Are Vegan Beauty Brands More Expensive?

By Anett Rannamets. Updated: March 2024.
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Vegan beauty brands are not necessarily more expensive than their competitors. However, it may seem so at first glance. This is mainly because many vegan beauty brands use organic, natural, clean, and environmentally friendly materials. 

These types of high-quality raw materials or active ingredients are often more expensive because their sourcing is pricier than, producing petroleum-based skincare ingredients for example. Still, you can find vegan beauty brands in every price range. And vegan beauty being more expensive is a misconception. 

We have put together an article to prove that vegan beauty products or brands are not necessarily more expensive than their non-vegan competitors. So, below you can find a comparison between different vegan and non-vegan beauty brands.

Vegan Beauty Brands VS Non-Vegan Beauty Brands

We have selected four beauty categories – makeup, skincare, haircare, and perfume – in which we compare the prices of the products. In three of them, we searched for three non-vegan drugstore brands and three high-end brands whose products we compared with similar vegan ones. With perfumes, we only compared high-quality perfume brands.

Before we get down to business, however, it is essential to emphasize that the non-vegan beauty brands we use in the comparison do not, by definition, offer any vegan products. Even if everything seems okay when reading the ingredient lists, they are not cruelty-free and test on animals. Therefore, not entirely vegan.

Is Vegan Makeup More Expensive?

The short answer is no. Vegan makeup is not more expensive. But first, let’s take a look at the difference between vegan drugstore makeup brands and non-vegan drugstore brands. We selected four everyday makeup products and calculated the total amount of the shopping cart to compare.

Drugstore Makeup Brands	e.l.f. (vegan)	$	Barry M (vegan)	$	Pacifica (vegan)	$	Revlon (not vegan)	$	May-belline (not vegan)	$	L’Oreal (not vegan)	$
Mascara	Lash It Out	6	That’s How I Roll	8	Stellar Gaze	14	So Fierce	9	Sky High	13	Tele-scopic	10
Bronzer	Putty	7	Heatwave Bronzer	9	Sun Dreams	12	Powder Bonzer	12	City	10	True Match Lumi	15
Foundation	Flawless Finish	6	Fresh Face Foundation	13	Ultra CC	18	Color-Stay	14	Fit Me	9	Infallible	14
Lipstick	Srsly Satin	3	Satin Lip Paint	10	Plush-ious	10	Lip-stick by Revlon	8	Color Sen-sational	8	Colour Riche Shine	8
Total ~ ($):		22		40		54		44		40		47

Purchases of four vegan drugstore makeup products, mascara, foundation, bronzer, and lipstick, range from $20 to $50. Comparing to non-vegan drugstore make-up products they stay in the same price range.

Of course, it is important to point out that, for example, the vegan makeup brand e.l.f. offers products with a very good price-quality ratio. This means that you can get similar products from a vegan brand at half the price of what competitors offer. So, this shows that vegan makeup brands can sometimes be even cheaper.

But now, let’s jump to luxury brands. Similar to the previous comparison, we chose three high-end vegan beauty brands and non-vegan makeup brands. The product categories remained the same, and at the end, we calculated the shopping cart amount.

Luxury Makeup Brands	MERIT Beauty (vegan)	$	EMANI (vegan)	$	Deliliah (vegan)	$	Chanel (not vegan)	$	Dior (not vegan)	$	Estee Lauder (not vegan)	$
Mascara	Clean Lash	26	Double Lash	28	Definitive	23	Le Volume Revo-lution	50	Iconic Over-curl	41	Sump-tuous Extreme	30
Bronzer	Bronze Balm	30	Feeling Loved	28	Matte Compact	29	Soleil Tan	78	Mineral Nude	48	Bronze Goddess	43
Foundation	The Minimalist	38	Hydra-Wear	34	Alibi	45	Vita-lumiere Aqua	74	Forever Under-cover	71	Double Wear Stay-in-Place	42
Lipstick	Signature	26	2-Tone Prismatic	15	Intense Cream	32	Hydrating Creme	61	Couture Colour	20	Pure Color	30
Total ~ ($):		120		105		129		262		180		145

So, vegan luxury makeup brand shopping carts start at $100. Meanwhile, non-vegan luxury brands start at $140 and go as high as $260 (look at the table above). Although these are high-end brands both above and below, the brands in the non-vegan table are more familiar to most people.

