The 5 Best Vegan and Cruelty-Free Makeup Products - QC Makeup Academy

As an MUA, your clients expect the products in your professional makeup kit to be top quality. Importantly, your kit should also possess enough diversity that you can adjust to your client based on their skin’s needs. Common examples of this would be working with a client who has particular skin conditions, issues, allergies, etc. The most efficient way to ensure that your makeup won’t cause harm to your client’s skin is to invest in vegan, cruelty-free products.

What are vegan, cruelty-free makeup products?

A makeup product is vegan if it does not contain any animal products or by-products. This includes ingredients such as beeswax, collagen, gelatin and many more. A product is considered cruelty-free when it has not been tested on animals. While not always the case, a “vegan” product tends to also be “cruelty free” the majority of the time.

For an in-depth look at what vegan makeup is made of and what ingredients it tends to avoid, please refer to our article, Vegan Makeup 101.

pink powder from rose to made organic lipstick and skincare product on white background. homemade remedy . top view.

Why go vegan?

For starters, using vegan, cruelty-free products in your professional makeup kit adds an ethical component to your business that’s very beneficial. Morally, there are very few disadvantages to offering clients vegan, cruelty-free products. In today’s day and age, mistreatment of animals is highly frowned upon (for good reason!), and vegan lifestyles are only becoming more and more popular. Vegan products are also proven to have less of a carbon footprint, thereby being better for the environment!

From a business perspective, it can be argued to be a very smart move, capable of bringing in more clientele. Providing products that align with these modern (and popular) beliefs and lifestyles increases the chances of your MUA business being favorably received by Millennials and Gen X’ers alike.

cosmetic brushes, make-up powder, blush, foundation, eyeshadow in plastic jars

Vegan, cruelty-free makeup products we recommend for your professional makeup kit…

It’s tough to choose between the eyeshadows and the lip products when it comes to iconic vegan line, Charlotte Tilbury, but ‘The Icon Palette’ deserves all the praise it can get. With a nice range of pigments – ranging from cream all the way to jet black – this 12-shade palette of glittery hues offers eyeshadow options for every occasion. Day, night, diva, and even disco – there’s something for everybody!

Personally, my favorite shade in the palette is the bold royal blue. Which shade do YOU like best?

In addition to being vegan and cruelty-free, Milk Makeup also prides themselves on being paraben-free in all their products. As if that weren’t enough, this cleanser is also microbead-free – an ingredient known for:

  1. Being impossible to recycle, and
  2. Being ridiculously toxic for marine creatures

We strongly maintain that a strong skincare routine is just as – if not more – important than the makeup routine itself. Healthy skin means a clean and healthy canvas for the makeup to go on in the first place. So finding a cleanser that not only works, but is as safe for the skin as can be? How can you go wrong!

Pro tip: Milk Makeup recommends pairing this product with their ‘Vegan Milk Moisturizer’ in order to best lock in your skin’s moisture.

Japanese woman, face wash with cleanser

Like Milk Makeup, E.l.f. Cosmetics is a cosmetic company proudly vegan, cruelty-free, and paraben-free. Let’s be real here: most of us are already familiar with E.l.f.’s makeup, and we know it seriously rocks. Their variety of different products and their amazing pigments are to die for, on top of being environmentally-friendly and good for your client’s skin!

But in particular, their lip products are our favorite. Specifically, we feel the Day to Night Lipstick Duo deserves a shout-out. Firstly, it’s insanely cheap, and you get TWO lipsticks and colors for the price of one! We don’t think we need to explain why this is seriously awesome for any MUA and her professional makeup kit.

This lipstick comes with 4 different duo shade options:

  1. ‘The Best Berries’
  2. ‘Need It Nudes’
  3. ‘Red Hots Reds’
  4. ‘I Love Pink’

No matter which color set you pick, you’re guaranteed a sleek and sexy shade not just for your everyday wear, but for when you’re ready to have a night on the town!

With all makeup products known for being 100% vegan and cruelty-free, Cover FX is one of the leading competitors for tattoo-concealing products. While they have many other items that are worth looking into, what we’re interested in is its ability to build enough coverage to successfully cover any tattoo your client may want to hide on their big day.

As someone with their fair share of tattoos, I’ve tried many different products, and never found any that worked as well as Cover FX! Here, we’re specifically recommending their ‘Total Cream Cover Foundation’, because it’s awesome and provides great coverage – specifically for normal to dry skin types.

But it’s worth noting that alongside this product, you can use Cover FX’s ‘Cream Concealer’ and ‘Matte Setting Powder’ to magically hide tattoos. Very handy for SFX makeup, brides who wish to conceal their tattoo(s) on their wedding day, etc.!

Palette concealer and correctors. Make-up base. Isolated on black background

If you aren’t familiar with what color correcting is and why it’s so fundamental that you incorporate this practice into technique, we strongly suggest checking out the Color Correcting webinar hosted by QC’s executive MUA and instructor, Nathan Johnson.

Trust us: as you’ll quickly understand by checking out Nathan’s webinar, you should definitely carry some sort of color correcting products in your professional makeup kit. The odds are higher of working with a client who has some sort of skin blemish, condition, discoloration, etc. If you aren’t prepared, you won’t be able to do the best job for her as you possibly can – which is not only limiting you, but your business’s reputation!

Everyday Minerals is globally known for strictly using all-natural ingredients in their products. When it comes to their color correctors, you can’t go wrong. For starters, Jojoba is a wonderful ingredient in general for cosmetic products, namely due to:

  1. Its organic ability to mimic the skin’s natural oils, and
  2. Its ability to help prevent acne breakouts, thanks to how it absorbs into the skin (rather than sitting directly on the surface and clogging your client’s pores)
  3. Its “softening, moisturizing, and conditioning properties” for the skin
Pouring with jojoba oil from jug into bowl on white marble table

There are for Color Correcting colors you can choose from:

Personally, we recommend arming your professional makeup kit with each and every one of these all-natural correctors! In fact, while you absolutely do not need any of the above recommendation, we DO strongly suggest doing research of your own, and trying out some vegan, cruelty-free makeup products. There may be a ton of incredible products you haven’t discovered yet!

Want to add more zero-waste beauty products to your professional makeup kit, too? Keep reading!

Author Sarah Seguin

More posts by Sarah Seguin

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