The Best Vegan Skincare Products for Women
Summer is on the horizon, so it’s time to get our skincare in order. With so many incredible vegan beauty brands and products available, things can get overwhelming. Your skincare routine is integral to keeping your skin protected, healthy, and looking radiant.
Do you have a skincare routine? If not, the time is now! In this short guide, I look at the very best vegan skincare products on the market just for us women. I hope it helps you to start your journey to healthier and more vibrant skin.
Read also: 12 Best Vegan Skincare and Routine for Men
The Best Vegan Skincare Products for Women
To make things a little easier, I have broken the guide down into types of products. This includes exfoliator, cleansing, makeup remover, masks, toning, serum, moisturizers, and sunscreen. I’ll give you the top one or two vegan products for each to make life simple.
Vegan Exfoliators
ACURE Brightening Facial Scrub - Sea Kelp & French Clay
This is my personal favorite scrub. It’s gentle on the skin and works wonders after just one week. It will improve and brighten up your complexion quite quickly. You will also get softer and smoother skin as a result.
ACURE is a high-quality vegan brand that has a wide selection of vegan beauty products. The exfoliator is 100% vegan and Leaping Bunny Certified. It is also paraben-free, sulfate-free, mineral oil-free, petroleum-free, and formaldehyde-free.
Peter Lamas Naturals Exfoliating Pumpkin Facial Scrub
This scrub is designed for all skin types and is highly rated by consumers all over the world. It penetrates deep, removing any dirt, dead skin, and sebum from your pores. It will leave your skin feeling ultra-soft and smooth.
It uses a combination of powerful ingredients, including pumpkin Enzymes, combining with apple and almond acids to dissolve cellular debris. The apricot grains gently polish away any dead skin cells.
Vegan Cleansers
Woods Black Soap Facial Cleanser
This cleanser helps to gently exfoliate and can be used daily. It helps to heal blemishes, neutralize free radicals, and is suitable for all skin types. Made with 100% natural ingredients, including antioxidants.
The black soap really helps to exfoliate and rejuvenate the skin cells and cleat any blemishes. The shea butter helps to moisturize the skin, and botanical extracts help to soothe and nourish the skin cells.
The products are also certified organic by Ecocert S.A. It is paraben and phthalate-free, Lauryl/Laureth sulfate-free with no petroleum derivatives.
Beauty Without Cruelty 3% AHA Complex Facial Cleanser
BWC is a top-quality vegan beauty company. This is their famous 3% AHA cleanser that lightly foams and removes dead surface skin cells. It will remove any other daily impurities, including excess oil, without over-cleaning your skin.
Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are natural and help to gently and deeply clean your skin. It actively clarifies your skin without disturbing the natural balance. This cleanser will leave your skin feeling clean, bright, and refreshed.
Best suited for normal to oily skin.
Vegan Makeup Remover
Yes To Cucumbers Eye Makeup Remover Pads
Use the power of cucumbers to remove your makeup! That’s right, cucumbers! These makeup pads are highly effective, using 95% natural ingredients. They also use the power of aloe, which helps to soften the skin.
Your skin will be left feeling smooth and fresh from the excellent plant ingredients. Each tub contains 45 moistened pads that are simple to use and ready to go. You don’t even need to rinse after use.
Paula's Choice Gentle Touch Oil-Free Waterproof Makeup Remover
This is a gentle but remarkable makeup remover from Paula’s Choice. It’s also completely oil-free, with no need to dry after each use. It will leave your face feeling hydrated, supple, never dry, or feeling tight.
The product uses aloe vera and antioxidants to help gently remove even the most stubborn makeup while maintaining hydration of the skin. There is no fragrance, parabens, or other nasty stuff lurking inside. A great product all around.
Vegan Masks
Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Rosewater Masks
This is a dermatologically tested mask that helps revitalize, soothe, and nourish your skin. It is 98% natural using alpine rose stem cells that deliver essential hydration to your skin cells.
The pomegranate will help uplift your skin tone, and hyaluronic acid with aloe vera helps revive your skin’s moisture barrier. The mask is non-GMO certified, and some of the ingredients are even Fair Trade.
