Certified Vegan
The Official Standard
Must not contain any animal products or byproducts... including those from insects (honey, beeswax).
Must not invoke animal testing of any kind... on the product or any of its ingredients.
What This Really Means
A product labeled "Certified Vegan" is a guarantee that it contains zero animal ingredients. In the beauty world, animal products hide in plain sight: Carmine (crushed beetles used for red pigment in lipsticks), Lanolin (grease from sheep's wool in lotions), Keratin (ground hooves/feathers in hair treatments), and Collagen (connective tissue from cows or fish). The Certified Vegan logo ensures that none of these are present. It also goes a step further to verify that no animal-derived processing aids were used. For example, some sugars are filtered through bone char (charred cattle bones) to make them white; a Certified Vegan product would verify that this step did not occur. While "Vegan" and "Cruelty-Free" are often used together, they are distinct. A product can be vegan (no animal ingredients) but tested on animals. However, the Certified Vegan standard typically compels a no-animal-testing policy as well, creating a compassionate product from start to finish.
Checklist for Verification
- ✓ No animal ingredients (meat, fish, foul, by-products).
- ✓ No animal testing on ingredients or finished products.
- ✓ No animal-derived GMOs.
- ✓ No animal-sourced processing aids (e.g. bone char).