The Best Brands of Zero Waste Vegan Cosmetics
Zero waste cosmetics are made from natural ingredients, and sold in refillable or biodegradable packaging. This good for your skin, good for wildlife and good for the planet and waterways.
Many cosmetics include zinc oxide, which is toxic to pets (as is cocoa butter). Store with lids tightly closed, apply in a separate room and wipe up spills immediately. Wash your face, before letting animals kiss you!
River Organics is a US brand (sold at Cocoa and Gizmo) founded by an art historian and her late husband Fabien (a French chemist who worked for Chanel). Together they blended creativity and expertise to found this vegan make-up brand .that sells items in compostable packaging, with sugar-cane labels in eco envelopes.
The range includes:
- Lip Tints in many colours that leave lips moisturised and hydrated. Sold in compostable paper tubes, just open the cap and push the tube gently up from bottom. Choose from sand, nude, rose-gold or sheer ting.
- Lip stains (fig or pomegranate) and creamy blush sticks made with safflower and jojoba oils.
- Concealers for under-eye circles or small blemishes, with oils of moringa, apricot kernel and camellia seed.
- Mascara with nourishing castor oil to condition lashes. Eyebrow tint gives a natural feathery look.
Other Good Brands of Eco Cosmetics
Inika is an Aussie plastic-free cosmetics brand, with an online UK shop. Made with sustainably-mined minerals, the range includes foundations, eye-make-up, mascara, lipsticks and fake tanning products.
It also makes quality vegan make-up brushes.
- Naturabloom offers natural and vegan lipsticks and eye shadows, the mascaras are packed in biodegradable tubes, and founded by a woman who had acne, and needed something more natural.
- Honeypie Minerals (Essex) was founded by a woman who got acne from conventional make-up. Sample kits of sustainable makeup in organic drawstring bags are sold, along with vegan make-up brushes.
- Bare Faced Beauty (use code englandnaturally for 10% discount) specialises in natural vegan mineral cosmetics, designed to enhance your skin’s natural beauty with quality, ethically sourced ingredients.
- Bomonde Mineral Makeup (use code englandnaturally for 10% discount) is a vegan make-up brand with palettes suitable for all skin types, and sold in sustainable packaging.
Choose red/pink makeup without carmine
Carmine (often listed as cochineal extract, CI 75470, or natural red 4) comes from insects. If you want vegan cosmetics, choose brands that use natural alternatives like beetroot to make blush, lip tints and lipsticks.
Go talc-free for powders and eyeshadow
Talc (an inorganic substance linked to mining and ovarian cancer), should be avoided if choosing natural cosmetics. It can turn up in pressed powders, eyeshadows and bronzing powders.
Look for alternatives like sustainable kaolin clay, rice powder or corn starch. Keep your application light, as thin layers tend to wear more cleanly, than ‘caked-on’ powders.
Favour refills and pans
As well as eco cosmetics being sold in cardboard packs, some also offer refill pans. These are when you buy the pan, then just order the refills when you run out, to save buying new again.
All Earth Mineral Cosmetics offers cosmetics in cardboard shakers, with refillable pots made from fishing waste (collected from Cornish oceans). The company also makes nice vegan makeup brushes.
Choose brands with short ingredients lists
If your cosmetics has a long list of ingredients you don’t understand, move on. A good brand should only contain a few powders and minerals, plus a few natural colour additions.
Avoid cosmetics with strong smells, as they likely have artificial fragrance.
Choose (normally) neutral shades
If you’re a bit of a diva and want bright blue eyeshadow, then go for it! But for most of us, neutral shades work best, as they make your natural eye colours pop, and are more flattering (plus you can mix and match, which saves money long-term).
As a rule, warmer skin tones suit warmer shades (brown, olive) and dark skins can more take bright colours. Blondes often look good for pastel shades.
Choose solid, water-light products
These waste less and weigh less, so ship better and cheaper. Many brands now offer solid balms and stick foundations, all in simple zero-waste packaging. That way you are not paying to ‘ship water’.
Go multi-use with colour products
If you like to wear a lot of make-up, consider multi-use products. These can be a vegan tint (which can replace a lipstick, blush and even eyeshadow). Fewer cosmetics means you can afford to spend a bit more on quality brands, as you need less items.
Avoid plastic glitter and loose shimmer
These are nearly always made from some kind of plastic (and ‘eco glitter’ is usually greenwash’). This just drifts down sinks and goes into the sea, eaten by fish and marine wildlife.
If like sparkle, you can find pressed shimmer colours from mineral pigments.
Look for natural make-up removers
Green People Cleanse & Make-up Remover is organic and sold in easy-to-recycle sugar-cane packaging. It’s made shea butter and jojoba oil, plant-based squalane and oils of rosemary and geranium.
Sbtrct Makeup Melt is a free from palm oil, just warm the bar between your hands and massage over dry skin to remove make-up and even waterproof mascara. The bar lasts up to 12 weeks, due to natural preservative (store in the reusable dish to stop it going soggy, then just buy refills.
Use with reusable cloths, not disposable wet wipes (one of the main cases of blocked drains). If you use them, never flush down the loo, they can cause harm and even garden floods.
Pick vegan make-up brushes
Ecotools make-up brushes are sold in most stores, and are made from eco-friendly vegan materials. The Sea Gems range is designed with ocean-bound plastic, to help remove ghost fishing waste.
For brushes, wash complexion brushes about weekly if you use them often. Eye brushes can go a bit longer if they stay clean. Use a gentle soap, rinse well, then air dry flat. Harsh detergents can make bristles rough, so your skin pays the price later.
Some make-up brushes are made from squirrel fur and badger hair, and the animals may be culled to make them. Instead, boycott those and choose a small set of quality vegan make-up brushes.
Modern versions work just as well, and are often sold with eco handles made from steel or bamboo. You usually only need a base brush, powder brush, blush brush and blending brush.
To clean, just wash in mild soapy water, then air-dry on a flat towel with the bristles slightly over the edge. Let them dry thoroughly before storing, to avoid damp.
