9 Shocking Things You Didn't Know About Vegan Make-up

Although vegan makeup is becoming increasingly popular, many people are still skeptical and have many questions about switching from well-known brands that you can find in stores and on Vogue's pages. 
However, there are many questions that are not asked, whether it concerns a vegan make-up or foundation that is called 'natural'. Therefore, we have created a clear guide: 

• Why a brand can be vegan - and yet very unethical
• How vegan makeup can be just as effective as other foundation, lipsticks, and eyeliner
• The #1 myth about natural makeup that isn't true
• Laws that have affected millions of makeup buyers

1 - Facts about animal friendliness that are shocking but true
While vegan makeup means that no animal products are used, companies can have a vegan product that is still, heartbreakingly, tested on animals. 

• Even if a country has a law against animal testing, this does not mean that all products from a company are "animal-friendly."
In England, for example, it is legally prohibited to test cosmetics on animals within the country itself. However, there are large makeup companies that sell products in England ... that test their products on animals in other countries around the world. 

• Until 2019, China legally required cosmetics to be tested on animals. Yes, legally required.
Because 20% of all sales of beauty products take place in China, this was therefore a huge amount of beauty products that were in any case not produced in an animal-friendly way.

It has been confirmed that 9 laws will be amended so that by 2020 animal testing will no longer be necessary.

Although the laws are changing, the change is very recent, so there are many companies, especially those selling in China, where it will probably take a while before their testing processes are adjusted. (Fortunately, there are great foundations that are vegan and cruelty-free.)

2 - Companies can claim their makeup is 'natural'
You try to buy natural foods at the supermarket. Spinach. Apples. Potatoes. Although your shopping basket does not only contain natural products, you try to fill it as much as possible with these kinds of products. That's because you know the power of ingredients derived from the earth - instead of packaged products soaked in processed chemicals and artificial additives.

(It's like the difference between a gummy candy with strawberry flavor and a ripe, juicy strawberry sprinkled with honey.) 

When choosing natural makeup, it can be difficult because many brands claim that their product is natural. However, the word natural has an extensive definition. A product can be natural and still contain all kinds of additives. 
For example, there is a large retailer who says that their product contains the best botanical ingredients but actually contains as many as 1,078 different ingredients.

Yes, some common makeup products contain more than 100 or even more than 1000 ingredients.
Usually, not all of so many ingredients will be natural. Therefore, it is vital to choose a natural makeup with only a few pure ingredients. 

3 - Natural makeup does not translate to 'healthy' 
Although the term sounds naturally good, remember that there are powerful elements on earth that occur naturally ... but are bad for you. 
Lead.
Arsenic.

These deadly compounds are literally natural, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are healthy. Although you probably won't find toxic arsenic in makeup, there are other elements that may be lurking. Make sure the following does not apply to the makeup you buy: 

• It contains perfumes (this may sound natural, but can hide many chemicals)
• Parabens (these are known to cause skin irritation)
• Vague or general words to hide harmful ingredients
• Parabens (these are known to cause skin irritation)
• Vague or general words to hide harmful ingredients

4 – It turns out that vegan doesn't necessarily mean 'hippie' 
For a long time, people associated the term vegan with 'tie-dye' dressed people who eat wheatgrass and use plants with 'medicinal' properties. While living a natural lifestyle can mean drinking herbal tea after a yoga class, vegan food and products are simply things that do not use animal products. So there doesn't have to be a negative connotation.

Vegan products are often just as good, if not better, than their counterparts full of chemicals.
In fact, the best vegan products are made in very modern production facilities and must be handled with extra care - because there are far fewer fake additives that can be thrown in as a patch. 

5 - Products can be subtly non-vegan
In the supermarket, picking out vegan products among the non-vegan products is much easier than with make-up. 
Beef versus tempeh
Cheese versus tofu
Whipped cream versus dark dark chocolate

By comparing these side by side, choices become much easier if you want to switch from animal products.

However, when we look at makeup packaging, the process is more difficult because it is not clear what an animal product is. To help you choose non-animal ingredients, here are a few top terms you should remember and avoid: 
squalane: This can be found in some creams or liquid foundations - and it comes from shark liver oil. 
Stearic acid: Many cosmetics contain this ingredient, which is used to cleanse the product, and it comes from animal fat. 
Guanine: Comes from the scales or skin of fish, often used as a color that provides pigment in cosmetics. 

6 - There are different types of natural makeup, which are NOT the same
Just as you can choose from different types of tea every morning (Earl Grey? Peppermint? Oolong?), there are different types of vegan makeup. 

• Liquid foundation make-ups that contain only vegan ingredients.
→ This contains ingredients such as essential oils, bamboo, coconut alkanes, aloe leaf juice, and hyaluronic acid.

• Pressed powder, which can have different types of bases.
→ There are many types of powders, such as those with shea butter, various essential oil bases

• Mineral makeup.
→ This type of makeup uses minerals. It is found in both pressed powder and loose powder, as well as products like eyeliner pencils and lipsticks.

The reason we are such fans of mineral makeup as an alternative to vegan beauty? Mineral makeup is one of the least processed types of makeup.
It is true that bamboo and aloe are beautiful vegan ingredients, but they still need to be processed and transformed to become a makeup ingredient - especially when you take a gel like aloe and turn it into a powder. It is similar to the difference between eating raw spinach versus having a powder mix with dehydrated spinach powder.

While minerals are nicely placed in a container to then be applied to the skin, they are still (as long as the brand does it well) an authentic, real mineral product that is very close to their original form. 

7 - If you choose mineral makeup, make sure the base is Mica
When you choose mineral makeup, make sure the main ingredient is MICA.

Why?
Mica is a natural makeup derived from the highest quality mineral compounds and will fall lightly yet effectively on the skin. 

8 - Know that the term 'talk' does not make the product a good mineral makeup
Now that you have heard about mineral makeup and have become interested in trying it, we want to confirm that there is an ingredient that can make certain products appear mineral.
Talk.

Technically, Talk is a mineral, but it does not adhere to the skin in the same smooth, long-lasting way that real mineral makeup does. 

9 - The best about high-quality, vegan makeup
Many traditional makeup brands invest most resources in marketing, international magazines, and photoshoots with supermodels, so the product costs are often high due to expenses on top of the product - not the foundation or eyeliner itself. Because the internet makes awareness and shopping so much easier, it has become much easier to connect with great brands with prices that do not stem from marketing budgets of millions of dollars.

A fantastic example? → This incredibly high-quality yet affordable mineral makeup