Applying makeup is so much easier when you’re using great quality brushes. And while amazing makeup brushes won’t make you a pro, they’re definitely a great extra boost. Hence, today we want to take a look at vegan makeup brushes.
Makeup brushes are often made of animal hair. From goat hair to horse hair, animals have been utilized in making brushes for the longest time.
Considering that, we collected some of the best brands for vegan makeup brushes we could find. These brands are all fully vegan and do not test on animals.
At Puratium, we highly value ethics and sustainability and strive to choose companies that align with those values. But all brands can’t check all our boxes.
But, we did prioritize those that produce high-quality products that you can use for a long time!
Clove+Hallow - U.S.
Beauty without sacrifice, Clove+Hallow is a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand that creates products that don’t compromise.
They are PETA-certified vegan and do not use any animal products or byproducts in their whole range.
About The Brushes
C+H’s Brush Set Trio consists of multipurpose brushes that’ll give you enough versatility to do your whole face. It’s great for beginners but also suitable for professionals, the owner herself being one.
It includes a kabuki-style brush that’s suitable for liquids, creams, or powders. In addition, you can use it for your foundation, blush, and highlighter.
It also contains a blurring concealer brush that’s perfect for achieving that airbrushed look on your blemishes and or under the eyes.
Lastly, there’s a dual-tipped eye makeup brush that will work perfectly for packing on pigment and blending it out for a seamless eye look.
These three brushes are excellent for traveling and a downsized makeup routine. If you’re someone who doesn’t do much makeup, these are the perfect buy.
Materials & Packaging
This brush set is made of synthetic bristles and is attached to a wooden handle. The wood is FSC certified, which indicates sustainable and ethical sourcing.
These synthetic brushes are built to last and are durable. Designed by a pro makeup artist, they are intended to last and work with all applicable products.
C+H has made a sustainability pledge that they will be giving their brand an eco-friendly makeover in 2021. By the end of the year, their goal is to use sustainable packaging such as the following:
- recycled plastics
- bioplastics
- fully recyclable materials
- refillable/refillable components
They’re also working towards becoming Net Plastic Neural. This means that they will remove an equivalent amount from the environment for every unit of plastic they use in operations, including office work.
We’re excited to see them follow through with this promise and will look out for it when they do.
Brand Values
Clove+Hallow prides itself on being a clean beauty brand. And no, that doesn’t mean all-natural or organic. Instead, they firmly believe that clean beauty should be free from harmful ingredients, which might not always be synthetic.
All of their products are curated and made in the U.S. But you can get their products in various retailers around the world.
With a “not harm” ethos, they believe that transparency and trust are far more valuable currency than any monetary benefit. With that, they operate under beauty without sacrifice.
EcoTools - U.S.
Going beyond beautiful, EcoTools makes beauty and self-care products that are planet friendly, affordable, and are of the finest quality.
Their products are vegan, cruelty-free, and made with recycled and renewable materials. This brand definitely checks many of the standards we like to see in a brand.
About the brushes
EcoTools has an extensive range of vegan makeup brushes available. The brush collection we’d recommend is Beauty Treasures. It is a collection of five makeup brushes + a spoolie for full-face application.
With this brush set, you get a brush for applying loose powder and blush, plus brushes for eye makeup and a spoolie. It’s extremely versatile, and you can do a lot with this set alone.
Additionally, it comes in a recycled aluminum holder. Perfect for storing when you’re on the go and traveling.
For a similar set of beauty tools, you can also get the daily essentials brush set. It comes with two brush handles and five interchangeable brush heads! Same versatility with less waste.
Although this list is about vegan makeup brushes, we couldn’t resist talking about their new biodegradable makeup sponge collection!
Made with only 5 earth-friendly ingredients, their new BioBlender is fully biodegradable when composted. No more plastic blending sponges just getting thrown out in the trash.
Materials & Packaging
All EcoTools makeup brushes are made of synthetic bristles. They do not use animal hair in any of their brushes. They are also made of recycled aluminum and renewable bamboo materials.
The brand has not yet eliminated all plastic in their packaging, but their recent stride was to cut out 88% of the plastic they use.
Their packaging is made from recycled PET and is fully recyclable again. This means that no virgin materials were used in the process.
Brand Values
All in all, EcoTools is committed to being as eco friendly as it can be. Sure, they may not have fully eliminated plastic yet, but they’re changing up things in the community and inspiring steps in the right direction.
They also constantly come out with new innovative products that adhere to their ethos.
The brand’s products are primarily made in Asia under partner companies that have gone through rigorous inspection and audit processes. Namely, they have fair labor policies established.
Another great aspect about this company is its accessibility in that they’re available in many countries worldwide and come at affordable prices.
Fairypants - UK
Founded in 2009, Fairypants is a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand. They’re an award-winning company constantly putting out new innovative cosmetics.
Full of (biodegradable) glitter and sparkle, this brand uses eco-friendly packaging across all its products.
About The Brushes
This company has a neat selection of vegan makeup brushes. You can get them in sets or get them individually according to your needs.
For face application, we recommend getting their powder brush. It isn’t suited for cream or liquid foundations as there’s a separate brush for that, but you can treat it as a multipurpose brush for your powders.
