A highly pigmented eyeshadow is one of the most creative products in the beauty industry. From bold, colorful looks to neutral, everyday styles, organic eyeshadow can do wonders for a makeup look.
But your regular eyeshadow might not cut it in terms of sustainability and ethical sourcing.
This list of seven excellent eyeshadows will fill that gap for you. Made with natural and organic components, we can guarantee that these eyeshadows are good for your skin, the environment, and the people who made your beauty products.
These eye shadows are never made with any questionable ingredients. From nourishing oils to vitamin E, the ingredients in these shadows are sure to make your eyes stand out.
Note: This list is composed of eyeshadow products with organic ingredients. They are not necessarily certified as organic or contain at least 70% organic components. If they are, it will be expressly indicated.
Kjaer Weis - US
Kjaer Weis is a luxury makeup line that combines minimalist Scandanavian aesthetic with fierce New York City culture. The resulting products are high-performing, luxury products that don’t compromise on sustainability or quality.
About the Eyeshadow
Kjaer Weis has the only certified organic eyeshadow on this list. Meaning, the eyeshadow itself is certified, not just the ingredients.
Their Cream Eyeshadow comes in eight luscious colors you can experiment with to your heart’s content. This collection of iridescent and shimmery shades will take care of you all day.
Most of the shades are shimmery or have pearlescent notes, but a few also have a mild metallic finish. The shade range offers light peachy tones to dark, deep blues.
These natural, organic shadows will work on all skin types, although it isn’t specifically formulated for sensitive eyes.
You can get this eye shadow in three packaging options: refill, red edition, or in the iconic edition.
The red edition is a leather-like paper compact that you can recycle after refilling 2 or 3 times. Meanwhile, the iconic edition is not recyclable and is meant to last a lifetime.
Ingredients
Again, this is a natural, organic eyeshadow. However, not all of the ingredients have to be organic to get certified. Here are some of the organic components in this product:
- Corn Starch
- Coconut Oil
- Carnauba Wax
- Beeswax
- Castor Seed Oil
The coconut oil is packed with Vitamin E to keep your eyelids soothed, while the castor seed oil serves as a skin protectant.
Kjaer Weis products are all cruelty-free and gluten-free. However, they aren’t vegan since they use beeswax and pigments like carmine.
All their ingredients are sustainably and ethically sourced, as verified by third parties like COSMOS. You can read more about their ingredients and how they are considered organic on their sustainability page.
Brand Values
Sustainability has been part of the brand’s formula since day one. Kjaer Weis was the first beauty company to launch a line of refillable and plastic-free products, a value that they keep until today.
Their commitment to sustainable packaging is evident in how they continuously provide refillable options for most of their makeup.
They only use recyclable, compostable, and refillable materials in their packaging. They also utilize FSC certified paper and use water-based ink for their printouts.
Au Naturale - US
Founded in 2011, Au Naturale is a cosmetics brand with the goal of redefining what clean beauty means. They aim to open more consumer minds to the concept of clean and ethical beauty.
What started as lab samples is now available to a global audience while staying local in Wisconsin. They source fair trade and ethical ingredients all over the world.
The Eyeshadow
Au Naturale’s Au Naturale eye shadow comes in 11 luscious colors that are perfect for versatile wear. The colors are extremely buildable and can be used for light, sheer wear, and heavy, smokey night looks.
These gorgeous eyeshadows come in a 5mL tube for extremely easy application. This natural eye shadow stays put throughout the day thanks to the formula’s long-lasting coverage.
The shade “coffee” is a beautiful light brown that will work great for daily wear. You can use a bit for light coverage or build it up together with “saddle” for a look that’ll take your nights out to the next level.
The best part is that you can use this cruelty-free eyeshadow as your liner or brow filler! Here at Puratium, we love multi-purpose products that do all-around work. You could probably even use some of the lighter shades as highlighters.
Regardless of what you use it for, the eyeshadow’s creamy texture is sure to give you rich colors and a fantastic payoff.
Ingredients
The eyeshadow itself is not organic certified. However, a significant portion of the ingredients used to make the product are certified organic, such as the following:
- Castor Seed Oil
- Jojoba Seed Oil
- Corn Starch
- Xylityl Cocoate
- Lavender Oil
The brand uses USDA-certified organic products whenever possible. The most common non-organic ingredients they use are just the minerals used as pigments.