Chanel, Dior, and Estee Lauder are one of the most prestigious names in the beauty world although they are not cruelty-free or vegan. In addition, the name of the brands seemingly also affects the price. So, if you are looking for luxurious experiences, we recommend sticking to vegan beauty brands, for all the reasons.

Is Vegan Skincare More Expensive?

Vegan skincare is not necessarily more expensive. Yes, skincare products are often more expensive than make-up. But that is because they contain specific active ingredients and have much more product. However, vegan skincare can be found in every price range. Let’s take a look at vegan drugstore skincare brands first.

For comparison, we have chosen four different skincare products to make up one shopping basket. Cleanser, toner, face serum, and moisturizer. All products are selected for similar ingredients or effects. By comparing the three brands, we can see what the price range looks like.

Drugstore Skincare Brands	Versed	$	The Ordinary	$	Derma E	$	CeraVe	$	Cetaphil	$	Neutrogena	$
Cleanser	Gentle Cycle	15	Squalane	8	Hydrating Gentle	11	Hyd-rating Facial	16	Daily Facial	17	Foaming Facial Cleanser	10
Toner/ Makeup Remover	Week-end Glow	18	Glycolic Acid 7%	10	Anti-Blemish Clarifying Bi-Phase	14	Hyd-rating Toner	9	Water-proof Makeup Remover	11	Oil- and Alcohol-Free Toner	7
Face Serum	Press Restart	22	Granactive Retinoid	10	Anti-Aging Re-generative	24	Anti-aging Retinol	21	Deep Hydration 48-Hour Activation	19	Hydro Boost Serum	19
Moisturizer	Skin Soak	18	Natural Moisturizing Factors	6	Anti-Wrinkle Renewal	14	Moist-urizing Cream	20	Daily Oil-Free Face	16	Oil-Free Moisture Daily	11
Total ~ ($):		73		34		63		65		63		46

For vegan drugstore skincare (see the table above), it looks like a basket of four products can cost between $30 and $70. For non-vegan skincare brands (see the table below), this range stays between $40 and $70. That being said, when it comes to drugstore skincare, vegan skincare brands are definitely not more expensive.

However, looking at luxury brands (below), it turns out that vegan luxury or high-end brands are still far behind non-vegan skincare brands in terms of price. As with makeup, luxury vegan skincare brands are much more wallet-friendly than their non-vegan competitors.

Luxury Skincare Brands	Aesop (vegan)	$	Herbivore (vegan)	$	KYPRIS (vegan)	$	La Mer (not vegan)	$	La Prairie (not vegan)	$	Dior (not vegan)	$
Cleanser	Amazing Face	50	Pink Cloud Creamy Jelly	24	Natural Con-centrate	64	The Cleansing Foam	25	Purifying Cream	59	Micro-Puri-fying Gel	54
Toner	Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant	51	Jasmine Green Tea Oil Control	39	Natural Clearing	50	The Tonic	100	Cellular Refining Lotion	96	Hydra Life Balancing Hydration	40
Face Serum	Lightweight Hydrating	75	Moon Fruit	60	Natural Anti-oxidant Dew	90	The Lifting Contour	350	Skin Caviar Liquid Lift	574	Capture Totale Cell Energy Super Potent	80
Moisturizer	Mandarin Hydrating	53	Pink Cloud Soft	44	Natural Beauty Elixir I	219	Crème de la Mer	190	Skin Caviar Luxe	319	Capture Youth Advanced Creme	81
Total ~ ($):		229		167		423		665		1047		254

When shopping for high-end vegan skincare brands, in our example, you can get the four vegan skincare items in your cart between $160 and $400. However, non-vegan luxury brands tend to be very expensive.

So, in our example, a non-vegan luxury shopping cart can vary from $200 to $1,000. Of course, the price always depends on the active ingredients. La Prairie, for example, is one of the most luxurious skincare brands in the world using very expensive active ingredients. Most of them are caviar-based.

So, we would not say from these examples that vegan luxury skincare is necessarily cheaper. Overall, it all depends on the ingredients and the brand. However, it can be said that vegan high-end or luxury skincare brands are definitely not more expensive. Plus, you won’t find caviar or snail slime in vegan skincare. And that is always a plus.

Is Vegan Haircare More Expensive?

Vegan haircare is not always more expensive than non-vegan haircare. However, sometimes it could be. That is because vegan haircare is usually cleaner and includes more pricey ingredients. However, it is often worth the price, because vegan haircare usually does not contain well-known unhealthy components such as sulfates.

We selected three drugstore vegan haircare manufacturers and three non-vegan brands. In order to compare their prices, we included both shampoo and conditioner in the table. It is also important to mention that all products were close to 250 ml.

Drugstore Haircare Brands	Love, Beauty & Planet (vegan)	$	Pacifica (vegan)	$	Ethique (vegan)	$	Pantene (not vegan)	$	L’Oreal (not vegan)	$	Head & Shoulders (not vegan)	$
Shampoo	Coconut Water & Mimosa Flower	7	Coconut Power Strong & Long	10	Wombar for Normal Hair	15	Daily Moisture Renewal	9	Ever Pure	9	Classic Clean	7
Conditioner	Coconut Water & Mimosa Flower	7	Coconut Power Strong & Long	10	Too Delicious for Dry Hair	18	Daily Moisture Renewal	10	Ever Pure	9	Classic Clean	7
Total ~ ($):		14		20		33		19		18		14

As it turns out, the prices for drugstore brands (see the table above) are pretty much in the same range of 14-20 dollars. However, you can see that the vegan brand Ethique is a little more expensive.

Ethique is a very popular vegan haircare brand you can find on the shelves of quite a few stores. Their niche lies in creating vegan shampoo and conditioner bars. In other words, Ethique makes package-free and zero-waste haircare. Therefore, the price of the two products is a bit higher.

Salon Haircare Brands	Aveda (vegan)	$	Curl-smith (vegan)	$	Olaplex (vegan)	$	Kérastase (not vegan)	$	Wella (not vegan)	$	Mizani (not vegan)	$
Shampoo	Rosemary Mint	22	Wash & Scrub Detox	28	No. 4 Bond Maintenance	30	Resistance Bain Force Architecte	26	Fusion Intense Repair	25	Press Agent	22
Conditioner	Rosemary Mint	22	Post-Wash Calming	28	No. 5 Bond Maintenance	30	Resistance Ciment Anti-Usure	40	Fusion Intense Repair	25	Press Agent	24
Total ~ ($):		44		56		60		66		50		46

Looking at salon-quality haircare, we see the same tendency. Salon haircare or luxury haircare is about twice as expensive as drugstore products, but both vegan and non-vegan salon products stay in the same price range. It is somewhere around $40-$60 for two products. By the way, one of the most popular salon haircare manufacturers, Olaplex, is 100% vegan.

So no, vegan products in the haircare world are not necessarily more expensive. As with most other things, the final price still depends on the brand you buy from and what you are expecting from your product.

Are Vegan Perfumes More expensive?

As with everything above, vegan perfume does not have to be more expensive than its competitors. But sometimes it happens. In order to compare the perfumes, we found three vegan manufacturers and three non-vegan brands whose eau de parfum products we placed on the table next to each other.

Perfume Brand	Kierin NYC (vegan)	Le Labo (vegan)	Heretic (vegan)	Chanel (not vegan)	Gucci (not vegan)	Dior (not vegan)
Perfume	Sunday Brunch	Santal 33	Dirty Coconut	Chânél No.5	Bloom	J’Adore
Total ~ ($):	110	228	165	155	118	120

The prices of a 50 ml high-quality fragrance bottle remain pretty much the same for both vegan and non-vegan manufacturers. That means around 100-200 dollars. A keen eye will notice that one vegan perfume is slightly more expensive than the others. Le Labo is a niche manufacturer known as a luxury vegan perfume brand whose price lies in craftsmanship.

However, the prices of both vegan brands and non-vegan brands still remain in a similar range. Therefore, why not choose something that does not contain, for example, glandular secretions from musk deer as your next scent?

FAQ About Vegan Beauty Brands And Their Price

Summary

Using the example of two extremes — drugstore and luxury beauty brands — we can say that vegan beauty brands are not necessarily more expensive than their non-vegan competitors. However, the beauty world offers a wide variety of vegan beauty brands. So, you can find them in every price range.

This means that 100% vegan beauty brands can also be very pricy. Of course, it depends on who you compare them to. In general, however, the word “vegan” does not add value to a beauty brand or its product. And this is the main thing that people usually fear.

Fortunately, it is possible to be animal and environmentally friendly in every beauty category and price range. If your budget is small, you can easily find a wide range of affordable vegan skincare as well as affordable vegan makeup. Moreover, with a good quality and price ratio. The same applies to other beauty categories such as vegan skincare, vegan haircare, or even vegan perfumes.

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