Last Updated on April 21, 2024 by Ryan
Now more than ever there is a constant push to be more environmentally friendly, and why wouldn’t we? We need to take strides to make this a better world all around, and a massive chunk of that is the environment. Us makeup lovers can give back to mother nature by supporting clean beauty brands that are making a difference!
Needless to say, plenty of companies are opting to be more environmentally friendly. Some of these companies – like makeup and beauty brands – are referring to themselves as “clean makeup brands.” If you want to jump on the clean beauty train, you are in the right place.
Removing your makeup is also part of the makeup routine process, we dare to say, the most crucial step in your entire skincare routine. That’s why it’s critical to have a makeup removal routine that you follow every evening. To help you find a regimen that works for you, here are some of the best and healthiest ways to remove your makeup.
What is Zero Waste?
Okay, before we dive into our top brands and products, we want to give a little insight into what “clean beauty” is all about, specifically makeup. To put it simply, “clean beauty” means that the business is doing everything possible to use clean ingredients, recyclable plastic (or no plastic whatsoever), and less water (for specific products).
Our Top Six Favorite Clean Makeup Brands (And Products)
It’s clear that opting for clean makeup – as opposed to others that use single-use plastics and toxic ingredients – is a big plus. Want to join the clean beauty movement? Check out our favorite clean makeup brands and the top products for each company.
RMS Beauty
RMS Beauty is pretty all-encompassing when it comes to your makeup needs. They have everything from mascara to foundation, body oil, to lip liner. The best part is, RMS Beauty is entirely zero waste, clean makeup brand and all of their products are designed with natural ingredients, organic ingredients, and cruelty-free ingredients. What more could you ask for?
It was hard to pick just one product from RMS Beauty. Their wide selection of top-of-the-line beauty products made it quite the challenge. We decided to go with the Un-Cover Up. It’s pure liquid gold, let us tell you. The flexible and buildable material conceals all those undesirables without becoming thick, bulky, or weighted. It’s a flawless finish every time.
Credo Beauty
Credo Beauty is one of the crowd favorites for clean makeup brands and beauty products. They have developed what is known as “The Credo Clean Standard,” which ensures all of their products are nontoxic, safe, and sustainable. They have an impressive amount of top-notch products to choose from. Essentially, this is a one-stop place to shop.
You won’t want to miss their wide selection of beauty products. But today, we’re focusing on makeup. Which one came in at number one? The must-have Limitless Lash Mascara. This award-winning mascara is designed to lift, lengthen, curl, and volumize for truly glamorous lashes. It’s all you’ve ever wanted from your sustainable makeup box.
Clean Faced Cosmetics
Not everyone wants to shop for big brands, and that’s okay. Did you know there is a nifty little Etsy shop that focuses on clean cosmetics? It’s right in the name – Clean Faced Cosmetics is all about providing customers with natural makeup that is primarily organic but completely vegan. All products are also zero waste. What more could you ask for?
We decided to go with the Red Vegan Lipstick for our number one product, mainly because the shade is oh-so-desirable. With a deep red hue, this lipstick will turn heads. It’s also fabulous for your lip health with a delightful combination of coconut oil, shea butter, candelilla wax, and vitamin E.
Elate Cosmetics
When it comes to finding a zero-waste makeup company you can trust, look no further than Elate. Elate is known for its incredible selection of cosmetic and beauty products, but they also have numbers to back up its zero waste stance. For example, this B Corp Certified brand has kept 697,270 plastic packages out of landfills. Thanks, reusable packaging!
Today, we decided to highlight Elate’s eyeshadows. It’s easy for anyone to find an eyeshadow color in their immense collection, whether you want a light and creamy shade or something dark and mysterious. Place your fave eyeshadow colors into one of Elate’s bamboo palettes and be glad you did.
PHB Ethical Beauty
When it comes to PHB Ethical Beauty, the name of the game is “be ethically beautiful”! The family-run business based out of the United Kingdom has prided itself on offering 100% vegan and cruelty-free products. Many makeup products have won awards and are completely safe for sensitive skin types, allergy sufferers, and pregnant women.