The formula itself is free from any synthetic preservatives, parabens, nanoparticles, or toxins. It is also cruelty-free, vegan, and gluten-free. Au Naturale is Leaping Bunny certified as well as PETA-approved cruelty-free and vegan.
The iron oxides and titanium dioxide used in the formula is Ecocert and COSMOS certified. The micas are mined child-labor-free and sustainably sourced globally.
The company’s products are made in their proprietary lab in Wisconsin, where they do all the production work. This allows them better control over their supply chain and they’re able to guarantee an incredibly transparent value-added cycle.
They do everything from handpicking the ingredients and mixing to packing and shipping them out to customers.
Brand Values
Au Naturale believes in redefining clean beauty. They do this through rigorous standards that are verified by their numerous third-party certifications.
All their products are made with conscious colors sourced sustainably and ethically worldwide. They do not have specific information on where they source their ingredients. Nevertheless, their certifications provide reasonable assurance that we can trust their word.
You can read more about the company’s standards here.
The Organic Skin Co. - New Zealand
The Organic Skin Co. is a New Zealand-based cosmetics brand. They create organic products filled with natural ingredients that actually work for your skin.
The brand is entirely cruelty-free and is certified vegan by the Vegan Society. They also have a BioGro certification, which signifies that a product comprises at least 70% organic components.
The Eyeshadow
The Organic Skin Co. has a pretty unique palette presentation. Instead of buying organic eyeshadow palettes on their own, you can create your very own customized palette! You can add blush, highlighter, and even concealer to your palette!
The Eyes Have It is the brand’s very own line of eyeshadow. It comes in eight highly pigmented colors that will suit different skin tones.
This eyes shadow set has everything you may need from neutral colors and deep browns to electric colors like purple and green. Using the eight shades, you can mix and match, to your heart’s content.
Simply apply it with a finger or use one of your makeup brushes. It’s blendable upon application but will quickly stay put once it’s had time to dry.
The color will stay on throughout the day, especially if it’s paired with some primer. If you have sensitive eyes and are easily irritated by most eyeshadows, give this one a try.
Ingredients
Although the brand has some organic certifications, they aren’t applicable to the eyeshadows. If you want an organic eyeshadow that’s certified, we recommend looking into their cheek and lip colors.
Some of those shades are BioGro certified. Although those aren’t technically for the eyes, the subtle pink shades will double quite well as organic eyeshadows.
That said, the organic components in their eyeshadow are the following:
- Castor Seed Oil
- Pomegranate Extract
- Calendula Extract
Depending on the shade, the eyeshadows may also contain iron oxides, mica, titanium dioxide, and other mineral colorants.
The formula is free of any toxic ingredients and is completely vegan and cruelty-free. There is absolutely no room for animal testing during production. The entire line is also gluten-free.
The supercritical extracts in the product will help reduce fine lines and promote skin regeneration, keeping your eyes hydrated and in excellent condition.
More than 70% of the brand’s ingredients are sourced in India.
Brand Values
The Organic Skin Co. mainly produces its products in India. Their factory is Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certified and runs primarily on solar power.
Since most of their ingredients come from India anyway, manufacturing in the area (provided they use ethical practices) will reduce carbon emissions. As a result, their overall process is much more sustainable.
You can read more about supercritical ingredients, their values, and more on their FAQs page.
Aether Beauty - US
Aether Beauty is a relatively new brand. Founded only in 2018 by a product development specialist, the brand has truly lived up to its promise of beauty without sacrifice.
They use strictly clean ingredients that are entirely vegan and cruelty-free. With Aether, you are guaranteed beauty with ethics and sustainability in mind.
The Eyeshadow
There are a couple of eyeshadow palettes in Aether’s collection—ranging from muted neutrals to bright, bold colors.
The Ametrine Crystal Quad is a four-color palette that’s great for regular daily wear as well as darker, smokey eyes. It comes with one matte color, with the rest being shimmery, metallic shades.
If you’re looking for an all-around eyeshadow palette that can take you from day to night, this one is definitely worth checking out.
