We are officially requesting a formal training for all Sephora and Ulta cast members (i.e. employees) on animal testing and cruelty-free cosmetics: this includes subjects of vegan products, 3rd party testing, changes in the laws and how it does not affect your brands, parent company testing, and so on.

We urge their CEOs to realize the impact workers have on the deaths of animals worldwide, and how the spread of false information and lack of knowledge impacts the reputation of their stores.

The letter below was written toward Sephora, but we also know the same issues occur at Ulta stores nation-wide.

Our letter to Sephora corporations:

"I want to begin by saying that I appreciate your time and hope you will read everything I have written as it is of the utmost importance. It has become a life or death situation, and I do not say this as a joke.

For many years, I have heard of complaints throughout the country from friends and subscribers of the elitist treatment they experience upon visiting your Sephora stores. Feeling condescended and ill-informed in order to become a mere customer for someone else’s profit.

This never bothered me as much as it does now as it is not only affecting me but affecting innocent lives that are being tortured and killed daily, which brings me to the subject at hand: cruelty-free cosmetics.

The imagery of animal testing in your mind may involve a bunny wearing lipstick, but I am here to tell you it is much more gruesome than you could ever imagine. Animals have toxic chemicals injected into their eyes (and by animals I do not mean just bunnies and rats, I mean cats/dogs/monkeys/etc) and are forced to inhale them, even when pregnant. They live to die. For a short lifespan they are continuously subjected to this gruesome outdated, unnecessary & ineffectual cycle for our superficial gain.

Some companies have begun to stop funding this, but others are not so compassionate & aware. When your employees are ignorant of these facts and ignorant of which companies still partake, it takes away their credibility to help anyone around them. You have not taught employees to inform their consumers, you have taught them to lie in order to make a sale that doesn’t even benefit them as they do not work on commission. And for that, you should be ashamed.

I urge you to please rethink this tactic and at the very least provide your employees with correct information that we have the LEGAL right to attain. I was at your store just the other day, and when I inquired on a brand that I knew was one of the biggest animal tested names in the industry on purpose to see what your employee would say, she blatantly told me they no longer test as of last week. It has gone beyond being simply ignorant/ill-informed and increased to the point of lying to a customer for their gain. You have taught employees to allow their ego to control their actions, causing them to be purposefully difficult toward a customer in order to protect their ignorance from being shown from the lack of corporate training.

Cruelty-free reps are KEY in not losing more profit than you gain. You may not notice now, but if your policy on informing employees changed, sales would skyrocket and people would trust purchasing from your store more often. I can tell you that right now millions avoid it due to the treatment they receive.

The UK bans & changes in Chinese law do NOT affect the international brands that you carry- yet employees use that as their crutch to tell consumers testing is no longer being done. There are brands like Tarte & Urban Decay under parent company testing, and although even after knowing so, some people still purchase from them, your employees having little to no idea of what that even means causes their frustration to steer away from doing so. Brands constantly issue statements with loopholes, and it is your responsibility to at least train your employees enough to know what to tell consumers- even if their answer is simply “I do not know” rather than a lie.

I would be utterly ashamed of running a company that illegally lies to consumers and is so misinformed on a subject that should clearly be as important as what new products are currently trending. The responsibility falls on the corporation that is not providing the correct training to their workers rather than the workers themselves, and only sullies your name further. I have faith that not all hope is lost in regards to corporate greed often overshadowing what is morally and ethically right.

With all of this being said, I am officially requesting a formal training for all Sephora cast members (i.e. employees) on animal testing and cruelty-free cosmetics: this includes subjects of vegan products, 3rd party testing, changes in the laws and how it does not affect your brands, parent company testing, and so on.

Thank you for your time."