NYX Cosmetics

NYX Professional Makeup is a drugstore cosmetics brand perhaps best known for its highly saturated eye products. It is certified cruelty free by PETA—not Leaping Bunny—and is relatively vegan-friendly. One of the problems conscious beauty shoppers run into with NYX Professional Makeup is its lack of transparency around ethics and sustainability.

NYX Professional Makeup calls its cosmetics 100% cruelty free and says it does not test on animals. PETA backs that claim by featuring its Beauty Without Bunnies logo on all NYX Professional Makeup products; however, the brand is not cruelty free-certified by the distinguished Leaping Bunny Program.

In 2010, the company founded the Solidarity Sourcing program, aimed to support people from vulnerable communities with "social and inclusive purchasing." This program provides transparency around ingredients like shea butter and mica, the latter largely associated with child labor and unsafe working conditions in India.

Nyx’s “Proud Allies for All” campaign is a year-long effort in partnership with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which features donations, community events, volunteering opportunities, and a “Global Allyship” training program on the brand’s website. The brand claims it has also donated more than $500,000 to related charities globally.

The L'Oréal Group's Code of Ethics document is 40 pages long and addresses human rights, environmental stewardship, diversity, and fair treatment of suppliers, among other topics. The company has also been a signee of the United Nations Global Compact since 2003, meaning it must comply with the pact's 10 principles of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

NYX Professional Makeup is not a fully vegan company, but it does offer about 120 vegan products.

Ethical: L'Oréal is a signee of the United Nations Global Compact and a founding member of the Responsible Mica Initiative.

Nyx Professional Makeup partnered with three LGBTQ+ musical artists to create “Pridemix,” which the brand describes as a “vibrant celebration of queer artistry at the intersection of music and makeup.” For the campaign, Nyx tapped Tampa-born up-and-coming R&B singer/songwriter Destin Conrad; Grammy-nominated British vocalist Tiana Major9, whose music blends reggae, soul, and R&B; and veteran American hyperpop artist Zolita.

At a time when many, if not most, brands are quietly tuning out for Pride Month, Nyx is turning up the volume.