The Best Organic, Clean, and Non-Toxic Makeup Brands and Products of 2019
Navigating the world of organic makeup products is tough because there's no reliable GPS. Lots of brands slap words like "clean," "natural," and "non-toxic" onto their product labels, but because they're not regulated by the FDA, those terms can sometimes be meaningless.
Scary, huh? But the truth is not every organic makeup brand or product is a scam. Finding effective makeup free of toxins, fillers, and chemicals is possible — if you're willing to do your homework. While brands are starting to get more upfront about their formulations and how they source said ingredients, there's also online resources that to help you out, too. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), for example, has an extensive database where you can search by brand or product to find out if it contains potentially risky ingredients. Some brands also work with third party certification agencies like USDA, ECOCERT, COSMOS, and Leaping Bunny to ensure that their ingredients and packaging are safe.
If all of this information still seems overwhelming, we understand. So we've done the research for you and complied the 11 of the best organic makeup brands, along with which product to try from the line.
From highlighter to lipstick, keep scrolling for the best organic, clean, and non-toxic makeup brands and products of 2019.
Best Highlighter: RMS Beauty Living Luminizer
Best Tinted Moisturizer: KOSAS Tinted Face Oil Foundation
Best Mascara: W3LL People Expressionist Mascara
Best Foundation: Vapour Beauty Soft Focus Foundation
Best Lipstick: Kjaer Weis Lipstick
Best Eyelash Serum: Jane Iredale PureLash Lash Extender & Conditioner
Best Blush: lilah b. Divine Duo Lip & Cheek
Best Eyeshadow Palette: Beautycounter Romantic Velvet Eyeshadow Palette
Best Concealer: Clove + Hallow Conceal + Correct
Best Bronzer: Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer
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Best Highlighter: RMS Beauty
Created by celebrity makeup artist Rose Marie Swift, RMS Beauty was one of the first makeup brands to nix questionable toxic ingredients from its formulas. Instead, it uses raw, food-grade, organic ingredients including coconut oil, antioxidants and enzymes.
While RMS Beauty may leave a ton of common makeup ingredients out of its products, they don't skimp on color pay off. The brand's Un Cover-Up Concealer/Foundation is a cult-favorite, and the Living Luminizer changed highlighters forever. And instead of giving off a glittery, chalky finish, the creamy formula melts into skin adding a dewy, lit-from-within glow. It comes in five different shades that suit a range of skin tones.
Shop now: $38; sephora.com
Best Tinted Moisturizer: Kosas Tinted Face Oil Foundation
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Founded by Los Angeles-based artist and chemist Sheena Yaitanes in 2015, Kosas' products are formulated with prestige, high-performing botanical ingredients that both perform and offer skincare benefits. With innovative products like the 10 Second Liquid Eyeshadow — which is meant to be swiped on with your fingertip — the brand makes wearing makeup a little less complicated with every launch.
Take Kosas' Tinted Face Oil Foundation for example. Part face oil, part foundation, the brand's first complexion product is unlike any tinted moisturizer or alphabet cream you've tried before. Instead of sitting on top of your skin like many oils, it absorbs into skin, offering intense hydration. It offers light, your-skin-but-better coverage, plus it improves the appearance of pores and texture.
Shop now: $42; sephora.com
Best Mascara: W3LL People Expressionist Mascara
Made in small batches with organic ingredients, W3LL People is one of the OG indie organic makeup brands. Now, you can find the line at your local Target and clean beauty retailers like Goop.
W3LL People's Expressionist Mascara is arguably its standout product. While mascara can be notoriously tough to formulate without toxic ingredients, this one coats lashes with mineral pigment for added length, volume, and definition. The result? dark, long, fluttery lashes that don't smudge or run. Yup, just like any other solid mascara.
Shop now: $22; goop.com
Best Foundation: Vapour Beauty Soft Focus Foundation
Organic ingredients and moisturizing, antioxidant-packed bases are the MO of this clean beauty brand. Along with color cosmetics products, Vapour Beauty also makes cruelty-free synthetic makeup brushes and natural deodorant.
