You can find Volition cruelty-free products at volitionbeauty.com, Sephora, and Cult Beauty.

Volition is Cruelty-Free

Volition 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 Volition to be Cruelty-Free.

Below is a screenshot of Volition’s official animal testing statement:

I also emailed Volition to ask for more information about their animal testing policy. The following is a snippet of the response I received from them:

“PETA has very strict regulations and requires us to have all the documents from our raw material suppliers that states the products are not tested on animals in order to be certified. We also do not ask third parties to test our products out on animals.”

What About China’s Animal Testing Laws?

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

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, or any third parties.

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

Volition is Now 100% Vegan!

Volition has recently confirmed all of its products are now 100% vegan and don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

Below is a snippet of the email response I received from Volition when I asked if they were still selling items containing beeswax and/or snail mucin:

“Yes, we can confirm all of the products are vegan! Those products were either discontinued or reformulated to be vegan.”

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.

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

“Can you tell us which product you’re referring to? We have multiple sources of Mica so we want to provide you with the most accurate information. We request documentation from our supplier to ensure that our ingredients are ethically sourced and cruelty-free.”

Volition claims all of their ingredients are ethically sourced but did not specifically address where their mica is sourced from and how they audit or trace to ensure no child labor was involved in mining their mica.

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