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The 16 Best Vegan Mascaras To Add To Your Beauty Stash

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Photo by Letizia Le Fur/Getty Images

Mascara is probably one of our most frequently used makeup products. After all, a few quick swipes can make us feel instantly pulled together on busy days. That’s why it’s important to make sure you know what's exactly inside that dark, opaque tube. In addition to harmful chemicals, some mascaras also include animal products and by-products like beeswax, collagen, and lanolin that aren’t so great for you and the environment.

If you're vegan, obviously selecting a vegan mascara is a must. But even if you're not vegan, these plant-based formulas are a great way to incorporate more healthy ingredients into your makeup routine. These mascaras are often infused with ingredients like vitamin E, argan oil, and vitamin B to provide nourishment while also volumizing and lengthening lashes. As an added bonus, the best vegan makeup is almost always cruelty-free makeup (but be sure to double-check as this can vary from product to product).

Below, we've highlighted 16 of the best vegan mascaras out there, a handful of which have been featured in past Glam Bags. Read on to see what Ipsters have to say.

1. Best Vegan Mascara Overall:

THRIVE CAUSEMETICS Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara™

THRIVE CAUSEMETICS Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara™

If length is your top priority, this lengthening mascara should be your new go-to. The award-winning vegan mascara uses a flake-free tubing technology to keep lashes from clumping, flaking, and smudging. It's also packed with nourishing ingredients like orchid stem cells, castor seed oil, shea butter, and vitamin B5. Not only will your lashes look like you just left a lash studio, but they'll also receive a strengthening and conditioning treatment to get healthier with every use.

"Best Mascara I have ever used," writes one Ipster. "People asked me if I had lash extensions. It stays on all day. Love it!"

2. Best for Thick, Dramatic Lashes:

TOO FACED Better Than Sex Mascara

TOO FACED Better Than Sex Mascara

There's a reason this is one of the most popular mascaras out there. This iconic black mascara focuses on buildable length and volume while the unique hourglass wand helps to define and curl every lash. The key ingredients here are polymers, Acacia Senegal tree extract, and peptides. Polymers lock a curl in place, Acacia Senegal tree extract promotes volume, and peptides condition each lash. This can definitely provide thick, dramatic lashes, but it's totally customizable based on how intense or natural you want your look to be.

"I think this is my favorite mascara so far," one Ipster writes. "It took me a minute to get used to the brush but now I love it. It works really great when you sweep both sides of your lashes."

Note: While the original Better Than Sex formula is vegan, the waterproof version contains beeswax and is not considered to be vegan.

3. Best for Super Fluttery Lashes:

PACIFICA Vegan Collagen Fluffy Lash Mascara

PACIFICA Vegan Collagen Fluffy Lash Mascara
Courtesy of PACIFICA

While collagen is decidedly not a vegan ingredient, PACIFICA has innovated a vegan alternative that is used here to plump and fluff up lashes while also conditioning, lengthening, and adding volume. It even features PACIFICA's unique "Fluff It Up Brush" which evenly separates the lashes, distributing the glossy, black formula evenly onto every single lash for a feathery, fluttery effect.

4. Best Drugstore Mascara:

COVERGIRL Lash Blast Clean Volume Mascara

COVERGIRL Lash Blast Clean Volume Mascara
Courtesy of COVERGIRL

If high-volume is priority number one, make your mascara dreams come true with this clean, affordable, vegan formula designed to provide up to 10 times the volume of bare lashes. This formula steers clear of parabens, sulfates, talc, and mineral oil and instead comes infused with nourishing argan oil and marula oil to help the lashes to not only look good but feel good as well.