If you’re on the hunt for your next foundation, we highly recommend the Flawless Filter Liquid Foundation SPF30 – Eco Tube 30ml. This was one of the 2021 beauty award winners, already making it a trusted product to add to your collection of clean makeup products. This pure mineral foundation is surprisingly lightweight yet blends your skin to utter perfection.
Aleph Beauty
Last but not least, let me introduce you to Aleph Beauty. This impressive company creates products with 100% natural ingredients that work “in harmony with the skin at the cellular level.” Their zero-waste makeup products are also designed with sustainable packaging, helping to make our world a better place. Featured in “New Zealand Fashion Quarterly,” “Good,” “Viva,” and more, this is a brand you can rely on.
We’re a big fan of their Aleph Beauty Concealer/Foundation, and we know you will be, too. This uniquely designed makeup product is self-adjusting and multifunctional. Use it as a full-coverage concealer or a medium-coverage foundation. To get the most out of your product, Aleph offers free color consultations to ensure you get the right shade. Did we mention this product won “Best of Natural Awards – Winter, Best Makeup – Face” in 2020?
Natural Makeup Removers
Removing your makeup is the most important step in your entire skincare routine. If you don’t remove your foundation at the end of the day, it will clog up your pores, leading to acne and inflammation but what better way to do it than do it with a natural makeup remover?
Makeup also picks up and holds onto free radicals in the air. Forgetting to remove your foundation at night allows those free radicals to sit on your face for hours and break down your skin’s collagen. Over time, this can cause fine lines and wrinkles because collagen is what keeps us looking young. If you make sleeping in your eye makeup a habit, dermatologists say you could even develop sties on your eyelids that require treatment from a doctor. Yikes!
Makeup Removers You Should Avoid
At the end of a long night, we all want to remove our makeup quickly and easily. That’s why many of us turn to makeup wipes from the drugstore. Although they’re convenient and affordable, they’re not the best for your skin. That’s why we are going to talk first about which makeup removers you should avoid, so you don’t damage your skin.
Generic face wipes have a lot of alcohol in them, which can dry out your skin and cause a stinging sensation if your face is sensitive. They usually contain harsh surfactants and sulfates as well that could strip your skin of moisture.
Makeup wipes may also have harmful formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, such as bronopol, to give them a longer shelf life. Formaldehyde is a common allergen and potential carcinogen that you should avoid, especially if you’re looking for the best face wipes.
You probably use your makeup wipes right before falling asleep so that you don’t rinse your face afterward. This exposes your skin to higher concentrations of the active ingredients because you’re not washing them away. So if you use a wipe with harsh additives like bronopol or alcohol, you’re setting your skin up for redness and irritation.
Luckily, there are gentler, more natural alternatives to drugstore makeup wipes that won’t leave your face feeling dry.
The Best Natural Makeup Removers to Add to Your Routine
You might be asking then, which are then the best natural makeup removers that are right for me?
If you want clear skin, adding a gentle, natural makeup remover to your routine is a must. Here are some of the best face wipes and cleansers that will melt away your makeup while nourishing your skin.
Cliganic USDA Organic Jojoba Oil
When you’re trying to remove foundation and grease from your skin, it seems counterintuitive to slather a bunch of oil on your face. But believe it or not, chemically similar particles dissolve each other.
So using oil as a cleanser is one of the best ways to remove sebum and greasy makeup products from your pores. Oil cleansers are also better for your skin than foaming soaps because they protect your skin’s moisture barrier and microbiome instead of stripping them.
This jojoba oil from Cliganic is a good natural makeup remover for all skin types because it’s light and non-comedogenic. It’s also organic and free of additives like alcohol and fragrances that could irritate your skin.
To cleanse your face, all you have to do is pour a teaspoon of this oil into your hands and rub it into your dry face for a minute or two. This will help break up all the grease and dirt your skin has accumulated throughout the day. Then use a damp washcloth to gently wipe away the oil and makeup that’s left on your skin. After you’re done cleansing, your face will feel clean, soft, and supple. You may not even need to use any moisturizer.
RMS Beauty Ultimate Makeup Remover Wipes
Because the ingredients in makeup wipes sit on your skin overnight, it’s even more important for them to be clean and gentle.
