If you’re wondering which brands found at Sephora test on animals, and which ones are cruelty-free, this is your definitive guide. At Cruelty-Free Kitty, we’ve contacted over 1200+ brands to find out their animal testing policy, and we only include brands that fulfill our strict criteria. Whether you’re looking for makeup, skincare, hair products, or even fragrance, here are all the cruelty-free brands available at Sephora.
Welcome to our 2024 update of our list of cruelty-free Sephora brands.
This list is constantly updated, and none of the companies below sell their products in China or test on animals where required by law.
If any company on the list starts selling in China, it loses its cruelty-free status, and is then removed from the list. At the moment, only NARS has decided to expand to the Chinese market, which means NARS is no longer cruelty-free.
In this list you’ll also find a handful of skincare brands, as well as some hair and nail polish brands. Every brand on this list is 100% verified cruelty-free.
As for companies that do test on animals, the list is long: Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Benefit, Estée Lauder, Clinique, the Sephora brand, Bobbi Brown, Givenchy, Make Up For Ever, Marc Jacobs Fragrances — not to be confused with Marc Jacobs Beauty –, and more. Those are definitely not cruelty-free and they do test on animals, in most cases in China.
The list below is constantly updated. More brands will be added as I get in touch with the companies.
Click on your favorite brands to check out their new products. The links open in a new tab.
Cruelty-Free Makeup At Sephora
Is The Sephora Brand Cruelty-Free?
The Sephora makeup brand itself is NOT cruelty-free. Sephora doesn't test on animals except when required by law, and their products are being sold in China, where animal testing is required by law.
Brands Owned By Non-Cruelty-Free Parent Companies
Some brands on the list above are owned by parent companies that test on animals.
For example, Hourglass is owned by Unilever and Urban Decay is owned by L'Oréal.
Some people choose to support such companies and some don't. There are pros and cons, and this is a personal decision you can make. It's important to note that these cruelty-free brands are still cruelty-free, no matter their parent company. The brand that owns them doesn't have an impact on their actual cruelty-free status.
If you wish to buy from only brands that have a cruelty-free parent company, you can refine the list using the filter options at the top.
Hi does anyone know if Murad or Clinique are cruelty-free? I’ve been seeing on the Sephora website that Murad said some of their products were tested on humans and not animals. I’ve been really looking into cruelty-free makeup and skin products 🙂
Yes to Murad (though it belongs to Unilever now) and no to Clinique.
I heard today that Estee Lauder is acquiring Perricone MD and Murad. =[
Also, according to my Coola brand rep, she thinks everything is vegan, gluten free, cruelty free and organic. She’s coming back with more info for me.
Where did you hear that? Are you in the inner circle?! I can’t find it anywhere on the internets.
Hahah, technically yes. I work in skincare at Sephora and work with the brand reps a lot. Google Murad Estee Lauder and there are a handful of articles talking about Estee weighing the pros and cons on the deal from June 4th. Until I see an official press release or talk to my rep, I will assume the deal hasn’t gone through, but it looks like they already bought Perricone and are picking up several new brands. Their last sweep was in December/January, when they acquired GlamGlow.
Estée Lauder has not acquired Murad nor Perricone. Murad was acquired by Unilever in September 2015, but continues to be cruelty free.
At the time of my comment, Dr. Murad had not cancelled the deal with Estee Lauder yet. Yes, he pulled out and went with Unilever instead (thank goodness). I’m glad he is still a cruelty free brand, I do wish his parent company was, though. I do understand why he sold though, and I hope not dealing with the retail side of things gives him more time to spend with his family and his clients.
Yeah, it totally makes sense and I don’t doubt that what you’ve heard is probably right. Estee Lauder is really going at it. :/
Marc Jacobs is sold in China in Sephora stores according to this list: http://www.sephora.cn/brand.html
It’s still unclear whether or not they’re cruelty-free for that reason. They’ve recently joined PETA (along with all Kendo brands) but PETA tends to be unreliable. I’ll look into it. 🙂
Marc Jacobs as a fragrance line isn’t cruelty free but the make up line is not sold in China.
Do you personally use products by brands that are owned by a company that aren’t cruelty free but the brand them self are?
Yes!
Kat Von D is owned by LVMH. It’s a sephora original brand. It cracks me up when people won’t buy Sephora brand stuff but they will buy Kat. Same pocket, people. Her boxes even say Sephora on the side.
I’m surprised to not see Jack Black on this list. Going to have to research that a little more.
Sadly, this list isn’t long enough. I avoid any brand that isn’t cruelty free!
Hello,
Thanks for posting this! Glad to see there are so many compassionate people willing to steer clear from cruelty brands. One thing: Laura Mercier’s website says that they do not test on animals (not now, not ever). Check it out FAQ #17 here: https://www.lauramercier.com/faqs.html. You listed the brand as Not being cruelty-free. How did you come to this conclusion? Just wondering. Thanks again for post!
Very simply, they sell their products in China! And China requires mandatory animal testing. Technically they do not test on animals “unless required by law”.