Their eyeshadow brush is a must-have for your makeup bag. It’s great for packing on pigment and can also blend out product when used dry(we also have a full guide on organic eyeshadow here if you are interested).
All their other brushes are available for individual purchase.
Materials & Packaging
These brushes are made from a synthetic fiber called Taklon. It’s a great material that can pick up product well without absorbing it too much: less waste and a more efficient application.
Of course, Taklon is completely vegan and cruelty-free.
The handle is made from wood sourced in sustainably managed forests—the company gets its wood from a UK-based supplier.
Fairypants packaging is as plastic-free as possible. However, we could not find specific information on what materials they use for packaging.
Brand Values
Fairypants remains a fully vegan and cruelty-free brand, and they’re committed to staying that way. They are also palm oil-free and paraben-free.
The last two don’t apply to their brushes, but it’s always nice to see brands make an effort to use cleaner and better ingredients.
Delilah - UK
Founded on the promise of beauty that is “Easy to Love,” Delilah is a fully vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand.
They began as a vegan friendly brand but started reformulating their makeup products in 2019 to remove any animal-derived ingredients.
About The Brushes
Delilah’s collection of vegan makeup brushes come in elegant rose gold tones and dark brown synthetic fibers.
We love their angled liner brush. It’s compact and neatly cut to apply makeup perfectly. Its primary use is for gel eyeliner application, but you can also use it to feather through your brows and add dimension.
If you’re looking for fluffy but precise blush brushes, look at their blusher/highlighter brush. It has a tapered and domed tip for easier application.
These high-quality brushes are also available in an 8-piece brush set. If you’re building your brush collection from scratch, you can also get the set that comes with its own travel container.
Materials & Packaging
Each brush is made with synthetic Taklon fibers, a type of high-quality soft synthetic bristles. The brush head is then hand-cut to shape and attached to an FSC-certified wooden handle.
The FSC certification helps guarantee that the wood was sourced sustainably from well-managed forests and recycled sources.
Delilah is moving towards fully degradable packaging and making more of its products from recycled materials.
Brand Values
Delilah is committed to being vegan, cruelty-free, and dermatologically tested. All their vegan makeup and accessories are made without any harm to animals.
They are also starting to become a more environmentally-focused company by lessening their water use and reducing emissions throughout their supply chain.
Spectrum Collections - UK
Spectrum is a pretty well-known brand for vegan makeup brushes. Started by two sisters in 2014, they’ve since expanded and became a globally recognized brand.
The company specializes in making cosmetic products and accessories that are of great quality without breaking the bank.
About The Brushes
Out of all the brands we’ve talked about, Spectrum probably has the widest range of options for vegan brushes. They have brush sets of every kind you can use.
If you’re a regular individual who only does light makeup, you probably won’t need the 20 or 30 makeup brushes featured in some sets.
We would recommend getting the Something Blue bridal brush set—even if you aren’t a bride or aren’t giving it to one!
It has just three brushes, but two of them are dual-tipped. They come with pastel blue bristles with a white pearlescent handle and some rose gold detailing. The overall effect is a soft, elegant set of makeup brushes.
It contains a large powder brush for smoothing out your makeup look. There’s also a dual-ended eye shadow brush for your eye makeup and another dual-tipped brush with a liner on one end and a spoolie on the other.
But of course, if you need bigger sets, they also have them. You can get sets of eye brushes, complexion brushes, or a mix of those. They come in so many different colors and styles so that you won’t run out of options for sure.
Materials & Packaging
These makeup brushes are made of high-quality synthetic Taklon. It picks up the product well and is soft to the touch. They are hypoallergenic and long-lasting while being super easy to clean.
The brush heads are attached to a wooden handle, sourced sustainably, and finished three times for a vibrant finish. However, there were no certifications to verify how the wood was sourced.
Each vegan brush is made by hand.
Brand Values
Spectrum Collections stands on five core values.
- Vegan and Cruelty-Free
- Premium Quality
- Bold Design
- Kind to our Planet
- Affordable Luxury
With the many vibrant cruelty-free makeup brushes and other products they feature, it is clear that they’re dedicated to color, quality, and creativity.
Of course, all this is done with vegan and cruelty-free materials.
Yubi Beauty - U.S.
Unlike the other companies on this list, Yubi Beauty is (for now) exclusively for their signature makeup brush.
Developed by an attorney and mother who struggled with squeezing in more than a couple of minutes for makeup in the mornings, Yubi is an innovative all-around replacement for many of your brushes.
About The Brushes
The Yubi Miracle Brush is an innovative take on vegan makeup brushes. It completely forgoes the handle and instead features a unique and ergonomic way of handling.
There are “wings” for your fingers to slip through and grip it, much like how you would apply using your fingers. This makes the application process much more natural, especially if you’re doing makeup on yourself.
You can use it in applying blush, foundation, concealer, and many other products. Additionally, you can use it for liquid, cream, or powder formulas.
The brush can also come with a sponge for blending out product. Plus, you can buy it in purple, pink, or white.
What’s so great about the Yubi brush is that it’s multipurpose. And if it’s time to downsize your collection, this is one of the best ways to do so.
