Everything You Need To Know About Vegan Makeup

The vegan movement is taking off, as consumers go from entitled to conscious. So what is vegan makeup anyway? And should you be using it in your salon?

You know that lipstick you’re using? Crushed parasites.

Your mascara? Fish scales.

Your eye makeup? Fat from leftover animal parts.

There’s a reason going vegan is no longer reserved for tofu-munching hippies. Besides being enough to make you sick, the animal derivatives found in common cosmetics typically come from non-ethical sources. Think the factory farms you’ve been avoiding supporting when you buy your meat and eggs.

…animal derivatives found in common cosmetics typically come from non-ethical sources. Think the factory farms you’ve been avoiding supporting when you buy your meat and eggs.

It’s a dirty secret most cosmetics companies are going to great lengths to conceal. But today’s savvy consumers are uncovering the origins of their makeup ingredients for themselves and responding with their wallets, opting for cruelty free and vegan products. Which shouldn’t be of any surprise to salon owners, who have been seeing an increasing demand for ethical products for some time now.

“People have been becoming more conscious about their products for a while now. First it was going paraben free, then organic ingredients really took off and in the last two or three years it’s moved to vegan products,” says general manager at Encore Beauty, which represents vegan friendly makeup brand SLA Paris, Shannon Earls.

So what is vegan makeup, anyway?

Vegan makeup is simply makeup which is free of any animal ingredients and has not been produced with animal testing. Besides providing a more ethical option for customers, by eliminating animal derivatives, vegan makeup products are often gentler on sensitive skin and thus can be used on a wide range of different skin types. In response to mounting consumer pressure, beauty brands have released vegan makeup products across the spectrum including vegan eye shadow, vegan lipstick and even vegan nail polish.

Is it suitable for professional use?

According to Earls, not only can vegan makeup replicate the same results as traditional cosmetics, but there’s now a demand amoung industry professionals to upskill in using it.

“Television talent have been requesting that the products used on them are vegan more and more recently. They’re in them all day so the ingredients really count,” explains Earls.

Aimed at helping makeup professionals meet this demand, SLA hosted an industry night for professional makeup artists last week at its training academy in Castle Hill titled, ‘Paraben Free and Vegan Friendly HD Makeup’. The event was befittingly presented by former department head of channel 7 makeup, Rachel Dal Danto, who lead makeup professionals through two demonstrations using SLA products, all of which were paraben and animal derivative free, Fair Trade and not tested on animals.

“At the end of the day, consumers are number one so as makeup professionals, we really have to respond to what they want,” says Earls.

Have your say: Do you think it’s important to use vegan makeup products?