Green Edition FAQ
How are you vegan, but you can’t say that you are certified cruelty free?
We care for animal welfare and do not test on animals. The fact that Green Edition is not certified cruelty-free by a third party does not mean that the products are tested on animals.
How do you test the safety of your products without testing on animals?
Our Maybelline labs carry out testing using reconstructed skin (L’Oréal’s EpiSkin), which is created with human skin cells to mimic real skin. That way, we can effectively test all our products before they’re applied to your skin
EpiSkin isn’t the only non-animal method Maybelline uses – we also use digital tools and toxicology modelling amongst others.
The collection also features a mix of recycled and new materials. Can you call out some of these key materials?
Mascara: Tube (excluding wiper) and cap (excluding brush) made with 95% recycled plastic.
Tinter Oil: Glass bottle made with 20% recycled material.
Balmy Lip Blush: Cap and base (excluding inner shell) made with 95% recycled plastic.
The collection has minimum 70% natural-origin* ingredients – can you explain what this means?
The collection is Cradle-to-Cradle certified. What does that mean for the brand and what’s involved in gaining accreditation? **NOTE: CURRENTLY ONLY US CERTIFICATION, EU TBD IN FEB**
Cradle to Cradle Certified® is a globally recognized and trusted, science-based measure of product sustainability. Cradle to Cradle Certified® provides brands with a framework for considering the impact of their actions on the environment and the communities involved across their value chain.
Maybelline NY’s Green Edition collection is the first makeup collection to be Cradle to Cradle Certified®. Cradle to Cradle Certified assesses all aspects of product design and manufacturing by evaluating products across five categories:
- Material Health
- Product Circularity
- Clean Air & Climate Protection
- Water & Soil Stewardship
- Social Fairness
A product is then assigned an achievement level in each individual category. The minimum level of achievement in any of the five categories ultimately determines the final certification level. Cradle to Cradle certification is awarded at four different levels:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
What does it mean that your formulas are vegan?
What key ingredients/factors were considered to not compromise performance?
What key ingredients were removed/not included?
What were some of the challenges in utilizing PCR in the packaging?
Additionally, there is an increase in inclusions with PCR materials. Inclusions are black dots / particles in the material. This is due to the variety of recycled material included in the packs. For example, if there is a black dot on your foundation cap, it is not a dirt mark – it is a mixture of different recycled content.
With minimum 70% natural origin* ingredients, what does the remaining percentage consist of?
Some ingredients simply do not have alternatives that can be obtained from a natural source. To keep the level of pigment and performance in our products, certain non- natural origin ingredients must be used. These materials are still extensively vetted for safety and quality assurance.
Learn more about our Maybelline Safety Promise.
Footnotes:
*We consider an ingredient to be natural-origin if it is unchanged from its natural state or has undergone processing yet still retains greater than 50% of its molecular structure from the original natural source.**Formulas that are vegan, meaning they have no animal-derived ingredients.
***Clean formula means that we choose to formulate this product without certain ingredients such as parabens and mineral oil, and other ingredients that are included on a list that some consumers are seeking to avoid.