Millions of animals are skinned alive everyday, all in the name of fashion. Although fashion and beauty products can be a girl’s best friend, it is equally important to remember to be a friend to the animals and shop fashionably with a heart.

Buying beauty products from companies that test on animals is unnecessary when favourite companies such as MAC, Smashbox, Abercrombie & Fitch, Almay, Avon, The Body Shop, Urban Decay, Paul Mitchell, and Revlon have great products that do not support the world of animal testing.

Kenneth Montville PETA’s college campaign’s assistant shares why consumers should not buy products that support animal testing and explains how easy it is to become a shopper with a heart.

“ Every year millions of animals are killed upon barbaric, unnecessary tests for consumer products. Animals are forced to swallow or inhale huge quantities of a test substance or they are forced to endure the pain of chemical burns on their eyes or skin,” states Montville. “Even though the majority of these tests are unreliable or just not applicable to humans,” he continued.

Many of the tests carried out on these animals have no added benefits, as animals have different reactions to products than humans.

“ These animal tests don’t work, [animals] have different reactions than humans. For example penicillin kills guinea pigs, aspirin kills cats and causes birth defects in almost all other laboratory animals. The question remains with so many alternatives why are we still torturing animals for a new shade of a lipstick,” explains Montville.

For those fashionistas who believe that it is just too difficult and expensive to shop cruelty free, it is time to think again and do your research. PETA makes it easy to shop cruelty free with their iPhone app ‘Be Nice to Bunnies’ and their printable up to date cruelty free shopping list found on their PETA2.com website.

“It has never been easier or less expensive to buy a product not tested on animals. Non-animal alternatives tend to be cheaper than animal ones. Now companies like Urban Decay for example won’t even sell their products in China due to the mandatory animal testing regulations. More and more [well-loved] companies are adopting humane methods to testing their products,” explains Montville.

For the beauty shopper who is in a bind with no time to download an app or print off a compassionate shopping guide there is a quick logo to look for.

“Students who are out there looking for something [while shopping cruelty free], PETA has a bunny logo that is put on certified compassionate products. We work with companies and they sign an actual form saying that they don’t test their products on animals [and] they don’t use ingredients that come from animal tests. It [the bunny] is a very good thing to look for,” says Montville. “With so many compassionate, cruelty free items there is simply no excuse to support wasteful animal tests,” continues Montville.

Animal testing and cruelty does not have to be the price to pay for beauty and to be trendy. There are so many different compassionate companies out there that animal testing should be a thing of the past. Today we are seeing that animal testing free products are becoming a trend everywhere. Popular brands and well-known beauty products are available as an alternative. So shop with a heart and be as beautiful on the inside as your beauty products make you look on the outside.