Suzi, I sent into Laura Mercier the other day and they replied today with:
“Good morning and thank you for contacting us.
No, we do not sell our products in China.”
Thanks! I got the same response, but I’ll have to look into their policy.
Suzi, In light of the email correspondence to adrie182, do you plan to update your information, or at least further investigate it yourself? Until you do, I am finding it hard to give validity every time you say “they sell their products in China.” Thank you.
Amelia, I can assure I’m looking into it, but I haven’t heard anything official yet. It does look like Laura Mercier stopped selling in China, and I’m trying to look into the possible reasons.
I’m taking your comment into consideration and I’ll post about it very soon.
Clinique actually doesn’t test on animals. They say so on their FAQ page. They may not be cruelty-free, but it’s misrepresentation to say they do test on animals just because they’re not cruelty-free. I think you need a separate list for brands that don’t test on animals but aren’t cruelty-free or at least only list brands to still test on animals.
They do test when required by law, unfortunately.
Laura Mercier’s website states “We do not, nor have we ever, tested our products on animals. We also do not contract outside companies to test on animals for us.” Last accessed 26 of May 2015.
So how did LM come to be part of your list of companies that DO test on animals? Just curious because I currently use Laura Mercier.
They do test on animals “when required by law”, unfortunately.
PETA has Marc Jacobs Beauty listed as CF though.
Is Kat von D cruelty free? I didn’t see it on the list but I thought it was.
Why does PETA claim Stila is cruelty free but you do not? Very confused on this brand.
Stila is on PETA’s do-test list (link).
As a general rule though, PETA’s list isn’t always 100% reliable.
Hi! On the Marc Jacobs site it says very clearly everything is cruelty free. This is a newer brand only sold at Sephora and Marc Jacobs stores. So, is it cruelty free? It is listed on Paula’s site as being so.
They definitely sell in China, so sadly their cruelty-free claim isn’t fully accurate.
Thanks so much, that’s awesome to hear! 🙂
I just went to Sephora and bought 2 Givenchy items (one lipstick and one foundation). I specifically asked the man helping me if they test on animals and he said no, they do NOT test on animals. After spending over $200 on products I feel very upset and deceived!!
Return them!! There’s so many better cruelty free brands available + givenchy contains ingredients that are not good!!
Don’t know if you are still updating this but Sephora carries a new skin care line, Ole Henrickson, that is great AND cruelty free 🙂
See my response.
I notice you don’t list Ole Henriksen anywhere. They claim to be cruelty free. Is it not true?
They’re a grey area brand on my list. They’re owned by Kendo (which also owns Kat Von D, Marc Jacobs, and Bite). I know they’re not sold in China at the moment, but I can’t vouch for their ingredients being 100% cruelty-free.
They’re NOT sold in China. AmorePacific was removed for potential testing from suppliers.
I went into sephora yesterday looking for a new foundation. My requests- cruelty free and medium coverage. The employee informed me the sephora brand was cruelty free!!
I’m so upset I purchased it ignorantly believing her!!!!!
What a horrible thing to lie about.
Shame on her
Definitely return it! Even if it’s open, they’ll accept it. It’s been my experience too that most Sephora employees don’t know which brands are cruelty-free.
same thing happened to me today-employee said sephora is cruelty free….I left without buying anything
does anyone know if kat von d cosmetics are 100% cruelty free?
Kat Von D herself claims that her makeup is cruelty-free, but the company that actually makes it can’t back that up. They’re owned by Kendo/Sephora, which aren’t cruelty-free, too.
BareMinerals is also owned by Shiseido company 😉
I didn’t realize until I saw this post that Tarte was owned by an animal testing company. SO disappointing. I’ve had a hard time finding a great cruelty free mascara and thought I finally had with Tarte, but I’ll have to keep looking!!
If it’s volume you’re looking for, have you tried Too Faced’s Better Than Sex? 100% cruelty-free.
I second Suzi’s suggestion – Too Faced Better than Sex is literally the best mascara I’ve ever used. 🙂
Does anyone know if the brand FRESH is cruelty free? I’ve had a hard time finding info on this brand. Sorry if anyone has asked about this already! Thanks!
Hi Kaeley! Unfortunately they’re not cruelty-free. They opened a store in Shanghai in 2013 and sell in China. They’re also owned by a company that isn’t cruelty-free (LVMH).
I was looking into this brand and was wondering the same thing. Thanks for clarifying.
Kat von D make up is also cruelty free! She said so on her twitter account when someone asked.
I’m still waiting for the company to confirm that their suppliers don’t test on animals. They addressed every point except this one. 🙁
Did they answer? I saw her products and I think they’re cool. I know she’s vegan, PETA posted a photo, I hope they answered. 🙂
She has posted before that her line is all cruelty free and almost all 100% vegan. I believe its only one of her lipsticks that are not vegan and contain a form of bees wax. She said she is reworking the formula. I love Kats products and that they are cruelty free! 🙂
KDV Update for those that are interested!
