Vegan make-up: Beauty drops beetle carmine and other animal pigments

By Julia Wray | Published: 17-Nov-2022

With suppliers innovating replacements for cochineal-origin pink, formulating vegan colour cosmetics may soon be as fuss-free as it is animal-free

Veganism is big business – especially when it comes to beauty.

An October 2022 whitepaper from The Vegan Society gathered together some illuminating statistics: notably 2021 research from MarketGlass, which predicts the global vegan cosmetics market will reach US$21.4bn by 2027.

Cosmetics and toiletries now make up 45% of all The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark registrations, which today number over 60,000.

In the colour cosmetics space, KVD Beauty, Milk Makeup and e.l.f. are known for combining popping hues with confirmed animal-free formulas, while favourites including Huda Beauty and Fenty Beauty boast vegan options among their line-ups.

“As the vegan movement continues to gather momentum, more people are realising the extent to which animal products are used across all aspects of our daily lives,” says Caroline Bolton, Cosmetic Trademark Team Leader at The Vegan Society.

“There’s a lot more accessibility to information around industry practices, with the rise of social media and streaming platforms, which is helping drive demand for more compassionate and conscientious consumption, as well as for transparent labelling where derivatives, such as animal fats, beetle shell and collagen, are not necessarily clear from ingredient lists.”

Not yet a Subscriber?

This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Click below to get premium content on Cosmetics Business.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in here.