August 24, 2020

“The plant-based lifestyle is here to stay. Not only are grocery store aisles filled with more vegan meal options than ever, but beauty retailers are filled with more makeup, hair, and skincare packages donning symbols of bunnies and other adorable animals signifying their animal-friendliness. It’s a shift in the collective consciousness that’s finally making headway in the beauty space,” explains Who What Wear.

The increasing interest in vegan skincare and cosmetics is linked to three key drivers: an expansion of the wellness industry, a recent slate of vegan celebrity skincare and cosmetic launches, and the proliferation of niche claims that fall under the umbrella term “vegan.”

Wellness has infiltrated every aspect of life, from sleep to nutrition to a more widespread, mainstream adoption of veganism as a lifestyle choice.  Thanks to the wellness boom, veganism, or abstaining from animal products or products containing any animal byproducts, is no longer seen as a radical choice, but a normal, accessible lifestyle. This, in turn, has made vegan beauty more popular as well.

Vegan beauty has become more and more popular in recent years as the wellness arena has expanded, and since then, has pretty much crossed over to the mainstream. Mintel notes in its latest beauty trends that lifestyle choices such as veganism and clean eating were initially considered part of the counterculture movement—”for hippies and eco-warriors,” according to Byrdie.

For consumers interested in wellness, veganism ties into many of the core wellness tenets: eco-friendliness, clean claims, and purchasing products based on value alignment. 

The consumer demand for more vegan skincare and cosmetic products can also be linked to a wide array of celebrities releasing new vegan product lines.

Some of the most high-profile vegan beauty launches of late include:

• Selena Gomez will launch her vegan brand Rare Beauty at Sephora 
• Rihanna’s new vegan Fenty Skincare line
• Lady Gaga’s vegan and cruelty-free makeup line Haus Laboratories
• KylieSkin, Kylie Jenner’s vegan skincare line

These new vegan skincare and cosmetics launches garner high attention in the press, and promote the cool factor of veganism to multiple generations of consumers. 

As more celebrities endorse or release formulations that are vegan and cruelty-free, it’s certain more consumers will want to follow en suite.

One more driver behind the intensified demand for vegan skincare and cosmetics is the proliferation of niche claims within vegan beauty. These niche clams have helped to attract new consumers to the vegan category and boosted overall popularity.

According to experts, some of the new sub-categories that also fit into vegan beauty include Halal beauty and nature-identical beauty. 

Halal beauty formulations must be free of animal products, free of alcohol, and be cruelty-free, which naturally makes these products vegan.

Additionally, nature-identical formulations, which use synthetic ingredients that have a similar or identical makeup to their natural counterparts, are also free of animal products, and also vegan.

These new subcategories help to spread the overall popularity of vegan beauty and introduce the concept to new demographics and consumers. Moving forward, products that can highlight their adherence to veganism and other niche claims will be dually rewarded by consumers.

Interest and consumer demand for vegan formulations will continue to spike over the next five years. Consumers are concerned about environmental impact and animal welfare, and vegan beauty products can help incite feelings of ethical purchasing.  

As interest in green, cruelty-free formulations continues to expand, vegan beauty products will be in high demand.