With all the chatter around clean beauty over the past few years, great advances have been made in well-formulated, truly clean and healthy skin care. We’ve broken clean beauty in the past, but there can still be a lot of misleading labels and claims online. We thought it would be helpful to do the heavy lifting for you and outline exactly what vegan skin care is (and share some of our favorite vegan brands!). While vegan products are often associated with the clean beauty movement, they don’t always fall under the same pollution.
Many brands labeled as organic, clean, or cruelty-free, may still use ingredients of animal origin, like lanolin or beeswax. For a line of skin care products to be completely vegan, these ingredients are often swapped for effective substitutes like fruit waxes or vegetable oils. While it can feel elusive, with a few key tips you can spot it easily — many of our favorite brands are vegan. In fact, you probably already have a vegan product or two in your current lineup without realizing it!
To break it all down, we chatted with Tara Pelletier, founder and co-founder of vegan skincare brand Meow Meow Tweet to help break down all things vegan skin care and help people out easily find the most suitable product possible. Read on for everything you need to know about vegan skin care, plus 14 of our favorite 100% vegan skin care brands and editor-approved staples from each brand.
What makes a skin care product vegan?
Like dietary restrictions, vegan skin care waives the use of any ingredients that are derived from or animals. This can include common skin care ingredients like beeswax, collagen or keratin, even if those ingredients are ethically sourced. For their brand, vegan skin care looks like “not using any animal-derived ingredients in our natural products and making the decision to minimize the effects,” says Pelletier. harmful to humans, animals and the planet. It is a lifestyle choice that is rooted in resistance to speciesism and respect for all living things.”
This approach extends care beyond just the components themselves, to how they are derived. Brands like Meow Meow Tweet, also choose not to provide material that could harm an animal’s habitat or food sources.
How can you tell if a product is vegan?
The easiest way to spot a vegan product is by the “Certified Vegan” symbol that many vegan skin care products have. But Pelletier encourages you to go beyond that. “Learn to read ingredient labels,” says Pelletier. “First, scan product labels and packaging, read the full ingredient list, and look for any ingredients of animal origin.”
Here’s a summary of common animal-derived ingredients to help you as you’re learning what to look out for:
- beeswax
- Beloved husband
- gelatin
- collagen
- lanolin
- keratin
- silk
- carmine (colorant derived from beetles)
- elastin
- Milk
- squalene (look for Squalane derived from 100% cane sugar instead!)
Are vegan and cruelty-free products the same?
While being vegan implies the absence of animal and animal-derived ingredients, non-toxicity means that the product has not been tested on animals at any stage of product development. . Pelletier warns that, “just because a product is vegan doesn’t mean it hasn’t been tested on animals, so familiarize yourself with the brand that makes the product. “
What are the benefits of vegan skin care products?
“Where conventional beauty contains ingredients designed to do a specific job, botanical beauty works by bringing together ingredients that enhance natural function,” explains Pelletier. of your skin. Vegan skin care not only offers benefits such as promoting kindness and care to animals and reducing environmental harm, but they can focus on the botanical ingredients that have been used in the treatment. centuries of healing. Many vegan products are rich in vitamins packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and Pelletier explains, “vegetable lipids and water make your skin cells smooth, hydrated, moisturized, and undamaged. love — helping them do what they already know how to do.”
If you’re new to beauty or vegan skin care, it’s important to note that many products have a shorter shelf life due to the lack of synthetic stabilizers and mostly unrefined, organic ingredients. Pelletier says that most natural beauty products should be used within three to six months of purchase to ensure maximum freshness.
Our 14 favorite vegan skin care brands:
Daughter of Vintners
As a perennial favorite among beauty enthusiasts, there’s good reason Vintner’s Daughter is in the beauty closet so much. The epitome of luxurious, plant-based skincare, Vintner Daughter was founded by April Gargiulo and consists of just two products: Active Botanical Serum and Active Treatment Essence. While designed to work in tandem, each works well on its own thanks to an incredibly packaged formula that includes 22 botanicals and over 60 bioavailable nutrients. While the formulas can be complicated, the brand is all about keeping skin care simple and minimal, and believes you really only need these two products (possibly plus a cleanser, of course). .
