I was reading my daily email and was very interested in one from API (Animal Protection Institute). The update about Lucky Brand Jeans pulling the Ringling Brothers shirt was good to read but I was more interested in the link to animal testing and cosmetics. It kind of tied in with something I saw at West Coast Beauty Supply yesterday.

I found a line of "vegan and dbp-free" nail polishes! FYI: the dbp stands for dibutyl phthalate which you read about here. Very toxic stuff.

The brand is SpaRitual and you can read their Overview here. I think it's a great way to market something but, after purchasing a bottle yesterday, I need to find out how vegan and cruelty-free this company is. Especially after reading through the Compassionate Consumer site. Check it out here.

Apparently if a product does not have the Leaping Bunny™ logo, then you can't guarantee said product is cruelty free.

The famous Leaping Bunny™ logo Guaranteed to be cruelty and animal by-product-free!

It seems that the longer I'm vegan, the greater impact the veganism has on my consumer choices. For example, I used to buy most of my household needs from Target (stuff like dish and scrub cleansers, laundry detergent, etc) but now find myself purchasing them from WholeFoods. I went from using products by Unilever, SC Johnson and Company to Seventh Generation, Bon Ami, and Method. My beauty routine reflects those choices, as well. Used to be that Neutrogena was good enough for Mark and I but they're on PeTA's list of bad companies. So, we buy Jason, Aveda, Weleda, Merry Hempsters, etc. Sure the stuff is more expensive but marginally so and we both feel better about ourselves by making educated purchases. At least, we hope they're educated....

Click here to read the Caring Consumer guide.

Oh...and boycott Pom "Wonderful"!!! Despite many pleas, they still refuse to stop their asinine animal tests. As if animal testing is even necessary, in this day and age, but to test on them for fruit juice?!? WTF!!! Video posted below: