Luxury makeup and vegan makeup don’t typically jam. Most leading luxury makeup brands such as Dior and Guerlain are not particularly vegan-friendly, especially since most of them still engage in animal testing practices.
Nevertheless, things are slowly looking up in the luxury beauty world. Today, you can find high-end makeup brands that also stand for vegan and cruelty-free values. Let us introduce you to the best luxury vegan makeup brands in 2024.
Best Luxury Vegan Makeup Brands
There are the best luxury vegan makeup brands in 2024. Discover conscious luxury from these high-end vegan makeup brands.
- Hourglass – 100% vegan
- Rose Inc – 100% vegan
- Westman Atelier
- Charlotte Tilbury
- Chantecaille
- Patrick Ta
- La Bouche Rouge
- Jane Iredale
1. Hourglass
Hourglass is the best luxury vegan makeup brand in the world. It’s the only traditional luxury makeup brand that is 100% vegan. Hourglass has never tested its products on animals and in 2020, it transitioned into a fully vegan brand.
Born in Venice, California, Hourglass is praised by makeup artists for its high-performance vegan makeup for the face, lips, and eyes. To achieve the deep red pigment in their lipsticks, the company has come out with an innovative vegan carmine replacement.
Hourglass is elegant and high-end with its quality formulas and gold-toned packaging. Caring about animals, the company donates 1% of its profits to the Nonhuman Rights Projects, an organization that works to secure fundamental rights for animals.
- Cruelty-free: Yes, certified by PETA
- Vegan: Yes, 100% vegan
- Features: clean, paraben-free, phthalate-free, sulfate-free, synthetic fragrance-free, non-GMO, refillable options, made in the USA and Italy
- Pricing: $11–198
2. Rose Inc
Rose Inc is a luxury vegan makeup brand by supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. While the company positions itself more as a clean beauty brand than a luxury brand, everything about Rose Inc exudes luxury from its formulas to pricing and packaging.
Rose Inc is 100% vegan and cruelty-free. The brand is sleek, smart, and sustainable with refillable cases and a high content of natural ingredients. Rose Inc was launched in partnership with Amrys, the biotech company behind our favorite vegan skincare brand Biossance.
- Cruelty-free: Yes, certified by Leaping Bunny
- Vegan: Yes, 100% vegan
- Features: natural, female-owned, non-comedogenic, paraben-free, synthetic fragrance-free, Sephora clean brand, refillable packaging, made in the USA and Italy
- Pricing: $15–74
3. Westman Atelier
Westman Atelier is another luxury vegan makeup brand we love. Founded by makeup artist Gucci Westman, this New York brand is known for its luxuriously creamy and clean complexion makeup. The majority of Westman Atelier’s products are vegan.
Westman Atelier has currently only 3 non-vegan products: Baby Cheeks Blush Stick (includes carmine and beeswax), Super Loaded Tinted Highlighter (contains carmine and beeswax), and Eye Love You Mascara (has beeswax). Everything else from Westman is animal-free.
- Cruelty-free: Yes (but not certified)
- Vegan: All products are vegan, except for Baby Cheeks Blush Stick, Super Loaded Tinted Highlighter, and Eye Love You Mascara
- Features: natural, organic, paraben-free, phthalate-free, sulfate-free, PEG-free, mineral oil-free, Sephora clean brand
- Pricing: $25–150
4. Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury is a Leaping Bunny-certified cruelty-free luxury makeup brand from London. Charlotte Tilbury is not entirely vegan but they offer some of the best luxury vegan makeup products for the face, eyes, and lips. Their vegan makeup is always clearly marked so.
Charlotte Tilbury has grown into a global success thanks to their high-quality makeup and skincare formulas. From their award-winning luxury vegan foundations to lipsticks and highlighters – Charlotte Tilbury has so much luxury vegan makeup for you to discover.
