Nontoxic beauty|nontoxic vegan brands for people of color
How many times you go the beauty counter, browse a brand website, or the pharmacy aisle to realize the new foundation you heard so many great waves about only has shades up to “tan”?
Take this frustration, this disappointment, then multiply it by 1000 times, and you’ll get how I feel when looking for beauty products that will actually match my skin tone and won’t make a number on my skin and health later down the road.
What are my expectations when it comes to beauty?
My wish ( because one can only do that!) is to being able to find vegan and non-toxic makeup for my deep skin tone.
It’s not too much to ask really!
Did you know?
“Black women are one of the most powerful consumers because they are three times as likely to be the head of household than any other minority culture,” Tarra Jackson
It just happens that some of us love makeup and beauty!
Assuming that you understand now that we, people of color can actually afford the products. How about why they should be vegan?
If you can’t see why you should live a cruelty-free life then you might have some double standards issues you need to work on!
It’s ok to cuddle you miniature poodle at home or your cat… but ok for less fortunate animals to be caged, and get all sort of hellish products tested on them? ? or do you think they are at this wonderful spa resort with all of the treats and fixings?
Is it ok to feel bad for a human being who has no respect for life but deny that same respect to the animals? ??
Maybe you didn’t know?
What’s actually is in your makeup and beauty products?
A few of them:
Ambergris
whale intestines. Used as a fixative in making perfumes and as a flavoring in foods and beverages.
Amino Acids
The building blocks of protein in all animals and plants. In cosmetics, vitamins, supplements, shampoos.
Bee Products
Bees are selectively bred. Culled bees are killed. A cheap sugar is substituted for their stolen honey. Millions die as a result.
Carmine
Red pigment from the crushed female cochineal insect. Reportedly, 70,000 beetles must be killed to produce one pound of this red dye. Used in cosmetics, shampoos, red apple sauce, and other foods (including red lollipops and food coloring).
Cetyl Alcohol
Wax originally found in spermaceti from sperm whales or dolphins but now most often derived from petroleum.
Emu Oil
From flightless ratite birds native to Australia and now factory-farmed.
Fish Scales
Used in shimmery makeup.
Keratin
Protein from the ground-up horns, hooves, feathers, quills, and hair of various animals.
Lecithin
A waxy substance in the nervous tissue of all living organisms. But frequently obtained for commercial purposes from eggs and soybeans. Also from nerve tissue, blood, milk, corn. Choline bitartrate, the basic constituent of lecithin, is in many animal and plant tissues and prepared synthetically. Lecithin can be in eye creams, lipsticks, liquid powders, hand creams, lotions, soaps, shampoos, other cosmetics, and some medicines.
Linoleic Acid
An essential fatty acid. Used in cosmetics, vitamins.
Read more on Animal products in your cosmetics.
10 animal products lurking in your cosmetics
8 weirdest animal products in your beauty products
Besides all the environmental consequences, how bad are the ingredients in your beauty?
A good place to check out how toxic your products are: EWG
Now, I am not saying you should throw out all of your beauty supply! I am aware some non-toxic vegan brands charge an arm and leg for their products. How about you as a consumer you start small. Begin within your means.
Next time you are out of your favorite lipstick, how about you look for something cleaner and animal-friendly to replace it? They are so many options out there.
10 non-toxic and vegan brands for people of color
Here are 10 non-toxic and vegan brands for people of color:
This beauty brands has foundation for all skin tones and under tones. They have a great sample program in place. It’s hard not to find a match. Alima pure also has product for normal,oily, and dry skin. ( 45 foundation shades)
Only natural, ethically sourced ingredients made it to Au naturale products. Great shade range, well performed products. (15 foundations shades)
People of color don’t wear only foundation and blushes. We love a great lipstick, especially when it compliments our skin tone. Axiology beauty knows how to make a girl want to buy more lipsticks or lip crayon! Not that we need any encouragement!
Made for women of color. They made a pretty great job at representing how we really look like! ( 15 shades)
Gabriel cosmetics has a nice shade selection. Their eye shadows and lipsticks are so luxurious and pigmented! (14 shades) Check out their nail polish collections!
Now, that’s diversity! Plain Jane beauty doesn’t disappoint! (17 shades)
The lip products and eye shadows heaven! They have great blushes too! The best part? They have models with varied skin tones to showcase how the products would look.
Why this brand is not more popular? They have great foundation shades selection, great eye shadows, and blushes! (41 shades)
Again, beauty doesn’t only mean foundation. Silk natural has this eye shadows and lipsticks selection with no rivals!
Not all of them are vegan, some have dyes. They have wonderful and convincing dupes for the most popular mainstream cult products at ridiculously affordable prices!
Zuzuluxe is the luxurious side of Gabriel Cosmetics, although I love them both! Gabriel is more diversified but zuzu luxe has those interesting colors ( Blushes, eye shadows) are to die for!
So far, these are 10 nontoxic vegan brands for people of color. The ones I tried at least! I really hope this list expands soon! If not for the sake of the animals, then for business, or your consumers well being!
I didn’t include those other green beauty brands because they only have two “dark” or “cacao” shades. Those product developers need to know dark skin comes in all shades, not one color will match us all!
If you want to take my hard earned money, then you need to make the effort! We, women of color have the power of purchase, we need a bigger market to buy!
See you soon!
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