5. Most Innovative Vegan Formula:

MILK MAKEUP Kush High Volume Mascara

MILK MAKEUP Kush High Volume Mascara
Courtesy of MILK MAKEUP

If you're a vegan makeup devotee, you're likely familiar with MILK MAKEUP products, all of which are 100% vegan. This mascara is no exception, combining innovation with clean ingredients. The formula features tiny heart-shaped fibers which lock onto lashes for long-lasting volume. Unlike most mascara fibers, these lay in multiple directions on the natural lashes to provide maximum volume. It's also infused with hemp-derived cannabis seed oil which gives the formula a creamy texture while leaving the lashes feeling super soft. It also allows for a tug-free, easy removal while still offering smudge-proof wear.

6. Best Multitasking Mascara:

TARTE Lights, Camera, Lashes™ 4-in-1 Mascara

TARTE Lights, Camera, Lashes™ 4-in-1 Mascara

TARTE describes this ophthalmologist-tested formula as a "push-up bra for your lashes." The multitasking formula lives up to its name by lengthening, curling, volumizing, and conditioning all at once. Rice bran wax acts as a natural wax which helps to lengthen each eyelash. Meanwhile, olive esters, carnauba wax, and provitamin B5 condition and hydrate the lashes. You'll even find vitamin C in this formula to protect lashes from free radicals. In addition to being vegan, this formula is also made without parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfates, or gluten.

"This is one of the best mascaras I’ve ever used and my absolute favorite from Ipsy," writes Ipster l_e_puckey. "It has incredible staying power and is the perfect weight and level of volume."

7. Best Natural Mascara:

INIKA Long Lash Vegan Mascara

INIKA Long Lash Vegan Mascara
Courtesy of INIKA

For those who love a natural beauty product, say hello to this luxurious, insanely nourishing mascara. This vegan formula offers a silky smooth, clump-free texture and a noticeable boost of both volume and length. Carnauba Wax, Magnolia bark extract, vitamin E, and pure mineral pigments come together to provide a nourishing everyday formula that also delivers intense, long-lasting color.

8. Most Nourishing Vegan Mascara:

FITGLOW BEAUTY Vegan Good Lash+ Mascara

FITGLOW BEAUTY Vegan Good Lash+ Mascara
Courtesy of FITGLOW BEAUTY

Packed with botanical extracts, plant-based protein, vitamins, and antioxidants, this vegan mascara essentially doubles as a lash serum and conditioner, helping lashes to naturally grow in long and strong. The dome-shaped spoolie is able to grip onto the lashes to dramatically curl them, giving those lashes a major lasting lift.

9. Best for On-the-Go Touch-Ups:

ECCO BELLA FlowerColor Natural Mascara

ECCO BELLA FlowerColor Natural Mascara
Courtesy of ECCO BELLA

This paraben-free and gluten-free vegan formula is composed of natural clay and iron oxides, a combo that offers water-resistant wear while also being safe for sensitive eyes. But our favorite part? One side of this mascara tube comes with a built-in mirror. So whether you're doing a quick touch-up or applying your makeup routine during your morning subway commute (bravo), it's a feature that can make on-the-go application easier than ever.

10. Best Volumizing Vegan Mascara:

CIATÉ LONDON Triple Shot XXL Mascara

CIATÉ LONDON Triple Shot XXL Mascara

Say goodbye to smudging when you switch over to this dramatic, volumizing mascara. This formula stands out by using innovative flower-shaped fibers which latch onto the lashes and provide almost impossible length. Diamond powder is also featured in this mascara to promote a multiplying effect, creating even more volume.

"I really liked how the application went with this mascara," writes Ipster eriggins02. "It was smooth and made my lashes look long and defined, which is a look I desire the most when finding the right mascara. This is definitely smudge-proof, but I wouldn’t say totally waterproof. I definitely would recommend it."

11. Most Fun to Use:

TRÈSTIQUE Good Vibes Mascara + Lash Curler

TRÈSTIQUE Good Vibes Mascara + Lash Curler

Makeup minimalists will love this mascara that also doubles as an eyelash curler. The innovative cap acts as a mini curler. Press and curl along the lash line for lift. Then, remove the cap and swipe on the vegan formula made from 84 percent naturally-derived ingredients. Expect a dramatic boost of volume and length and some stellar lash definition.

