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In this post, I’ll be addressing Younique’s animal testing policy and whether Younique should be considered a cruelty-free brand or not in 2021.
Younique’s Animal Testing Policy
It looks like Younique has updated its animal testing statement in 2021. Below is a screenshot of what’s currently stated on their website under each product page.
Based on this statement, Younique claims their formulas are not tested on animals by them or their manufacturers. And they strive to work with third-party manufacturers who share these same values.
However, this is not enough information for us to consider Younique to be cruelty-free so I emailed to ask if they vet and ensure all of their suppliers don’t test on animals? And if Younique is sold in China where animal testing is required for most imported cosmetics in 2021.
Is Younique Sold in China?
When asked if Younique is sold in China where animal testing is required for some cosmetics, they told me:
“We are currently open in Hong Kong where we are not required to test our products on animals.“
This is true. Cosmetics sold in Hong Kong are not required to be tested on animals. That’s because Hong Kong is not part of mainland China. And they don’t have the same animal testing laws as mainland China.
As long as Younique is selling in Hong Kong only, then they are not required to test on animals according to China’s regulations.
Read Also: What’s Going On With China’s Animal Testing Laws in 2021
Younique’s Cruelty-Free Policy Analyzed
Animal testing for cosmetics can happen at various stages of product development and manufacturing. We don’t just look into whether the finished product or formula was tested on animals, but we need to make sure the ingredients and their suppliers aren’t testing on animals either.
So when I asked if Younique requires all of their suppliers to abide by their no animal testing policy, they informed me:
“Please be aware we perform regular audits on all of our suppliers, which includes a review of processes and procedures, an assurance from them that responsible and ethical manufacturing practices are being followed, and an evaluation of the working conditions of their employees. Those same basic audits are performed by our suppliers on their raw material suppliers, and we review the documentation of those audits. If any potential issue were to arise during the audits that is unable to be addressed and resolved to our satisfaction, we would explore moving the business to a different supplier.“
It’s great to know that Younique performs regular audits with all of their suppliers but what concerns me is their overuse of vague statements and general claims.
Younique claims they have assurance from their suppliers that “responsible” and “ethical” manufacturing practices are being followed. These two terms are subjective and can mean different things to different people. So it doesn’t rule out whether their suppliers may be testing on animals.
I tried asking if those “ethical and responsible” practices include a policy against using animals for testing and unfortunately, Younique responded back with the same statement found on their website. That they “strive to work with third party manufacturers who share these same values”.
The problem I have with this statement is there’s a difference when a brand says they strive to work with manufacturers that don’t test on animals versus they only work with manufacturers that don’t test on animals.
When verifying brands to add to our Cruelty-Free Brand Directory, one of the criteria they must meet is requiring that all of their suppliers don’t test on animals. And it doesn’t sound to me that Younique has done this 100% to obtain a cruelty-free certification. And that’s probably why Younique is not certified cruelty-free by a third-party organization like Leaping Bunny or PETA.
I also have a screenshot of their old animal testing statement from their website in 2015. During this time, Younique stated they have not conducted an in-depth cruelty-free review.
Additionally, in 2015, Younique claimed they were in the process of obtaining cruelty-free certification. But as we know in 2021, they’re still not approved by Leaping Bunny, Cruelty Free International, PETA, or Choose Cruelty-Free.
“Younique does not test our products on animals. We are in the process of exploring/procuring official certification as a cruelty-free company. However, Younique has not conducted an in-depth cruelty-free review tracing each ingredient back to such ingredient’s original source at this time.”
It sounds to me that Younique still hasn’t conducted an in-depth review of making sure all of their ingredient suppliers don’t test on animals.
With everything being considered and Younique not being able to provide clarifications on their ingredient suppliers, I am unable to classify Younique as a cruelty-free brand or not.
For those reasons, Younique is on our Grey Area Brand List – Brands with Unclear Policies.
107 thoughts on “Younique”
Thank you so much for this article and research. I would love to try some of these products and help support a good friend of mine by doing so, but not if this company has issues with transparency and confirming cruelty status of their products. Your website is such a wonderful tool to the public that wants to be sure they’re not supporting industries that treat animals in horrendous manners. Obviously if everyone were to email companies asking about ingredients being tested on animals, responses would be more likely a miss than a hit. Such a wonderful idea. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I want an honest answer from you.. Do you experiment on animals.
I’m pissed off because I’m a representative of that company and I was always told that some of the products are even vegan because I am aware of beetles being used to get certain colors and pigments for the eyes and in China there are no laws against animal testing plus I also did find out that there are some lies going on that they say that all their shit is made in United States but I just found out by reading all of this that all of their things are not mean within USA so therefore if you’re reaching out to China to make your stuff then obviously you lied about that too and that makes me even more angry and I am not one of those representatives the Rams my product down anyone’s throat that expects the world of any company but if you’re going to have representatives work with your company you don’t lie to us as well and that’s not cool and it makes me look like a liar which embarrasses me and makes me furious they made it off like these pools were making the stuff here in good old USA that’s not the case they’re making their shit elsewhere and their packaging it and sending it once it gets here and not for nothing they don’t keep up with the trends at all what happened to the holographic lines like other companies and things like that the unicorn look the mermaid look if you will now I’m really fucking MAD!
That is not what I read here, at all. I read in their letter that Younique are shopping and selling their products to other countries. Not from them.
PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT ANIMALS WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH AND ARE AWARE THAT:
1. Any company that sells personal care products to China is NOT Cruelty-free, because China requires animal testing on personal care products sold to China.
2. A company that Claims to be Cruelty-free but does Not pursue certification of being Cruelty-free cannot be trusted to be Cruelty-free and is likely hiding behind their claim, hoping customers are gullible enough to believe the “claim” and buy their products.
3. A company that truly does not want to contribute to Animal Cruelty will elect to only use responsibly sourced Cruelty-free ingredients.
STOP CLAIMING TO BE CRUELTY-FREE OR BECOME CERTIFIED CRUELTY FREE
I do believe that recently Younique has become Cruelty free certified. Maybe you can look into that and update this.