Botanic Pretti5, Your Vegan One-Stop-Shop (Part 1)

Void of all animal by-product, vegan beauty differs from your standard bathroom countertop product. For some, going Vegan is a conscious choice inclusive of all other life choices including dietary, but for others it happens by convenience and is only incorporated in the beauty routine. Because, why buy the animal-tested, non-vegan product when there are brands available that offer products at the same price point and same if not better quality? 

At Botanic Pretti5, we offer customers the opportunity to conveniently experience a vegan and cruelty free lifestyle. We don’t require our customers to be strictly vegan, but we invite them a hassle-free introduction to veganism, as all of our products are vegan and cruelty-free, meaning you won’t have to sift through and busy yourself with checking our ingredient lists. Always here to help our consumers understand our ethos, we’ve gathered the most basic and fundamental information to get you started on your vegan beauty journey.

When we talk about non-vegan ingredients we definitely don’t mean you’ll see ‘steak’, ‘eggs’, or ‘chicken’ on the ingredients list printed on your beauty products, but we do mean to say you should be on the lookout for the names of often unfamiliar words that are in fact code for animal fat and such. For the beginner to the vegan makeup world, here’s our introductory top three non-vegan ingredients guide. Short and sweet, here we go:

Photo from Unsplash

Topping off the list, we have squalane, but be sure you don’t confuse it with squalane which is the olive or sugar cane derived cruelty-free alternative. (Fun fact: we use Squalane derived from olives!) Squalene with an “e” on the other hand, is a non-vegan ingredient that will often be found in your moisturizers and cosmetics, but it is made from the oil in a shark’s liver.

Photo from Unsplash

The next ingredient to be on the lookout for is collagen. This one is a big name in the beauty world, the highly prized anti-aging agent, included in cleansers, serums and moisturizers to lift your wrinkles and your worries away. But at Botanic Pretti5, we avoid this nasty skin plumper as it is extracted from the bones, connective tissue, and skin of dead animals — not so pretty!

Photo from Unsplash

Another popular non-vegan ingredient is glycerine, often making its way into soaps, hair products, cosmetics, and moisturizers. This ingredient is a little trickier to track as it can be derived from both animal and plant sources. Non-vegan glycerine is derived from ground up horns, hooves, feathers and various animals’ hair. Botanic Pretti5 ensures all vegan ingredients, so our products will only include vegan glycerin!

A common misconception held because of the prevalence of animal-based ingredients in beauty products, is that such ingredients are necessary for a beauty product to be high in quality and performance. Rest assured, you can relieve yourself of that concern.

My parting piece of advice: check your ingredients lists if the company you are buying from is not strictly vegan. If you make the decision to go full vegan, our recommended starting point is us, Botanic Pretti5. As a tight knit family, we take measures to ensure that all of our products are vegan and cruelty-free. It’ll save you the hassle!

Next, I’ll help clarify the difference between vegan and cruelty-free as a vegan product does not ensure that a product is cruelty-free. It’s easy for companies to promote a vegan product and still get away with unethical animal testing practices. Avoid falling trap to greenwashing. Research your products so you can proudly display them on your washroom countertop, gift them and share them with your friends and family. Be on the lookout for that article:)

Stay clean!

Written By Joy Chan