10 Zero-Waste, Cruelty-Free & Vegan Makeup Brands For Ethical Beauty
image: Ilia
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The Best Zero-Waste, Cruelty-Free and Vegan Beauty Brands
Coloring your lips with the perfect red, painting a wing along your lash line, adding a warm glow to your cheeks or experimenting with playful eyeshadow tones can be fun, confidence-boosting and expressive. At the same time, so many cosmetics companies aren’t exactly known for their protection of the planet and those living on it, so it can be tough to make ourselves up without feeling a little ethically compromised. To remedy these troubles, learn what brands are vegan and cruelty-free…
What’s zero-waste makeup, and why’s it matter?
In 2018, some 120 billion units of cosmetics packaging were produced around the globe. Most beauty packaging is made of virgin plastic, derived from fossil fuels and largely unrecyclable. Most cosmetics don’t even come with the details we see printed and embossed onto other plastics, which help with effective recycling.
This is a massive problem, as we need to stop mining for fossil fuels, and while just 6% of global plastics are recycled, 275 million tonnes of plastic is wasted each year. That’s as much plastic as the weight of over 4.3 million heavy commercial airplanes. Potentially, some 100,000 tonnes of plastic have made their way into the ocean, polluting this critically important ecosystem and killing marine life.
In response to this crisis, a growing number of beauty brands are making changes: packaging their lipsticks, mascaras, contouring palettes, sticks and other makeup products in compostable, recycled and reusable materials.
Before we get further into this, though, what do these terms mean?
Recycled beauty packaging:
Some beauty brands talk about their use of ‘recyclable’ packaging, which shouldn’t be confused with ‘recycled’ packaging. The former means plastic (which is likely brand new, if not labeled otherwise), which has the potential to be recycled (even if a brand hasn’t set up a system to ensure this), while the latter means the plastic has been recycled and reproduced from another plastic product. That’s a lot better.
Materials like glass and metals like aluminum are particularly valuable and more likely to be recycled than plastics, so watch out for these when looking for zero-waste beauty products.
Compostable beauty packaging:
Packaging which can completely biodegrade and transform into non-toxic components like water, carbon and biomass, which return to the Earth as ‘food’. We often talk about composting food scraps, but materials like cotton, cardboard, wood and some newly created plant-based packaging materials used in the beauty industry can be composted in the right conditions, too.
Recycling materials can require a lot of energy, so home compostable materials can be a positive solution to that concern.
Reusable beauty packaging:
Packaging which can be refilled and reused avoids the need to buy more plastic filled products. Some brands claim their product packaging is ‘reusable’ because, say, a glass foundation bottle could be cleaned out and used as a vase for flowers. This sort of ‘upcycling’ is positive to encourage, but it’s a little misleading for brands to use the term ‘reusable’ unless they ensure their packaging can be ‘reused’ in the same context again, by offering refills for that packaging, so it can house foundation again.
LCA Centre in the Netherlands found that if all cosmetics containers in the industry were refillable, an incredible 70% of carbon emissions tied to the beauty industry could be cut back.
What’s cruelty-free makeup, and why’s it worth looking out for?
The term ‘cruelty-free’ in relation to cosmetics specifically means ‘free from animal testing’. While many brands have moved away from all cruel cosmetics tests on animals, unfortunately, many still have not. While the major progress made is worth celebrating, it’s important not to let our guard down and assume all makeup is free from such cruelty.
Today, animals like rabbits, guinea pigs and rats are still cruelly experimented on; forced to consume cosmetics ingredients until they die to test for toxicity. Some are left with blinded, red and bleeding eyes after eye irritation tests, while others are shaved for skin tests which can cause inflammation, ulcers and gaping wounds. An estimated more than 192 million animals, including dogs, cats and monkeys continue to be tested on, around the world.
Animal tests are often ineffective, as our bodies work uniquely to other animals. Fortunately, there are numerous scientifically advanced and superior testing methods available which do not require animals. However, some ingredients cannot be tested using these methods. Brands dedicated to protecting animals from testing use already approved ingredients which do not require further testing, or ingredients which can legally be tested through non-animal methods.
What’s vegan makeup, is it different from ‘cruelty-free’?
Cosmetics that are labeled as ‘cruelty-free’ can be misleading, as ‘cruelty-free’ implies no cruelty involved in making that lipstick, concealer or brow gel, rather than no cruelty tied to animal testing specifically. But it’s not only animal testing which harms our furry friends exploited in the cosmetics industry, but the use of animal-derived ingredients, too.
While ‘cruelty-free’ and ‘animal testing free’ have become synonymous, it’s important to look out for cosmetics that are also labelled ‘vegan’, if we want to protect animals. If not, a number of animal-based ingredients are likely to be hiding in your beauty bag:
Tallow: Hardened animal fat from slaughtered animals like cows and sheep, found in lipsticks, foundations and many other makeup products
Lanolin: A kind of grease extracted from wool, produced in an industry which unfortunately mutilates and slaughters sheep. This one pops up in lots of products like eyeshadows, lip liners and more
Guanine: Sparkly highlighters, bronzers, lip glosses and other makeup is often made with this ingredient, derived from fish scales scraped off their bodies
Shellac: This ingredient is secreted by female lac bugs, killed in the scraping process which collects the ‘resin’ like substance used in mascara, eye liner and nail polish, to name a few
The best brands to get sustainable and ethical beauty products
To offer you the best variety, some of these brands use more sustainable packaging but aren’t totally zero-waste, while others go the whole way. All of these brands are doing far better than the industry standard, which should be applauded.