Although this palette only has four shades, you can still create tons of different looks with it. The colors are intentionally versatile and will naturally complement each other for a complete makeup look.
The palette container also doesn’t have a mirror. Aether Beauty removed mirrors and magnets from their packaging to make the products more sustainable. Because of this, the entire palette is fully recyclable, something unique in the world of eyeshadow palettes.
Ingredients
Aether Beauty uses natural ingredients as much as possible. Where they can, they only use organic, non-GMO, and fair trade ingredients. They also have a long list of 2700 items that are banned from their formulas.
You can check out some of those ingredients here.
The eyeshadow palette we featured above is not organic. That is, it doesn’t have any organic certifications. However, a portion of the product is made from organic components, such as the following:
- Organic Coconut oil (fair trade)
- Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil
- Rosehip Oil
- Shea Butter (fair trade)
True to the palette’s name, one of the components in the product is Ametrine. It helps reduce blemishes and keeps skin clear and healthy.
As this is a mineral makeup product, it does contain some mica and Tin Oxide. The Tin Oxide may also contain Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Manganese Violet, Ultramarines, probably depending on the shade.
The mica used in the product is either naturally sourced or synthetically made in a lab. When sourced naturally, it only comes from verified child-labor-free sources. If this isn’t possible, the brand uses the synthetically made version.
All Aether products are vegan and cruelty-free. They have never tested their products on animals and will never use animal or animal by-products to create their makeup.
Brand Values
At its core, Aether Beauty believes in sustainability. They try to incorporate this value in just about everything they do. From the sourcing to the packaging, everything must be well-thought-out and sustainable.
All their products are made in either the US, Canada, or Europe. They only work with facilities that can guarantee ethical working standards for all employees. In addition, they only source from growers that can fully guarantee ethical working conditions on their farms.
Aside from their recyclable packaging, Aether also offers carbon-neutral shipping to decrease their emissions.
The brand is also a member of 1% for the Planet(like us), guaranteeing that at least 1% of annual sales are donated to environmental causes.
RMS Beauty - US
RMS Beauty is a makeup line founded by renowned makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift. Starting back in 2009, RMS has been in the industry for more than a decade and has been setting standards for clean beauty ever since.
The Eyeshadow
RMS Beauty’s RMS Beauty is a set of luscious, creamy shadows available in seven beautiful colors. Each color is incredibly versatile and wearable for many occasions.
Each shade is housed in a 4.25g tub and is sold separately.
If you are a fan of earthy and neutral colors, this eyeshadow is certainly for you. The shade range starts with a light beige and comes up to a deep, dark brown. With any of these colors, you’ll be able to create an all-natural look with just a bit of shine.
The best part is that some of these shades are multi-purpose products. You can use the lighter shades as highlighters, while you can also use some of the cool, deep tones as a contour. We bet you could even use some of these as brow fillers.
If you like products that you can just pop in your bag and use for a full face, these pots are worth checking out. They’re small, portable, and incredibly versatile.
While one color is enough, it would be best to incorporate a second color to deepen your makeup look. These shades ideally support all types of skin tones. But to be sure, just pick out the color that suits you best.
Ingredients
This natural eyeshadow product is loaded with nourishing ingredients and packs a concentrated formula with a natural oil base.
RMS Beauty is not an organic brand per se, and this product isn’t either. However, they do use organic where they can. Here are some of the organic components in this eyeshadow:
- Coconut Oil
- Beeswax
- Jojoba Seed Oil
- Cocoa Butter
- Rosemary Extract
These richly pigmented eyeshadows also contain non-GMO vitamin E and may contain iron oxides, mica, and titanium dioxide, depending on the shade.
There are no synthetic ingredients in this particular formula, but some other RMS products contain small amounts of synthetic dyes.
All products are cruelty-free, paraben-free, GMO-free, talc-free, and do not contain sulfates or phthalates. All RMS products are gluten-free, except for their mascara. Read more about their ingredients here.
Brand Values
At their core, RMS Beauty believes in the power of living ingredients. They use natural alternatives to synthetics whenever they possibly can, unlike many cosmetic companies we know of today.
But more than that, they have a particular focus on developing high-quality products that truly work. The organic beauty industry has often been criticized for products that sacrifice quality for values. But no longer.
