Makeup Brush Ethics

N.B. This post largely reflects my personal opinions and is in 

no way designed as a post to pedal any animal rights propaganda.

This is a post I've been wanting to do for a while, as I've been on the hunt for some decent eye brushes recently and it's really made me think about brushes and ethics, but before I get onto the main issue, here's some background info - 

Something I absolutely detest, and this is something that I won't keep my mouth shut about, is wearing fur - if one of my friends rocked up to a party wearing a fur coat, you can bet your ass I'd have something to say. It was only the other day that I tried on a gorgeous jumper, but put it back in a heartbeat after noticing '5% Angora' on the label, nope, nope, nope! You can read an article I wrote on the fur industry HERE if you're interested in the facts and figures. 

This brings me to my most recent dilemma - natural fibre make up brushes, hmm a tricky one. As I've already mentioned, I'd been on the hunt for some proper, but affordable, make up brushes to apply eye make up with, after receiving some advice from a Mac make up artist. She advised the use of 5 brushes and, after tallying up the price, I realised that they'd set me back £97, no thank you. So I went on the hunt for some cheaper alternatives and found them, on the ELF website - they had brushes almost identical to the Mac ones for about £15 less, bargain! But not really, I had a creeping suspicion that they were made of natural fibres, so phoned up the ELF UK office and my suspicions were confirmed, they weren't synthetic. ELF do a line of synthetic brushes also, but, sadly, they didn't have the brushes I needed in their synthetic line, and so began a painstakingly long task of hunting down synthetic brushes that wouldn't break the bank. I trawled just about every make up website, including Ebay and Amazon, only finding one set of brushes that were both synthetic and affordable. This worries me for two reasons - I'd have thought that synthetic, i.e man made fibres, would be cheaper because, reason two, they're so much more accessible. Want them, make them, simples. No one has to hunt down animal pelts with synthetic brushes. But alas, synthetic brushes are, generally, more expensive and more companies are selling sets using natural fibres. 

So, how does this relate to the fur industry? After all, many companies state on their website that "no animals have been harmed in the production of our natural fibre make up brushes" but how can that be guaranteed? As the consumer, we have no way of knowing if this is really true. And while I'd like to believe that it's just a case of brush manufacturers taking a leisurely stroll down to their local farm and asking the friendly farmer if he'd mind them snipping a few inches off the ponies tails, my better judgement told me that this just isn't the case. Why? Because it's simply not financially viable for them to do so, the mass production of make up brushes calls for an abundance of fibres to be readily available in bulk, at reasonable prices - so of course cosmetic companies are going to hit up the fur trade for affordable pelts.

People often forget that the fur industry encompasses cosmetic products as well, I think a lot of people assume that the fur trade only exists to serve the fashion industry, this is not true. And while you may argue that the predominant supply chain does indeed exist in the fashion industry, it's supply and demand in any form that keeps all businesses running. So by adding to demand, as a consumer, you're aiding in the supply and keeping these businesses afloat, which is exactly why I point blank refuse to fund any involvement with the fur industry.

I have a few brushes in my collection that I believe are made of natural fibres and, honestly, I hate them! They're really scratchy and I find synthetic brushes to be much softer. The only reason these are in my collection at all is because I found them years ago after raiding my mums old make up case. As a young girl just getting into make up, I didn't really consider the fact that these brushes were probably made from an animals fur.  

Now, I'm not here to give anyone a lecture on ethics, I hold my principles close and my ethical decisions may not coincide with other peoples, it is of course up to each individual consumer what they'd like to purchase and, if someone elses conscience won't be left as tattered as mine would, then I'm not gonna call anyone out on buying luxury natural fibre brushes. As I mentioned, I don't think many people consider the fur industry when buying make up brushes, so it's ignorance that can be easily forgiven. Truth be told, it'd be a hell of a lot easier (and cheaper) if I didn't feel as strongly about this issue as I do, but I'm not going to throw away my moral principles just to save a few quid.