Earth Science Radiant Skin Masque
This is a herbal masque from the excellent Earth Science brand. Made using papaya and glycolic acids, it helps to deeply penetrate the skin to help rejuvenate skin cells and lock in moisture.
You only need to use this masque once or twice a week for excellent results. The ingredients are 100% natural and do not include parabens or gluten. It’s great for all skin types and can specifically help stop breakouts and improve wrinkle lines.
Vegan Toning
Now Foods Solutions Purifying Toner
Now Foods are best known in the vegan community for their supplements. But, they also have an excellent range of skincare products. This purifying toner is an excellent choice for anyone looking to prepare their pores and bring their skin back to its natural acidic state.
Suitable for all skin types, this toner uses Vitamin C and Acai Berry to help reduce the appearance of any imperfections. It will also help to remove any pore-clogging residue. This toner will brighten your complexion and leave you with healthy protective skin.
Derma E Anti Wrinkle Toner
This toner is best for those with normal to oily skin. It utilizes the anti-wrinkle power of Vitamin A, Glycolic Acid, and Papaya to give you healthy and fantastic-looking skin. It will effectively remove impurities and reduce the look of pores and wrinkles.
The sea kelp helps to radically change your skin into soft and supple beautiful skin. I highly recommend this product and have used it many times in the past. It’s also completely natural, non-GMO, paraben-free, and of course, cruelty-free.
Vegan Serum
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Serum
The Ordinary is one of my favorite beauty brands in the world right now. This hyaluronic acid serum has been a regular in my beauty routine for over 2 years. It’s just working. When you apply it, you will feel refreshed and your skin ultra-hydrated.
Why use hyaluronic acid? Hyaluronic acid is capable of attracting up to 1,000 times its weight in water. So, each time you use the product, it super hydrates your skin to a noticeable effect. Those with very dry skin will benefit greatly from this product.
Avalon Organics, Intense Defense
This antioxidant serum from Avalon Organics uses Apricot, Raspberry, and Argan Oil to hydrate and replenish your skin. It is rich in essential nutrients and minerals which absorb quickly and reinforce your skin’s natural lipid barrier.
The serum also effectively helps protect your skin against UV rays and pollutants, which cause premature aging of the skin. The serum is also certified by QAI to NSF/ANSI 305, the American National Standard for products containing natural and organic ingredients.
Vegan Moisturizers
Cliganic Organic Argan Oil, 100% Pure
You can’t beat 100% natural pure Argan Oil. It is nature’s natural moisturizer and is highly effective. It works with most skin types, although those with oily skin may not benefit. Argan Oil uses a plant-based source of squalene.
Squalene can effectively balance your skin’s oil production. This helps to prevent skin from over-producing oil and creating blemishes. Just make sure you Argan Oil in its pure and organic form for the best results.
ACURE Radically Rejuvenating Day Cream
Another great product from the vegan brand Acure. This time, a super-hydrating face moisturizer turmeric, ferulic acid, and vitamin C. It will help hydrate any skin type, deeply nourish your pores, brighten your complexion, and leave your skin feeling fresh.
This moisturizer also includes SPF 30 for protection from the sun. What’s more, the sunscreen element is made with reef-safe zinc, so it is eco-friendly. I personally use this moisturizer daily, and it works like a charm.
Vegan Sunscreen
All Good SPF 50+ Sport Sunscreen Butter Stick
All Good presents a high-resistant UV sunscreen in the form of a butter stick. This means you can gently and quickly apply the sunscreen with the butter stick but with no messy hands. It offers broad-spectrum protection against the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays.
The All Good sunscreen is also oxybenzone-free, which means it is reef-safe and eco-friendly. You won’t find any GMO, gluten, or parabens inside. The product utilizes non-nano zinc and is 100% biodegradable to further help the environment.
Thinksport SPF 50 Sunscreen
Thinksport is a top-quality cosmetic brand offering innovative and effective sunscreens. This sunscreen contains 20% no nano Zinc Oxide. This makes it reef-safe and much safer for the ocean and marine life.
The Thinksport sunscreen is free from oxybenzone, parabens, phthalate, and avobenzone. It is also an award-winning product and is rated “1” by the EWG skin deep database for skin health and friendliness to the environment.
