Whether you identify as an ethical, green, holistic, organic or sustainable beauty professional, what makes one a conscious artist...
Kit Basics
5 Conscious Beauty Vegan Swaps for Veganuary
Veganuary has become the annual celebration of Vegan and Plant-based lifestyle choices across food, beauty, fashion health and wellness. This month, we are joining in the conversation with these vegan beauty swaps perfect for your professional kit.
Tahira Herold
Ethics
Table of Contents
Introduction
Many brands promote themselves a vegan or plant-based, but the ingredients they use to replace their animal products can have questionable origins or effects. Also, we must not confuse cruelty-free products with vegan ones: Cruelty-free only means the items were not tested on animals however they may still contain animal-derived products. It is also important to note that some alternatives to animal ingredients can cause their own sets of allergies, or have negative effects on the environment.
Here are 5 vegan swaps for your professional kit.
1. Face Oil
Used as an alternative to a standard moisturiser, face oils are a great way to prepare the skin for makeup, or to hydrate after makeup removal at the end of the day. Of course, most oils are free of animal-derivatives anyway, as they are usually made from plant or mineral oils. Here are some of our favourite conscious swaps: By Sarah, Skin Alchemists Sesenne, Weleda Almond Oil.
Skin Alchemists Sesenne Facial Elixir
2. Lip Balm
Lip balm is an ‘essential’ in our personal and professional beauty bags. However, many lip balm’s include beeswax, but more and more brands now offer vegan options. Beeswax can be replaced with plant or synthetic waxes. Here are some brands offering great vegan-alternatives: Odylique, Evolve Beauty or The Glowcery – making for easy, simple swaps.
For more beauty balm suggestions to have in your kit – please read this article by Lou.
Evolve Organic Beauty Lip Treat
3. Mineral Blush
Mineral blushes – both loose and pressed – are conscious kit must-haves because they usually have a very short ingredients list. Baked options provide a compact solution, but loose blushes offer a lot of product for a more affordable price point. However, some brands, who prioritise ‘natural’ pigments over synthetics ones, will still need to use carmine – an animal-derived pigment for certain formulations – so be sure to look out for CI 75470 on the INCI list if you want to avoid it. It’s also worth noting that it’s good practice to check individual products for their vegan credentials, as sometimes brands only carry vegan certifications for certain products in their line.
Try Inika Baked Blush Duo, Honeypie Minerals Loose Blush, Lily Lolo Pressed Blush Duos.
Honeypie Minerals Blusher
4. Lip colour
Arguably one of the more important products to carry in your kit for Vegans are lipsticks and lipglosses (the theory being you are most likely to ingest it). Vegan lip colours have been on the rise in recent years, with alternatives to beeswax and animal-based red and purple pigments, which are improving all the time.
Kitaka London Gloss
5. Hair Care
Vegan hair care is becoming increasingly popular, though conscious beauty alternatives can sometimes be harder to find. Here are some tried and tested brands with excellent styling products for a variety of hair types.
Try Maria Nila, Rahua and Boucleme
Looking for Makeup Brushes? Check out this list of our Top Vegan Makeup Brush Brands
Discover more brands that match your ethos in our *CBU Approved Brand Directory.
*Included free in our Premium and VIP memberships. Available to purchase for Friend and Associate memberships.
Conclusion
Switching to Vegan Beauty products can be beneficial to your kit and clients, but always consider the unforeseen impact on the environment, and ultimately the animals, when looking for alternatives.
We always advocate swapping out mainstream products for conscious ones, but only one by one and as needed. We hope that by the time you need replace some of these items you will consider these consciously created vegan alternatives to achieve the looks you desire while also supporting planet-friendly practices.
*Available to our Associate, Premium and VIP Members only.
Upgrade your membership
Get access to special discounts, add your voice to the conversation in our members-only monthly beauty chats and so much more!
Upgrade today for immediate access to exclusive member benefits.
More articles in this category
Keeping a natural professional make-up kit fresh, can actually be very tricky. Here are three top tips from conscious...
As we head into high summer, a sunkissed glow will remain a frequently requested makeup look, and one we...
Historically, natural and organic haircare has proved challenging in meeting the efficiency needs of consumers and professionals alike. However,...
