Below is a full list of K Beauty brands I have verified are cruelty-free by the Free The Bunnies standard. Unfortunately, K Beauty brands have not been as responsive as I hoped, and I will update the list when I know more. However, this is a good starting point and includes some popular K Beauty brands that I did receive responses from.
In order for the K Beauty brand to be declared cruelty-free, it must meet ALL of the following criteria:
- They do not test on animals during any part of production
- They do not order materials from any third party vendor who tests on animals
- They do not have third parties test their products on animals on their behalf
- They do not sell their products in countries that require animal testing by law (i.e. mainland China)
- They are not owned by a parent company who tests on animals.
Cruelty-Free K Beauty Brands
- A True *100% Vegan
- Benton
- By Wishtrend
- Glow Recipe Skincare – (For a vegan product list, click here.)
- Dear, Klairs
- Cosrx
- CLE Cosmetics *100% Vegan
- E Nature
- Hip Chic
- Julep
- L.O.C.K Color
- Purito
- PYUNKANG YUL
- Soo’AE
- WithMy *100% Vegan
Pending Brands – Brands that I contacted 7 or more days ago and have not received a response:
- Saturday Skin – 100% vegan
- Peach & Lily
- Memebox
- Biobelle
- Ciracle
- Double Dare
- Private Doctor
- Son and Park
- Erborian
- Blithe
- Touch in Sol
- JOAH
- The Plant Base
- Eco Your Skin
- April Skin
- Yuri Pibu
- Manefit
- Dr. Dream
- C200
- Shangpree
- Ultru
- Missha
- The Creme Shop
- Peach Slices
- Ariul
- Amoratica
K Beauty Brands that are NOT cruelty-free:
The brands below test on animals where required by law:
- Belif
- Neogen
- Goodal
- Leegeehaam
- Make P:rem
- Whamisa
- ID.AZ
- Banila Co
The brands below are cruelty-free but owned by a non-cruelty-free parent company:
- R:ep – owned by Neogen (Tests)
The brands below are all owned by AmorePacific, a parent company that tests on animals where required by law, and I was unable to receive an answer whether or not the brands themselves are cruelty-free:
- Acwell
- Amore Pacific
- Annick Goutal
- A’Some
- Aritaum
- Dr. Jart
- Espoir
- Etude House
- Goutal Annick
- Grey Melinda
- Hanyul
- Happy Bath
- Hera
- Illiyoon
- Illi
- Innisfree
- Iope
- It’s Skin
- Laneige
- Leaders Insolution
- Lirikos
- Mamonde
- Mirepa
- Odyssey
- PH Drop
- Ponyeffect
- Primera
- Sulwhasoo
- Tony Moly
- Verite
I hope you found this list helpful regarding K beauty brands that are cruelty-free. I will continue to update the list as I receive responses from brands.
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XO, Stephanie
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hello- have you heard update on Eco Your Skin?
i really enjoy the effect of their products, but don’t want to support if not cruelty free.
Hi! Thank you for the list! Good to know that many brands are still cruelty free. But I couldn’t find Aromatica, is it cruelty free still?
Thank you!
Have you heard anything from The Crème Shop?
Hey, maybe I can help. Tony Moly, Innisfree and Etude House are available on the chinese market. So they have to test on animals to sell there.
Hi! Can I check if TWOTSP is cruelty free? I can’t seem to find any info on that!! Thank you!!!
Is Touch in Sol vegan?
Hi Stephanie !
Thank you for your work with this list, it is really usefull ! I can’t see “Isntree”, “iUNIK”, “Aromatica” or “Heimish” in none of the lists. Did you reach these brands? Do you know if they are cruelty-free regarding your criteria?
Thank You
Hi Stephanie!! I was wondering if you could post the companies responses for the ones you confirmed were CF. I am interested in buying Klairs and Cosrx, but would really like to see that they addressed each question you gave them first!!
Thank you! <3
Unfortunately, If I do that, the posts would get extremely long and cumbersome! If you want to me to forward a certain brand’s responses, feel free to request it through the contact page! https://www.freethebunnies.com/contact-us/
as i know through some webs Aromatica have Vegan products and is Cruelty free
I have not been able to get a verification from the brand itself. When I hear back from them, I will be sure to update this list.
What do you think about Purito using snail mucus in some of their products? Their line is being labeled as vegan *not here, but elsewhere and it’s actually alarming to me that people aren’t talking about ti. To me they are vegan friendly but not fully vegan.
They are not a completely vegan brand when some of their products contain animal by-products. They have vegan options but should not be labeled as completely vegan.
i read that Whamisa and others use a loophole where they launch products through Hong Kong and then people from China can easily order from there. Apparently, Hong Kong doesn’t have mandatory animal testing. Can you confirm if this is all true? This is where i read about it: https://beautyandseoul.co.uk/blogs/beauty-amp-seoul-1/cruelty-free-k-beauty
Hong Kong is exempt from all of China’s animal testing regulations. So yes, any brand that sells in Hong Kong only can still be considered 100% cruelty-free. Whamisa only sells in Hong Kong and is 100% cruelty-free.
The list says that Whamisa does test on animals. If the brand is cruelty-free, could the list be updated? Thanks!
If they do become cruelty-free, I will be sure to update the list.
??? Hmm, strange answer.. You just said that they are CF
Hi, recently I read ONG KARA is no working anymore, so, a lot of korean brand are not “certificated”, what happend with the list now? I know Korea has laws now about animal testing, but I’m worry about if the brand are really doing this…
Thanks so much for developing this list! Please keep it going — I’ll use the affiliate links!
Hi
Just returned from South Korea.I requested them for cosmetic not tested on animals.(cruelity free)
They sold me a whitening cream for pigments of Global Missha , face wash of Ganghwa pure artemisia of TonyMoly and BIO EX cell peptide Wrinkle Perfector.
I know that Korea has stopped animal testing legally from 2018.I am not sure.
Hi! Those brands may not be tested on animals in Korea but they may sell in other countries (ie. Mainland China) where they are tested on animals. For K Beauty brands that are cruelty-free worldwide, it’s best to go off of this list.
Hi ! Lolita Lempicka is actually a French brand, not Korean. The owner, Lolita Lempicka, is herself vegan and removed her products from China. So it’s now fully CF and vegan 🙂
Hi Lauren. Lolita Lempicka is on this list because they are owned by Korean brand AmorePacific. AmorePacific is a non-cruelty-free parent company. Therefore, Lolita Lempicka is not a Free The Bunnies approved brand as 100% cruelty-free. I hope that clears things up!
Last time I asked Neogen, goodal leejeeham, make pr:em, they were cruelty free and do not sell in china too. What response did you get from these brands that made them not cruelty-free? I was so bummed to see them on the not CF list.
Last I spoke with them, they all sold in China. I will reach out again and see if anything changed.
Are there any updates on Neogen? I can’t really figure out if they are cruelty free or not 🙂
Unfortunately, they are still not being transparent about their cruelty-free status. I am really trying to confirm with them because a lot of people have been asking! As soon as I know more, I will update the list.
Hello! Just in case it helps, I used the chat online with Banila Co and they confirmed that they sell on China so they test on animals when required by law! I am doing my research since I want to use more K beauty products!
Hi Taina!
They have confirmed that with me as well, and you should see them listed under “Brands that test where required by law.” Thank you for double checking though! 🙂