Cruelty-free powder foundation is the perfect choice for soulful beauties who love themselves a flawless complexion – one that veers on the matte side.
Classic foundations range from being dewy to giving a more or less satin finish. They’re not typically completely matte. Tinted moisturizers are more sheer/see-through and often on the dewy end, too – though in this overview of the best organic tinted moisturizers you’ll find the odd one with a fairly matte finish. (Looking at you, Coola!)
Powder foundation has this cunning ability to provide a little coverage, a medium amount, or a lot, depending on how “heavy” your hand is. Needless to say, that makes it a versatile product!
Table of Contents
- 8 Cruelty-Free Powder Foundations With Natural Ingredients
- 1. Inika Face in a Box
- 2. Bella Terra Mineral Powder Foundation SPF 15
- 3. Alima Pure Pressed Foundation with Rosehip Antioxidant Complex
- 4. PHB Ethical Beauty Mineral Foundation (Pressed or Loose)
- 5. Lily Lolo Foundation Powder SPF 15
- 6. Emani Perfecting Crushed Foundation
- 7. Ere Perez Calendula Correcting Powder Foundation
- 8. NATorigin Loose Powder Foundation
Oh, and for my vegan friends out there, it’ll be good to know that powder foundations are almost always vegan.
They don’t contain any wax. Unlike lipstick, where at least one of the key ingredients has to be either of animal origin (beeswax) or consist of a vegan alternative (carnauba wax, candelilla wax), a powder is made with organic minerals, iron oxides for color, and the occasional vegetable oil or extract. (Combing through natural, organic, vegan, and cruelty-free lipstick brands has kept me busy more than a few nights, with this helpful overview as a result.)
8 Cruelty-Free Powder Foundations With Natural Ingredients
Cruelty-free makeup and vegan makeup aren’t necessarily the same thing. Some makeup brands are entirely vegan. It is part of their values as a company, their corps business. Others aren’t vegan as a brand, but clearly label which of their products are made without animal-derived ingredients.
With that said, below I will add info on the vegan status of each brand, so those of you wishing to support vegan makeup brands can make an informed choice.
Everything featured here is mostly natural (we’re all about natural skincare, after all!) and if a brand or product is tested on animals, I have zero interest in it so you won’t find those here either.
1. Inika Face in a Box
Inika is a cruelty-free, vegan and organic make-up brand born in Australia. Their “face in a box” contains a bunch of goodies to achieve precisely what the name implies: make your face look picture perfect. The centerpiece of this box is, of course, a mineral cruelty-free powder foundation. It blends seamlessly into the skin and blurs imperfections as much as possible.
The set includes a Kabuki brush. If you’ve used powder or powder foundation in the past you probably have one already, since it’s a classic must-have makeup tool, and essential when using powder foundation. This brush is exquisite, high quality and super soft.
Other additions include a bronzer carefully selected to subtly match the foundation, a concealer, another brush, and a selection of smaller sized products.
Note that Inika has two powder foundations and while the loose mineral foundation has a loyal following and rave reviews, the baked mineral foundation is less popular. Check out both (and more from Inika) here.
2. Bella Terra Mineral Powder Foundation SPF 15
Bella Terra’s powder foundation has great color options ranging from very light (ultra followed by ivory are the lightest shades) to very dark (brown sugar and cinnamon are on the darkest end). With twelve different hue options, there’s hopefully a good one here for everybody.
I haven’t heard about this brand before and discovered it while researching this article on cruelty-free powder foundation. The ingredients are simple and clean, which makes sense with the many rave reviews from users with sensitive skin.
On the other hand, I’m still working on establishing Bella Terra’s true cruelty-free status. They may very well not test on animals, but I’m waiting to hear back on whether they sell their products in China, where third-party animal testing is mandatory.
Their official website has some loading issues and the model in the demonstration video on Amazon looks about as tacky as possible. Last but not least, the name and logo are so blatantly obviously inspired by BellaPierre that imitated would be a more suited choice of words. But since Bella Terra is apparently getting away with it, we’ll go with ‘inspired’, ha.