All RMS products are developed on the premise of beauty that isn’t only safe but does its job effectively and efficiently.
Juice Beauty - US
Juice Beauty is a natural skincare and makeup company founded back in 2005. Since then, they have constantly sought ways to create natural, organic products that are proven to work.
With the core of sustainability, Juice Beauty adopts a farm to beauty philosophy with their plant-based and organic formulas.
The Eyeshadow
Juice Beauty’s Phyto-pigments Jelly Eyeshadow is a shimmery liquid eyeshadow that comes in three luscious shades.
These natural eyeshadows will do for both day and evening wear. This liquid formula was created for everyone, regardless of skin tone.
All three shades give off a pearlescent shimmer that applies sheer but is buildable to a full-color payoff. If you just want a subtle shimmer on your eyelids, one layer will do. But if you want something that packs more of a punch, just add more layers.
The product comes in a 3.3 ml tube with a doe-foot applicator. You can apply it directly onto your eyelids and use your fingertips or a brush to blend it out.
Ingredients
Each shade has a slightly different list of ingredients due to the pigments involved, but here are some of the organic components in this shadow:
- Aloe Leaf Juice
- Corn starch
- Glycerin
- Carnauba wax
- Shea butter
- Jojoba oil
- Sunflower seed oil
- Rice powder
You may view the product listing for a full list of ingredients, but these mentioned above are certified organic. However, while most of the elements are organic, the product itself is not certified.
Juice Beauty is certified vegan and cruelty-free. They have never tested their products on animals. They do not use synthetic fragrances or dyes in any of their products. The eye shadow line is also completely gluten-free.
Most of their ingredients are sourced on the West Coast from USDA-certified farms. The company has also recently acquired their own farm, which really pushes their farm to beauty philosophy.
Moreover, all Juice products are made without any petroleum, parabens, talc, pesticides, and many more in a list of ingredients they avoid at all costs.
Brand Values
Juice Beauty strongly believes in being the Organic Solution. They go to great lengths to ensure their products are the best for their customers and the environment. But they don’t stop at just their ingredients.
They have also begun to utilize more sustainable packaging in their products. While they still aren’t plastic-free, they have started to transition to recycled plastic for their bottles.
In addition, 40% of their collection is glass, and they only use 100% FSC paper for all their packaging.
Their farm is also close to being fully solar-powered! Sustainable energy sourcing is one of the brand’s beliefs, so it’s great to see them take steps in this direction.
Dab - US
Dab Herb Makeup and Skin Care is a brand that believes in the value of nature to nurture. They take a holistic approach to beauty, ensuring that their products are made with transparency and wellness in mind.
The entire brand is an advocate for opening more avenues for sustainable beauty to grow and flourish.
The Eyeshadow
Dab Herb has two eyeshadow options. You can either get their Jasmine Cream Eyeshadow Palette or the Herb Eyeshadows in individual tins.
There are far more color options for their loose powder shadows, but you may have a better time applying the cream formula. If you don’t like using powders, the natural eyeshadow palette is probably the better choice.
Regardless, both of them will provide you good color payoff and versatile application.
The palette is also great if you’re looking to buy more than just one color. The color scheme in the palette is designed with complementing eye shadows so you can experiment and play with the colors as you like.
Depending on the color, the finish will be a muted satin to a shimmer. There are no matte shades in the palette. Additionally, all shades feature a very buildable formula.
It starts out creamy and then softens as you apply and blend. You don’t need to use a brush for these natural eye shadows. Just use clean fingertips, and it will blend with ease despite your skin tone.
If you have naturally oily lids, the palette has a free eyelid primer to make the eyeshadow last longer. If it does crease throughout the day, you can just reblend by gently swiping on your eyelids.
Ingredients
This natural eyeshadow palette has the following organic components:
- Unrefined Avocado Oil
- Unrefined Jojoba Oil
- Unrefined Olive Oil
- Rosehips
- Turmeric
- Safflower
- Annatto
- Rice Powder
The eyeshadow product itself is not organic. But, a significant portion of the ingredients does come from organic sources. Most of them are even food grade! You can check out the full ingredient list up on their website.
None of Dab’s products contain any animal components. The brand is fully cruelty-free, vegan, and gluten-free.