Meow Meow Tweet
With a charming company name stemming from the founder’s love of cats and their birds, the co-founders, Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki, founded the all-natural vegan pharmaceutical company. their natural after love natural skin care. From deodorants to non-toxic insect repellents and complete facials, Meow Meow Tweet is committed to creating all-natural, plant- and mineral-based formulas. All products are made with raw, organic butter and vegetable oils, steam distilled and cold pressed essential oils, and handcrafted organic or natural botanicals.
Dr. Loretta
Formulated by a dermatologist with over 40 years of experience (Dr. Loretta herself!), this line of skin care products is cruelty-free, vegan and clean – formulated without sulfates, parabens, artificial dyes or perfumes. With skincare focused on protecting skin against environmental aggressors, Dr. Loretta focuses on combining medical-grade actives with botanical ingredients for healthy-looking skin. healthier, younger.
The alchemist has grown up
Grown Alchemist creates innovative products that combine high quality active ingredients backed by the results of scientific and clinical research. Beautiful and minimally branded, these products will not only look good in your bathroom, they will deliver real results as they work with your body’s natural ability to heal and regenerate. .
Osea
Inspired by her grandmother’s lifelong love of the sea (and couldn’t find a formula that met her standards), Jenefer Palmer set out to create a line of plant-based skin care products that combined. in harmony with the elements of the ocean. Created with non-toxic and nourishing formulas, they are favorites for everything from overnight masks to body lotions.
There is a sentence
The ultimate in clean vegan skin care at an affordable price, Versed was created by beauty maker (and founder of clean makeup line, Merit), Katherine Power. With a sustainable mindset and minimal design, Versed is known for delivering luxury-level results for a fraction of the cost (and looking cute doing it).
Mara
Launched in 2018, Mara was created with the aim of creating clean, sustainable products around the power of the plant and the sea. Using a proprietary blend of algae, clean active ingredients, superfoods, and innovative formulas, Mara products are highly effective for healthy glowing skin without any animal by-products.
Summer Friday
The vegan brand launched Jet Lag Mask in 2018 and quickly transformed from a single-product startup into one of the most sought-after beauty brands. Since then, it has expanded into cleansers, moisturizers, and body care products, all designed under the luxurious, powdery, brand-worthy Insta branding.
Moonjuice
Moon Juice starts out as a cold-pressed juice bar before moving on to beautifully packaged supplements and modifiers, and finally skin care. Its holistic formulas are clearly sourced, bioactive and work from the inside out and vice versa, inspiring holistic health and balance.
Magic Valley
Founded by a husband and wife team, olive oil is the cornerstone of Wonder Valley. Their olive oil is hand-harvested and expertly milled from our forests in Northern California. Using the timeless elegance of olive oil as the foundation of their products, they have transformed it into products that deeply nourish your skin.
Real plants
Loved by celebrities, True Botanical’s is an all-natural luxury skincare line that focuses on truly clean ingredients and products, and is Safely Made. From serums to face oils to overnight masks, True Botanicals promises skin care products that will stimulate collagen products, correct pigmentation and maintain skin moisture.
Bite
Bite Beauty started with vegan lip products that are buttery smooth and truly long-lasting and have since expanded into makeup and skincare. Made with agave nectar instead of lanolin, the Agave+ Intensive Lip Mask is the go-to choice when it comes to lip treatments.
Supergoop!
If you’re looking for the perfect vegan sunscreen and skincare line, Supergoop! That is it. From spray sunscreen to vibrant-toned moisturizer, Supergoop! full squad.
Superegg
Superegg is the new popular vegan skin care brand on the market. The ultra-luxury brand of this line features sleek, round eggshell white containers packed with powerful vegan skincare. Inspired by her Korean upbringing and the eggs that play a part in those beauty rituals, Erica Choi, created Superegg with vegan and clean ingredients to replicate the benefits. Egg skin care benefits.
