You may be following a plant-based lifestyle for health reasons, on account of your love of animals or to be kinder to the planet. But no matter which of the three drives you in your quest, it has never been easier to be vegan.
Ever-increasing demand has led to supermarket shelves brimming with free-from food alternatives. You can find dairy-free yoghurts, butter and cheese as easily as you can find their cow-based alternatives. The same is true for fashion and your bathroom cabinet where there are plant-derived formulas aplenty, offering the same results as ones containing animal derivatives. Your haircare, skincare and makeup can be entirely vegan without sacrificing efficacy.
This extends to your mascara too. You may not realise but the likes of beeswax, collagen (generally marine or bovine), lanolin (made from sheep’s wool) and panthenol (from meat and honey) are common ingredients in this product type, renowned for their nourishing effect.
Finding a vegan mascara means you have a formula that does not include any of these components, yet still offers the volumising, lengthening and conditioning properties needed for luscious lashes.
These hard-working beauty heroes were created in order not to clump, flake or smudge, all without compromising your vegan principles. It is worth noting that there is a difference between vegan and cruelty-free and just because a brand or product is one, does not mean they are both.
When a mascara is vegan, it means that is free from any animal by-products. When it is cruelty-free, it means that it has not been tested on animals. A formula may not have any of the ingredients listed above but could still participate in animal testing and vice-versa. So, it is worth looking out for that Leaping Bunny certification for formulas that tick both boxes.
Typically, but not always, vegan products tend to harness the power of nature and so, you may just find that these free-from alternatives are made up of more plant-based ingredients and fewer chemicals, making them better suited to those with sensitivities.
Shop the best vegan mascaras below
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Milk Makeup KUSH High Volume Mascara
Since Milk Makeup brought the KUSH High Volume Mascara to the UK, it has solidified its status as a holy grail product. It is formulated with plant-derived oil to condition each and every lash in its nourishing mini heart-shaped fibres, while also imparting volume.
The smooth texture makes application a breeze and removes clumping from the equation even as you start to add coverage. A feat only enhanced by the criss-cross design of the bristles that means no hair is left behind. The mascara is both vegan and cruelty-free.
Buy now £26.00, Cult Beauty
Monika Blunder Beauty Architect Eyes Buildable Mascara
We were first introduced to Monika Blunder Beauty with the brand’s concealer and were immediately impressed. The vegan label calls on botanicals to drive its formulation; each of the products in the range is natural and kind to both sensitivities and the environment.
As you may have gathered, the Architect Eyes Buildable Mascara is a buildable formula, which means the first swipe applies with a lightweight composition. This gives you the power to control the coverage and create subtle minimal lash looks and bolder statements to match your mood. The silicone brush tackles each lash, while the algae extract and shea butter-enriched formula nourishes.
Buy now £28.00, Cult Beauty
Too Faced Better Than Sex
With the hourglass-shaped brush, Too Faced’s best-selling mascara ensures that every single last lash is coated in the carbon black formula. The black pigment is enriched with collagen to keep them in tip-top condition, while it works to lengthen. The product adds volume, thickens and nourishes to create a long, fluttery lash effect but can become more dramatic as you keep layering.
Buy now £25.00, lookfantastic
Perricone MD No Makeup Mascara
Backstage at fashion week, the beauty agenda was clear: 'no makeup' makeup shows zero signs of wavering. And it was with this idea that Perricone MD’s mascara was created. The brand designed this makeup staple to enhance your lashes without looking as if you’re wearing false lashes or much product at all.
It’s a two-in-one product that enriches skincare with pigment so you are treating your lashes to the nourishing, conditioning and strengthening benefits of candelilla wax that is similar to beeswax but plant-based, carnauba and avocado to build density as well as length and volume. It has a dual-faced brush with a comb on one side to separate each lash with ease.
Buy now £24.00, Perricone MD
bareMinerals Lashtopia Volumizing Mascara
This is the bestselling mascara in the bareMinerals line-up, and one flick of the wand will prove why. The product has an immediate fluttery effect, upping the length and density of your lashes in the carbon black hue thanks to the 600 bristles on the brush. These are placed in a staggered way to ensure that no lash is left behind as you apply the mousse-like texture.
As is the case with the entire bareMinerals makeup collection, this product is mineral-based and packed with conditioning ingredients, which makes it great for sensitive eyes.
Buy now £21.00, lookfantastic
Pacifica Vegan Collagen Fluffy Lash Mascara
Whether you are looking to replace your beauty cabinet with only vegan or natural brands, you can’t go far wrong with Pacifica and the label’s expansive selection of products that range from haircare to makeup.
To treat your lashes, the Vegan Collagen Fluffy Lash Mascara packs its pigment onto a spiral brush for extreme lengthening. This imparts the fibres onto the hairs, conditioning them while coating in the jet-black tint. Swipe away without fear of clumping or smudging. Good for the planet, good for your lashes.
Buy now £20.00, Cult Beauty
Vieve Modern Mascara
For a hard-working mascara that stays put from morning application to an evening on the tiles, look to Vieve. The pro makeup artist-founded label has succeeded in creating an intensely volumizing product that has staying power – up to 18 hours – yet is not arduous to remove when the night draws to a close.
From the luxe gold exterior to the vitamin-infused formulation, this is a product you’ll rebuy over and over again. It contains both vitamins C and E as well as vegan beeswax and carnauba wax renowned for their conditioning benefits and to make sure that no matter your lash length, you can create dramatic, fuller eye looks.
Buy now £23.00, Vieve
Inika Bold Lash Mascara
Leaving them enviably long and full of volume, Inika’s Bold Lash Mascara will transform your lashes. The hyper-pigmented product glides on seamlessly from root to tip to give the appearance of thickness due to the rich black hue. It also cloaks the hairs in super conditioning ingredients like vitamin E and sunflower oil so no matter whether you’re going for a no-makeup-makeup look with just one sweep or the occasion calls for something bolder, you are nourishing your lashes as you go. The versatile formula means it can be built for drama, drama, drama.
Buy now £29.00, Naturisimo
RMS Beauty Straight Up Volumizing Peptide Mascara
RMS Beauty has enriched its Straight Up Volumizing Peptide Mascara with peptides to strengthen and protect for healthier lashes. It combines this supercharged ingredient with what the brand refers to as a tri-locking system so that once you apply the conditioning and pigmented ingredients, it doesn’t budge and remains smudge and flake free for up to 12 hours.
Buy now £25.00, Naturisimo
Sweed Cloud Mascara
If the playful cloud-embellished packaging wasn’t enough to win this mascara from Sweed a coveted place in your makeup bag, then the long list of benefits will do the job. The brand has created the Cloud brush that grips and separates each lash to give the impression of density and fullness. It also works to curl the hairs and set them in place – no flaking and smudging included. This mascara shines in its lengthening ability that defines the lashes.
Buy now £24.00, Space NK