5 Tips for Your Vegan Skincare Routine and Healthy Skin
Now we have our top vegan skincare products, it’s time to talk about routine. I’m sure you all have a vegan skincare routine already. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I will make some suggestions.
1. Wash Your Face Every Single Day
Your skin is your first barrier to protection from environmental impurities. Each day you walk around outside, your pores are clogging with dirt, dead skin cells, pollutants, and your own sebum.
Ashing your wash each day is the first line of defense when it comes to skin health. Washing away all those impurities with a good face scrub or cleanser will remove the impurities and leave your skin feeling clean and soft.
I recommend washing your face twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. If you go on a long walk or exercise, it’s worth cleaning your face after that. If using an exfoliator, you only need to use it two or three times a week. Use your cleanser for a daily clean.
2. Take It Easy On Your Skin
Washing too much or scrubbing too hard can have negative results for your skin. It may become excessively dry, blemishes may appear, and you may break out. When you do wash or scrub your face, you need to be gentle. Skin is sensitive.
When using a face scrub, apply a small amount to your hands and using two fingers to move in circular motions gently. This will still exfoliate your skin without damaging it. You should also aim to use products that are gentle to the skin. I factored this in on my list above.
Avoid harsh chemicals such as parabens, sulfates, phthalates, fragrance, formaldehyde, phenoxyethanol, alcohols, and peg.
3. Eat a Healthy Diet
Don’t make a mistake, thinking that because you eat a vegan diet, it is healthy. This is far from reality. It may be healthier than a regular diet, but that still doesn’t equal healthy. Your skin is affected by your diet in a big way.
Skin needs huge amounts of nutrients to stay healthy and protective. The top foods for healthy skin include:
- Avocados
- Walnuts
- Sunflower seeds
- Sweet potatoes
- Red or yellow bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Tomatoes
If you eat a lot of vegan junk food that is high in cheap oils, your skin will pay the price (as well as your belly). Too much oil can result in blemishes, spots, flares in eczema/psoriasis, and an unhealthy complexion.
Avoid eating and drinking too much refined carbs, high sugar treats, and deep-fried foods. You may also want to reduce the amount of coffee and alcohol in your diet (sorry!).
I find the best diet for my skin is a whole foods plant-based diet. I can’t always stick to this because of availability and convenience, but I aim for 80-85%. Whole foods are foods that have been the least processed, like raw fruits and veggies.
4. Drink Lots of Water
You will be amazed at how many people simply don’t drink enough water, it’s madness! Water is essential to good health, especially healthy skin! Our bodies are made up of 60% water, which we use for thousands of different important bodily functions throughout the day.
Experts say you should drink 2-3 liters of water every single day for optimal health. To make this easy, I bought a 3L reusable bottle. This way, I wake up and fill it and aim to finish it by the time I go to bed at night. It soon becomes a positive habit and like second nature.
Soda, coffee, tea, and any other drink you buy in a bottle does not count in your 3 liters a day. You need pure 100% H2O. No cheating!
If your skin does not get adequate amounts of water throughout the day, it will lack hydration. This leads to dry, tight, and flaky skin. Those with eczema will already know how just drinking 3 liters of water a day can improve your skin’s hydration. Dry skin has less resilience and is more prone to wrinkling.
5. Develop a Skincare Routine You Love
This will be different for every person. But, having a daily skincare routine goes a long way toward improving your skin. I will give you my skincare routine but feel free to play around with it and design one that works for you.
- Exfoliate (2-3x per week, 30 seconds)
- Cleanse (Daily, 30 seconds)
- Apply Serum (Daily, 10 seconds)
- Moisturize (Daily, 10 seconds)
On top of this, you may want to use a mask a few times a week. Also, use sunscreen whenever going into the sun. Sunscreen helps protect your skin from sun damage. If you let your skin get damaged by the sun, you risk premature aging, wrinkles, and skin cancer if you’re not careful!
Final Thoughts
Having a solid vegan skincare routine coupled with high-quality vegan skin care products is your first line of defense for your skin. It’s also the first step in achieving healthier, more vibrant, and beautiful skin.
I hope the products listed and routine have helped inspire your own skincare routine. Your skin is incredibly important. If taken care of properly, it will serve you well throughout your life, battling away premature aging and helping you look beautiful and healthy for longer.
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