- Cruelty-free: Yes, certified by Leaping Bunny
- Vegan: Not entirely vegan, see their vegan makeup collection here
- Features: many talc-free and paraben-free options
- Pricing: $15–260
5. Chantecaille
Chantecaille is a cruelty-free luxury makeup brand from France. Founded in 1998, the brand offers a great selection of luxury vegan makeup. Chantecaille is sophisticated, clean, and always free of phthalates, sulfates, mineral oil, palm oil, and synthetic fragrances.
While not fully vegan, this family-owned luxury brand cares greatly about wild animals. Chantecaille has donated over $3 million to help conserve endangered species and their habitats. We love the company’s Africa’s Vanishing Species Eye Shades Collection.
- Cruelty-free: Yes, certified by PETA
- Vegan: Not entirely vegan, see their vegan makeup collection here
- Features: gluten-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, palm oil-free, synthetic-fragrance-free, non-GMO, made in France, Italy, Switzerland & Japan
- Pricing: $28–435
Shop on: Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue
6. Patrick Ta
Patrick Ta is a relatively new luxury vegan makeup brand by a celebrity makeup artist. Patrick Ta is glamorous and luxurious and promotes women feeling confident about themselves. We love their vegan lip and complexion products.
Everything from Patrick Ta is vegan, except for their Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo (contains beeswax), Major Dimension II Rose Eyeshadow Palette (has carmine), Blush Palette Vol II (has carmine), and Softening Lip Masque (may contain carmine).
- Cruelty-free: Yes (but not certified)
- Vegan: All products are vegan, except for Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo, Rose Eyeshadow Palette (has carmine), Blush Palette Vol II, and Lip Masque
- Features: paraben-free, phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, made in the USA, Italy, Korea & Japan
- Pricing: $15–70
Shop on: Sephora, Official site
7. La Bouche Rouge Paris
La Bouche Rouge is a French sustainable high-end makeup brand famous for refillable lipsticks. All makeup from La Bouche Rouge is vegan but they do use recycled leather for some of their makeup cases. Luckily, they also have a vegan leather alternative available.
This Paris clean beauty brand represents new generation luxury where makeup is plastic-free and made from responsible and traceable ingredients. Above all, we love their matte vegan lipsticks made with organic jojoba oil. They also offer vegan fragrances.
- Cruelty-free: Yes (but not certified)
- Vegan: All makeup is vegan but some of their makeup cases are made of leather
- Features: gluten-free, clean, natural, organic, paraben-free, phthalate-free, petroleum-free, silicone-free, plastic-free, refillable packaging, made in France (except for brushes)
- Pricing: $34–80 (lipstick sets $150)
Shop on: Credo Beauty, Cult Beauty
8. Jane Iredale
Jane Iredale is an American luxury makeup brand that makes some of the best mineral vegan makeup products. The nature-inspired brand was born in rural Massachusetts. The majority of Jane Iredale’s products are vegan-friendly and gluten-free.
From Jane Iredale, you will find luxury vegan mineral foundations, powders, blushes, and lipsticks. The formulas are always clean and free of parabens, phthalates, artificial fragrances, or GMOs. Jane Iredale is certified animal test free by both PETA and Leaping Bunny.
- Cruelty-free: Yes, certified by Leaping Bunny and PETA
- Vegan: Not entirely vegan, see their non-vegan products here
- Features: clean, natural, paraben-free, phthalate-free, talc-free, synthetic fragrance-free, non-GMO, gluten-free options, mostly made in the USA
- Pricing: $20–120
Is Luxury Makeup Vegan?
Luxury makeup is not always vegan. Luxury makeup products often include animal-derived ingredients such as carmine, beeswax, royal jelly, collagen, caviar extract, or pearl powder. Animal-derived ingredients have been long seen as a symbol of luxury in cosmetics.
Many global luxury makeup brands are also not vegan because of their animal testing policies. If a brand chooses to test its products on animals, none of its products can be considered vegan – even if the formula is free from animal-derived ingredients.
