Milk Makeup

Last Updated: January 14, 2023

How Ethical Is Milk Makeup?

Make a positive impact by supporting companies with the same values and ethics as what matters most to you. To navigate and find ethical brands, here’s a summary of Milk Makeup’s ethics and initiatives.

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Ethical Analysis

Is Milk Makeup cruelty-free, vegan, or sustainable? We’ve got the answers here! Read below for more details on Milk Makeup’s policies.
Milk Makeup is cruelty-free. None of Milk Makeup’s ingredients, formulations, or finished products are tested on animals anywhere in the world.
All of Milk Makeup products are 100% vegan and don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.
Milk Makeup’s products come in plastic packaging. However, the brand claims it’s working to use less plastic, offer more refills, and use more post-consumer resin and recyclable materials on the packaging.

So far, Milk Makeup has launched refillable packaging for some of its best-sellers which they claim reduces plastic by up to 66%. The brand has also started incorporating more post-consumer resin in its product packaging and exploring using mono-plastic to make recycling easier.

Milk Makeup redesigned its e-commerce shipping system and started transporting its products in more sustainable shipping boxes and bags. Including boxes printed with petroleum-free plant-based ink and paperboard made with 100% post-consumer waste fibers that are FSC-Certified.

In addition, Milk Makeup has partnered with How2Recycle and g2 revolution to communicate clear recycling instructions for its product packaging in order to help keep as many materials out of landfills as possible.
Milk Makeup claims their mica is ethically sourced without child labor. See their ethical mica mining policy here.
Milk Makeup’s products come in plastic packaging. However, the brand claims it’s working to use less plastic, offer more refills, and use more post-consumer resin and recyclable materials on the packaging.

About Milk Makeup

Milk Makeup believes it’s not just about how you create your look; it’s what you do in it that matters. Where they see personal style as the ultimate form of self-expression and encourage experimentation — from bare to bold, and everything in between.
COMPANY BASED IN: USA
PRODUCTS MADE IN: USA
PRODUCTS: Skincare, Makeup
CERTIFICATIONS: Leaping Bunny

Milk Makeup

This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.

Is Milk Makeup Cruelty-Free?

🐰 Milk Makeup is a cruelty-free brand. None of Milk Makeup’s ingredients or products are tested on animals. Milk Makeup has met all the criteria in our Cruelty-Free Checklist and is included in our Cruelty-Free Directory.

Does Milk Makeup Test on Animals?

When asking, does Milk Makeup test on animals? We must look beyond to ensure none of Milk Makeup’s ingredients or suppliers test on animals. And they don’t sell in any country or under conditions that may require animal testing by law.

In our research, we discovered the following:

  • ✓ Milk Makeup confirmed they do not test their products or ingredients on animals or ask others to test on their behalf.
  • ✓ Milk Makeup confirmed all their ingredient suppliers do not test on animals
  • ✓ Milk Makeup confirmed they do not allow or sell their products under conditions where animal testing is required by law

By meeting all of our Cruelty-Free Criteria, Milk Makeup is a truly cruelty-free brand by our standards.

What is Milk Makeup’s Animal Testing Policy?

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

What About China’s Animal Testing Laws?

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

With the current changes to China’s animal testing laws, some cosmetics sold in China can be exempt from animal testing under certain conditions. However, without meeting those conditions, animal testing is still legally required for most cosmetics sold in China in 2023.

Is Milk Makeup Certified Cruelty-Free?

Milk Makeup is certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny.

Cruelty-Free Policies 2023

Just because a brand claims it is ‘Cruelty-Free,’ doesn’t always mean that’s the case.

That’s because 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, or any third parties.

How We Assess Cruelty-Free Policies

Since starting my blog in 2015, I’ve been emailing companies asking about their animal testing policies and cruelty-free commitments.

And based on the responses I receive from companies, I’ll research to find any supporting facts needed before concluding whether the brand should be classified as “Cruelty-Free,” “Animal-Tested,” or “Grey Area – Unclear Policies.”

☕️ Every week, I continue to reach out to new brands while trying my best to keep current brands updated. If you found any of my posts or guides helpful, consider Buying Me A Coffee! I would greatly appreciate it! ❤️

What about Vegan?

Just because something is called Cruelty-Free, doesn’t always mean it’s Vegan. And vice versa.

Cruelty-Free only refers to no animal testing, while Vegan means formulated without animal products.

Some brands are Cruelty-Free, but not Vegan.

And some are Vegan, but not Cruelty-Free.

Another important distinction to know is, Vegan in cosmetics can refer to an entire brand is 100% Vegan, or a specific product is Vegan.

Is Milk Makeup Vegan?

⭐️ Milk Makeup is a 100% vegan brand. All their products are vegan, and are formulated without any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

The following is a screenshot of what’s currently stated on Milk Makeup’s website about its vegan claims:

Does Milk Makeup Have Milk In It?

Despite their name, Milk Makeup products do not contain animal milk. All of Milk Makeup products are free of animal-derived ingredients and by-products, including milk.

Milk Makeup Products We Recommend:

  1. Hydro Grip Primer
  2. KUSH High Volume Mascara
  3. Lip + Cheek
  4. Cooling Water
  5. Matte Bronzer

Where to buy Milk Makeup? Check out Sephora, Cult Beauty, and Amazon!

Vegan Policies

Similar to ‘Cruelty-Free,’ there is no standard or legal definition for the label ‘Vegan.’ But Vegan is generally used to mean formulated without animal-derived ingredients or animal by-products.

Some common animal products 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 unless a brand explicitly labels its ingredients or product as Vegan, it’s often 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 chose were from non-animal sources.

Where are Milk Makeup’s products made?

When I asked Milk Makeup where their products are manufactured, they told me:

“They are made in the USA.”

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 Milk Makeup if their mica is ethically sourced without the use of child labor and they responded by stating,

“The mica in our highlighter is sourced from India. We are in close communication with our filler and can confirm that we do not use child labor at any stage in the process of obtaining our mica.

The filler we work with abides by the codes of the Ethical Trade Initiative and their supply chain is regularly audited to ensure they’re meeting these guidelines.”


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

If you found this helpful, consider Buying Me a Coffee. So that I can continue to keep this site running and updated.

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