Best Brands of Zero Waste Vegan Cosmetics
Zero waste vegan cosmetics contain no animal products like beeswax, lanolin, or carmine (in red or pink cosmetics, this is made from dead insects). Choose brands that pack in tin, glass or paperboard, over plastic. Also avoid shadows and powders that use talc (linked to ovarian cancer).
Ensure any brands you choose have credentials on sustainable mining.
Most cosmetics contain cocoa butter and zinc/titanium dioxide, so wash your face before letting pets lick you! Avoid shea butter for latex allergies.
Vegan Make-up Brushes
Regular brushes are often made from badger or squirrel fur. Vegan make-up brushes use synthetic fibres, which are just as soft, clean better, and don’t shed. Many also offer bamboo handles with recycled metal ferrules. Some brands that offer them are:
EcoTools offers vegan make-up brushes that you can often find in supermarkets and pharmacies. The brushes are made with Taklon instead of animal hair, and the handles are made from bamboo and/or recycled aluminium. You can buy set bundles with storage tins, for better value.
There is also a retractable make-up brush to apply bronzer or powder.
Ecolook: Cosmetics from Hampshire
ecoLOOK is a Hampshire-based brand of eco-vegan cosmetics. Items are packaged in biodegradable honeycomb paper and bamboo pots, sealed with eco-friendly tape (looks like Sellotape, but it’s not!)
The range includes a nice line of vegan lipsticks, plus eyeshadow palettes and ‘curling mascara’, along with a multi-use cosmetics pencil.
Honeypie Naturals (from Essex)
Honeypie Minerals (Essex) was founded by a woman who got acne from conventional make-up. Sustainable vegan minerals are used in zero-waste packs with compostable refills. Sample kits contain organic drawstring bags.
Everything is made with green energy, and trees are planted for each order. You can also buy complete make-up kits, complete with vegan make-up brushes.
All Earth Mineral Cosmetics
All Earth Mineral Cosmetics offers items in cardboard shakers, or refillable pots made from fishing waste (collected from Cornish oceans). The company also makes nice vegan makeup brushes.
The sifters use minimal plastic and are easy to decanter powder, and the lid fits flush for travel. Choose from foundations, powders and tints, made with vitamin E, jojoba oil and lavender.
Bomonde (from a make-up artist)
Bomonde Makeup (use code englandnaturally for 10% discount) has caught the eye of eco-conscious beauty lovers with its mineral makeup in no-waste packaging. This approach doesn’t just protect the skin—it also keeps the planet in mind.
These are waterless and refillable products, created by a semi-permanent make-up artist with over 20 years of experience in the beauty industry.
The range includes:
- Mineral Foundation
- Mineral concealer
- Bronzing Powder
- Highlighter Powder
- Vegan lipstick
- Eyeliners
- Eyebrow Pencils
- Eye Shadows
- Vegan makeup-brushes
Suitable for all skin types and shades, you can order the foundations in sample packs, to try before you buy.
Love the Planet (from Scotland)
Love the Planet (Scotland) offers a lovely range of sustainable vegan makeup, mostly sold in metal pots, then order refills in compostable pouches.
The range includes mineral foundations, concealers, powders, blush and eyeshadow. Everything is sustainably-sourced you can also buy vegan make-up brushes.
This brand was founded by a woman in Scotland who created popular reusable cleansing pads. She then realised there was a market for the cosmetics that her product was helping to remove, so set to work on creating one of the most sustainable makeup brands, north of the border.
River Organics (from North Carolina)
River Organics (sold in the UK at Pure Nuff Stuff) is a lovely cosmetics company founded by art historian Corinne and her late husband Fabien, a French chemist who worked with Chanel.
These cosmetics are not just vegan-friendly and cruelty-free, but are sold in compostable packaging with sugar-cane labels, and shipped in eco-enclose envelopes. It ships outside the USA and is hopefully soon to launch in England.
The range includes:
- Lip Tints are in a wide range of natural colours, to leave lips hydrated and moisturised. Sold in compostable paper tubes, just open the cap and push the tube gently up from bottom. Choose from sand, nude, rose-gold or rouge (sheer glossy tint).
- There are also lip stains in fig or pomegranate, plus creamy blush sticks made with safflower and jojoba oils.
- The concealers are suitable for under-eye circles or small blemishes, and contains oils of moringa, apricot kernel and camellia seed. With buildable coverage, the conscious packaging is made from compostable paper.
- The mascara is sold in sustainable packaging, applied with a brush. It contains nourishing castor oil to enhance and condition lashes.
- The eyebrow tint is sold in sustainable packaging, and ideal to give a natural feathery look.
Natural Make-up Remover Choices
These organic cotton makeup remover pads are made from organic cotton and bamboo. Sent in plastic-free packaging, use with the optional storage bag (to stop them getting lost in the machine).
Or this terracotta storage pot.
Reusable Organic Cotton Rounds
These reusable organic cotton rounds (use code ENGLANDNAT10 for 10% discount) are ideal to use with your favourite skin cleanser and to remove makeup. Sold in a set of 3 or 6 pads, they are made from GOTS-certified organic cotton and can be laundry washed, without releasing microplastics (unlike synthetic fibres).
When they do eventually wear out, you can just chop them up and compost, or bin and they will naturally biodegrade.
Sbtrct Solid Makeup Melt
Sbtrct Makeup Melt is a free from palm oil, using coconut surfactant (with plant-based squalane, shea butter and glycerine) to melt away even waterproof mascara.
Just warm the bar between your hands, then massage over a dry face and neck, sweeping over closed eyes, to lift make-up from skin and lashes. Add a little warm water, to emulsify into a milky cleanser. Wipe off with a damp cloth.
The bar should last 10 to 12 weeks, and contains a little natural preservative to combat yeast, bacteria and mould. Store in the accompanying diatomite reusable dish to stop it going soggy, then just buy refills. Save up to 20% on subscriptions.
At end of use, just compost the carton and paper wrap and it will biodegrade in 90 days. If you don’t have a compost bin, just recycle (no need to rinse).
A Sustainable Make-up Tool Kit
This sustainable make-up tool kit contains 3 tools in a box made from recycled ocean plastic, which breaks even after about 35 uses. Use the three tools combined to remove makeup, clean smeared lipstick, separate lashes and feather brows.
Don’t use swabs to clean your ears (can damage the eardrum, have your GP syringe them if needed). Keep swabs away from children & pets (choking hazards).
The case includes soft medical-grade TPE tips and a large mirror. Easy to use and clean, you can take this case anyway, then just clean the swabs with soap and water, and store in the case to prolong life. Designed to last 5 to 10 years.
