Sally Hansen recently came out with their Good. Kind. Pure. nail polish collection featuring their new plant-based, 16-free, and self-proclaimed “100% vegan” formula but is Sally Hansen cruelty-free?

Sally Hansen Sold in China?

Since I can remember, Sally Hansen has never been considered a cruelty-free brand and if I recall correctly, their products were sold in mainland China where animal testing is required by law.

At some point, Sally Hansen stopped selling in China and confirmed this in an Instagram response, but just because they stopped selling in China does not automatically mean the brand is now cruelty-free.

And when I recently tried asking for clarifications about Sally Hansen’s current animal testing policy, I received ambiguous and unclear responses.

At this time, Sally Hansen is on our Brands with Unclear Policies List.

Is Sally Hansen Cruelty-Free?

Sally Hansen’s cruelty-free status is unclear. We currently do not have enough information to declare Sally Hansen as cruelty-free or not and therefore Sally Hansen is on our ‘Unclear Policies’ list.

It should also be noted that Sally Hansen is owned by Coty, a corporation that does test on animals when required by law.

Sally Hansen’s Animal Testing Policy

Here is what we know about Sally Hansen’s animal testing policy.

Sally Hansen is owned by Coty. This is an important point to remember as they keep bringing it up.

So, when I reached out to Sally Hansen to inquire about their animal testing policy, they replied back with Sally Hansen’s parent company’s (Coty) policy.

You can see at the beginning, they say “At Coty, we do not test..” This is such a frustrating response to receive because we already know that Coty is not cruelty-free and this statement only mentions Coty’s policy and nothing about Sally Hansen’s policy.

Sally Hansen’s Cruelty-Free Claims

Sally Hansen has responded to some users’ questions on Instagram about their cruelty-free status:

Sally Hansen claims “we do not test our products on animals and are committed to ending animal testing across our industry.” and then proceeds to yet again, tell us more about Coty, their parent company’s policy.

This is where things get super confusing if you’re not familiar with parent corporations that test on animals and how their subsidiary brands can be certified cruelty-free.

Sally Hansen Claims Partnership with Leaping Bunny

CLAIM: Sally Hansen states, “As a company, Coty, Sally Hansen’s parent company, has partnered with Cruelty Free International and its Leaping Bunny program”

EXPLAINED: They mean Coty, not Sally Hansen has partnered up with CFI or LB.

In 2018, Coty formed a strategic partnership with Cruelty Free International that aims to end animal testing for cosmetics globally. But Coty themselves, are not even Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free because Coty test on animals when required by law and is not cruelty-free. This is just a partnership between Coty and CFI & LB.

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Sally Hansen Claims Extensive Process To Become LB Certified

CLAIM: Sally Hansen continues, “which requires third party validation of a brand’s full supply chain, including all suppliers. The process is complex and can take years to achieve. You may have seen some of our sister brands, like COVERGIRL, have earned Leaping Bunny certification.”

EXPLAINED: They mean COVERGIRL went through this extensive process to become Leaping Bunny certified, not Sally Hansen or Coty.

Currently, only one of Coty’s brands, COVERGIRL, is certified by Leaping Bunny.

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CLAIM: “Coty’s partnership with Cruelty Free International also includes exploring certifying other brands to the Leaping Bunny standard within the upcoming years as well as advocating for regulatory change to end animal testing globally.“

EXPLAINED: Again, both Coty and Sally Hansen are not Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free. Maybe they will be one day but currently, they are not.

I’ve tried reaching out to Sally Hansen to verify their animal testing policy but unfortunately, Sally Hansen has been unable to clarify whether their ingredients are tested on animals or if they allow others to test on their behalf and if their suppliers test on animals.

Sally Hansen is included in our List of Brands with Unclear Policies.

Is Sally Hansen Vegan?

Although Sally Hansen has made claims some of their products are “100% Vegan”, since we were unable to determine whether Sally Hansen is cruelty-free or not, we would not consider anything produced or sold by Sally Hansen to be vegan.

In order for products to be classified as Vegan by ethical elephant’s standards, brands must be able to verify their cruelty-free status and ensure their products, ingredients, and formulations are not tested on animals during any stage of product development and manufacturing, as well as, their products must not contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

Cruelty-Free & Vegan Alternatives to Sally Hansen:

• Pacifica
• Ella + Mila
• ORLY
• Zoya
• Barry M

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