Vegan cosmetics: Formulating with the right ingredients and claims

I adopted a plant-based lifestyle in 2016 due to health issues. As I learned more about animal cruelty, I decided to become vegan. Veganism is a philosophical stance where we avoid all animal-derived products in every aspect of life to reduce animal exploitation.

Is cruelty-free vegan? or is vegan cruelty-free?

Animal testing does not fit into a vegan lifestyle. There are various cruelty-free certifications, as explained below:
 

• The Leaping Bunny Program: Focuses on animal testing. They do not exclude animal-derived ingredients.
• PETA’s “truly cruelty-free” certification: Requires both no animal testing and no animal-derived ingredients.

Thus, a cruelty-free claim does not mean the product is vegan, but a vegan statement always means that the product is free from animal testing.
 

Vegan products can be synthetic, natural, or every other shade in between

I have been pitched numerous ingredients as vegan ingredients, just because they have a natural origin index of 1. As a product developer or formulator, you can not be sure your suppliers are familiar with the definition of veganism. 

The brand you are developing would not be the first one to be rejected for certification by the Vegan Society, because a natural ingredient was animal-derived. Thus, it can be said that vegan products can be synthetic, natural, or every other shade in between.

TIP: Do not risk a costly reformulation. Ask for vegan declarations and explanations.  

The future is vegan

As an R&D professional or formulator, it is more important than ever to become knowledgeable in vegan formulation. Today’s consumers want products that are both high-performing and ethical. They expect their products to be truly cruelty-free. As I explained earlier, there is only one way to formulate truly cruelty-free: formulate vegan.  

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global vegan cosmetics market size is now at around USD 20.48 billion and will reach USD 32.56 billion by 2032. They predict a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.85% in 2024-2032. Europe is the market leader in vegan care, and Asia Pacific will have the largest growth in the coming years.¹  

There is one main driver for this growth: animal testing is so passé (no longer fashionable). Cosmetify found out that in 2019, 39% of the British women who always buy vegan cosmetics aren’t vegan. They simply don’t want animal cruelty on their skin.² And because animal testing is so passé, it is also banned in many places in the world.

I can not list every animal-derived and non-vegan ingredient that is used in care products has not been listed in this article; it will become a book if I do. For an extended animal-derived ingredients list, you can check PETA’s list.

Successful vegan formulation is not about finding perfect one-to-one substitutions (which rarely exist) but about embracing experimentation, understanding ingredient functionality, and developing a new approach to creating beautiful, effective products. 

Step out of your comfort zone and start innovating!
 

Ingredients that are always animal-derived

If you are formulating a vegan care product, be sure to ditch shellac, milk, silk, yoghurt, tallow, lanolin, and snails. Also, watch out for derivatives from these ingredients, like isopropyl lanolate. Those are never vegan.

Swapping beeswax for vegan waxes

Most of us have a romantic vision in mind of a beekeeper in a suit gently brushing off bees from hives. That is not the reality of the commercial beekeeping industry. Wings and legs are torn off, and bees are killed in handling. The queen bee’s wings are cut off, she is given CO₂ to lose consciousness, and then pinned in an instrumental insemination unit in a way that opens up to be inseminated.³ 

Now, let’s do that without the animal cruelty. There are many alternatives to animal-derived beeswax:
 

• Pure plant-based waxes: I prefer plant-based goodness for many formulations because they bring nourishment for your skin and hair. They are eco-friendly, skin-friendly, and biodegradable.
• Synthetic waxes: They are lab-engineered waxes that offer consistent quality, tailored melting points, and stability for reliable performance.
• Pseudo-waxes: They are oils whose melting point is increased, but to do so, the unsaponifiables are stripped.
• Synergies: They are smart blends of different waxes. They have balanced properties to deliver enhanced texture, spreadability, and functionality.

Let's check out some of the vegan wax options available to choose from.

Candelilla wax (INCI name - Euphorbia cerifera cera)

Candelilla wax is my personal favorite and a widely used alternative to beeswax. It is a great wax to use in lip balm and lipstick, as it also gives a bit of gloss. Candelilla is great in hair waxes, too. Candelilla comes from the leaves of a shrub that grows in northern Mexico and southern parts of the USA. The texture and skin feel of the wax are quite similar, but the melting point is somewhat higher than beeswax. Beeswax has a melting point of 64-65°C, and Candelilla 69-73°C. Reduce your percentage a bit and start experimenting!

