Working towards a vegan/cruelty free makeup kit

As a jobbing makeup artist of 15 years, I have built up a HUGE kit over that time! Curating your kit is a long and slow process, you pick up products here and there over time based on recommendations from all places: things your clients love, a hero product from a blog or Instagram, something random used on a show that you'll probably never use again and just things that are tried and tested and you'll always repurchase 100 times over!

In the early days, Vegan, Organic and 'Cruelty Free' makeup was the sort of thing you'd find in the corner at the health food shop. It generally was expensive and didn't really perform in the professional arena very well. I used organic makeup here and there in my personal makeup routine but wouldn't dream of adding it to my kit because honestly, it just wasn't up to the job! Boy those days have changed - thank F*CK! About time too!!!

Now you can find some incredible products that are both cruelty free, vegan and sometimes organic too. Skincare has always had a headstart on this but makeup brands are quickly catching up. Sadly some of the big designer brands like Chanel & NARS are yet to stop testing on animals/selling in China. There is a slight grey area with some brands, such as Nudestix who do not release enough information regarding their practice around being cruelty-free so we have to assume that they are not.

It can be tricky to keep up and sometimes a bit of a minefield, for instance some brands who previously were CF/Vegan such as Charlotte Tilbury, have been bought up by parent companies who do not claim to be CF/Vegan so it's always worth checking what's what as things can change! I use the website https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/ to check up on ethical status of the brands I use and buy. It's a really easy to use and informative portal to find suitable brands.

With over two thirds of my kit now being brands that are CF/Vegan, I am slowly phasing out those brands that are not. It's a slow process as I am using up these products because sadly I cannot afford to replace all my products in one go and it would be a wasteful to throw away some items that are still fairly unused. I am committed to replacing all of my products eventually with CF/Vegan alternatives and one by one we'll get there!

My kit currently consists of the following brands, those marked ** are CF/Vegan:

If you have any products that are CF/Vegan that you LOVE please do let me know - I love a recommendation!