Are you vegan? Yes your diet is, but what about what's in your beauty closet? Knowingly or unknowingly most vegan and even vegetarian women although follow a vegetarian diet but forget all those ingredients used in their beauty and skincare products that are derived from killing animals or causing them torture.

Being a vegan means not only eating vegan food but also using products that are cruelty-free and made without any animal ingredients or derivatives. While many beauty companies smugly call themselves “cruelty-free,” this just means they don't test on animals. But it does not mean all of them are vegetarian and vegan. Most of these companies use ingredients like beeswax and fish enzymes, carmine (red pigment derived from boiling insects), bone char, albumen (derived from egg whites) and other stuff derived from animals. Its shocking and downright cruel! 

Until a few years ago even I wasn't aware that these companies use so many non-vegan ingredients in the cosmetics, and even brands that claim to be vegetarian (like Clarins and Chantecaille) use ingredients like carmine  that would fool you into believing that they are actually vegetarian or vegan. 

I've done some research, emailed lots of companies to get the right information and finally found some brands and certain products of others which are vegan and cruelty free in the true sense to ensure I'm not smearing dead animal gunk on my lips. Here are five vegan lipsticks and brands that are my absolute favourites:

1. Lush Vegan liquid Lipstick 


Is it a gloss or a regular liquid lipstick? Will it last long enough?

All your bright lipstick woes would fly away with Lush Liquid Lipstick that comes in a jar. They are one of the best (and easy to use)  lip products I ever came across. Its easy to use wand effortlessly glide on your lips ensuring a flawless application every time and provides a nice punch of colour without having to worry about smudging. It lasts all day long giving a highly pigmented colour that does not bleed nor dries the lips. Its Decisive red colour is the best red lipstick I came across and have been complimented by hundreds of people so far whenever I wear it.

It feels very glossy at first but gives the perfect finish after the lipstick dries. The best part? Although it is super long lasting, it does not contain harm chemicals like lead or any animal ingredients {its a vegan lipstick}. It is made from natural ingredients like jojoba oil that nourishes and hydrates the lips. Its a must have for everyone, vegan or not.

2. OCC Lip Tar

OCC's lip tars - This pigment-packed tube of vegan color delivers the ultimate punch of color and have become my absolute favourite in the lip department. Lip tar is an amazing innovation that combines longevity of a lipstick with the ease of application like a gloss and come in a variety of shades like seriously neon pink, try cyan blue, neon orange, lavender purple, metallic gold, deep brown, every shade of red and even absolute white.

Their rich pigment delivers long lasting colour (just a little of their hyper-pigmented colours goes a long long way). Of course since OCC is on my list of must haves all their products are 100% vegan (no beeswax or carmine) and cruelty free. In fact they are made from hemp oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E and are free from parabens and other harsh preservatives - now I love when the ingredient list call out names you reckon with. Their reds and pinks are just perfection.

In fact OCC was started by an editorial makeup artist, David Klasfeld, who is also a vegan and wanted to raise the bar in the field of cruelty-free makeup and bingo he can give MAC also a run for its money with its amazing lip tars. I'm  absolutely addicted. You can buy them from Cocktail Cosmetics, they ship international.

3. Aveda Lip Glosses

Clarins sister concern Aveda is all about plant goodness and the fact that they don't use carmine in their products and are a vegetarian brand ups its ante. Ever since I started using them 7 years  ago, I've never looked back. It smells and tastes delicious (peppermint), are non sparkly and shimmery (oh I hate that sticky gooey sparkly stuff). In fact Aveda's lip gloss is free from toxins, no metals, lead and other harmful nonsense and are full of goodness  (jojoba & castor oil, natural spearmint, no synthetic pigments, basil), no wonder their slogan is "Eat your lipstick". However I wouldn't call them vegan as sometimes they use beeswax in certain lip products (but they're 100% vegetarian). Natural + Great Results.

4. Beauty without cruelty

One of the first companies that brought cruelty-free beauty and in fact named them Beauty Without Cruelty aka BWC. They have a great range of colours from bright pinks to deep plums and sexy reds with great results. These are definitely a must have in your vegan beauty box.

5. Inika