Best Cruelty-Free Makeup Brands 2022

There are fish scales in your mascara and crushed beetles in your lipstick. Your favorite lip balm might be made from a fatty substance extracted from sheep's wool. And then there's the matter of animal testing. Feeling queasy yet? Animal products and byproducts have been used for beauty treatments since the days of Cleopatra's milk baths—but a growing movement is aiming to change just that. All signs point to a vegan makeup revolution—and it's happening right before your well-mascared eyes.

Vegan makeup is booming: a report from August estimates that by 2025, vegan makeup will be a $20.8 billion business. It's poised to be the biggest beauty trend in 2019—but its roots actually started about three years ago. Back in 2016, Kat Von D Beauty announced it would reformulate all of its products to be vegan. Then in March 2018, cool-girl favorite Milk Makeup reformulated a few of their existing products so they could claim the brand was now entirely 100 percent free of animal products like beeswax or carmine. Unilever's Dove brand also the earned PETA cruelty-free certification this year. And by 2020, any cosmetics or ingredients tested on animals will be illegal in the state of California; and prestige beauty brand Hourglass Cosmetics will also be entirely vegan. But by far the most shocking news came in November, when drugstore goliath Covergirl announced it had earned the Leaping Bunny seal and was now the largest makeup brand to be certified cruelty-free.

But like all buzzwords in beauty—organic! natural! green!—the definition of vegan makeup is mired in controversy. First of all, vegan isn't synonymous with natural, organic, or even cruelty-free (in fact, vegan makeup can sometimes be even more chemically-processed). A lipstick could be free of animal-derived ingredients yet still be tested on animals somewhere during the production process. Or a lipstick could be totally vegan, made by a cruelty-free brand, but that brand is owned by a larger beauty conglomerate that tests on animals. To make matters even more complicated, the aforementioned beauty conglomerate could itself be cruelty-free—but they sell their products in countries like China and Brazil, where government regulations require animal testing on imported cosmetics. Hardcore vegans won't touch products from certain vegan beauty brands—or even shop in the most well-know beauty specialty store in the world—because of the sins of their parent companies. But for the rest of us who are just trying to live a more compassionate lifestyle, the choice of where your money goes is an entirely personal one.

Whereas performance, wear, and texture can suffer with super-clean makeup compared to the more chemical-y stuff, there is no sacrifice when it comes to wearing vegan makeup. The eyeliners are just as inky as non-vegan ones, the lipsticks just as long-wearing, and the eyeshadow just as glittery—all without utilizing a single animal-derived ingredient. The only way to know for sure if your makeup is vegan is to become an eagle-eyed ingredient label reader. Makeup that is all-natural, organic, and otherwise good for the environment will often utilize animal-derived conditioners and binders like beeswax and lanolin. Other common non-vegan buzzwords: carmine, squalene, oleic acid, glycerine, and collagen.

The point is, you don't have to be a vegan to wear vegan makeup. Any beauty brand that is trying to make a difference for animal welfare should be celebrated and championed. To do so, we tapped vegan fashion and beauty influencer Vanessa Hong of the Haute Pursuit and a few adoptable puppies and kittens from the ASPCA to showcase some of the boldest beauty ideas for 2020 (created using only vegan and cruelty-free makeup).

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The 30 Best Vegan Makeup Products of All Time

PATRICK TA Monochrome Moment - Velvet Blush

This buttery blush from the makeup pro's new line blends into skin like a dream, so you're left with a natural-looking flush that really lasts. 

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer

Recently deemed the best-selling cruelty-free primer in the U.S., this gel formula smooths the look of skin so makeup sets flawlessly.

Aether Beauty Rose Quartz Crystal Gemstone Palette

You'll use every single shadow in this palette until you hit the bottom of the pan—and that's something we can't say about the billion other eyeshadow palettes we own.

Hourglass Scattered Light Glitter Eye Shadow

These intense and creamy glitter eyeshadows leave a major impact—but if you tap it on lightly, you can easily wear these every single day. 

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer

This is considered one of the best primers in the entire beauty industry, vegan or otherwise. It softens pores and helps your makeup last all day, even on oily skin.

Honest Beauty Honest Beauty Liquid Lipstick

This new lipstick will make you fall in love with liquid lips all over again (while also questioning the ingredients in every other tube you own).

e.l.f. e.l.f. Poreless Putty Primer Clear

The internet freaked out when this $8 dupe of a much-pricier pore-erasing primer hit the internet. It makes your skin look instantly more flawless.

