Costa Mesa cosmetics company gets PETA award

Urban Decay, a Costa Mesa-based cosmetics company, marks its beauty products with the slogan “We don’t do animal testing. How could anyone?”

Obviously, that “anyone” doesn’t include the nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, which gave Urban Decay its annual Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Line award this week. The company, which sells a number of vegan products and promotes itself as compassionate toward animals, won PETA’s Proggy Award for its ban on animal testing.

Every year, PETA gives out the awards — whose name is short for “progress” — to manufacturers of clothing, cosmetics, food, books and other products.

“Urban Decay is an industry leader in both quality and social responsibility,” PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich said in a release. “By renouncing animal tests, Urban Decay is proving that beauty doesn’t have to have an ugly side.”

— Michael Miller