelty free in all products they sell and not just the ones I purchase.
Oh, VERY bad word–I LOVE Inglot’s matte eyeshadows!
Is Art Deco a good alternative?
It’s so difficult to find matte eyeshadows in a good selection of shades.
There just HAS to be a cosmetics company out there that has a conscience *and* makes good products!
Right?
hello Girl! Just ignore this article and keep using Inglot! It is the least valuable article I have ever read! Inglot CLEARLY states that they do not test on animals etc. Facts are facts. Suzi looks for a hole in the whole and she tries to accuse inglot of being unfair towards customers. If you read answers several times you see that inglot is doing its best for animals and customers. Every single answer by inglot is a clear answer. Suzi wrote article that is NOT PROFESSIONAL!
My entire cruelty free life was triggered by and has been built around Inglot. I think my own judgement on this article would be that I will continue to use them. They are making the right choices by Refusing ingredients tested on animals. As it’s been said above, if people are willing to accept the likes of Urban Decay, then Inglot are definately cruelty free.
Hi there,
I just wanted to clarify why Inglot is not cruelty free? You’re bottom line says that supplies mayt test Inglot products on animals but in their response to that question they said that their suppliers do not test on animals. What am I missing here?
Hi! You are not missing anything! Everything is fine with your logical reading and you don’t over-interpret 🙂 The problem is not at your side.
I’m trying to work out where once they mentioned any testing on animals, by themselves or third parties. They clearly stated they do not test on animals.
Regarding grocery shops, we don’t have any practical options as of now. There are hardly any completely vegan grocery shops.
There are, however, completely vegan cosmetic brands. In addition, there are brands that don’t buy from suppliers who test on animals. I find that we should reward these companies that make an effort to avoid injuring animals.
Well, I don’t see how you can call a product/brand cruelty free if it still uses animal derived ingredients (not talking about Inglot, in general). Animals are killed for these ingredients. I think it’s cruelty free only if it is vegan. What is your take on it? 🙂
Well for example wool can be considered cruelty free if the sheep are well taken care of. It grows back and does not really affect them, and if anything in summer months it is a relief to have heave and warm fleece removed. Same thing for natural ‘fertilizers’. Now, these examples of course don’t have much to do with makeup, but I suppose it’s possible that the same thing can apply in certain instances?
I’d like to point out that you can’t categorize suppliers in cruelty-free & non-cruelty free because they both sell & buy ingredients to both drug and cosmetic manufacturers. In case of drug companies/manufacturers there’s no way of knowing whenever they did or did not test on animals because they are allowed by law to hide their methods of testing as it is ‘proprietary information’.
I find your conclusion pushed a little bit too far. For me it is clear that Inlgot makes a big effort to be transparent AND cruelty-free. They’re also an independant companie. I understand your point of view but for me as long as no products or ingredients are tested on animals, it’s considered as cruelty-free.
I will NEVER support ANY companie owned by L’Oreal or Estée Lauder but you still put some of them in your cruelty-free list.
I’m sorry but your list is a total joke.
You include brands owned by L’Oreal, but you won’t include Inglot.
Care to explain the reasoning behind it?
It’s fine if you don’t agree! That’s why I’m putting this information out there and being transparent. You can find out the reasoning behind my list at the top of that page, with the cruelty-free criteria.
Thanks M! This is actually my goal for this blog. I’m aware that everyone draws the line slightly differently, and I’d rather be transparent and give you as many facts as I can find in order for YOU to make your own decision. Of course I have my own opinion, but I understand and respect others’ point of view as well. 🙂
How can you put brands like Urban Decay and NYX on your cruelty free list but not Inglot? By buying from UD and NYX you are supporting animal testing because your money indirectly goes to the parent company that tests on animals, similar to how if you buy from Inglot your money indirectly goes to suppliers that test in animals. It’s the same right? So wouldn’t it make more sense to remove them from your list or add Inglot with a note about their potential suppliers?
I SO agree with you !
Agreed!
Strongly agree with you!! I think those owned by non-cf parent companies ones are even worse than the case of inglot. I think what matters to us who truly want to go cf is that we read through such things and make our own opinions.
I just wanted to thank you for all the information you provide. It’s also nice that Leaping Bunny has different requirements/perspective from PETA because PETA is just too extreme.. and crazy. Considering Inglot’s efforts, it seems like they’d be the type of brand that would look into buying from suppliers that don’t test on animals at all. Fingers crossed, (^-^/)
Are you vegan?
This makes sense to me, but cruelty-free organizations like the Leaping Bunny, PETA, or Choose Cruelty-Free stipulate that suppliers must not test on animals for a brand to be certified. It’s usually a requirement for suppliers to be fully cruelty-free, so I’m not sure why so many suddenly disagree with this.
It’s because, you’re ruining a company’s reputation. They ARE cruelty-free. You just didn’t understand their response.
I don’t think your conclusion makes sense here. They’re saying that if their supplier refuses to confirm whether they test or not, they would NOT purchase those ingredients from them. Or if they find out that the supplier does test (let’s say the supplier told them one thing and they found out otherwise), they would NOT purchase from them. I think that’s being pretty transparent that they refuse to purchase ingredients that are tested.
