Reasons Why Lancome is NOT Cruelty-Free or Vegan (2024)

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Is Lancome Cruelty-Free?

☠️ Lancome is NOT cruelty-free in 2023. Lancome allows its products to be tested on animals when required by law, including when selling in stores in mainland China.

Lancome’s Animal Testing Policy

When asking, does Lancome test on animals? We must look beyond to ensure none of Lancome’s ingredients or suppliers test on animals. And they don’t sell in any country or under conditions that may require animal testing by law.

To assess whether brands are cruelty-free, I always start with the company’s official animal testing policy on their website.

However, Lancome recently removed its animal testing statement from its website. I could no longer find its animal testing policy anywhere on its website, so I emailed the company to ask them for an update.

Lancome responded by saying,

Based on their response, Lancome has the same animal testing policy as its parent company, L’Oreal. Unfortunately, L’Oreal’s policy states they allow their products or ingredients to be tested on animals when required by law such as when selling in China.

This is also implied by the statement, “we cannot confirm that any other countries follow the same rules as ours.”

And in case you were curious, on Lancome’s website, it used to state that they do not conduct animal testing on their products or ingredients or ask others to test on their behalf, except when required by law.

Below is a screenshot of Lancome’s old animal testing statement:

Policies stating, “except when required by law” usually imply the company distributes its products in countries that require animal testing, like mainland China.

Is Lancome Sold in China?

In my research, I discovered that Lancome products are indeed sold in stores in mainland China.

Below is a screenshot of Lancome’s store locator showing results in mainland China:

However, it’s not stated anywhere that Lancome has taken any steps to meet the above preconditions in order to avoid animal testing while selling in China.

Follow the highlighted lines in the graphic below to see why most cosmetics sold in China (like Lancome) are still required by law to be tested on animals in 2023.

Because Lancome has decided to sell in mainland China stores, they must consent and pay to have their products tested on animals. That’s why most cosmetics brands selling in mainland China cannot be considered cruelty-free in 2023.

Although Lancome may not be conducting these animal tests themselves, they knowingly allow Chinese authorities to test their products on animals in order to sell in China.

For those reasons, we would not consider Lancome to be cruelty-free by our standards.

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Cruelty-Free Policies

Many truly cruelty-free brands have chosen not to sell their products in China under conditions where animal tests may be required. Unfortunately, Lancome refuses to do the same and therefore cannot be considered cruelty-free.

At ethical elephant, we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, or by any third parties, including when required by law.

See below for our complete cruelty-free checklist. Since Lancome already does not meet the last two, we cannot classify the brand as being cruelty-free.

Is Lancome Certified Cruelty-Free?

Lancome is not certified cruelty-free by any third-party cruelty-free certifications like Leaping Bunny or PETA.

Since Lancome is not certified cruelty-free by a third party, no one is substantiating or auditing Lancome’s cruelty-free commitments and claims.

Is Lancome Owned By A Non-Cruelty-Free Parent Company?

Yes. Lancome is owned by L’Oreal, parent corporation that still engages in animal testing in 2023.

Some cruelty-free consumers may choose to purchase and support cruelty-free brands owned by animal-tested parent corporations as they hope it will convince the parent company to become cruelty-free.

But in this case, Lancome is NOT cruelty-free, and neither is its parent corporation, L’Oreal.

Does Lancome Test on Animals?

To wrap up, Lancome allows its products to be tested on animals when required by law, like when selling in China. Therefore, we would NOT consider Lancome to be a cruelty-free brand.

Currently, Lancome is on our List of Brands to Avoid – Animal Tested.

Is Lancome Vegan?

❌ Lancome is NOT vegan. Lancome does not claim or market itself to offer any vegan-friendly options. And since Lancome engages in animal testing in some capacity, we wouldn’t consider any Lancome products vegan anyways.

In order for products to be considered vegan by ethical elephant’s standards, the products and their ingredients must not be tested on animals anywhere in the world. Also, they must not contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

Cruelty-Free Alternatives to Lancome:

Looking for cruelty-free alternatives to Lancome beauty products? We recommend the following cruelty-free skincare and makeup brands:

• Tarte *owned by Kose
• COVER FX
• Juice Beauty
• Murad *owned by Unilever
• Josie Maran