These wipes from RMS Beauty list organic coconut oil as the main ingredient, and they will soothe and hydrate your skin while removing stubborn makeup. The wipes are also free of potentially irritating ingredients, such as artificial fragrance and alcohol. RMS Beauty also individually wraps each wipe to keep it moist, which makes it even more effective at melting away foundation and eye makeup.
Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water
Another natural makeup remover you need in your arsenal is Bioderma micellar water. We know what you’re thinking – water can’t possibly get my skin clean and remove my full face of makeup.
But this isn’t just any water. It’s micellar water, which has tiny balls of cleansing oil suspended in it that gently removes your makeup while moisturizing your skin. Bioderma also puts cucumber extract in there to provide an added boost of hydration and help reduce facial puffiness.
We’ve been using Bioderma for years because it’s one of the best eye makeup removers we’ve come across. It instantly dissolves eyeliner and mascara without any scrubbing or rubbing required. It’s also gentle enough not to irritate sensitive skin or make your eyes water, so we highly recommend it.
We Love Eyes Tea Tree Eye Makeup Remover Oil
We Love Eyes sells some of the best eye makeup removers on the market. This natural makeup remover oil with tea tree was developed by optometrist Dr. Tanya Gill, so you know it’s safe for your eyes. It’s also vegan and free of irritating ingredients like sulfates, parabens, formaldehyde, and fragrances.
This product contains organic jojoba and grapeseed oils to melt away makeup, increase hydration, and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. There’s also a little tea tree oil mixed in, which has antibacterial properties and helps promote clean and healthy eyelids.
A Few Other Tips for Going Zero-Waste
If you’re looking to go “zero” with your beauty, skincare, and makeup routine, consider these tips to up your game.
- Ditch face wipes. Face wipes are convenient, but did you know that the population throws away 20 million pounds of these things every day? Needless to say, that’s not great for the environment. Instead of using face wipes, consider using a washcloth instead. You can use them with makeup removers.
- Ditch cotton balls, too. Another handy thing is cotton balls. But now, you can opt for reusable cotton facial rounds. Pretty cool, huh? They’re so similar to your trusty cotton balls; you have no excuse not to give them at least a try.
- Look for companies that take back empties. Finished with your eyeshadow palette? Why not see if the company will take back your empties? Many zero-waste makeup brands are reusing empty makeup products to avoid wasting them.
- Buy in bulk when shopping for plastic. If you have to buy something with plastic packaging, buy it in bulk. This will reduce the overall amount of plastic packaging waste.
Final Words
It’s a good idea to jump on board the clean makeup brands that care for you. Not only is it better for your skin (thanks, to all-natural ingredients), but it’s better for our world, too. Whether you opt for a red-hot lip color or a foundation or concealer, these products won’t disappoint.
If you want a clear, glowing complexion, it’s important to remove your makeup every night. Ideally, you would use a natural makeup remover that doesn’t contain skin irritants like alcohol and formaldehyde. But if you can’t afford to add new products to your skincare routine right now, it’s better to take off your makeup with whatever you have on hand than to wear it to bed.
Which clean makeup brands and products are you going to buy first?
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What is zero-waste makeup?
Zero-waste cosmetics can come in a variety of forms, such as plastic-free items, waterless formulae, reusable containers, and even biodegradable or compostable components. It might be time to replace your cherished plastic mascara tube with a zero-waste alternative if you’re trying to update your beauty regimen.
How do you remove zero-waste makeup?
Unrefined, organic natural oil is one of the simplest, least expensive, and least wasteful makeup removal solutions. You probably already have some oil in the house, and it works very well to take off eye makeup that won’t budge.
Does Sephora recycle makeup?
Your empties are shipped to Pact Collective rather than the landfill when you wipe them out and drop them off at a partnering Sephora. The used materials and empty containers are then separated, either physically or chemically, into new packaging for future products or are turned into energy.
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Meet Kourtney, a fashion and beauty enthusiast who tells stories through style. To her, clothing is a language, and every accessory adds punctuation to her narrative. Kourtney explores vintage fashion markets on weekends, blending classic with contemporary to create a signature style that reflects her vibrant personality. Beyond aesthetics, she's a passionate advocate for body positivity and inclusivity in fashion, celebrating diversity to ensure everyone feels seen and embraced.
