Today I’m coming at you with natural makeup brands, based right here in the UK. At Wild Rising, we’re all about caring for our skin with natural, organic, vegan ingredients, because we all deserve the absolute best. And I’m guessing that if you’ve found yourself here, you believe that too.
However, when it comes to makeup, it can be really tricky to find products with natural ingredients - highstreet drugstores are packed with makeup full of chemicals and other nasty ingredients, and the brands often test on animals too - but we’ve done the legwork for you with this list.
Here are 7 independent natural makeup brands (and one marketplace) that are based in the UK.
1. Cult-status mineral foundation from Lily Lolo
Lily Lolo was founded in the UK 20 years ago, and in record time they reached cult-status in the natural beauty scene with their first product, a natural mineral foundation.
They now have a complete range of amazing products and accessories for natural beauty lovers, including eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascara, lipstick and gloss, and even brushes and moisturising creams - natural makeup doesn’t have to mean dull colours!
Lily Lolo makeup contains gorgeous nourishing ingredients, without resorting to synthetic nasties - they’re dedicated to remaining free from chemicals, parabens, perfumes or dyes, which, of course, we are totally on-board with.
2. Organic makeup made in the Odylique botanical garden
In the beautiful Suffolk countryside, you’ll find the Odylique botanical gardens, where this incredible organic makeup is handmade, free from palm oil, toxic metals and artificial additives.
Not only is Odylique makeup organic certified to the strict Soil Association standards, they also use Fairtrade ingredients whenever possible - how amazing is that?
Odylique makes sumptuous skincare and haircare, as well as their makeup, which includes foundation, mascara, lipstick, and more.
Something I really love about Odylique is that you can get samples of many of their products, which is so handy when you’re buying online.
3. PHB Ethical Beauty - upholding important natural beauty values
PHB is a family-run beauty business in Brighton, making natural, ethical and sustainable products that are 100% natural, vegan, cruelty-free and palm oil free - such brilliant stuff!
They are so dedicated to their ethos, they do stringent audits every year with each certification company to ensure their values are upheld in every finished product, as well as throughout their supply chain.
4. BareFaced Beauty for ethical mineral cosmetics
BareFaced Beauty are based in the UK and specialise in natural mineral cosmetics, which are certified 100% vegan and cruelty-free. Their foundations, eyeshadows, mascara and lip products contain high-quality ingredients, which are free from harmful chemicals.
I totally love their strong focus on sustainability and transparency, only using ethically-sourced ingredients from suppliers with clear policies in place to make sure all the mines that are used are legal and free from child labour.
Not only that, but they use recycled or recyclable packaging, and donate a portion of profits to support tree planting - this is a seriously amazing natural makeup brand.
5. Certified organic makeup from Benecos
Bencos was founded in the UK in 2008 with a goal of creating a natural cosmetic brand, providing the best cosmetics with certified, resource-conserving organic ingredients - and we love organic!
Owners Silke and Stephan chose not to use ingredients such as mineral oils, paraffins and silicones that do not benefit the skin, and instead created high-quality formulas, using natural and organic oils and waxes, essential oils, and plant extracts.
There are no synthetic dyes, fragrances, silicones or parabens in Benecos makeup, and it’s never ever tested on animals - this is a brand after our own heart, and I especially love their refillable plastic-free Beauty ID palettes.
6. Ethical high street beauty heroes - Lush
Lush was originally founded in 1995 by six co-founders with the same vision that animal testing was entirely unnecessary and unethical - all of their makeup is cruelty-free and vegan, using gentle butters, waxes, oils, and flower waters in their formulas.
7. Zao Makeup for refillable bamboo makeup
Zao Makeup was founded in 2012 by four pals who had the aim of being the first refillable makeup brand - and they did it!
Their refillable items are made mostly from bamboo, and you can get all sorts of refills in different shapes and sizes, from foundation to eyeshadow to lipsticks, which I think is an amazing way to cut down on unnecessary packaging.
They even make nail varnish, which contains 65.5-99% of ingredients from natural origin, by replacing petrochemical solvents with agro-solvents from potatoes, manioc, corn and wheat.
Zao Makeup products are made with 100% natural ingredients, organic certified by Ecocert, as well as being vegan and cruelty-free certified - wonderful stuff.
8. Content’s curated clean cosmetics & natural makeup marketplace
There are a few websites doing similar things - collecting multiple brands together in one online beauty boutique - but Content is a definite favourite of ours.
They used to have a physical shop in Marylebone London, but during 2020 they pivoted to primarily selling digitally, with the option of in-person consultations at their London studio, where you can try out the skincare and makeup they stock, and find natural alternatives to the products you use.
You can read more about Content’s story and ethos here, and find out why they stock the natural makeup brands they have.
Before I wrap this up, I want to end by mentioning that one or two of these brands use ‘parfum’ in some of their products, which isn’t natural (you can read more about parfum in this blog by Virginutty), so make sure to do some research to double check there are minimal nasties in the makeup you’re buying.
Do you have a favourite UK-based natural makeup and beauty brand that I’ve missed? Drop us a message here on our website, or send us a DM on Instagram so that we can add it in.