Beware! These luxury makeup brands are NOT VEGAN and still test on animals: Armani Beauty, Bobbi Brown, Byredo, Chanel, Clé de Peau Beauté, Clinique, Dior, Gucci, Guerlain, Hermès, Estée Lauder, La Mer, La Prairie, Lancôme, Laura Mercier, Mac, Pat McGrath Labs, Sisley Paris, Tom Ford, and YSL Beauty.
Until recently, all cosmetics companies that wanted to sell their products in mainland China were required to perform pre-market animal testing. And China has been a ludicrous market for Western luxury brands such as Dior and Chanel.
China is gradually relaxing its animal testing requirements for imported cosmetics but most companies operating in China cannot still guarantee that their products are 100% cruelty-free. Unless they enter the market per the Leaping Bunny China Qualification Program.
To make sure the luxury makeup you are buying is truly vegan, prefer brands with a certified cruelty-free label from an external organization such as Leaping Bunny or PETA. Only then make sure the product is free of animal-derived ingredients or byproducts.
What To Look For In Luxury Vegan Makeup
When shopping for luxury vegan makeup, it’s important to make sure the products justify their luxury price point. Make sure the luxury vegan makeup products are rated highly by the beauty community as well as by makeup artists and professionals.
In addition, we expect luxury vegan makeup brands to also be sustainable and clean of synthetic additives and needless chemicals. Eco-friendly beauty is the new luxury beauty and we like to support brands that take that into account. We also love brands with philanthropic initiatives.
Since most luxury beauty brands in 2024 are still not cruelty-free and test their products on animals, prefer brands that are certified cruelty-free by independent organizations such as PETA or Leaping Bunny.
How We Review Luxury Vegan Makeup
We review luxury vegan makeup through product trials and research. We also read countless online reviews to compare our team’s experience with that of other people. None of our reviews have been incentivized by the brand or retailer.
We make sure the luxury vegan makeup brands we list are truly cruelty-free and preferably fully vegan or with a wide vegan offering. We always list 100% vegan brands first.
The pricing of each brand is set at the time of publishing and they do not include sets and bundles. The highest-priced products of each luxury makeup brand are usually their skincare products (luxury serums, face creams).
FAQ About Luxury Vegan Makeup
Luxury makeup is vegan if it’s free from animal-derived ingredients such as carmine or beeswax. For luxury makeup to be considered vegan, it cannot also be tested on animals.
Luxury makeup brands that are 100% vegan include Hourglass and Rose Inc.
The best selection of luxury vegan makeup is available on Sephora and Nordstrom.
No. Dior Beauty is not vegan because Dior still tests products on animals.
Victoria Beckham Beauty is cruelty-free but not entirely vegan. Their vegan-friendly products include Future Lash Mascara, Bitten Lip Tint, Lip Definer, Posh Lipstick, Posh Gloss, Matte Bronzing Brick, Lid Lustre Eyeshadow, Smoky Eye Brick Eyeshadow in Royal, Tuxedo, and Silk, and Satin Kajal Liner in Black, Bronze, Ash, and Cocoa.
No. Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation is not vegan because it contains hydrolyzed conchiolin protein from pearl shells. Koh Gen Do currently offers 2 vegan makeup products: Maifanshi Moisture Concealer and Maifanshi Moisture Fit Concealer.
Summary
Luxury vegan makeup is not easy to find. But once you know the right brands, you can fill your makeup case with beautiful high-quality makeup that is animal-free and cruelty-free. High-end vegan makeup also makes for a great gift for loved ones.
Hourglass is a true trailblazer in the luxury makeup world by being 100% vegan and caring about animal rights. We also support luxury brands such as Charlotte Tilbury and Chantecaille that are not entirely vegan but have a fantastic vegan makeup selection.
Hopefully, many more luxury brands will take the vegan direction in the future. As we find new luxurious vegan makeup brands, we will add them to this list.
See also: Luxury Vegan Skincare
Main image: courtesy of Hourglass