Hi Suzi! I just discovered your blog and love the fact that you feature cruelty-free products in here. I’d just like to add that I believe Kat Von D is also cruelty-free. I think she has a contract with a different production company and her products are only sold at Sephora. 🙂
I love your name! 🙂 I’m also fairly confident that Kat Von D is cruelty-free but I’ve been waiting for confirmation! Will add as soon as I know for sure.
Thanks Suzi! 🙂 I’ve made the conscious effort to buy cruelty-free makeup products as well. Not everything in my collection is cruelty-free because I wasn’t aware of how bad some brands are early on, but ever since learning about these things, I’ve chosen to go in this direction as much as I can. I love your blog because it allows those of us who refuse to support companies that test on animals to see that going cruelty-free doesn’t have to mean we’d have to limit ourselves as far as quality goes. I look forward to reading more posts from you. 🙂
I’m so glad I can help you on your cruelty-free journey! Rock on! 🙂 I love your blog and I just added it to my feed!
I’m so glad this list was made! Unfortunately everything I’ve seen about the Korres brand is that they do test on animals. I couldn’t find anything on their website and all other blogs say they aren’t cruelty free. Also, Soap & Glory is cruelty free, as well as their parent company! And Ole Henriksen.
Hi Grace, thanks for the feedback! Korres is cruelty-free as of recently, and they pulled out of China for animal testing reasons. You can take a look at the correspondence and links in that post if you want; it took some digging to get that info.
I’m glad to hear Korres is cruelty free! I was totally bummed when I got a free sample from Sephora that I loved and it said Johnson & Johnson on the back. I thought that I was going to have to stop buying their facial products!!
Great post. I’ve been doing some research on the Balm as I wanted to buy several of their products on cyber Monday and I learned that they sell to China. It’s my understanding that any cosmetics company selling products in China is required to consent to have those products tested. Therefore, it seems that any company selling to China cannot be cruelty free.
Thanks for letting me know; I’m definitely going to contact them again. This is the response I got from them last time: “Distributors of theBalm Cosmetics from all over the world do not test our products on animals.” It’s a shame if they started selling in China.
Just to update: theBalm told me they’re NOT sold in China, and I couldn’t find anything about them being sold in China myself either.
Hi there, I live in china, and the Balm does not sell in , china, it is in Hong Kong however, but brands in Hong Kong and Taiwan actually does not require animal testing, as animal testing is only required in Main Land China. the Balm does have an online store for Chinese customers, but it is shipped from Hong Kong as well, so there is nothing to be worried about. But I am not sure if the brand itself is crusty free or not, since I am not a big fan of them… Hope that answers your concern.
Great post, I just wish Sephora in Luxembourg would stock more cruelty-free products than they do in other countries 🙂 I am just wondering if bare escentuals is really cruelty free as I’ve been told that some of their brushes are made with real animal hair 🙁 do you know if this true? And regarding brands like Urban Decay and NARS… do you think we can trust them? I feel like indirectly funding for animal testing as their parent company does the testing… would be great to hear your opinion as I am in two minds about it. My blog is also about cruelty-free make-up but I find it so hard to find reliable sources because PETA can be really outdated at times :/ xxx
Yep, I agree about PETA. I personally choose to support cruelty-free brands if they’re owned by non-cruelty-free parent companies as long as the brands themselves are totally cruelty-free, as it’s the case with NARS and Urban Decay (I share my opinion in this post:)).
You raise a really good point with the makeup brushes, and it’s true that cruelty-free companies sometimes carry brushes made from animal hair. They’re still cruelty-free as they don’t test on animals, but I personally don’t see the brushes themselves as literally “cruelty-free” (even though those companies claim that the hair is obtained “in a cruelty-free way”). In short, a company can be cruelty-free and make brushes made from animal hair just like it can make makeup that uses animal ingredients. Some brushes made from animal hair really are harmless to the animals, while others are obtained in cruel conditions. Where you draw the “cruelty-free line” is therefore up to you! I simply choose not to buy animal hair brushes.
ecotools found in drugs store seem to be a good brand, right…? loll
Don’t u get sassy with me, it’s a perfectly adequate brand if you’re just starting out with makeup. And it’s cruelty-free. 😀
LOL. you seem very well educated on this so I just wanted to make sure =]], especially since i just bought them yesterday haha
Got it! I thought you were being sarcastic, haha.
lol sorry about that!
Just thought i’d add:
-Buxom is owned by BareMinerals, so it should also have an *
-Sephora doesn’t carry The Balm or Dr. Hauschka any longer
-Dr. Dennis Gross also is cruelty free and vegan
Thanks! I was hoping Sephora might carry those brands again even though it’s not going to happen! I’m working on updating this whole page and adding newer brands. I added Dr. Dennis Gross, but not all their products are vegan.
Thank you for your information on cruelty-free!! I hope you don’t mind but I mentioned your blog in one of my youtube videos!! I want people to be aware that there are lots of great resources out on the internet that can help them go cruelty-free!! Thanks Becca
Thank you so much for the mention! 😀 Such a good idea to have a cruelty-free twist on your project pan!