Vegan activists holding ‘beauty is pain’ signs storm Myer store

A group of vocal vegans have stormed the cosmetics department of a Myer store to protest against the testing of beauty products on animals.

About 100 animal welfare advocates disrupted the Melbourne store on Bourke Street store on Sunday afternoon bearing signs that proclaimed ‘It’s not beauty, it’s violence’ and ‘Beauty is pain’.

‘We don’t need to harm animals to live healthy and happy lives,’ vegan group Direct Action Everywhere’s Joanne Lee told AAP.

‘We’re now entering an era where there’s a lot of information out there that supports a vegan life,’ one organiser of the protest said 

‘We’re now entering an era where there’s a lot of information out there that supports a vegan life.’

Ms Lee hoped the disruption would shed light on the ‘suffering and violence’ brought upon animals that are used to test beauty products.

‘Animals used for testing are being restrained and tortured for months,’ she said.

It was hoped the disruption would shed light on the ‘suffering and violence’ brought upon animals that are used to test beauty products

Organisers said there are a growing number of valid ways to test beauty products without animals, as well as many vegan beauty brands.

‘They are having chemicals rubbed onto their skin, dripped into their eyes and force fed down their throats.

‘At the end of a test cycle, the animals are killed.’

Ms Lee said there are a growing number of valid ways to test beauty products without animals, as well as many vegan beauty brands.

‘Our beauty products should not and need not be at the expense of an animal’s life,’ she said.

‘Their lives are their right, and what is happening to them is unjust, needless violence.’