Animal Ingredients In Mascara

Who doesn’t love long, dramatic lashes? Mascara is a mainstay in most makeup bags – it perks up your peepers and helps you look bright-eyed and bushy tailed. And why not? You deserve to look your best!  But as a conscious consumer, you also deserve to know what your makeup is composed of. A lot of animal ingredients and derivatives make their way into beauty products, and we don’t even realize it, because when we read the label, we are unsure what those terms mean.

We know it can be confusing trying to figure it out on your own. But fear not! We’re here to help you avoid animal ingredients, wherever they may lurk. Here’s a guide to the animal products you are likely to find in mascara, so you can choose a vegan, cruelty-free option the next time you are shopping.

Guanine or Pearl Essence

What: This is often confused with guano or bat excrement, but this substance is actually derived from the scales of fish.

How: The scales are scraped off, soaked in alcohol and crushed to make a crystalline essence that diffuses light, lending a sheen and shine to mascara (and nail polish, too).

Also known as: Other names include pearl essence and CI 75170.

Guanine is derived from fish scales

Beeswax And Honeycomb

What: Beeswax is a natural form of wax made by bees and helps them form honeycomb.

How: Beeswax is obtained by melting honeycomb with water and then straining it, which leaves behind a waxy, sticky residue. It prevents emulsions from separating, keeping your liquid mascara smooth and intact. But there are plenty of vegan substitutes for it, like paraffin, vegetable oils and fats, carnauba wax and candelilla wax.

Also known as: It’s also labelled as cera alba or cera flava.

Beeswax is extracted from honeycomb

Panthenol

What: Panthenol is a provitamin of B5.

How: Derived from animal sources like meat and honey, it’s found in cosmetics, food, supplements and hygiene products. It’s used as an emollient, lubricant and moisturizer, because it has the ability to bind to the hair – making it ideal for your lashes, since it makes the fine hairs appear shiny.

Also known as: Other names include dexpanthenol, D-pantothenyl alcohol, butanamide, provitamin B-5 and alcohol analog of pantothenic acid.

Panthenol is often derived from meat 

Shellac

What: Shellac is a coating/glaze derived from a resin secreted by the lac insect.

How: It’s processed and sold as dry flakes. It is also dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac. It’s used to create a lacquer effect on mascara, making lashes appear glossier. It takes around 300,000 bugs to extract 1 kilogram of lac resin - so you can imagine just how many insects are killed each year. (India happens to be the largest producer of shellac in the world).

Also known as: In its raw form, it’s called lac resin.

Shellac flakes

Collagen

What: Collagen is a protein derived from the connective tissue of animals.

How: Skin, bone and tissue are boiled down to extract it. Prized for it’s plumping and firming effects, collagen is found in dozens of beauty products, and in mascara in particular because it makes lashes appear thicker.

Also known as: It can also be found under the moniker hydrolysed collagen.

Collagen is extracted by boiling animal bones

Lanolin

What: Lanolin is a waxy substance secreted a sheep’s sebaceous glands. It helps protect their coats and skin from the cold.

How: Sheep are sheared, then the wool is washed, processed and the lanolin extracted. Lanolin is known for its moisturizing properties, which is why it’s found in cosmetics.

Also known as: Lanolin acids, aliphatic alcohols, cholesterin, isopropyl lanolate, laneth, lanogene, lanolin alcohols, lanosterols, sterols, triterpene alcohols, wool fat, wool wax, wool grease, wool oil.

Lanolin is extracted from sheep's wool

That’s a pretty long list of animal ingredients to watch out for in mascara, but remember – knowledge is power! And don't fret - there are vegan brands available in India that you can order online. Here are 3 to get you started. 

The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara

BUY HERE

Zuii Organic Flora Mascara

BUY HERE

Wet N Wild Mega Length Waterproof Mascara

BUY HERE

So the next time you are browsing for mascara in the beauty aisle of a department store, keep your eyes peeled for these products in the ingredients list – and choose wisely!

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