The company is committed to using natural and organic ingredients. This means they use plant-based colorants to make their gorgeous shadows. Due to this, there may be some slight variations between orders.
To keep their formulas as organic as possible, Dab limits their use of mineral ingredients. The palette still contained some mica and oxides, but it’s mostly composed of plant-based, natural ingredients.
The mica they use is mined and process within the US.
Brand Values
Dab Herb believes in a holistic approach to skincare and makeup. All of their products are made thoughtfully and with roots in botanical makeup. Their products are always 90-100% plant-based.
On top of that, they also focus on sourcing their ingredients ethically and sustainably. The majority of what they use is organic and food grade. If this isn’t possible, they use those ethically harvested in the wild.
The brand is also mostly plastic-free! Aside from the plastic sifter in their loose eyeshadows, there are no plastics in any of their products. They also ship orders completely plastic-free.
What Does Organic Mean?
The term organic has been a buzzword in the food industry for quite a while now. But although we see the word all the time, many of us aren’t actually sure what it means.
Fortunately, the term is pretty well-regulated and has set definitions, depending on what country you are in. Organic standards may vary across nations, but there are generally accepted characteristics that make an ingredient organic.
For instance, the USDA uses the following general statement: [1]
“These methods integrate cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation and genetic engineering may not be used.”
In other words, organically produced items must be farmed or sourced in a way that encourages sustainability.
Organic is generally used as a label to signify that a particular beauty product uses organically farmed ingredients. However, the term organic usually refers to the ingredients, not the products themselves.
While organic is heavily regulated for the food industry, such isn’t the case in the natural beauty sector. The most reliable source would be organic certifications indicating that the product contains a certain percentage of organic ingredients.
The Difference Between Natural And Organic Ingredients
Although organic and natural are often said together in the same breath, the two aren’t identical. In fact, there are a lot of differences between what’s organic and what’s natural.
For starters, organic has to do with how a particular ingredient is cultivated and harvested. Meaning, it generally has to be a living thing before it’s classified as organic. Plants fall into this category. Mineral pigments don’t.
Meanwhile, natural has to do with the source of the ingredient. Was it harvested on a farm? Mined? Made in a lab? These questions are all important considerations when determining products as natural.
As you can see, there are some instances when a natural product, such as Iron Oxide, couldn’t possibly be organic.
As a general rule, all organic products are natural, but not all-natural products are organic.
Is Organic and Natural Beauty Always Better?
Most of the time, natural, organic products are better than the conventional alternative. However, while organic may be a good indication of how safe a product is for you, natural isn’t always the best metric.
There are plenty of instances when natural products also come at a cost. To vegans, animal ingredients are some examples of this. Although animal ingredients like lanolin and beeswax are natural, they aren’t good if you’re a vegan.
Further, high concentrations of botanical extracts may cause allergic reactions despite how natural they may be [2].
Natural ingredients could also be sourced unethically. A prime example of this is mica. Thousands of children in India are exploited for child labor in mica mines [3]. That doesn’t really sound like the better option, even though it’s a natural choice.
That said, there are also plenty of instances when natural beauty is the better choice. If you want to say no to synthetic dyes, fragrances, and too many synthetics in your makeup, then go for organic, natural makeup. Just make sure to purchase products that actually work.
So what we’re trying to say here is that it’s good to be conscious of your impact. It’s good to take a deeper look at how the beauty industry impacts our health and environment.
But, it’s also important to think about beauty holistically. Natural and organic beauty isn’t as easy or magical as it seems. Remember, being a conscious customer entails thinking critically about our products, not just about buying what seems ‘clean.’
Final Thoughts
In our quest to find the best organic eyeshadow, it was a bit of a challenge to find one that was actually organic in regards to being certified by third parties.
This could be due to a couple of factors. Maybe the percentage of pigment in the product is too high to be considered organic. Maybe getting certified is too expensive for the brand at the moment.
Whatever the reason is, it remains true that the products above use mainly organic components in their products. They may not be organic eyeshadows per se, but they’re pretty close!
Resources:
- https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/organic-basics
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2751513
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337716672_GLOBAL_MICA_MINING_AND_THE_I MPACT_ON_CHILDREN’S_RIGHTS
