Is Good Molecules Cruelty-Free And Vegan?

Good Molecules is a popular skincare and beauty brand that is known for its super affordable skincare products along the lines of brands like The Ordinary and The Inkey List. Their best-selling products include their Niacinamide Serum and Niacinamide Brightening Toner, both of which are ideal for oily skin, enlarged pores, and uneven skin tone.

But what is Good Molecules’ stance on animal testing? Is Good Molecules cruelty-free and vegan?

Good Molecules is completely cruelty-free. While most of their products are vegan, they do have two non-vegan products, therefore the company is not 100% vegan.

In this post, we’ll explore why Good Molecules is cruelty-free by looking at what standards it holds with regard to testing on animals, and whether it is owned by a parent company that practices animal testing.

We’ll also discuss what cruelty-free certification it holds, why it is not a 100% vegan company, what animal-derived ingredients it uses, and whether or not it is sold in China.

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Is Good Molecules Cruelty-Free?

Good Molecules is a cruelty-free skincare brand. Good Molecules does not make use of the practice of animal testing on their final products nor any of the ingredients used in these products.

Furthermore, Good Molecules does not source any ingredients or products from third parties that are known to test on animals. They also do not sell in markets where there is a regulatory requirement for the types of products that they manufacture to be tested on animals before they are allowed to be sold, with the most notable example being China.

Is Good Molecules Owned By A Parent Company That Tests On Animals?

Good Molecules is owned by global e-commerce company Beautylish. While Beautylish is not known to make use of animal testing for their own brands, they do stock products that are cruelty-free as well as others that are not cruelty-free.

This distinction creates a different situation compared to many other brands that produce skincare products. The parent company is often a manufacturer, whereas, in Good Molecules’ case, the parent company is a retailer.

You can easily determine whether a company is cruelty-free if they make use of animal testing to manufacture any given product, but there is controversy over whether they should be considered not cruelty-free if they simply sell non-cruelty-free products but have had no involvement in the workflow of those products.

The majority opinion is that parent company Beautylish stocking third-party products that are not cruelty-free does not reflect negatively on Good Molecules’ cruelty-free status. This position is also held by the Leaping Bunny Program, under which Good Molecules is certified.

Is Good Molecules Certified Cruelty-Free?

Good Molecules is certified as truly cruelty-free by the Leaping Bunny Program, having achieved this certification in 2021.

This is an important signifier for a company’s cruelty-free status since many manufacturers of skincare products and makeup will claim to not test their products on animals but will in reality make use of loopholes to get around it.

The Leaping Bunny Program has a set of standards that must be adhered to for a company to be certified as cruelty-free by them. The full standards are available on their website, but a condensed version is available below:

• Neither finished products nor the ingredients used in them should have animal testing as part of their process.
• Products or ingredients sourced from third party suppliers should also have not made use of animal testing.
• The company is responsible for ensuring that third-party suppliers are meeting these standards.
• Regulators in other countries should be disallowed from testing the products on animals.
• Recommitment is required every year.

Since Good Molecules is a newer company that launched in 2019 (its Leaping Bunny Program certification is only a year old at time of writing), it does yet hold cruelty-free certification from PETA.

Is Good Molecules Vegan?

Although Good Molecules is cruelty-free insofar as they do not test their products or ingredients on animals, their product range is not 100% vegan. Currently, there are two products that use animal-derived ingredients and therefore cannot be classified as vegan. These are the Hydrate & Cleanse Bar and the Pineapple Exfoliating Powder.

The good news there is that unless you do not want to buy from a manufacturer that uses animal-derived ingredients in any of their products, almost all Good Molecules products are vegan, including their best-selling hydrating Hyaluronic Acid Serum and Discoloration Correcting Serum. You can find them at Ulta.

Do Good Molecules Products Contain Animal-Derived Ingredients?

While almost the entire range of products made by Good Molecules is vegan, there are two Good Molecules products that are not vegan due to their use of animal-derived ingredients.

The Hydrate & Cleanse Bar is not vegan due to its use of honey. Although bees do not have to lose their lives for honey to be harvested, the honey is made by the bees and so as an animal-derived ingredient, makes the Hydrate & Cleanse Bar by Good Molecules not vegan.

The Pineapple Exfoliating Powder is not vegan because it includes silk powder as an ingredient. This silk is produced by insects and is farmed in a process known as sericulture.

The production of this silk involves killing the silkworms in the process, so it is not vegan.

Is Good Molecules Sold In China?

Good Molecules does not sell its products in China. This is notable because the government of the People’s Republic of China does not allow the sale of many types of cosmetic products in physical stores in the country unless they have been tested on animals.

China has announced that it is committed to phasing this practice out, and it has been in the process of doing so over the course of the past few years, but there is still a way to go.

For this reason, a cosmetics company that continues to sell on the Chinese market can usually be identified as not being cruelty-free.

Good Molecules: Ingredient Transparency

Another important point to note is that Good Molecules is committed to ingredient transparency. The company provides a full list of ingredients used in each product on their website, with exact percentages for many of their products.

This is a departure from the norm in the cosmetics industry, where beauty brands simply provide ingredient information without getting into the nitty-gritty of how much of each ingredient is used.

Final Thoughts: Is Good Molecules Cruelty-Free and Vegan?

No matter your skin type or skin concerns, from oily skin to sensitive skin, Good Molecules offers a range of cruelty-free products formulated with active ingredients like vitamin C and retinol that won’t break the bank. Most of their products are vegan, with only the two noted above being non-vegan.

If you’re looking for a good entry-level skincare line, Good Molecules is worth considering. Their products are so low-priced, it’s hard to believe that they actually work… but they do!

You can purchase Good Molecules products at Ulta Beauty.

Thanks for reading!

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