Urban Decay is a cosmetics company that was founded in 1996, by Sandy Lerner and Patricia Holmes. In the beginning, they primarily sold a line of lipsticks and nail polishes. From 2000 to 2002, they were owned by the luxury group Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and later they were bought by the Falic Group and Castanea Partners.
As of today, Urban Decay is being sold all over the world. Quickly expanding into various social media platforms including Tumblr, and it is being advertised by numerous influencers and young artists, including Baron Von Fancy.
Is Urban Decay Cruelty-Free?
| Not sold in China? | Yes |
| PETA Certified | Yes |
| Leaping Bunny Certified | Yes |
| Has vegan products | Yes |
| Not owned by a Parent Company that does Animal Testing? | No |
Yes, Urban Decay has confirmed that it truly is cruelty-free.
Urban Decay doesn’t test their finished products, or ingredients, on animals. At the same time, they don’t use any third-party company to do the testing for them, and they ensure that all of their suppliers are against animal cruelty. Their brand is certified as cruelty-free by PETA’s ‘Beauty Without Bunnies’ program. In fact, in 2009, it was awarded the PETA’s Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Line award.
Urban Decay is also certified by the Leaping Bunny label. This means that they have completed every step in the Leaping Bunny’s extensive requirement list to prove that they are 100% cruelty-free.
Most Popular Urban Decay Products
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Are Urban Decay products sold in China?
No, Urban Decay products are not being sold in China and in any other country that requires animal testing by law.
However, in 2012, the brand announced that it will start selling its products to mainland China. This caused PETA to remove Urban Decay from its cruelty-free list. A month later, Urban Decay decided to retract its decision and they were once again declared cruelty-free by this international organization.
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What is the Deal with China?
Even though animal testing is proven to be an unnecessary and unethical practice, some countries still require it by law. This is the case with the second-biggest market in the world, China.
China requires any beauty product to be tested on animals before allowing importation and being sold in Chinese stores. Any company or brand that makes the decision to sell in China has also decided to test on animals – either by themselves or, usually, by paying a third-party company to test on their behalf. This is the main reason why a lot of brands can’t achieve a true cruelty-free status. After growing public outrage, China did lift some regulations in 2014, which allowed certain beauty products, such as shampoos and other skincare items, to be imported without testing, but this is still a small percentage.
A lot of brands that claim to be cruelty-free are being misleading thanks to these laws. Even if a brand doesn’t conduct animal testing on its own, by deciding to take the opportunity and sell in countries such as China, it is allowing a third-party to test the final product on animals. This is why PETA and the Leaping Bunny Program have forbidden brands that they certify to expand their market in this direction – and rightfully so.
A lot of companies are working with the Chinese government on lifting these regulations, and legislation was proposed in 2019 that should stop mandatory animal testing. However until today, no substantial progress has been made in this regard, we continue to wait patiently.
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Is Urban Decay Vegan?
A lot of Urban Decay products are vegan, despite the brand as a whole not being labeled as such. They have an informative disclaimer on their site regarding their vegan products. They note that even within a product category it’s possible that some shades are vegan and others are not, depending on their individual ingredients. Also, they are working on making their entire brand vegan, but state that they primarily have the quality of their colors and other features in mind when creating an ingredient list.
Who owns Urban Decay and does the parent company test on animals?
In 2012, the beauty brand L’Oreal bought the company for a large figure. As L’Oreal is not cruelty-free, this raised some concerns about the brand’s cruelty-free status. However, despite the ownership change, Urban Decay stated that they have remained cruelty-free and that they will remain to be such. This is possible because L’Oreal allows its brands to make independent decisions about their politics and ingredients.
Of course, it is up to every individual to decide whether or not they want to support a brand that is owned by a company that is conducting tests on animals.
What products does Urban Decay sell?
Urban Decay is famous for its makeup collections, including its praised Naked Collection. It is being recommended by 99% of users and has an average of 4.9 out of 5 star-rating. The brand also had many collections from their celebrity collaborations with stars such as Gwen Stefani.
Most Popular Urban Decay Products
