CoverGirl is officially cruelty free.

The beauty giant is now the biggest makeup brand to receive certification that it has eliminated animal testing from every step of its production process, a move that is increasingly demanded by consumers who want what they eat, drive and wear to spare the environment.

“If we can do it with our size and with our capability and with our complexity ... every brand can do this,'' says Ukonwa Ojo, chief marketing officer of consumer beauty for Coty, CoverGirl's parent company. "If we all do it together, we can all envision a cosmetics industry and world that is free from unnecessary animal testing.''

Coty has long had a policy of not conducting testing on animals. But to get the "Leaping Bunny'' stamp of approval from Cruelty Free International, a globally recognized standard-bearer, it spent months demonstrating that its hundreds of third-party suppliers also do not perform such testing when creating CoverGirl's thousands of products and ingredients.

To meet CFI's strict criteria, CoverGirl will also undergo ongoing independent checks of its supply chain.

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"That is a rigorous process, and they have to prove what they say,'' says Michelle Thew, CFI's CEO. She noted that while many brands claim on their packaging to not have conducted animal testing, that may only relate to the finished product, while the majority of testing occurs in the production of ingredients and along the supply chain.

Typically, it has been smaller niche brands that have made the effort to be cruelty free, Thew says. But "what we're seeing now is this demand from consumers for cruelty free beauty and it's moving ... into the mass market. I think CoverGirl's certification is a really significant turning point for the industry.''

Coty, which also owns such cosmetic lines as Max Factor and Rimmel, is aiming to get the cruelty free certification for a second brand by 2020.