My definition of a cruelty-free company is one that does not purchase from suppliers that test on animals. Even if Inglot only purchases ingredients that aren’t tested on animals, they’re still collaborating with a supplier that might test on animals.
I see your point of view, but maybe it’s worth to specify this with the company? If they say, that we don’t buy THIS ingredient (which happened to be tested on animals) but still we buy from this supplier then you are right. But If they say, that we stop buying from them period, then you are not right.
It’s just need one extra clarification for me.
Yes please! i really would like to get some clarification as well! Personally if I had received those letters I would not have drawn the same conclusion. Perhaps going a step further to ask, if like you mentioned above, their suppliers do or do not test on animals. You yourself said it was a ‘might’- maybe inglot can answer that too? I’d like to have hope that the glass is half full in this case, and if they can confirm that their suppliers are cruelty free, we will have another ‘win’ to add to the list~! ^_^
They didn’t say it was only the ingredient they were purchasing, they clearly said “supplier”. Their response was clear as crystal. What happened to your comprehension!
They are literally saying that if they are doubtful of their suppliers they “would not purchase such ingredients.” Please add it to Cruelty Free, because it is & all of their statements are solid proof. The line between cruel and cruelty free isn’t thin……..
The ingredients used in their products are not tested on animals, but their suppliers might test on animals. I don’t consider this to be 100% cruelty-free, but you’re absolutely free to do so!
Hi Suzi, I don’t know if you saw my message above… I usually find you have pretty good instincts but in this case you keep repeating the word “Might” a lot. Since they replied back before, maybe you could give them the benefit of the doubt long enough to write back and ask for confirmation on this?
Perhaps they simply did not think to specify that their suppliers are cruelty free, not realizing this was what was being asked. I personally did not even see it as a specification to even consider until you brought it up later, and if I (fingers crossed!) ever have the chance to have my own beauty line that was cruelty free, and was asked the same questions you asked, I would have likely answered in a similar manner, even if I had looked into it and confirmed for myself that the suppliers are cruelty free.
It would be great to know for sure, I think everyone would like to see more names added to the cruelty free list, and who knows? Maybe it was simple miscommunication and Inglot could be next? They certainly seem transparent about there stance on animal testing.
Hi! I appreciate the input and understand where you’re coming from. They’re on PETA’s cruelty-free list, and they’re a Euro company, so all signs point to a cruelty-free status.
The thing is this. I did go back and forth with several people in different positions, and no one could confirm that none of their suppliers test on animals. I also know that PETA’s requirements aren’t as strict as Leaping Bunny’s.
I’m definitely not saying that Inglot isn’t cruelty-free, which is why I’m using the word “might” a lot. Inglot might be cruelty-free, but they’re definitely not making me feel confident about it, which is why I’m not going to purchase from them or promote them.
I know they’re an independent brand and I’m not trying to throw any shade. I’m just trying to be fair.
Thanks for getting back to me Suzi! I really appreciate it! ^_^ Love your site. It’s my go-to! Thank you so much for all the hard work you do to help make shopping cruelty-free easy for people like me. You truly are amazing, thank you so so much!
I agree with K.M.C.
It’s complicated being a compassionate shopper, and having a reliable resource like this site surely helps.
In an ideal world, we beauty addicts could just buy anything we like, because *nothing* is tested on animals.
Until and unless this is the case, we’ll have to stand together and keep doing what we’re doing, which is refusing to give money to animal abusers..
They might support suppliers who test on animals. For this reason, I for one wouldn’t claim that they’re cruelty-free. I wouldn’t claim that they support animal testing either, but there’s just not enough proof supporting that they’re cruelty-free. Let me know if you want more clarification!
Aw, what a pity.
On the positive side, it’s still a PETA-approved company and they don’t sell in China, which is better than many other brands!
I would have to say that any company who A) Does not conduct animal testing B) Uses only ingredients that are not tested on animals C) Does not sell in countries that require animal testing … Is cruelty free. The bottom line is a manufacturer can only be responsible for the products they produce and raw materials they purchase.. They cannot be held responsible for another companies policy. By only purchasing raw materials that are not tested on animals, they are sending a message to their suppliers. I applaud INGLOT for their commitment in being cruelty free. The Chinese market is worth millions of dollars, INGLOT’s refusal to sell in main land China is a clear indication of the companies integrity and commitment to remain cruelty free.
I had respected your site until now. It is clear that you are nothing more than a hypocritical bully.
Inglot as DIRECTLY EXPRESSED that they DO NOT purchase from suppliers who test on animals or ones that cannot confirm if they do yet you still support brands whose parent companies are notoriously cruel? People have commented on this and your responses have been pathetic at best. “You can make your own decision/we are all entitled to our own opinion” serves to deflect the double standard you have set out for yourself.
Inglot stands to be one of the more reputable brands in the cruelty free market yet you refuse to acknowledge this. By that stance your site is NOT cruelty free as you encourage others to purchase from brands/suppliers where the money goes directly back into animal testing.