If you are looking for vegan makeup for dark skin, you are in for a treat. While it used to be difficult to find any makeup for deep skin tones – not to mention vegan makeup – things look quite different in 2024.
Today, there are so many great vegan makeup products that are inclusive of all skin tones, including very dark ones. You can also find a variety of black-owned makeup brands that are 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
See our collection of the best vegan makeup for dark skin from top brands like Fenty Beauty, Mented, Ami Colé, and Juvia’s Place. Black and brown skin tones are going to love these vegan makeup products.
All vegan makeup below is vegan and cruelty-free, meaning all products are free from animal-derived ingredients and have not been tested on animals.
Best Vegan Makeup Products For Dark Skin
Here are the best vegan makeup products for dark skin.
- Best Foundation: Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Longwear Foundation
- Best Tinted Moisturizer: Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Tinted Moisturizer
- Best Concealer: Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer
- Best Blush: E.l.f. Cosmetics Putty Cream Blush
- Best Bronzer: Lys Beauty No Limits Cream Bronzing Stick
- Best Highlighter: Danessa Myricks Dew Wet Highlighting Balm
- Best Eyeshadow: Juvia’s Place Warrior Eyeshadow Palette
- Best Lipstick: The Lip Bar Vegan Liquid Matte Lipstick
- Best Lip Gloss: Mented Cosmetics Lip Gloss
- Best Setting Powder: One/Size Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder
Best Vegan Foundation For Dark Skin
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Longwear Foundation
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r is the best vegan foundation for dark skin. It has a fantastic selection of brown and black shades with all possible neutral, warm, and cool undertones to match your skin. The foundation is long-wearing with a natural matte finish that doesn’t look dull.
- What we like: best range of dark skin shades, great coverage
- What we don’t like: contains fragrance
Key ingredients: vegan glycerin, talc | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, non-comedogenic, black-owned business
Best Vegan Tinted Moisturizer For Dark Skin
Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Tinted Moisturizer
Specially designed for melanated skin, Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Tint is the best vegan tinted moisturizer for dark skin. This natural skin tint gives a gorgeous airbrushed look to dark skin while feeling light as air. No ashiness with this one – the skin looks bright and hydrated.
- What we like: poreless look, lightweight feel
- What we don’t like: not as strong coverage as foundations
Key ingredients: baobab seed oil, desert date oil, pumpkin seed extract, hibiscus extract | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, clean, natural, paraben-free, phthalate-free, fragrance-free, mineral oil-free, sulfate-free, alcohol-free, gluten-free, black-owned business
Shop on: Sephora, Official site
In addition to tinted moisturizers, the best vegan BB cream for dark skin is Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint and the best vegan CC cream is The Lip Bar 3-in-1 Tinted Skin Moisturizer.
Best Vegan Concealer For Dark Skin
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Concealer is our favorite vegan concealer for dark skin. It comes in a wide array of beautiful deep shades with red, blue, golden, and neutral undertones. It covers dark circles and imperfections with a dewy, hydrating finish to fight ashiness.
- What we like: beautiful shades, skin-brightening finish
- What we don’t like: not the strongest coverage
Key ingredients: sunflower seed oil, Gardenia Florida Fruit, Sacred Lotus extract | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, clean, natural, paraben-free, phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, SLS-free, dermatologist-tested, suitable for sensitive skin, LatinX-owned business
Best Vegan Blush For Dark Skin
E.l.f. Cosmetics Putty Cream Blush
E.l.f. Putty Blush is the best vegan blush for dark skin. It’s richly pigmented and vibrant and truly complements black and brown skin tones. We especially love the Maldives, Bali, and Caribbean shades. This blush is also very creamy and blendable and costs only 7 dollars.
- What we like: vibrant pigmented shades, nourishing
- What we don’t like: too rich for oily and acne-prone skin
Key ingredients: argan oil, vitamin E | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, made in a Fair-Trade Certified factory
Best Vegan Bronzer For Dark Skin
Lys Beauty No Limits Cream Bronzer Stick
Black-owned vegan makeup brand Lys Beauty has designed the best vegan bronzer for dark skin. It’s so creamy and melts into the skin giving it a natural bronzed glow. You can choose between deep, dark, and tan shades. The stick also works great for contouring.