And as we often say on Puratium, products with more than just one purpose help us buy less and become more conscious about our purchasing habits.
However, one major downside is that you may have to keep replacing the brush if you use it heavily. Heavy use is expected for an item that can replace a lot of brushes. We hope this is something they’ll improve on in the future.
Materials & Packaging
The Yubi is made of ultra-soft vegan bristles. The synthetic hairs are arranged to avoid shedding and to provide the smoothest application possible.
The bristles are also hypoallergenic, so you don’t have to worry about skin irritation when using a new brush.
Each set comes in an earth-friendly and machine washable pouch to store the Yubi in.
Brand Values
Essentially, Yubi is an inventive way to make a makeup routine more streamlined and easier. Instead of using different makeup brushes, you have this single one that can do the work of at least 10 brushes.
More than anything, it’s a way to help people find self-confidence and magic in beauty.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find information on their giving back programs or how sustainable their operations are.
Seraphine Botanicals - U.S.
Seraphine Botanicals is a vegan and botanically-infused skin care and color cosmetics brand. They follow an ethos of vegan and cruelty-free products.
They also manufacture in small batches of less than 300 units, ensuring optimum quality and minimum waste.
About The Brushes
You’ve got two main collection options for vegan makeup brushes: their lavender and rose gold collection.
Personally, we love the lavender collection. The vegan brushes in it look sleek, elegant, and would be great for travel.
Their highlight and contour brush really caught our eye. It’s a great multipurpose brush to use for your bronzer, highlighter, and contour. The brush shape makes it easy to define and accentuate your features.
You should also check out their bamboo kabuki brush if you’re in the market for a fluffy, short-handled makeup brush.
Materials & Packaging
All of them are made of soft synthetic bristles. The hairs are also dual-fiber and allergen-free, resulting in a smooth application without any irritation.
There was no additional information at all on what is used for packaging these brushes, which is part of why we put them a little low on the list.
Brand Values
Seraphine Botanicals focuses on being a completely cruelty-free company. They make their products using plant-based and fairtrade ingredients sourced sustainably and ethically.
Moreover, being a small batch manufacturer, they cut back on the waste created in their production process.
Beauty Without Cruelty - UK
BWC is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, brand in cruelty-free cosmetics. They’ve actually been paving the way for cruelty-free ingredients for over 60 years!
Since 1996, all their products have been vegan and cruelty-free, without any exception.
About The Brushes
The BWC brush collection comes in an all-black format with black bristles and a black handle.
If you don’t have one yet, we’d really recommend their Premium foundation brush. It’s great for use on liquid and cream foundations. Perfect for when you need a little extra cover.
If you don’t use liquids much, try their Mineral Powder brush. This one has ultra-soft bristles that are best for applying powders.
For a more distinct brush, check out the angled blusher. You can use it for blush, contouring, and other complexion-related steps to create the perfect look.
Materials & Packaging
These brushes are made of synthetic hairs attached to a wooden handle. The bristles are curled for optimum product retention.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any information on how these products are packaged or how sustainable the packaging is.
Brand Values
At their core, BWC is all about sparing animals from our cosmetics routines. They’re the original cruelty-free makeup range.
They are also ingredient-conscious and do not use any harmful ingredients such as phthalates, talc, and fragrances in their products.
What's The Deal With Animal Hair Brushes?
For the longest time, human beings have used animal hair brushes in various ways, for painting, makeup, and more.
They’re even often touted as the better option compared to synthetics, especially when it comes to powder formulas. But with the improvement of quality in synthetic fibers over the years, there’s really no real basis for that claim anymore.
Even professionals would attest that synthetic ones can do the same job, although there is no accounting for personal preference and experience.
Synthetic fibers can be just as good as the natural counterpart—all without the ethical cost many of us might not be willing to make.
What About Cruelty-Free Makeup Brushes?
There are brands that market their makeup brushes as cruelty-free, even when the bristles are made from animal hair. However, they are not vegan and, in our opinion, aren’t really cruelty-free either.
There are no universally accepted standards for what it means to use ethically sourced animal hair. Part of what makes purchasing products that align with your ethos is that they could all mean different things.
But for makeup brushes, in particular, stray away from companies that just say their brushes are made of cruelty-free animal hair.
Note: some of them might say cruelty-free bristles to refer to synthetic hair. Just check and make sure that the company is fully vegan and doesn’t use animals to create their products.
Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed our guide to vegan and cruelty-free makeup brushes! Whether you are buying from an online shop or drugstores, don’t forget to remember the following.
- Buy only what you need. If you’re not going to use them anyway, don’t go for those 15-20 piece brush sets. Instead, purchase consciously and try to examine what applies to your routine.
- Don’t fall for the glam. We know, we know. There are so many pretty brush collections coming out, and it’s hard to resist the rose gold plating, unicorn bristles, or whatever new trend is in. But if you already have ones that serve the same purpose, try to rethink your purchase.
- Take care of your brushes. Proper brush care is one of the best ways to make your makeup brushes last longer. To make your routine more sustainable, don’t forget about cleaning them regularly to remove dirt and product residue.
