This week, Lydia Petropoulou shares her thoughts on vegan and organic beauty, while discussing some of the most popular vegan cosmetic brands.

Vegan: Depending on the age and the country someone has grown up in, this word can have more positive or negative associations. In more traditional countries, people construct an imagery of mostly thin and pale people, full of negativity and unwillingness to taste even the last bit of a delicious chicken nugget – or who, for some reason, choose to make a cake with coconut oil instead of butter.

In other countries, going vegan has become very common among the population and it is not only associated with food, but also with other aspects of everyday life, such as fashion and beauty. 

The industry and companies worldwide are clever enough to promptly capture this change in trends, and they are launching new products, trying to minimize their environmental impact as far as possible. In contrast with the past, people now seem to care more about what really goes into their body, face, and skin. They seem to spend more time looking at the ingredients of a product before buying it and, in this case, nature and sustainability win!

Before introducing the most popular vegan beauty brands, I would like to explain the difference between the terms “vegan” and “cruelty-free”, as they represent a common misconception for many consumers. Vegan means that a product does not contain any animal derivatives, whereas cruelty-free means that the product has not been tested on animals. Based on that distinction, the brands discussed below are vegan and some of them may also be cruelty-free.

KVD Vegan Beauty

The model Kat Von D admits that she had never thought of making a makeup brand with her name, until Sephora approached her for the first time. She then aimed at creating the four perfect shades of red lipstick. Now, she has turned her brand into a vegan beauty paradise, where you can find absolutely everything. She is proud to be included herself in the process of production, testing of formulas, labelling, packaging design, and layout. In the UK, KVD products are available in Boots, UK Amazon, and UK eBay. Of course, buyers can also use the US website, but it will be more hustle and bustle, as they will need to hire a package forwarder to the UK. More information can be found at yoreoyster.com/shipping/sephora-uk. 

The brand has been mostly vegan since its launch in 2008 and it officially went 100% vegan in 2016. 

Kat Von D and her team are proud to have spent more than 10 years in trying to reinvent the product formulation to be vegan.

Most popular products

• Everlasting Liquid Lipstick: Available in 27 colours and designed to stay on the lips, unless you purposefully take it off. 
• Tattoo Liner: The Holy-Grail eyeliner, waterproof and resistant, with ultra-precise brush tip for the great cat-eye look. 
• Shade and Light Eye Contour Palette: A mix of warm and cool toned matte eyeshadows in an everyday wearable palette.
• Shade and Light Refillable Face Contour Palette: Comprising of six different shades of powders for contouring and highlighting the best parts of your face. 

E.L.F Cosmetics

A very popular 100% vegan beauty brand, as it combines high-quality products with affordable prices. In 2019, the company reduced its packaging footprint by 650,00 pounds of packaging waste.

The products are cruelty-free and free from most chemical ingredients (parabens, triclosan, sulfates). The range of products are available in drug stores, Ulta, and other retailers.

Most popular products

• 16HR Camo Concealer: Full coverage, matter and a small amount goes a long way. It blends nicely with a beauty blender and it dries down very quickly. 
• Poreless Face Primer: A silicone-free, smooth face primer in many versions to choose according to your facial needs (hydrating, brightening, tone correction etc).
• Instant Lift Brow Pencil: Smoot formula that lasts all day without being waxy. After using it once make sure you keep turning it, because the tip can lose its precision. 
• Aqua Beauty Molten Liquid Eyeshadow: Too glam with a little effort! The liquid eyeshadows are pigmented and easy to apply and blend with a brush or the doe foot applicator. There are a couple of gorgeous shades to choose from.

SUKIN

This brand makes a long journey from Australia. It is 100% vegan and cruelty-free, mostly made from organic products, without any parabens, harsh ingredients or mineral oils. The brand aims at protecting the environment, while providing high-quality products.

Most popular products

• Certified Organic Rosehip Oil: Use it during the winter, when the skin becomes drier. It is designed to relieve your skin from any irritation or redness. 
• Facial Moisturiser Pump: Suitable for dryness, it removes all the impurities from face and leaves it even and smooth.
• Purifying Facial Mask Jar: Designed to hydrate and smooth your skin, containing aloe vera, rosehip, and Kaolin clay.
• Hydrating Mist Toner: Contains rosewater and is the perfect base for moisturizer. It is antioxidant, hydrating, and soothes your skin.

N.A.E

I have not seen this brand featuring on many websites about vegan beauty yet, but it is really worth trying, in my opinion. Inspired by Italian herbalism, the products are 99% made of natural ingredients and they smell beautifully. Best thing: they are not pricey at all!

Most popular products

• Solid Shampoo Bars: They are an excellent alternative to shampoo bottles and a money-saving choice, as 1 bar = 2 shampoo bottles = 30-50 washes.
• Nourishing Night Cream: With a silky satin-smooth texture combining sea lavender extract and sunflower oil, it is designed to nourish the skin overnight and relieve it from morning dryness.
• Firming Day Cream: A solution for mature skin, prone to wrinkles. Nine out of ten women who used it claimed that it improves the skin’s elasticity and radiance over time. It is made of jasmine extract and olive oil.

Hourglass

A high-end choice, but still very popular among women, as it combined stunning packaging with complexion-perfecting products.

The brand went totally vegan since the end of 2020 and the name itself gives the feeling of a dewy and alabaster finish, similar to that of Korean models. The whole range of products is available at Sephora. 

Most popular products

• Ambient Lighting Bronzer: A mix of bronzer and lighting powder, available in six shades, gives your skin a luminous and soft look, while creating transparent coverage.
• Veil Mineral Primer: Suitable for all skin types, this primer will take your foundation to the next level. Very good for pores, oil and cruelty-free, and with sunscreen protection (SPF 15), it will always be in your bag.
• Veil Translucent Setting Powder: A weightless powder with light-reflecting particles to reduce pores and minimize imperfections, fine lines, and wrinkles. It leaves your skin smooth and radiant.
• Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick: A full coverage long-wear foundation suitable for all skin types. It is waterproof and weightless, despite containing a double dose of pigment, in contrast to standard foundations. In a clinical study conducted in the US among 32 women, 100% reported an easy use and application, 97% an immediate improvement in skin and 97% reduce of redness and imperfections. 

Of course, there are more vegan beauty brands worth mentioning, such as Pacifica, well-known for its won recycling programme; Pai, inspired by the Korean philosophy; Kylie Skin, with the signature of the famous model Kylie Jenner, and Milk Make up (completely vegan since 2019). However, in this article, I chose to refer to the most easy-to-find and popular in the market right now. 

Whatever you finally choose, it will surely be worth it, as the planet is currently in danger and the earth’s resources are fewer than humans want to exploit. Vegan beauty is going upwards in most countries, as people have started to rethink their existence in a whole world. It is a nice feeling to hold responsibility over our choices and consider the environment when shopping makeup or skincare products. In my opinion, they will make us look more beautiful from the inside out.