Oh, and one more tip: beware of pushy salespeople in malls, who allegedly aim to sell Bella Terra for way more than what it goes for on Amazon. Expect prices of between $60 and $100 for the same powder
All in all, some oddities surround this brand, but their mineral powder seems nice. It isn’t my first choice, but I want to include at least one cruelty-free powder foundation you can find on Amazon and I will update as soon as word comes in about their stance versus China.
3. Alima Pure Pressed Foundation with Rosehip Antioxidant Complex
Alima’s pressed foundation comes in ten shades, which is more than a lot of foundations offer. The colors range from light to dark, though there is definitely more variety on the lighter end.
It has excellent reviews and contains many botanical extracts and oils like argan, rosehip, calendula, grape and evening primrose. While this pressed foundation is vegan as a product, Alima Pure is not a fully vegan brand.
4. PHB Ethical Beauty Mineral Foundation (Pressed or Loose)
This affordable cruelty-free loose powder foundation by PHB has SPF 30 and comes in twelve different shades ranging from very light (cream) to very dark (mocha). Its ingredients are simple and clean – mainly minerals and for the pressed version, some coconut and jojoba oil. PHB’s pressed mineral foundation comes in six shades.
As a bonus, PHB Ethical Beauty sells full sizes (including a Kabuki brush or stand-alone) as well as mini’s for a few bucks. Perfect for online shoppers to experiment and find the right shade match.
5. Lily Lolo Foundation Powder SPF 15
The clean and animal-friendly beauty brand Lily Lolo has a mineral cruelty-free powder foundation with natural ingredients and a beautiful, radiant finish. As is the case with most of these powders, you can use it on its own, or as finishing powder over a liquid foundation. Lily Lolo brings us no less than eighteen shades, which is the most choice I’ve seen thus far! They also make a great natural, vegan and cruelty-free mascara.
6. Emani Perfecting Crushed Foundation
Emani Vegan Cosmetics has three color options for their perfecting crushed foundation: ivory, bisque, and vanilla. It contains the highly praised moringa seed oil, and no nasties or controversial ingredients.
Emani’s powder foundation promises to conceal imperfection with buildable, full coverage, diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and form a breathable, protective barrier that prevents environmental damage and pollution from aging the skin. It should be a great match for very sensitive skin, acne-prone skin
7. Ere Perez Calendula Correcting Powder Foundation
Ere Perez, founded by a Mexican-born natural therapist after she moved to Australia, has taken the world of ethical beauty by storm. These natural cosmetics are free of toxins and made from high-quality GMO-free and certified cruelty free ingredients. With the exception of some mascara’s, all products are vegan. For now, the correcting powder foundation comes in only three colors, light, medium, and tan. From LoveLula with free international shipping. Alternatively, here is everything from Ere Perez on Amazon.
8. NATorigin Loose Powder Foundation
NATorigin’s Loose Powder Foundation contains the allergy-free shells of Argan nuts (very finely micronized, of course). Argan nut oil is healing for most skin types and is a wonderful anti-aging ally due to extremely high levels of Vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Read more: Argan oil properties for skin and hair.
This foundation targets sensitive skin or allergies and is approved by Allergy UK and VegSoc (Vegan Society).
However, the third ingredient is talc, which surprises me for such a “clean” product. Talc may be natural, but it has also been linked to concerns over carcinogen (cancer-causing ) contaminants.
There are four shades to choose from on LoveLula. Neither the names nor the pictured colors make clear which skin tone the shades are best suited for. Beige, Cashmere, Dune, and Sable? They all look some kind of medium beige in the pictures. Good luck with finding the right match.
All in all, it is possible that this cruelty-free powder foundation simply isn’t done justice online. If you get the chance to sample it and it blows your mind, please share your experience in the comments! For now, it isn’t the one I’d recommend