It’s World Vegan Day, so where better to start with vegan makeup than your mouth? Here’s a bumper selection of vegan lip choices, from sheer balms to liquid lipsticks and everything in between
More and more cosmetics brands, from high street to luxury to indie, and opting to avoid animal byproducts in the making of their products. While all of us would demand that our makeup be cruelty-free (animal testing is banned within the EU but remains a thorny topic owing to testing regulations in China and third-party testing), seeking cosmetics containing no animal derived products, with a stringent policy against animal testing as standard, hits two birds with one stone, so to speak, ensuring that your beauty products have been nowhere near an animal in their making. If it doubt, look for the Certified Vegan icon , Vegan Trademark by The Vegan Society or, to be more Sherlock about what’s in your cosmetics, familiarise yourself with common animal derivatives and check ingredients lists for a belt and braces approach. Mintel has reported a 100 per cent rise for ‘vegan’ claims within the cosmetics industry in the past year, and with vegan makeup and skincare becoming as mainstream as vegan diets in modern times, variety, affordability and quality of vegan makeup options have never been better. Get your lips around the following vegan options for further proof…
Winky Lux Flower Balm, £13
Whether you’re five of fifty five, this lip balm has multiple cheering elements- from the coloured chrysanthemum locked within the bullet to the pH adaptive formula that changes colour according to your natural colouring (I find that these all tend to veer towards a rosy pink, but that’s by no means a bad thing), to the coconut scent, it’s the makeup equivalent of a smelly gel pen and seriously covetable.
Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick, £15.30
Onto something a lot more bold and vampy, trust tattoo artist Kat to come up with something opaque, non-transferable, long lasting and diverse in shade range- from dusty nudes to metallic bronze and even gothic grey, there’s an Everlasting lip for all. The thin applicator also removes the need for liner, and colour stays precise and even through a reasonable amount of coffee drinking, croissant eating and gabbing.
Illamasqua Lava Lips, £20
Continuing with the quirky lippie innovation theme, this satin-finish swirled piece of eye candy creates a bright, creamy purple or red toned lip look depending on the colourway you opt for, and whipping it out in the ladies is sure to spark interest.
Inika Lipstick, £18
Certified organic and vegan, Inika lipsticks are renowned for their moisturising capacity and practically edible credentials, along with a wearable peach, pink and cherry colour palette. If you’re after something for day to day wear that fulfils all ethical and environmental criteria you could imagine, Inika are it.
Collection Intense Shine Gel Lipstick, £4.99
A high street swipe of juicy vegan colour, this sheeny budget lipstick makes dodging animal derivatives while doing the weekly shop a breeze. It’s more of a balmy stain than a pigmented lipstick in terms of payoff, but at under a fiver I’ve got no complaints.
Axiology Lipstick, £29
An absence of animal byproducts shouldn’t equal a lack of chic- this gold encased, rich lipstick range delivers intense, beautiful colour in spades and makes lips look and feel plump and supple thanks to the addition of organic avocado oil and butter (double avo is always welcome), vitamin E and an abundance of nourishing plant extracts overall. A bullet of this is a treat, but it’s bang on.
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer, £16
Everyone craves a slice of the Fenty pie at the minute, and for a vegan taste of Rihanna’s much-adored collection, this suits-all gloss ticks the box. If you remain obsessed with rose gold, want a bit of caramelly shimmer without the glitterball effect and basically lust after a nude lip with an edge, Bad Gal Riri went there.
3ina The Lip Oil Balm, £8
This slick tube of lip shine doesn’t quite know what it is, but that’s cool. Available in a traffic-light style lineup of sheer shades, it’s infused with shea butter and vitamin E for moisturising impact, and makes for an easy handbag staple if gloss is your thing but stickiness categorically is not. Perhaps due to the lack of ‘stick’, it does wear off fairly quickly, but you don’t need a mirror to apply it and it’s priced at pocket money baseline so I’ll forgive the slight longevity issue.
B. Lip & Cheek Tint, £6.99
Another subtle high street multitasker, the B range of makeup is cruelty-free, vegan and affordable across the board. Alongside the B. skincare line, it’s setting the bar for high quality yet thrifty and ethical cosmetics- many a budget brand would do well to follow in B.’s footsteps. This sheer wash of colour doesn’t stand out, but then that’s the idea. It’s a face-freshening perker-upper that adds a hint of warmth to lips and cheeks without shouting about it, and the slightly shiny finish is particularly appreciated during the dull winter months.
Urban Decay Metallized Vice Lipstick, £15.50
From subtle to saturated molten colour, the new metallic incarnations of Urban Decay’s already punchy Vice range can be edgy (forest green anyone?) or lustrous and jewel toned, but whichever way you spin it they’re not an au naturel pick in terms of aesthetic, which is quite refreshing in the sometimes ‘safe’ vegan market. They also last for hours without flaking and are loaded with plant butters and oils to keep lips smooth and non-chappy. All. bases. Covered.
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