If you’ve been following along with the changing landscapes in beauty you are probably coming to the same conclusions we are—ingredients matter! The U.S. hardly regulates personal care products, meaning many ingredients regularly found in our beauty supplies are banned in other countries. So until the States catch up, we thought we would share some of our favorite brands and tips on finding safe, cruelty free brands and beauty products that are also clean.
via A Beautiful Mess
Two websites we regularly use to judge a brand’s quality (in terms of safety and cruelty free) are EWG Skin Deep and Cruelty-Free Kitty. EWG gives rating based on the safety of the ingredients. Search a brand to see if it is EWG verified or specific product and get the score plus a full breakdown of the ingredients used. Cruelty-Free Kitty is a great resource if you’re looking for brands that do not test on animals. Head to those sites if you are curious to see how your favorite brands rank! In the meantime, here are some of our favorite brands that pass the test –
Clean & Cruelty Free Brands
Tarte Cosmetics
We love love love Tarte Cosmetics. Not only are they cruelty-free, they also have a low EWG score – mostly 1’s and 2’s, which is what you want if you’re concerned with safe ingredients. We’ve tried a handful of cruelty-free and clean beauty products, and Tarte consistently delivers with quality products. Bonus, if you’re also looking for vegan products they have a ton of options (including our fave concealer, foundation, and powder)!
Beautycounter
One of our other favorite beauty brands is Beautycounter. They’re only sold online, but trust us – their products are worth the snail mail wait. Not only are they cruelty-free and have excellent EWG scores, but a lot of their mission is focused on lobbying Congress to make changes to our severely outdated personal care product regulations. They have a Never List of over 1,500 ingredients (1,400 of which are banned in Europe) that they’ll never use in their products. If you’re curious about their mission, you can read more about it here. We’ve tried everything from their makeup and skincare, to their hair care products and have yet to meet a product we don’t like. While a lot of what they sell is vegan, they do have some products that contain beeswax, lanolin and fish oil so if you’re especially concerned about that be sure to read the ingredients carefully.
via Wear Daisy Went
Glossier
Glossier is another great cruelty free brand that has vegan options (some of their products also contain beeswax, lanolin and honey so always read labels!). Many of their products also score well on EWG, but they do have some lower ranked ones, so if this is important to you check the specific product before purchasing. Their blushes and bronzers score well though and are some of our favorites!
Rahua
When it comes to clean beauty products, don’t forget about hair care! We love Rahua, because their goal is to change the way people look at beauty products so they understand they can have highly effective, results-oriented, luxurious beauty products that are created with natural, plant-based ingredients instead of petroleum based, toxic chemicals. Can’t every brand have this vision? And they are cruelty free to boot. Start simple with their shampoo and conditioner, or try one of their incredible treatments.
Summer Fridays
Another great resource to help you make clean beauty choices and discover cruelty free brands? Sephora clean beauty. In every category, you can select “clean beauty” to narrow down all products. Plus, everything clean or cruelty free will be denoted with a badge, which makes things even easier. This is one of our go-to ways to shop for safe brands. One of which is Summer Fridays. We’ve raved about their masks over and over again, but what’s great is they are not only powerful but free of parabens, sulfates, and synthetic dyes and fragrances — and are vegan and gluten-free. And yes, they are cruelty free too!
Wet n’ Wild
If you’re a budget beauty girl, we’ve got you too. While it can pay off to splurge on things like skincare or quality brushes, sometimes it is nice to experiment with new blush or eyeshadow colors without dropping double digits on a palette you may not like. Enter: Wet n Wild. We know, we know.. Your adult self is cringing while your inner middle school girl rejoices, but hear us out. This brand is cruelty free and has dozens of products that score well with EWG. So while we wouldn’t recommend it for your everyday wear, it is a great option for when you’re looking to try out new colors or mix in a few budget friendly pieces.
How do your favorite cruelty free brands score?