Update December 2014 – Sadly, ORLY is no longer cruelty free. They have started selling in China, where animal testing is required by law.
Important! Please read an update on this issue here!
Orly was one of the most popular drugstore and salon picks for vegan friendly nail polish. Most stores carry the line and nearly every salon has it hand. The brand is cruelty free and was known for being a completely vegan line. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
On my most recent check-in with Orly the brand confirmed that they are still cruelty free. However, they also let me know that none of their products can be considered vegan.
If you’re looking to avoid animal ingredients and animal derived ingredients, I would suggest avoiding Orly polishes. A lot of people are surprised to hear that nail polish can contain these ingredients. The animal ingredients most commonly found in nail polish comes from insects and fish. Find out more in my post What Makes Nail Polish Vegan to get the details.
Thankfully, Vegan nail polish is easy to find. NCLA, Flower Beauty, Zoya, SpaRitual, a.dorn, LVX, and ELF are just a handful of the brands out there with a completely vegan nail polish line.
I still thought it was and then I got my nail polish done yesterday 🙁
Hi Michelle,
Be sure to read the update that is mentioned in this post – An Update on ORLY’s Animal Testing Stance.
Bummer. I have and love several of their polishes. Guess I’ll be sticking to the brands you mentioned plus Nubar (even though it’s pretty much only sold online) and Claire’s. Do you happen to know if China Glaze is vegan? I keep hearing that they are but I e-mailed them well over a year ago and never heard back….
Cult Nails is vegan too, if that helps. Sad to hear about Orly.