After testing out this formula, one Ipster wrote, "This mascara is everything. It will make anyone with small lashes look like they're wearing false lashes. My lashes were long and thick all day."

12. Best Waterproof Vegan Mascara:

EYEKO Beach Waterproof Mascara

EYEKO Beach Waterproof Mascara

For those days when you expect to be sweating, crying tears of joy (hopefully), or hanging poolside, here's a waterproof mascara that uses a collection of natural ingredients like coconut oil and fruit extracts to condition and nourish the eyelashes while also keeping your look totally smudge-free. And because you're most likely to need a waterproof mascara when you're spending time in the sun, this formula is also packed with SPF to protect lashes from UV rays (which can leave lashes brittle and prone to breakage).

"This stayed put until I took it off 12 hours later," writes kittenbites42. "No clumping, no smears. My lashes looked amazing."

13. Best for Short Lashes:

MAËLLE BEAUTY Above & Beyond Mascara

MAËLLE BEAUTY Above & Beyond Mascara

Say goodbye to parabens, SLS, and phthalates and hello to thicker, longer, more voluminous lashes. This product's unique curved wand adds lift and helps the formula adhere to even the smallest of lashes. In addition to ditching animal ingredients, this formula is also gluten-free, mineral-oil-free, and fragrance-free, making it an ideal choice for anyone with sensitive eyes.

"This is my new FAVORITE MASCARA," one Ipster writes. "I have used it every day since receiving it, and I’m just in love. It doesn’t make my eyelashes clump together, gives me great dimension and length. I’ll never turn back from this product!"

Heads up! If you want to make sure you're using a vegan formula, be sure to use this mascara in black. The brown color is not vegan-friendly.

14. Best Buildable Mascara:

PÜR Big Look Mascara

PÜR Big Look Mascara

Turn heads with this volumizing mascara. One swipe is enough to notice longer, fuller lashes, but to really see what it can do, apply another coat of this super buildable formula. Swipe away knowing that this mascara is clump-free and won't smudge. This holy grail product is even infused with nourishing argan oil which hydrates the lashes and leaves a unique glossy sheen.

After trying this vegan mascara, one Ipster wrote, "As someone who loves a heavy upper lash, I use this for my bottom lashes and it’s perfect. No clumps and it separates my bottom lashes beautifully."

15. Best for Separated, Defined Lashes:

SERAPHINE BOTANICALS Curl Imperial Mascara

SERAPHINE BOTANICALS Curl Imperial Mascara

Every SERAPHINE BOTANICALS product features nutritious, plant-based, fair-trade organic ingredients. This mascara first nourishes lashes with botanical extracts which strengthen lashes and promotes growth. Next, the formula coats lashes with copolymers which latch onto each individual lash to lock in color. Like TOO FACED's Better Than Sex Mascara, this mascara also uses an hourglass wand to grab and separate every single lash.

"I always wear black mascara and usually layer a few brands to achieve the length and fullness I want," one Ipster writes. "This is perfect for a topper coat. It separates the lashes really well, and the shade of black is perfect for me."

16. Best for Jet Black Lashes:

HOURGLASS COSMETICS Caution Extreme Lash Mascara

HOURGLASS COSMETICS Caution Extreme Lash Mascara

She may be small, but she is mighty. This lash-transforming mascara lengthens, volumizes, lifts, and defines lashes. The jet black formula (which is made without parabens, sulfates, or phthalates) is super concentrated, meaning you only need to apply a few swipes for big, bold, beautiful lashes–saving you both time and product!

"This is one of the best mascaras I've received in a very long time," one Ipster writes. "A woman I work with asked me who did my lashes and I told her they were mine... with a great mascara."

Want to try some of the best vegan beauty products? Take our Beauty Quiz now to get started. Already an Ipster? Refer your friends to earn points, which you can use toward products. Either way, don’t forget to check us out on Instagram and Twitter @IPSY.

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Article Last Updated July 24, 2023 12:00 AM