1. Axiology
Your new go-to for lipstick, Axiology has a range of shimmery, rich and creamy, sheer and soft textures, in a variety of gorgeous colors. Their lipstick tubes are made from recycled aluminum, and arrive to you boxed in recycled card that can be either composted or recycled, depending on what’s available to you. The brand is not only free from animal testing and ingredients, but from palm oil too, working to use natural ingredients as much as possible.
2. Ilia
This brand – not entirely vegan but largely so, with a clearly labeled vegan collection – offers serum highlighters, lipsticks, foundations, cheek and lip tints, gorgeous eyeshadow palettes, brow gels, lip liners, finishing powders and more. Free from animal testing, the label runs a recycling program so that your empties never see landfill. Even letting you send empties from other brands, Ilia doesn’t over complicate their formulas with lots of different ingredients, and they use packaging materials like recycled aluminum and glass when suitable.
3. Micellar Oil Cleansing Wipes by Fig.1
These new cleansing wipes from Fig.1 are derm-developed and dissolvable! They are great for taking off your makeup, leave your skin feeling soft & smooth, and easily wash away with water. The packets they come in are also at-home compostable. These are perfect for traveling and on-the-go! & of course, they are vegan, cruelty-free AND gluten-free!
4. Stack the Odds Refillable by Alleyoop
Save space with this beautiful, refillable blush, bronzer & highlighter! Not only is this convenient for travel, but you will cut back on plastic waste by having all your essentials in one compact. Refilling is the future of the beauty industry, and seeing more vegan makeup brands adopt the concept makes us so happy!
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5. Elate
A totally vegan and animal testing free brand, Elate sells refillable blush and eye shadow compacts. Refills are sent out in seed paper envelopes that grow flowers when planted – super cute. The brand also offers lipsticks and other makeup with less plastic packaging, made from Forest Stewardship Certified bamboo and glass. Their packaging materials can be sent back to be effectively recycled – something that often isn’t possible for cosmetics through home recycling systems.
6. NOTO
This genderless beauty brand is based in Los Angeles, where you can refill their products in store. Using locally sourced vegan ingredients to produce animal testing free products that are also fair trade certified (ticking all those boxes!), NOTO makes multi-purpose products. Sticks and pots of color to use on your lips, eyelids and cheeks, the need to buy fewer products helps to reduce overconsumption and waste. All of their packaging is either glass, metal, biodegradable or made from recycled plastics.
7. Trestique
Another brand using refillable packaging, Trestique uses recycled materials for their 2-in-1 products, which are designed to be endlessly refillable with all kinds of products like blush and concealer sticks, highlighters and bronzers, brow pencils and gels, mascara and lip crayons. The vegan brand is transparent about the percentage of recycled materials they use (as much as 98% in their packaging materials – many ‘recycled plastics’ are only slightly so), and anything that isn’t going to be refilled for any reason can be returned to them for proper recycling.
8. Flavedo & Albedo
An almost entirely vegan brand that’s free from animal testing (just check the labels, only a few products aren’t totally animal friendly), Flavedo & Albedo prides itself on creating ‘high-performance makeup’ with ‘plastic-free packaging’. With playful colors and shades, the label offers eye, lip and cheek cosmetics. This is one of few brands which can state that they have ‘zero plastic, anywhere. No tubs, no lids, no seals, no nothing.’. Nice.
9. Izzy
Check out Izzy for the world’s first zero-waste mascara (& they recently have launched lip gloss and brow gel) . It comes with no outer packaging and is shipped in reusable mailers which have been made with upcycled materials. The tube doesn’t contain any plastic and is made from stainless steel. It’s designed to be cleaned and refilled over 10,000 times — so you basically never have to throw away another mascara for the rest of your life! And of course, Izzy only uses certified organic, vegan, non-GMO, and paraben-free ingredients.
10. Sienna
Byron Bay based with a US-specific website, this certified B Corp uses a plant-focussed formula to create nail polish which is manufactured in a system that recycles waste and wastewater – something so many brands don’t even touch on. Totally traceable, these nail polishes – free from all the nastier substances found in some polishes, like formaldehyde – are vegan, animal testing free, and bottled in glass, with a non-native weed wood bottle cap that can be composted. The brand also supports a number of charitable causes.
About the Author
Emma Håkansson is the founder and director of Collective Fashion Justice which seeks to create a total ethics fashion system that prioritizes the life and wellbeing of non-human & human animals, as well as the planet, before profit & production. She has written countless articles on ethics, sustainability, and fashion, and has two books due out over the next two years.
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