Berry wax (INCI name - Rhus verniciflua peel cera)

Berry wax is obtained from the fruits of the Chinese lacquer tree. With a melting point around 52°C, it is softer than beeswax. It is not the best wax to use in sticks, but it is perfect to substitute beeswax in emulsions or balms. The skin feel of beeswax can be a bit sticky. Berry wax is smoother and velvet-like.

Carnauba wax (INCI name - Copernicia cerifera wax)

Carnauba wax is brittle and hard, obtained from the leaves of a Brazilian palm tree. The melting point is 82-86°C, which is much higher than that of beeswax. It is a perfect co-wax to raise the melting point of your product, especially if you want the product to form a layer on the skin.

One-on-one substitute

The synergy created by KahlWax 6103 MB Vegan BW Substitute with synthetics and pseudo-waxes has almost identical properties and melting point to beeswax. If you are short on experimentation time, get this wax to make your formulation vegan.
 

Select various commercial grades of vegan waxes based on their INCIs for your formulation available in our master catalog:

Carmine

Carmine is a bright red pigment, also known as cochineal dye. Cochineals are berry-eating beetles, and they are crushed to powder that we call carmine.
 

The Carmine challenge

“The lipstick needs to be natural, vegan, and fire engine red.”

As I scanned the product brief, I knew this could be a challenge, but I didn’t think it would be that big of a challenge. It was the last day of inCosmetics 2022, and I ran into Lisa and Lays in the Covalo booth. We met two days before, when Lise offered me a chocolate and I declined. “Don’t you like chocolate?” made me laugh. “I love it, but I’m vegan”. “So am I. And so are these!” Needless to say, I took one.

It was now Thursday, just after lunch. I was still searching for that One Important Thing on my list: a natural and vegan bright red pigment. Lays is a search goddess and found New Red 1805 by Givaudan. The lipstick we created could have been the 25th, but this one looked amazing. I normally don’t wear lipstick, but that week I imagined I was Madonna in Who’s That Girl. We shipped it to our client, waiting to hear your songs of praise.

That didn’t happen. Where mine and my colleagues’ lips were bright red, my client’s lips turned… purple. I found out it had something to do with the different pH values of our lips. We agreed that she needed to take this project to a colour specialist, so I never cracked this puzzle.

Swapping honey for vegetable-based alternatives

Before becoming a cosmetic scientist, I studied Herbal Medicine. Raw honey can be used on wounds and burns. I would not claim you can make a 1-on-1 substitution with vegetable glycerin. However, for the texture of the product and the humectant effect of honey, you can.

Honey can be substituted for a vegetable-based glycerin. As you substitute the honey in your formulation, be honest. Why is the honey in there? Is it effective in this dosage? Or is the honey in here for marketing purposes? The future is vegan, especially in cosmetics. A growing number of consumers do not want to be part of the queen bee assaults. There are many botanical extracts you can use to make skin smooth, support cell regeneration, and boost hydration. 

Ingredients that could be animal-derived, or not

There is a long list of INCI that could be either animal-derived, synthetic, or plant-based. You need to check the documentation to find the origin of your ingredient. Often, you can substitute the animal-derived ingredient 1-on-1 with the vegan INCI. Make it a habit to check the origin of every ingredient you source and use in your formulations.
 

Swapping retinol for bakuchiol

Retinol is a highly researched and highly hyped-up ingredient. It has anti-aging and anti-acne properties and is helpful against hyperpigmentation. But in formulations, it degenerates quickly and has burning side effects.

Sytenol® A (Bakuchiol) is a vegan and gentle alternative. It is extracted from babchi seeds, having the same positive effects on the skin. According to the efficacy tests, it outperforms retinol for facial photoaging and stimulating collagen without the drawbacks. 0.5-1% in a formulation is perfect.
 

