I love makeup, soap, hair products, etc. as much as the next guy (my piles of makeup say I may like it a little more), but is having purple eyelids and coconut smelling hair really worth an animal's life? Some may use the excuse that they don't always die but is leaving them blind, deaf, or deformed any better?

I have a beagle pup at home, and when I say pup he's actually turning ten in a couple of weeks but I refuse to believe it. Anyone you ask will tell you how much I love him. I have an entire album on Facebook dedicated to my beautiful little Mason. There he is below, sleeping, as per usual.

So when I found out recently that beagles are the most commonly used dog breed in animal testing I was instantly ticked off. It hit too close to home for me. I also found out that the reason why is because of their size and their passive nature. So because these dogs are good little babies and don't bark and bite as often as some other breeds they're being used to try out all of our products and being harmed as a result. I'm not condoning animal testing on any breed or any animal, this is just what opened my eyes and so I want to attempt to open yours.

Just one of the many cases of animal testing involving beagles happened at the University of Pennsylvania where a researcher bred beagle puppies to have a gene that causes progressive retinal atrophy, a disease that ends in blindness. During this experiment, he cut out the eyes of these beagles for testing and when finding absolutely nothing he then changed the results of the experiment on paper. All of this was done using taxpayers' money.

There are many companies that still use animal testing such as Covergirl, Tide, Clorox, Mary Kay, L'Oreal, Dove, Pantene, Febreeze, and much more. If you're wondering whether or not a company tests on animals you can find out online super quick. Some companies that do NOT test on animals are Urban Decay, Bath & Body Works, Milani, Bare Minerals, NYX, Too Faced Cosmetics, Smashbox, Ulta, Paul Mitchell and much more.

You may end up paying a few dollars more for products that do not test on animals but when you think about it you are paying to save these animals' lives. Cheap products may be nice for your wallet but not nice for the thousands of animals hurt by it. Boycotting the purchase of products by companies that test on animals does make a difference. When enough people stop buying their products they'll be forced to change their methods. I urge you to look at what happens behind the closed doors of the companies you buy from. One person can make a difference.