The Best Clean Beauty Brands for Makeup

Thanks to the pandemic, we’ve been spending way more time indoors than out at a social gathering, but that doesn’t mean we have to neglect our makeup! And when it comes to makeup, organic is the way to go. We use makeup every day, and it’s very, very intimate with our skin. Which means the ingredients need to be safe for us (and, relatedly, for the environment). With the emergence of the clean beauty movement – which used to mean homemade, handmade, suspiciously packaged products, but now includes the top luxury makeup brands enthusiastically marketing glamorous ‘non toxic makeup’ – the beauty industry is undergoing a much-needed upgrade. Not only are there recognizable clean beauty brands, but there are enough to compile a long list of the best clean beauty brands for makeup in the market!

Table Of Contents

The Unregulated Beauty Industry
Defining Clean Beauty
The Best Clean Beauty Brands for Makeup
Best Websites for Makeup (Clean and Green Beauty)
Read More About Clean Beauty

The Unregulated Beauty Industry

Which skincare brands are the best, though? When it comes to beauty brands, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that beauty brands do not legally need to disclose their ingredients to us (including any toxic ones). So, harmful and even cancer causing makeup brands have had a free rein for far too long. The good news is that consumers have wised up over the years, and the numerous trailblazing new clean beauty makeup brands are open about their ingredients and particular about using only organic, natural ingredients to begin with.

But definitions are vague, and not legally enforceable. So, “organic” could mean one thing to you and another thing to me. Same with “natural”. To avoid this (and to avoid having to vet every single ingredient listed on the bottle – as well as worrying about those that haven’t been listed), my strategy was to just go for products that have only a few basic “clean” ingredients along with relevant certifications, and brands that clearly state their philosophy of being mindful of the environment and of our health.

Defining Clean Beauty

So, for our purposes here, what is a clean beauty brand? The clean beauty brands listed in this post are cruelty-free, use natural and organic ingredients, do not use toxic ingredients (such as parabens, pthalates, etc), use sustainable packaging, and preferably have some trusted certification vouching for it (such as the EcoCert COSMOS seal or the Made Safe certification, or the B-Corp certification or the Sephora Clean Seal). So, you can safely limit your makeup options to just the brands on this list, knowing that they are non-toxic and clean (both of which mean the same thing).

If you want to explore other brands, and find out for yourself what the safest makeup brand is, understanding the brand’s intentions is vital (and it’s usually apparent when you dig a bit). You don’t want a brand that’s great at marketing, but is actually cutting corners with the ingredients’ safety aspect. When in doubt, head to the EWG website to search for the ingredients. And do look out for the reviews, whether on the brand website or on Amazon. Thanks to the collective feedback system that is the online product reviews, we don’t need to make mistakes when we can learn from others’.

So, what are the cleanest makeup brands? Let’s get down to listing out 31 of the best clean beauty brands that are safe for you and the planet. The list covers a whole gamut of brands (in alphabetical order), such as Laurel Skin, whose ingredients are sourced from their own garden and local farms; Ilia Beauty, a pioneering clean beauty brand that works with TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box platform to prevent landfill waste; Vapour Beauty, which has a Champion safety status from the EWG and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics; and numerous handmade brands, such as W3ll People (made in small batches), etc.

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1 // 100% Pure

2 // Alima Pure

Let’s Plant a Forest Together /// 1 Order = 5 Meals

Alima Pure affordable organic makeup brands

3 // Au Naturale

Ingredients Standards

4 // Balmyard Beauty

5 // BITE Beauty

Stop and smell the ingredients

6 // Fitglow Beauty

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7 // Grown Alchemist

8 // Henne Organics

9 // Ilia Beauty

Recycling with TerraCycle

10 // Jillian Dempsey

11 // Juice Beauty

Juice Beauty Standards

12 // Kjaer Weis

#enlightenedbeauty

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13 // Kosås

14 // Lawless Beauty

Clean AF

15 // Lily Lolo

Exquisite vegan brushes

16 // Living Libations

17 // Love + Sage

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18 // Manasi 7

19 // Olio E Osso

20 // P/Y/T

Beauty without the BS

21 // Rituel de Fille

22 // RMS Beauty

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23 // Rodin

24 // Tata Harper

25 // Tower 28 Beauty

26 // Vapour Beauty

Recycles empties

27 // W3ll People

Makeup with nothing to hide

THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE DETAILS.

Best Websites for Makeup (Clean and Green Beauty)

These aggregator websites curate the best clean beauty makeup brands:

1 // The Detox Market

Check out The Detox Market’s Brand List for Makeup for luxe as well as affordable non toxic beauty products.

2 // Credo

3 // Sephora

4 // Target

5 // Follain

6 // Integrity Botanicals

THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE DETAILS.

I hope you found this list of clean, non-toxic makeup brands helpful. Check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (or their Facebook page) for updates on the clean beauty industry, and guidelines to avoid greenwashing. Know of any more clean beauty brands?

NOTE: All brand photographs belong to the respective brands/businesses.

The Unregulated Beauty Industry

Defining Clean Beauty