The Soft Focus Foundation is a lightweight, buildable formula that goes on streak-free for a natural finish. Easy to blend, it can be layered to build up coverage. It comes in 10 shades formulated to match various skin tones and their corresponding undertones.
Shop now: $54; credobeauty.com
Best Lipstick: Kjaer Weis Lipstick
The beauty industry has a sustainability problem, but brands like Kjaer Weis are leading the anti-waste movement with high-end, long-wear makeup packaged in reusable containers. Once you hit the bottom of your favorite product, you can restock it with refills that can be purchased separately at half the price of the original product. And they don't skimp on quality.
The Kjaer Weis' lipstick is made with a blend of beeswax, jojoba and sweet almond oils to glide on seamlessly, leaving the lips feeling ultra-nourished. With colors ranging from tawny nude to classic cherry red, there's a shade option for every lipstick vibe.
Shop now: $56; neimanmarcus.com
Best Eyelash Serum: Jane Iredale PureLash Lash Extender & Conditioner
When Jane Iredale launched her namesake mineral-based makeup brand in 1994, the concept of blending makeup and skincare was revolutionary. Today, it's common practice for makeup products to include skin-nourishing ingredients.
While her brand's Amazing Base mineral powder foundation convinced people to give clean, organic products a chance, the whole line is filled with natural alternatives to the products in your current routine and trending ones like lash serums. The PureLash Lash Extender & Conditioner acts as a primer for your mascara, but also conditions lashes to strengthen and thicken them over time. Bonus: It also works on eyebrows.
Shop now: $23; nordstrom.com
Best Blush: lilah b. Divine Duo Lip & Cheek
For anyone looking to both Marie Kondo their makeup routine and switch to clean products, lilah b. checks off both boxes. Founder Cheryl Yannotti Foland has created a line of luxe, clean, high-performing products packaged in sleek compacts and containers.
Included in the mix is a few multi-purpose formulas like the Divine Duo Lip & Cheek. This easy blendable, buildable creamy product adds a soft wash of color to the cheeks, a hint of color to the eyelids, or works as a long-wear lip stain.
Shop now: $46; lilahbeauty.com
Best Eyeshadow Palette: Beautycounter Romantic Velvet Eyeshadow Palette
Wildly popular on your Facebook feed, this brand has a list of over 1,500 axed ingredients you'll never find in their skin, makeup or hair products. Founder Gregg Renfrew formulates the line according to chemical and personal care ingredients banned by the European Union, along with their own in-house vetting system.
Among Beautycoutner's best-sellers is the Romantic Velvet Eyeshadow Palette. The nine-pan palette includes a mix of matte, shimmer, and satin shades to wear alone, or pair together for a soft smoky eye. With pigment-boosting Butterpowder as the shadows' star ingredient, the shades go on smooth and stay on without creasing.
Shop now: $50; beautycounter.com
Best Concealer: Clove + Hallow Conceal + Correct
This makeup artist-founded brand takes a "less is more" approach to making makeup products. All of the formulas are vegan, cruelty-free, and only contain 15 ingredients or less. The lack of filler and fluff leaves room for botanical ingredients to nourish and condition skin, on top of long-wear color.
Clove + Hallow's first concealer is a creamy liquid concealer that offers buildable coverage that doesn't cake or flake off. The coverage starts off as medium, but you can build it up to cover dark under eye circles, zits, or hyperpigmentation.
Shop now: $20; amazon.com
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Best Bronzer: Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer
Physicians Formula goes back to 1937(!) when allergist Dr. Frank Crandall created the line of products for his wife, who couldn't find makeup that wouldn't irritate her senstive skin.
Next to its mineral face powders, Physicians formula's bronzers are fan-favorites. The hydrating Murumu Butter Bronzer leaves skin soft, smooth, and adds a bronze glow.
Shop now: $16; ulta.com