You can find BITE Beauty cruelty-free products at bitebeauty.com, Sephora, and Boots.

Bite Beauty is *Cruelty-Free

Bite Beauty has confirmed they do not test their products or ingredients on animals or ask others to test on their behalf. Their suppliers also do not test on animals, nor do they allow their products to be tested on animals when required by law. And finally, their products are not sold in stores in mainland China or any other country that may require animal testing.

By our standards, we would consider Bite Beauty to be *Cruelty-Free.

*Bite is owned by Kendo and LVMH, a corporation that is NOT cruelty-free because they allow some of their other brands to test on animals.

It’s your choice whether you want to support or boycott cruelty-free brands owned by a parent company that is not cruelty-free. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer to this. I encourage you to do what you’re comfortable with, but I think it’s important to disclose that LVMH owns Bite Beauty.

Below is a screenshot of what’s currently stated on BITE Beauty’s website about its animal testing policy:

BITE Beauty used to be certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny. However, sometime in 2020, BITE decided not to recommit or renew its certification. This doesn’t automatically mean BITE is no longer cruelty-free.

Becoming Leaping Bunny certified is completely voluntary and any brand can decide not re-commit or go through the process to become LB certified but still be considered a cruelty-free brand.

I’m not sure the reasoning why BITE didn’t want to be LB certified any more, as Leaping Bunny is a reputable and trustworthy resource for cruelty-free consumers around the world. Maybe it’s because Leaping Bunny charges a fee for brands wanting to license and use their bunny logo and BITE probably didn’t want to pay for it anymore?

What About China’s Animal Testing Laws?

Bite Beauty has confirmed they do not sell their products in retail stores in mainland China; therefore, they are not required to test on animals.

“our product are currently unavailable in China.”

As of May 1, 2021, some imported ordinary cosmetics can be exempt from animal testing under certain conditions. However, for the most part, animal testing is still legally required for most imported cosmetics in 2022.

Cruelty-Free Policies

Note that there is no legal definition for the label ‘Cruelty-Free.’ It can mean different things to different people. But Cruelty-Free is generally used to imply no animal testing. More specifically, the ingredients, formulation, or finished product are not tested on animals at any stage of product development.

At ethical elephant, we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, and by any third parties.

Also, note that Cruelty-Free and Vegan don’t always mean the same thing.

Bite Beauty is 100% Vegan

Bite Beauty has confirmed all of its products are vegan and don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

In 2020, Bite reformulated all of their products and removed all animal-derived ingredients and by-products (like lanolin, beeswax, and carmine) from their entire collection.

However, it should be noted that their Lip Lab is not completely vegan, yet! They’re working on making it vegan in the near future.

The following is a screenshot of what’s currently stated on BITE’s official website about its vegan products:

Vegan Policies

Similar to ‘Cruelty-Free,’ there is no standard or legal definition for the label ‘Vegan.’ But it’s usually used in the context to describe something that doesn’t contain any animal-derived ingredients or animal by-products.

Some common animal products used in cosmetics include carmine, lanolin, snail mucus, beeswax, honey, pearl or silk-derived ingredients, animal-based glycerin, keratin, and squalene.

There are plant-based and synthetic alternatives to animal-derived ingredients. But it’s sometimes difficult to know with certainty whether a product is vegan just by reading the ingredient list.

So it’s best to ask the company and manufacturers to ensure the ingredients they’ve chosen to use were from non-animal sources.

Where are BITE’s products made?

I asked BITE Beauty where their products are manufactured and they told me:

“Our products are manafactured in Canada.”

Ethical Mica Mining Policy

Mica is a mineral that’s used in cosmetics to add a shimmery effect. But the mining of natural mica has been linked to child labor and human rights violations.

Unless the company discloses its mica mining policy, we have no way of knowing whether its mica is ethically sourced without child or forced labor.

So I asked Bite Beauty if their mica is ethically sourced without the use of child labor and they responded by stating,

“BITE expects its direct product suppliers to adhere to and to implement our Supplier’s Code of Conduct, which addresses working conditions for suppliers and specifically prohibits the use of involuntary or forced labor, human trafficking, child labor, and harassment and abuse.”

I hope this article helped you to understand BITE Beauty’s cruelty-free and vegan status and by choosing cruelty-free together, we can help end animal testing for cosmetics once and for all!