Is there animal fat in your blusher?

Veganism is moving from what we put into our bodies to what we put on our faces. In a decade, the number of vegans in Britain has increased from 150,000 to more than 540,000, according to the Vegan Society, fuelled by younger people, aged 16-34, who account for nearly half that number. It makes sense that those avoiding all meat, dairy and animal derivatives such as wool and leather would also be keen to avoid beeswax in lipbalm, animal fat in cream blushers and eyeshadows, and crushed cochineal beetles in red lipsticks. You don’t have to be vegan to be put off by this.
                                                 

Tashina Combs has been writing about cruelty-free and vegan makeup for the last six years on her blog Logical Harmony and has recently noticed a surge of interest. “I think people are becoming more aware. For a long time, people didn’t really realise how common animal testing still was in so many places around the world. With vegan cosmetics, they start to look at the ingredients too and are realising a lot of them are byproducts of other industries they don’t necessarily want to support.”

The new vegan brands, she says, have a mainstream feel. “I think for a long time there was a stigma – that everyone thought they were these earthy, crunchy brands and now they’re realising you can go to department stores and buy this stuff. They are high-quality products that makeup artists are using and they perform in the same way as the conventional brands we’re used to.”

Jenkins recommends British company PHB Ethical Beauty – she rates their mascara – and she also likes Arbonne, and the long-established vegan company Beauty Without Cruelty. “I love Pacifica for their BB creams, and their mascara and eyeshadow is great. Lime Crime is a really fun brand – they do fantastic brightly coloured eyeliners and gorgeous lip glosses.” A lot of lipbalms have beeswax in them, she says, but a company called Hurraw makes “beautiful creamy lip balms, which I use a lot”.