Animal testing on beauty products has long been banned in New Zealand and beauty consumers are gravitating more and more towards natural, ethical, sustainable and vegan products. After all, you wouldn’t put harmful chemicals in your mouth, so why would you put them on your skin!? But what is vegan beauty? Essentially, vegan products are derived from 100% natural products that are not in any way sourced from animals. This includes popular ingredients such as beeswax, which is often replaced by carnauba wax, soy wax or candelilla wax. Lanolin, which is a derivative of sheep’s wool and is often used for its moisturising properties and can be replaced by vegan alternatives such as coconut oil, hyaluronic acid or shea butter. And Keratin, which is derived from animal hooves and is often used in hair care products and can be replaced by almond oils and soy protein.
But with hundreds of thousands of beauty brands to choose from, it can be hard to know what brands are vegan and what brands are not, so we have made it easy and listed a few of our favourite New Zealand and Australian vegan beauty brands below.
Aleph Beauty
New Zealand natural brand, Aleph Beauty features a modest range of makeup designed to be mixed together to form a full makeup range. Their products include foundation/concealer pots, cheek/lip pots and highlighter pots as well as their amazing serum/primer and makeup brushes. All of which are 100% natural and 100% vegan and animal-cruelty-free!
Ethique
New Zealand based, Ethique is a zero-waste, plastic-free, vegan beauty brand that has a range of soaps, shampoos & conditioners, face and body “naked” products made from natural ingredients. The brand is so popular that they stock their products in 2500 retailers in sixteen countries around the world.
Inika
Inika is an award-winning Australian beauty brand that is 100% plant-based, 100% animal-cruelty-free and 100% vegan. Their full range of makeup includes eye makeup, foundation, concealers and highlighters and lip products, as well as natural fibre makeup brushes.
Rawkanvas
Rawkanvas is an Australian beauty brand that has a range of makeup and skincare products, for skin concern such as sensitive skin, pregnancy-safe, mature skin and breakout-prone skin, just to name a few. All of their products are vegan, natural and cruelty-free.
Karen Murrell
Karen Murrell is a New Zealand owned and operated makeup brand that is 100% vegan and has a stunning and extensive range of natural lipsticks. Each lipstick case is also sustainable and recyclable, not to mention the lipstick itself has an appealing cinnamon scent.
Nude by Nature
Made in Australia, Nude by Nature is a mineral make up brand is animal-cruelty free, 100% natural and has a vast range of vegan-friendly makeup products and brushes.
Images supplied.