Yes, a mainstream store that is proudly proclaiming the fact that they are against animal testing and 100% vegetarian! I stopped in the store, where I found three lip gloss tubes for $10 (and they were made in the UK, not China!). At the register, they had a paper where you could put your name and e-mail address to receive information about efforts to end animal testing around the world. Naturally, I put my name down and they gave me a coupon as a thank you for doing so. When I got home, I looked at their website and found that the proceeds from some of their products are donated to charities dedicated to stopping child sex trafficking, domestic violence, and HIV awareness. Pretty awesome, isn't it?
A little while after I bought my lip glosses, I came across another store called LUSH. I saw on their sign that they sold handmade soaps and bath products. I love handmade soap, so I decided to take a look and see if any vegan soaps were available. As soon as I walked into the store, I saw several product signs with stickers that said "vegan" on them. In fact, about 98% of the products in the store were vegan (according to the store clerk, the few non-vegan items contained lanolin and honey). I was in heaven! I bought a bath bomb called "Phoenix Rising" ( purple color, apple cinnamon scent). I haven't tried it yet, but it smells wonderful. Another awesome thing about LUSH is that they take a VERY strong stand against animal testing and make every effort to ensure that their suppliers treat employees fairly. Here are two quotes from their website:
". For LUSH where we buy our ingredients from is the first opportunity we have for influence. One of our first priorities is to ensure the material and the company doesn't test on animals, a policy we've run for over a decade. We always try to deal direct with a producer if we can to get as close to growing or making it as possible. We are also fortunate in what we don't buy, for instance unnecessary packaging. By selling naked products you can afford products with the best quality ingredients and we save the garbage men a job. Really, it's about mutual respect. Respect for you and your wishes to buy great products with ethical and sustainable natural ingredients. It's respect for our suppliers, who have a right to earn a decent wage and it's respect for the environment that can provide the ingredients. It's not always an easy path and we have had plenty of hurdles but it is ultimately greatly rewarding and led us on some great adventures, too!" (https://www.lushusa.com/Ethical-Buying/about-buying-intro,en_US,pg.html)
and
"LUSH is firmly committed to a policy that not only inhibits testing our products and ingredients on animals, or engaging with third-party suppliers to do so on our behalf, but that also prohibits buying any ingredient from any supplier that tests any materials on any animals for any purpose. This policy is unique in the cosmetics world and is pioneering a new way to stop animal tests for cosmetics. LUSH runs a Supplier Specific Boycott Policy. By doing this, we give an economic incentive to suppliers and have convinced two companies to switch to cruelty free practices as a result. If a company will alter their practices, we will buy their goods." (https://www.lushusa.com/Against-animal-testing/about-animal-introduction,en_US,pg.html)
LUSH is headquartered in Canada, and their products are made in North America as well.
So if your looking for a alternative to the traitors known as Urban Decay (who recently had their "leaping bunny" certification REVOKED due to the fact that they are now selling in China, which requires them to test their products on animals. Check out this care2.com article for more info.) , you'll definitely want to give the Body Shop and LUSH a try. It's always feels good to know that you're supporting companies that are friendly to both people and animals.
Here are the companies websites:
The Body Shop:
http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/
LUSH
http://www.lushusa.com/