- What we like: hydrating, blendable, natural finish
- What we don’t like: can smudge a bit
Key ingredients: rosehip oil, hyaluronic acid, green tea extract | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, clean, natural, paraben-free, phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, fragrance-free, talc-free, gluten-free, black-owned business
Shop on: Sephora, Credo Beauty
Best Vegan Highlighter For Dark Skin
Danessa Myricks Dew Wet Highlighting Balm
Danessa Myricks Beauty Wet Highlighting Balm is the best vegan highlighter for dark skin. You need to try the Hot Water shade – it gives the most stunning wet bronze glow to brown and black skin. It makes the skin look like glass and plays beautifully with light.
- What we like: beautiful glass-skin finish
- What we don’t like: not very pigmented
Key ingredients: jojoba seed oil, candelilla wax | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, clean, paraben-free, phthalate-free, SLS-free, mineral oil-free, gluten-free, black-owned business
Shop on: Sephora, Beautylish
Best Vegan Eyeshadow For Dark Skin
Juvia’s Place Warrior Eyeshadow Palette
For dark skin, the best vegan eyeshadow is the Warrior palette from Juvia’s Place. Inspired by an African female warrior tribe, this palette comes in beautiful deep earthy tones of warm browns, golds, and bronzes. The pigmented shades look amazing on black, brown, and tan skin.
Juvia’s Place has also many other amazing vegan eyeshadow palettes designed for dark skin. The company has also recently extracted animal-based carmine pigment from their eyeshadows. Warrior III and Zulu are excellent vegan palettes if you want to go bolder with eye makeup.
- What we like: best warm neutrals for dark skin
- What we don’t like: not the most high-impact glam look
Key ingredients: talc, mica | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, mineral oil-free, black-owned business
Best Vegan Lipstick For Dark Skin
The Lip Bar Vegan Liquid Matte Lipstick
The Lip Bar Liquid Matte Lipstick is the best vegan lipstick for dark skin. It’s vibrant and pigmented to really bring out the best in melanin-rich skin. Our favorite shade is the bestselling Bawse Lady in deep red. The brown, purple, and pink shades also look amazing on brown skin.
- What we like: richly pigmented, long-wearing
- What we don’t like: matte finishes can be a bit drying (their Soft Kisses Nourishing Lipstick is a better choice for dry lips)
Key ingredients: jojoba oil, vitamin E | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, black-owned business
Shop on: Target, Official site
Best Vegan Lip Gloss For Dark Skin
Mented has made the best vegan lip gloss for dark skin. It’s designed for women of color with amazing chocolate, pink, and deep berry shades to flatter darker skin. This gloss really brings out the natural hues of dark lips and wraps them in beautiful shine and pigment.
- What we like: best pigment and luster for dark skin
- What we don’t like: not long-wearing
Key ingredients: castor seed oil | Features: vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, gluten-free, made in the USA, black-owned business
Best Vegan Setting Powder For Dark Skin
One/Size Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder
We’ve selected One/Size Ultimate Blurring Powder as the number one vegan setting powder for dark skin. We love it for its gorgeous deep pigment and very fine texture. It’s matte but not too matte. It’s great for evening out dark skin tone and keeping the skin smooth and poreless.
- What we like: diffuses pores, non-drying
- What we don’t like: only one dark shade option
Key ingredients: talc, corn starch| Features: vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, fragrance-free, gluten-free, LGBTQ-owned business
Shop on: Sephora, Official site
Best Vegan Makeup Brands For Dark Skin
These are the best vegan makeup brands for dark skin. Most of these are also black-owned vegan beauty brands so that you can show your support to black female entrepreneurs.
Mented Cosmetics
Founded by KJ Miller and Amanda E. Johnson, Mented is the best vegan makeup brand for dark skin. They have great-quality face, cheek, eye, and lip makeup products all designed for melanin-rich skin. The New York brand is fully vegan, cruelty-free, and also very affordable.