Swapping proteins with botanical ingredients

Collagen and silk are popular ingredients in care products. I would like to encourage you to take a step back: why are you using that animal-based protein in your formulation? What is the effect you want from it? The effect you want from the ingredient can probably be found with a multitude of botanical ingredients.

There is a rich variety of plant-based proteins from sources like rice, oats, and other botanicals. You don’t have to find a 1-on-1 replacement; you can find a suitable plant-based ingredient that does what you want it to do more sustainably.
 

Swapping squalane with plant-based alternatives

Squalane is originally obtained from shark livers and is still sold as ‘marine squalane’. However, there is a 1-on-1 substitute available, i.e., an olive squalane (Phytosqualan®) or a fermented version (Neossance™ Squalane). Other ingredients that can be swapped with vegan alternatives are given below:

Avoid these INCIs

• Fatty acids like stearic acid and oleic acid can be made from tallow or from plant oils.
• Glycerin can be animal-based, but there are perfect plant-based versions on the market.
• Panthenol nowadays is mostly synthetic, but can still be animal-based.

Not animal-derived, but not vegan

Animal-based processing aids

Plant-based ingredients made with biotechnology and extracts often need processing aids to become the ingredient. Their substrates or solvents can be animal, plant, mineral, or petrochemical. You will need to check with your supplier for this information.

Animal exploitation

Veganism is a philosophy where animal exploitation is avoided. This also means that vegans don’t use ingredients that are harvested by animals. This means no truffles and sometimes, no coconuts. On different plantations in Thailand, monkeys are used and abused to harvest coconuts.¹

Be aware of exploitation in your supply chain. Modern slavery and animal exploitation are a reality. It is our responsibility to make the right decisions.

Vegan certifications

Two major certification bodies exist for vegan cosmetics: The Vegan Society and PETA. I have worked with The Vegan Society and was impressed by their thorough auditing process.
 

The Vegan Society

The Vegan Society certifies over 35,000 cosmetics and toiletries with their Vegan trademark. Certification requires:
 

• No animal-derived ingredients or by-products anywhere in the supply chain.
• No animal testing by the company or suppliers.⁵

They do not have a fixed cut-off date for past animal testing and accept ingredients tested before the EU cosmetics ban.
 

Years ago, it took me months to secure a Vegan Society certification for one of the formulations I developed. The preservative had a vegan statement, but it had calcium gluconate in its composition. The Vegan Society wanted to know the origin of that INCI and it took a while before I got the information from down the chain. But we succeeded and the product got the seal of approval from The Vegan Society.

PETA’s Truly Cruelty-free

PETA’s certification requires companies to be both animal test-free and vegan. CEOs must verify that they and their suppliers prohibit all animal testing going forward. Currently, only companies selling in the US, Canada, Germany, and India are eligible, as these countries have PETA offices for direct oversight.

Testing on animals to be compliant

PETA does not certify products from the EU, due to a conflict between the EU Cosmetics Products Regulation and REACH, the EU’s large-scale testing program for industrial chemicals. While the Cosmetics Regulation prohibits animal testing for cosmetic ingredients, REACH continues to mandate tests on animals for cosmetic ingredients, even for substances used only in cosmetics and with a long history of safe use.

While over 40 countries have banned cosmetic animal testing, significant nuances remain.
 

• China maintains mandatory testing for special-use cosmetics despite recent reforms. ASEAN countries leave testing methods unspecified in their regulations.
• Japan represents another grey area where alternative methods may not always gain immediate acceptance.

For more detailed information about animal testing regulations in various countries, please refer to the comprehensive guide at  Registrar Corp’s blog. 

In the beauty industry, every formulation decision is part of a complex web of relationships and values. As a small manufacturer, I witnessed firsthand through countless interactions with suppliers.

Every question about sustainability, whether about palm derivatives, carbon footprint, or fair wages, would cascade through the supply chain. This goes from brand owner to manufacturer, distributor, supplier, and often beyond. Each query creates extra work for everyone involved.

I get it can be a nuisance. But we must. 

“Business as usual is no longer a viable option” - Li Junhua

Ingredients are not just commodities, but part of living systems. We can create a product that truly aligns with the sustainable development values. Aligned with the values of the growing number of conscious consumers.