Concealer

Vegan and cruelty-free concealer. Whether you're buying for yourself, or for the cruelty-free woman in your life, you can shop with confidence knowing that all of the makeup products we list on Get it Vegan, including the concealer below, are 100% free of animal by-products, ingredients and testing.

Concealer

$12
e.l.f. – Complete Coverage Concealer, Medium
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$48
100% Pure – White Peach Long Last Compact Concealer
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What does “vegan & cruelty-free concealer" mean?

The term “vegan”, with regard to concealer, refers to concealer makeup that doesn’t contain ingredients that are derived or sourced from animals or insects. The term “cruelty-free” however, refers to concealer that’s free of animal testing, including the individual ingredients used and the final product.

In other words, ‘cruelty-free’ refers to the testing methods, while ‘vegan’ refers to the origin of the ingredients.

What animal and insect-derived ingredients are commonly used in concealer?

Below is a list of the most common animal and insect-derived ingredients that are used in concealers. We’ve also included some of their aliases, reasons why they're used in concealer makeup, and common vegan-friendly alternatives to these ingredients.

Squalene: Typically derived from shark livers, it’s used in concealer and other cosmetics as a moisturizer, and for it’s reported anti-aging effects.

  • Aliases: Shark Liver Oil; Squalane.
  • Vegan alternatives to squalene: Plant-based oils, most notably olive oil and palm oil.

Lanolin: A product of the oil glands of sheep, extracted from their wool. Used as an emollient in many drugstore brand and other concealers. The cruelty towards sheep in the wool (and as a byproduct, lanolin) industry is often overlooked but well documented. Sheep regarded as inferior are killed; sheep are transported without food or water, in extreme heat and cold, legs are broken, eyes injured, castration without anaesthetics…and it goes on.

  • Aliases: Lanolin Acids; Isopropyl Lanolate; Laneth; Lanogene; Wool Fat; Wool Wax.
  • Vegan alternatives to lanolin: Plant and vegetable oils.

Amino Acids: The building blocks of protein in animals and plants. Often derived from animal sources such as urine and horsehair. Used in concealers as skin conditioning agents. 

  • Aliases: Tyrosene, Cystine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Potassium Aspartate, Sodium Aspartate.
  • Vegan alternatives to amino acids: synthetics, plant sources.

Beeswax: Beeswax is made from melting honeycomb with boiling water, straining it, and cooling it. It’s used in concealer and corrector as a thickener, and an emollient. Many bees are killed or have their wings and legs torn off because of haphazard handling when they are farmed.

  • Aliases: Apic cerana, Apis Mel, Apis mellifera, Apis Mellifica, Cera Alba, Cera Flava.
  • Vegan alternatives to beeswax: Candelilla wax; Soy wax; Sustainable carnauba wax, Cerecin.

Lecithin: A waxy substance in nervous tissue of all living organisms. It can be obtained from nerve tissue, blood, milk and corn, but frequently it’s obtained for commercial purposes from eggs and soybeans. Lecithin can be found in cream, stick and compact concealer, and is used as a skin conditioner and an emulsifying agent.

  • Aliases: Choline Bitartrate
  • Vegan alternatives to lecithin: Soybean lecithin, Corn-derived lecithin, Synthetics.

What brands make vegan & cruelty-free concealer?

The following brands make concealer that’s completely vegan and cruelty-free…in other words, completely animal-friendly!

  • 100% Pure
  • ADORN  
  • Aesthetica  
  • Anastasia Beverly Hills
  • Au Naturale Cosmetics   
  • Beauty Without Cruelty   
  • e.l.f. Cosmetics 
  • Elate Clean Cosmetics  
  • FACE Atelier
  • Gabriel Cosmetics  
  • ILIA Beauty
  • INIKA  

Please Note: For the sake of simplicity, this list does not include brands that have ‘vegan options’ for concealer; it only includes companies whose concealer products are completely vegan and cruelty-free. Also, this list is growing! As we research more companies, we’ll add more to this list!

Are vegan & cruelty-free concealers expensive?

In general, vegan and cruelty-free under-eye, cream, stick and compact concealers are not any more expensive, or any less-expensive, than concealers that contain animal/insect derived or tested ingredients.

Just like alternative versions, the prices of ‘animal-friendly’ concealer can vary based on differences in the quality and the availability of the ingredients used, differences in the manufacturing processes employed, different brand names behind them, as well as a myriad of other factors.

Why should I buy concealer that’s ‘vegan’ & ‘cruelty-free’?

Aside from the ‘icky factor’ of having animal carcasses smeared on your face, the farming and sourcing these ingredients is inherently cruel to animals. Furthermore, in many, if not all cases, plant-based ingredients are superior to animal and insect-derived ingredients.

It’s also important to buy concealer that you know is vegan & cruelty-free because it creates demand for these animal-friendly of products, and reduces demand for inhumane and inherently cruel products. It is thus a very effective form of animal-welfare activism; often referred to as ‘voting with your dollars’.

How do you choose which concealers to put in this store?

We maintain a growing list of companies that make concealer that’s supposedly vegan-friendly and cruelty-free. 

We contact all of these companies to find out straight from them if they use animal and/or insect-derived ingredients, and to see if they abide by specific cruelty-free practices, including:

  • Not testing their concealers or ingredients on animals
  • Not paying someone else to test ingredients or final products on animals for them
  • Not purchasing ingredients from suppliers that test their ingredients on animals
  • Not selling their products en masse to retailers in countries wherein animal testing is required by law, such as mainland China

When we find vegan concealer that meets this set of cruelty-free criteria, and is sold on Amazon, we list it here for your shopping convenience.

Similar product categories

If you’ve found this page on vegan and cruelty-free concealer helpful, check out similar product categories to learn or shop more:

For companies that make vegan & cruelty-free concealer

If you make vegan and cruelty-free under-eye, liquid or compact concealer, or any other vegan/cruelty-free cosmetics for that matter, we’d love to feature you and your products on the “Brands We Love” section of our site! Contact us at  - info(at)getitvegan(dot)com - to get started!

Sources

Part of the information for this guide on vegan & cruelty-free concealer was gathered from the following sources: