NYC Cosmetics is Not Cruelty Free

NYC Cosmetics is Not Cruelty Free

When it comes to drugstore beauty, we would all love to find animal friendly items at affordable prices. However, the drugstore is one of the trickiest places to find animal friendly items! One of my goals with Logical Harmony is to provide you with up-to-date and honest information about whether or not brands are animal friendly. This means completely cruelty free (as in no testing at any point during production as well as no testing on the ingredients) and/or vegan (not only cruelty free, but also not containing animal ingredients). I have learned the hard way that a lot of word-of-mouth information about brands isn’t necessarily the truth. So I verify each brand myself to make sure that readers of Logical Harmony are getting the truth.

As stated in the post How To Find Out if Products Are Animal Friendly, I consider a confusing response from a company to mean that they may not be telling the whole truth about their stance on animal testing. One company that I’ve gotten an unclear response from is NYC (New York Color) Cosmetics. I’ve seen products from this company on several cruelty free and vegan beauty blogs. But, as said before, I’ve learned the hard way that not all of these blogs verify that the brands they are promoting are actually animal friendly. Wanting to be sure that I got the truth from NYC itself, I searched their website for answers and tried to get in touch with their brand reps as well.

On the company website FAQ, NYC makes the following statement :

Are NYC New York Color products tested on animals?
No, we do not test our finished products or ingredients on animals, nor do we commission any third-party to do so.

Coty Inc. Statement on Animal Testing

Coty Inc. is a leader in the global beauty industry and one of the world’s largest fragrance companies. We have developed a portfolio of notable brands and offer innovative products of outstanding quality for which we are committed to maintaining the highest possible standards of consumer safety.

However, I never go by just the FAQ page. Sometimes the information can be old. Sometimes it just might not be the whole truth. I always get in touch with the company to verify the information. Plus, a person is more likely to give you a real response to questions you might have than a FAQ page. Here is the e-mail reply that I received.

Thank you for your recent inquiry on New York Color Cosmetics regarding the use of animals in product safety testing.

Coty Inc. is a leader in the global beauty industry and one of the world’s largest fragrance companies. We have developed a portfolio of notable brands and offer innovative products of outstanding quality for which we are committed to maintaining the highest possible standards of consumer safety.

Coty voluntarily ceased testing finished cosmetic products on animals in 1991, long before the official European ban on such testing in 2004. Coty has been actively involved for many years in the research and development of alternatives to animal testing.

Before we place a product on the market, we assess it thoroughly to ensure that it is safe for human use and for the environment and that it is compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Our safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients is based on the use of recognized alternatives to animal testing, the use of existing safety data and, increasingly, the sharing of such data with other industries. We do not perform, nor do we ever commission any third parties on our behalf to perform, testing of our products or ingredients on animals.

The only exceptions are the very few countries where, by law, the regulatory authorities require us to submit our products or ingredients to them for testing on animals as a mandatory part of their regulatory protocols in compliance with their local regulations. In these countries we regularly communicate directly with the authorities and try to convince them to accept the validity of the results of alternative non-animal testing methods. We accede to mandated testing by the authorities on animals only as a last resort.

We continue to strive for the development and acceptance of additional reliable non-animal testing methods and will continue to vigorously support the research, implementation and improvement of alternatives to animal testing, especially for those more complex tests for which no alternative methods have been established. For this purpose we actively participate in research programs in Europe and the USA by dedicating funding, time, resources and scientific expertise. The common goal of all these efforts is to completely eliminate animal testing.

In this statement from Coty, the owner of New York Color (NYC), it is stated that required by law animal testing may occur on the products. For this reason, NYC is not considered to be a cruelty free brand.

27 Comments

  1. Hi. I did a little research myself and they appear to sell their brand in China, I take this to mean that they are against animal testing etc etc unless other required by law!!

    If I am wrong please can someone correct me!! I’ve found some of the brands I USED to use say that they are cruelty free but then they also sell in China. If thats the case they aren’t cruelty free.

  2. Trying not to be mean but maybe you just don’t understand this statemnt:
    We do not perform, nor do we ever commission any third parties on our behalf to perform, animal testing on our products or ingredients. Our safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients is based on the use of recognized alternatives to animal testing, the use of existing safety data and, increasingly, the sharing of such data from and with other industries.

    They are saying at ingredient level and at final product lever they don’t test themselves and they don’t use another company to test. The use data from test that have already been done. Which is what a lot of other cf companies do as well. Just saying no we do not, is to braod they are brekaing it down for you “ingredient level” “final product”. If it just said final product then I would be concered but they mention ingredient level…. So No they don’t test.

    1. Hi Ashley,

      If you feel comfortable purchasing NYC products, then please feel free to do so. I think that we all must decide for ourselves on this. When it comes to NYC, they discuss only ingredients and the final product. They do not address testing during the production process or testing as required by law to sell in some markets. When you email NYC to ask, they say that they do test as required by law.

      1. I hear you, Debbie.
        I was a die-hard MAChead until MAC entered the Chinese market.
        Then I dropped them like 1 15-pound mealworm.
        There are so many great alternatives out there: e.l.f., Makeup Geek, Kiko, Milani, Palladio, Pacifica, Gabriel, Yaby, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and others.

    2. Yes they say that they do not commission a third party to test ingredients or products, but they shadily ducked the question as to whether they sell in China and whether they buy ingredients tested on animals as Coty is known to do. I think Logical Harmony interpretted the response BETTER than they expect their average customer to do by catching that tiny detail most would have missed. If they are buying ingredients tested on animals they are most certainly not cruelty free. and refusing to answer that question or clarifying…if they were cruelty free, a simple reply saying no we dont buy animal tested ingredients either would be easy to send. Silence speaks in this case and needs people like LH to interpret between the lines.

  3. I read the title as ‘NYX not cruelty free’ and had a small heart attack haha, good to see that my favourite brand is still against animal testing.

  4. They did say in the message they didn’t test on animals nor ask any one to do it for them. I understand the complex answer seeming a little fishy. But, there are people out there that think if a product isn’t tested on animals, its unsafe to use. So they might have just been trying to point out, that even though they don’t test on animals their products are still safe.

  5. I’m a bit confused. In their letter to you they’ve said: “We do not perform, nor do we ever commission any third parties on our behalf to perform, animal testing on our products or ingredients. . Our safety assessment…” Isn’t this what we’re looking for?

    Although, I’d be interested to know their stance now post China’s barbaric animal testing mandate.

    1. Hi Bynz!

      it’s a confusing statement because, at first, it looks like they are saying that they are a cruelty free brand. However, what they are not addressing is if they buy ingredients that are being tested on animals by a 3rd party. Their statement says that they do not ask 3rd parties to test on animals. Coty is on several Do Test lists for buying ingredients from parties who test them on animals before selling them to larger brands.

    1. I had bought some of their items before because I actually read on a few cruelty free beauty blogs that NYC didn’t test on animals. 🙁 The number of companies that can’t give a straight response is huge. It actually makes me respect the honesty of those who do flat out say “we test on animals”. I don’t support what they do at all, but I appreciate that they can at least be up front about it.

  6. Well, if they were truly cruelty free, it would be a very simple, Yes, to your question. The no response back to you for clarification means that I also will not be purchasing anything from this company! Disappointing! 🙁 Thank you for letting all your readers know. x

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