KOSAS Tinted Face Oil Foundation

Now 50% Off

Though only available in 16 shades, this sheer tinted face oil foundation blends seamlessly into skin and will match just about every skin tone. It's perfect for those days when you want a little coverage without feeling like you're wearing makeup at all. 

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner

Kat Von D's entire line is vegan, including this best-selling, ultra-popular liquid eyeliner that makes precise, clean lines.

COVER FX Custom Enhancer Drops

Cover FX is another all-vegan brand. These custom enhancer drops can be used to add a little rose gold shimmer into any of your existing products like moisturizer or foundation. 

MILK MAKEUP KUSH High Volume Mascara

Milk Makeup recently reformulated to make sure all their products are vegan. This Kush High Volume mascara is ideal for those of us who want lashes so thick and plump you almost can't see through them.

Lily Lolo Laid Bare Eye Palette

This is an easy 1:1 swap of similar  nude shadow palettes that maybe aren't all-vegan or made with clean and conscious ingredients. 

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner

Most of Charlotte Tilbury's line is accidentally vegan—just be sure to check the ingredient list. If you pick up only one thing from the brand, get this: a liner designed to give all skin tones natural-looking overdrawn lips.  

Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick

This full-coverage foundation stick is waterproof, long-wearing, and easy-to-apply on all skin types. The coverage is intense yet somehow feels weightless. 

Lime Crime Venus Pressed Powder Palette

Now 50% Off

You don't have to sacrifice pigment for animal-friendly ingredients. All of Lime Crime's makeup—including this palette—proves this true. 

MILK MAKEUP Long Wear Gel Eyeliner

This waterproof gel eyeliner come six shades that last until you wash it off at the end of the night. 

Foundation #1 Cake Mix Demi-Matte

Great for oily skin, this ultra-mattifying foundation comes in an impressive shade range for nearly all skin tones. 

e.l.f. Cosmetics Moisturizing Lipstick

This moisturizing, vegan lipstick in every shade imaginable is the best $4 you'll ever spend. 

Smashbox Studio Skin 15 Hour Wear Hydrating Foundation

If you prefer your skin to look fresh and dewy (but still want medium-to-full coverage), this is the foundation for you. 

MILK MAKEUP KUSH Fiber Brow Gel

Swipe this over sparse brows to make them look instantly darker and fuller in less than five seconds. 

Lime Crime Matte Velvetine Lipstick

Now 25% Off

Ultra-pigmented and matte liquid lipsticks that are fully vegan.

COVER FX Natural Finish Foundation

This oil-free, water-based foundation comes in a shade for all skin tones, is made with thoughtful clean ingredients, and is packed with antioxidants. 

e.l.f. e.l.f. Eyebrow Enhancer

You'll regret ever spending more than $2 on an eyebrow pencil once you try this dual-ended one from e.l.f.

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick

Another secretly vegan product, this semi-matte lipstick from Charlotte Tilbury makes lips look plush and full—never dry.

Kat Von D Shade + Light Face Contour Refillable Palette

With six shades, you'll never need another contour palette.  

NYX Professional Makeup Worth The Hype Volumizing & Lengthening Mascara

This mascara's name says it all: It adds volume and length and at less than $10, is indeed worth the hype. 

Pacifica Dream Big Volumizing Mascara

This mascara doesn't just add crazy volume and length thanks to the all-natural plant fibers, it also conditions lashes. 

NYX Professional Makeup NYX Professional Makeup Jumbo Eye Pencil

There's nothing easier in the world than smearing a jumbo eye pencil across your lid and then blending with your finger. 

NYX Professional Makeup NYX Professional Makeup Micro Brow Pencil

The teeny-tiny pencil is perfect for faking the look of real brow hairs. Brush through your work with the spoolie brush to soften the lines. 

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Too Faced is committed to being cruelty-free, but not all their products are vegan. Luckily, the Better Than Sex mascara (which is the number-one selling mascara is the US) is free from all animal ingredients. 

Jenna Rosenstein is the Beauty Director at Harper's BAZAAR across both print and digital. While attending NYU, she held internships at Women’s Wear Daily, Bloomingdale’s, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Allure, the latter of which she parlayed into her first job as the Beauty Assistant. She left Allure three years later as the Senior Beauty Editor. She spent a few months at Refinery29 overseeing branded content in the same title, before finally landing back at BAZAAR to manage all beauty content. When she's not testing every lipstick known to mankind, getting zapped by new lasers, or interviewing experts and celebrities, you can find Rosenstein at home in New Jersey with her son, husband, and black cat named Maddie.

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