Beauty freebies! For National Lipstick Day Sunday, MAC Cosmetics is giving away free lipsticks. Other beauty brands also have deals. Plus, Sephora is giving away free face masks this weekend. MAC Cosmetics offers free makeup in exchange for your old products. That means you can get a freebie (Free Mac lipstick) simply by trading in your old bottles and palettes that were headed for the recycling/bin anyway. Blub from Mac below.
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MAC Cosmetics are one of the most popular makeup brands around. A dupe of their famous lipsticks is still one of the most requested things on my local cruelty free Facebook groups! Unfortunately, MAC Cosmetics are not cruelty free – they allow animal testing to occur on their products, and they are owned by a non-cruelty free parent company.
Are MAC Cosmetics Cruelty Free?
Mac Cosmetics are not cruelty free. MAC Cosmetics state on their website:
Mac Lipstick Sale
Along with many other popular brands, although MAC Cosmetics state that they have never tested on animals, you can see from the quote that they allow their products to be tested on animals by ‘some governments’. As we all know, true cruelty free brands do not sell their products under governments that conduct animal testing.
In addition to this, MAC Cosmetics are owned by Estée Lauder. This leads to a fairly complicated debate on whether or not an animal testing parent company can own a cruelty free brand. (Get more info here). I always say that it’s up to an individual to decide whether or not they want to buy from brands with animal testing parent companies, but either way it’s worth noting.
Do MAC Cosmetics have Vegan Products?
Mac Lipstick Recycle
No MAC products can be classed as vegan because they are all subject to animal testing. Makeup Academy (MUA) is a great alternative brand that is 100% cruelty free and vegan.
Are MAC Cosmetics a Sustainable Brand?
Hidden away on their website is a link to MAC Cosmetics’ “Back to MAC” scheme, which gives you a free lipstick for every six empty MAC containers returned to store for recycling. This can only be done in-store and doesn’t seem to be particularly well advertised on their website, but at least it’s something.
Back To Mac Program
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Mac cosmetics started with makeup artist and photographer Frank Toskan and salon owner Frank Angelo. They were frustrated that the makeup on their models did not photograph well, so they decided to make their own cosmetics. They started by creating the products in their kitchen and selling them to their clients and models from the salon. As their popularity grew, they finally decided to name the brand Mac in 1984 and sold it in a department store in Toronto.
Since then, Mac cosmetics has taken over the world of makeup, offering makeup products that customers love. Because of their popularity and success, they wanted to give back to those in need. In 1994, they focused their charitable donations to fund research on HIV and AIDS and help those diagnosed with it. They also realized that it would help the environment if their customers recycled their empty and expired makeup packaging. In order to help their company and customers be more environmentally friendly, Mac created their Back to Mac program.