We all have those gorgeous pictures of Italian actresses and their red lipstick in mind. Or this influencer and her perfect nude lips. The market is saturated with lipsticks, shades and beauty brands. But do not worry we found the perfect sustainable lipsticks for you.

What is a sustainable lipstick?:

In this article we will consider a sustainable lipstick to be:

• vegan and cruelty-free
• refillable
• coming in sustainable packaging

If possible not containing components that are not safe for the environment or for you.

Let’s prepare your lips first:

No one likes to apply lipstick on flaky and dry lips. It is not only awful to apply but does not look good at all. So first make sure you exfoliate twice or three times a week. You can DIY your scrubs with coffee grounds or sugar and honey or olive oil. 

5 sustainable lipsticks:

Ready to apply? 

Axiology

This first brand is our favourite. They are vegan, cruelty-free, PETA certified, and offer lipstick in recycled plastic or boxes handmade by a women’ s cooperative in Bali. I love that they, not only, are fully looking out for the planet; they are also empowering the people they are working with and making sure that the communities they work with are taken care of! 

And they did not stop there, their lipsticks are also fragrance-free, alcohol-free, gluten-free and soy-free. 70% or more of their lipsticks is organic.

What else? Well if you want you can also use the lipstick as a blush or a light eyeshadow! 3 in 1 tool

Beauty counter

This brand is also a female-founded company. Empowering women is the main feeling you get from it and they really work towards making a difference. No greenwashing or lies there. Not only are they mindful of the environment using paper packaging they also highlight that the paper is FFC certified (responsible managed forest). They work with local artist to design the packaging and choose the colour. One thing which I thought was amazing is a small added touch on their website. Instead of promoting their lipstick on videos the videos is used to give information on how to contact your congress and urge support for personal care laws. A nice way to see advertisement being used. If only other big brands could use their platform for this.

Zao

Zao is the influencer’s sustainable brand. The brand offers 55% organic, 100% natural and vegan. We love this brand for their bamboo packaging which makes it look so natural. you can buy your first lipstick in the bamboo packaging as shown below and then buy only refills. The lip still is palm oil free, vegan, cruelty free, certified by ECOCERT.

Charlotte Tilbury

This is a women lead company. The industry of beauty brands is more than booming. As we can see a lot are not following any sustainable advice, they are not vegan nor cruelty-free or trying to use recyclable or refillable packaging. However, Charlotte Tilbury decided otherwise and I am so happy about it. The brand now proposes refillable lipstick to reduce aluminium waste. Yes, not all of her products are sustainable however she already offered quality to a lot of consumers and for her brand to now offer refillable lipstick as a normal thing makes me really happy. Hopefully, we will see a lot of other products going for a more sustainable approach like refillable mascara, blush and more.

LUSH

One of the most famous brands on this ethical guide, Lush has been created in 1995. When you look at their website you can easily find a lot of symbols: 100% vegetarian, vegan, cruelty-free, handmade, naked packaging, ethical buying!

Actually lush is renowned for their work towards a better and more ethical lifestyle. They are one of the only company that offer to recycle your shampoo bottle. Looking more into their lipstick they offer a refillable option with different shade.
65% of their ingredients are organic or natural.