Orin Carlin
Vegan Beauty: everything you need to know – including the makeup, skincare and haircare brands to have on your radar – read more
Vegan beauty has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade – not merely great news for the animal kingdom, but also your product stash. Demand for vegan-friendly makeup, skincare, and haircare has skyrocketed to such an extent that it’s actually odd to remember a time when options were so severely limited.
Plenty of industry heavyweights have cottoned on to the consumer trend, offering some vegan products within their ranges, or better still, there are heaps of excellent entirely vegan beauty brands that are absolutely killing it.
If you’re planning on giving your beauty regime an animal-friendly makeover, there’s zero need to compromise. Ingredient innovation and formula development means that there are some brilliant vegan beauty products out there that stand head and shoulders above their non-vegan counterparts.
What is the difference between vegan and cruelty-free beauty?
Vegan beauty means products that contain no animal derivatives (including ingredients such as beeswax and lanolin), whereas cruelty-free (identified most commonly with the Leaping Bunny accreditation) means a product was developed without animal testing, and it is not sold in countries where animal testing is mandatory.
MORE: Cruelty-free beauty: everything you need to know
READ: 8 plastic-free beauty products you NEED to make your makeup bag more eco-friendly
Is animal testing illegal in the UK?
Animal testing for cosmetic purposes is banned in the UK, and also under EU law. Prior to May 2021, ‘general’ cosmetics sold in China were subjected to mandatory pre-market animal testing, meaning that beauty brands that sold to the Chinese market could not be classified as cruelty-free. Since then, “the prerequisite for pre-market animal testing has been lifted for most cosmetics being sold in the country”, according to Cruelty-Free Kitty.
Which ingredients are not vegan?
Most brands helpfully label their vegan beauty products as such on the outer packaging. However, if it’s not obvious, or if you’re simply wanting to double check, there are certain red-flag ingredients that signal a non-vegan product.
A few to look out for include lanolin (derived from sheep’s wool, found in some lip balms), honey and beeswax, and carmine (a red pigment derived from insects, found in some lipsticks).
We recommend you refer to a brand’s website if you’re unsure, because even some commonplace skincare ingredients are non-vegan. Squalane for instance is harvested from the liver of sharks, granted this is much less common nowadays given developments in plant-based formulas, but it is still worth checking.
Hello! Fashion shares some of our favourite vegan beauty brands:
Vegan makeup
With its aesthetically pleasing packaging and kind spirit ethos, Selena Gomez’s brainchild Rare Beauty is brilliant, and entirely vegan. Our makeup must-haves include the Perfect Strokes Volumizing Mascara (think the ultimate all-in-one lash transformer) and the cult-adored Soft Pinch Liquid Blush.
Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, £22, Space NK
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Vegan skincare
Originally intended for sensitive types, Pai Skincare is brilliant across the board. Check out its hero Rosehip Bioregenerate Oil and its Century Flower Mist to give your weathered winter skin some much-needed indulgence.
Pai Skincare Century Flower Barrier Defence Mist, £39, Cult Beauty
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Vegan haircare
Unsurprisingly, Princess Diana was onto something when she recruited hair extraordinaire Sam McKnight as her personal stylist. His entirely vegan brand Hair by Sam McKnight is all about the cool-girl aesthetic, captured best by 90s muse Kate Moss. Not sure where to start? Try out its Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo – indispensable on clean hair days when you need a serious volume boost.
Hair by Sam McKnight Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo, £22, Cult Beauty
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Vegan nails
Founded in 2014, Mylee is a trailblazer in the at-home salon sphere with its ultra-durable gel polishes that can last up to three weeks. It offers some extremely good value kits as well as individual shades – Green Velvet is my personal favourite. Total no brainer if you’re wanting to cut back on the amount you spend on beauty services.
MyGel green velvet gel polish, £7.99, Mylee
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Vegan fragrance
A relative newcomer as far as luxury perfume houses go, Sana Jardin was only founded in 2017 and yet it has already made a huge splash. Blending natural and man-made notes, the brand prides itself on delivering “the exquisite, lush beauty of nature’s most exotic scents with sparkling clarity and presence”. I adore the zingy Berber Blonde as well as Celestial Patchouli’s smoky depth.
Celestial Patchouli Eau de Parfum, £95, Sana Jardin
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