A rumor once said, that cruelty-free shoppers should be careful with AA cosmetics because their products are not always vegetarian.
This could be a made up theory, but if it happened to be true, the brand would be immediately disqualified from my CF list. In fact, it was really important for me to get to the bottom of this issue and find out the truth from the source.
Key facts:
- Tested on animals where required by law? No
- Sold in China? No
- Certified? Viva
- Parent Company? Oceanic
- Vegan? Supposedly yes. Not 100% confirmed.
- Ingredients tested on animals? No
- Suppliers test on animals? No
The first attempt of obtaining any information from AA was not satisfactory. The email response made hardly any sense. I asked for clarification and received silence in response. Only when I reminded of myself after two weeks, I received meaningful information.
Here is the company’s response regarding the ingredients:
“According to the company policy we do not use materials of animal origin. It is one of the conditions that the raw ingredients have to meet in order to be introduced in Oceanic cosmetics”
Considering that only chosen AA products have a vegan label, I found their answer hard to believe. I asked if this means that all their products are vegan despite the lack of labels.
“Exactly, but we do not use this term on every product”
Why?
Because that is the marketing strategy.
AA cosmetics are not sold in China, the brand doesn’t test on animals and ensure that the suppliers do not test on animals neither.
UPDATE: February 2019
The fact that all products are vegan is surprising which is why I asked 3 times if that really is true. To ensure, I took a closer look at ingredients of a few products and initially couldn’t find anything suspicious. It has later turned out that the AA wings lipsticks (and possibly more products) contain typically animal derived ingredients such as lanolin or collagen.
I thought the company is treating me like and idiot so I asked for another explanation which actually turned out to be pretty simple:
We often use synthetic alternatives of ingredients such as collagen. We also have synthetic lanolin…
Yet, another time, I was assured that the company doesn’t use any animal derived ingredients.
Many of you seem to be concerned about such ingredients in AA cosmetics but you should be relieved knowing they are all synthetic.
Worth knowing
Whilst investigating Oceanic, I found out that the brand also owns pharmaceutical brands. Although Oceanic does not conduct or allow cosmetic testing on animals, pharmaceutical testing is an entirely different story. For this reason, AA’s parent company, Oceanic – cannot be labelled as cruelty-free because it sells medicines.
Conclusion: AA cosmetics is a cruelty-free brand but is owned by a company that isn’t.
AA cosmetics has been added to my list of brands that are cruelty-free.