Lys Beauty
Lys Beauty is another black female-founded makeup brand we love. Makeup from Lys uses clean and natural vegan ingredients to beautify and moisturize black and brown skin. They have gorgeous vegan foundations and creamy bronzers, blushes, and lipsticks for dark skin.
Shop on: Sephora, Credo Beauty
The Lip Bar
The Lip Bar is where you go for the best vegan lip products for dark skin. This Detroit-based brand is black-founded, vegan, and cruelty-free. They are inclusive of all skin tones and offer the most vibrant and pigmented vegan lipsticks on the market.
Rare Beauty
Selena Gomez’s beauty brand Rare Beauty is also a great vegan makeup brand for dark skin. One of the topselling vegan brands on Sephora, they have some of the best-designed shade options for black and brown skin. We especially love their cream and liquid makeup.
Shop on: Sephora, Official site
Ami Colé
Founded by Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbay, Ami Colé has a small but wonderful vegan makeup collection for melanated skin. They prioritize clean and skin-friendly formulas in their always-vegan makeup. Their tinted vegan moisturizer and lip oil are our favorites.
Shop on: Sephora, Official site
There are also many cruelty-free makeup brands that are not fully vegan but have a great vegan makeup selection for dark skin. These brands are Fenty Beauty, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Uoma Beauty, and Juvia’s Place.
Is Vegan Makeup Good For Dark Skin?
Vegan makeup for dark is as good as non-vegan makeup. Apart from carmine, there are no pigments that vegan makeup cannot use in creating products for darker skin tones.
Most dyes and pigments used in makeup are vegan-friendly and are either synthetically created from petroleum or derived from a variety of minerals, plants, and vegetables.
While carmine (a deep red coloring derived from crushed insects) is often present in dark skin makeup, carmine is easily replaceable with vegan-friendly pigments.
Companies like Mented, The Lip Bar, and Hourglass are creating intense red lipsticks and cheek makeup products for darker complexions without any use of animal-derived pigments.
What To Look For In Vegan Makeup For Dark Skin
When shopping for vegan makeup for dark skin, it’s crucial that the products have enough pigment. Vegan makeup is often more natural and lightly pigmented which can look dull and ashy on brown and black skin. Whenever possible, prefer brighter, more vibrant shades.
If you have dark skin that is also dry, look for vegan makeup that is creamy and hydrating. Vegan makeup with dewy and radiant finishes makes dark skin look healthier and brighter. We also prefer more shimmery vegan eyeshadow to matte ones for deeper complexions.
You don’t necessarily have to buy vegan makeup from black-owned beauty brands but in our experience, it really helps. While most makeup brands include a dark shade or two in their range, black-founded brands are better at designing shades that truly flatter dark skin.
How We Review Vegan Makeup For Dark Skin
We review vegan makeup for dark skin by listening to people with dark skin. We only list vegan makeup products that are recommended by peers, makeup artists, and beauty influencers. Above all, we compare hundreds of reviews from people with brown or black complexions
FAQ About Vegan Makeup For Dark Skin
Vegan makeup works equally well for dark skin as non-vegan makeup. The only pigment vegan makeup that cannot use for dark skin is insect-derived carmine. Most other dyes and pigments that fit darker complexion are vegan-friendly.
The best vegan foundation for dark skin is Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Longwear Foundation.
The best selection of vegan makeup for dark skin is available on Sephora, Ulta, and Amazon. You can also check Credo Beauty for more natural vegan makeup for dark skin.
Summary
We are glad to see how vegan makeup for dark skin is getting stronger every year. There are so many exciting vegan makeup products that bring the best out of deeper complexions.
With so many fantastic black-founded vegan makeup brands like Mented or Lys Beauty, brown and black skin tones no longer have a only shade or two to choose from.
Hope you can show your support to companies that support minority entrepreneurs and truly care about inclusivity in shade options. These brands prove how vegan makeup is for everyone.
See also: Vegan Skincare For Black Skin
