I Tried 4 Different Mascaras From the Top 4 Most Popular Ethical + Natural Makeup Brands. Here’s Which One You Might Like Best:
Have you been on the hunt for a healthier, eco-friendly, or far more ethical mascara? Me too! In fact, it’s what I joking describe as my “final frontier” in going a bit cleaner and a bit greener.
There are so many new makeup companies and mascara formulas nowadays, that it’s tough to see through all the clutter (and occasional green-washing) to know which ones will be a great fit for you.
So, I decided to try out the top four trending mascaras (I wore each mascara for 1 week) and write an oh-so-honest review on each. I’ll cover everything from volume and buildability to sustainability, ethics and more.
Hopefully, it helps you find the mascara of your dreams!
Elate: Essential Mascara
Melodie Renylods, a professional makeup artist, started Elate after spending 17 years working in the beauty industry. While ethically sourced, fair trade, and organic ingredients quickly became the essence of Elate, Renylod’s love of professional-grade cosmetics still manages to be the key motivator behind each formula.
What I Love About It | You can tell that Renylods’ experience as a makeup artist really inspired the formulation behind this. Somehow she created a far-less-toxic mascara that still manages to look both dramatic and be a heck-a-buildable. Bonus points for the fact that it doesn’t melt or flake.
Good To Knows | This mascara doesn’t seem to help hold much of a curl or a lift—you’ll need to supplement it with a warm eyelash curler if you tend to have straight lashes.
Ideal For | The Striking-Lash Lover. If you want a vegan mascara that still looks bold and richly pigmented, then you’ll adore this.
Price | $28
Ingredients | Almost all of the ingredients in this mascara were between a 1-2 on CosDNA and EWG. There was only one ingredient that ranked as a 3— and that’s the Sodium Hydroxide in the mascara. Sodium Hydroxide is a synthetic product that helps stop mold/bacteria from growing in the mascara.
Ethics | Elate’s products are made in Canada. Everything from the bamboo to the mica mineral is purchased at a fair trade price.
Elate products are certified by PETA and Leaping Bunny. Elate also donates to a local nonprofit in their neighborhood called the Victoria Women's Transition House.
Sustainability | This mascara is encased in bamboo but still has a plastic inner-tube. While it’s not 100% zero waste, you can still crush the bamboo and compost it, and then recycle the plastic bottle. Or, you can also just upcycle the entire mascara bottle itself and use it as a container to hold this DIY organic eyelash serum for nighttime use.
Oh, Elate is a member of the Environment Defense’s Just Beautiful Pledge which is also a neat touch.
Dirty Hippie: Volumizing Mascara in Cacao Brown
This is one of the cleanest, sustainable, and most ethical brands I’ve ever stumbled on. Dawn White, the founder of Dirty Hippie, lives on bush property in Waipu, Australia and she grows/sources most of her ingredients from either her own land or from her eco-famous community.
Dawn’s motto is “as long as its green, we are on the same team” and I really appreciate her every-step-counts perspective on sustainability. You can read rave reviews from the likes of Erin Rhoads, Ashleigh Cummings and even Buzzfeed about Dirty Hippie’s makeup.
What I Love About It | This volumizing mascara is as clean and minimalist as it gets. Even though it wholly natural, this mascara actually has a topnotch texture and consistency—it feels like any normal mascara you’d find at your local makeup counter. Plus, it definitely gives your lashes a thickening boost.
As long as you steer clear of water, then you’ll find it’s delightfully flake-free. It also smells nice with some subtle lavender tones.
Dirty Hippie’s mascara is made-to-order in small batches and free of faux-preservatives. Surprisingly, it has a shelf-life of a 4 months (most mascaras expire after 3 months) and it’s packed full of long-term lash growing goodness—seaweed, oat powders, jojoba oils and more.
Good To Knows | As you’ve probably noticed in my pictures, I had some spoolie drama when I first started using this mascara. Yep. I got mascara everywhere!
Blush, I’m a bit of a newbie to 100% zero waste mascara packaging and I was surprised when I realized that the the spoolie doesn’t actually stay in the mascara tube like more conventional brands.
I also didn’t anticipate how much mascara would be left on the spoolie brush. On my first try, I pulled out a brush COVERED in excess mascara. Turns out Dirty Hippie uses a glass jar that is 100% plastic-reducer free. A plastic reducer usually wipes the majority of the mascara off the spoolie brush before you pull it out of typical mascara packaging—without this reducer, you’ll have to do little swiveling in the jar to wipe of the excess before you pull the spoolie out.
After a bit of trial-and-error here’s my Dirty Hippie mascara routine.
Make sure your spoolie is dry before ever dipping it into your Dirty Hippie vial.
Before you pull the spoolie brush out, spin it against mouth of vial about six times or so while moving it up and down—that’s my big secret to get rid of excess product.
Apply to lashes. Be super patient. Because it’s chemical-free, this mascara is going to take about 3ish minutes to dry. If you want to build even more volume with extra coats, I suggest waiting about 30 seconds or so between applications.
Once you’ve applied the mascara to your lashes, you’re gonna want to wash your spoolie out ASAP. I plunge it under some warm water in my sink and use your fingers to clean the brush.
*A few times I forgot to wash out my spoolie and the mascara does just dry to “mostly” dust (instead of staying wet and getting everything dirty). Ultimately, I’ve found washing the brush after every use is really a far better way to use this mascara.
Ideal For | The Purist. If you’re are someone who is willing to give up a bit of convenience for a superior eco-friendly + all-natural mascara, then you’ll love this.
Price | $18
Ingredients | Almost all of the ingredients in this mascara were between a 1-2 on CosDNA and EWG. There was only one ingredient that ranked as a 3— and that’s the Acacia senegal gum. Acacia gum is a natural product (it comes from the pods of Acacia concinna) it helps thicken mascaras. It’s a great alternative to the synthetic corn-based chemicals that most mascaras use.
Ethics | All of Dirty Hippie’s products are made from either locally grown/gathered elements or they are purchased from certified Fair Trade suppliers. No slave labor is used to manufacture any of the ingredients.
All products Dirty Hippie’s products are 100% Vegan. Plus, their ingredients and formulations are free from animal testing and cruelty-free too.
Dirty Hippie also supports tons local non-profits. Here are just a few the company has recently supported: The Happy Walk, Autism Spectrum Australia, The Tara Costigan Foundation, and The Stroke Foundation Australia.
Sustainability | This mascara comes in a recyclable glass vial with an aluminum screw cap. Dirty Hippie’s commitment to using glass packaging has already saved over 20,000 plastic containers. Huzzah!
The spoolie that comes with the mascara is made from sustainably grown Bamboo. Plus, you can always reorder your mascara spoolie free by typing "no brush needed” on the order notes. I love it when companies do that!
Dirty Hippie’s makeup is wrapped in upcycled newspapers gathered from local businesses. The items are also shipped in post-consumer recycled paper tape and boxes. The company also supports a few green-focused organizations in Australia like ACT Wildlife and Trees for Life.
It’s tough to cover all the eco-goodness, that Dirty Hippie (DH) has going on, but some of my favorite highlights are:
DH collects and uses rainwater in their products
DH has a solar-powered building
DH operates at a 50% carbon offset
P/Y/T Beauty: Primed + Ready Mascara
This less-toxic beauty company is the brainchild of two college roommates, Amy Carr and Mary Schulman. The two roomies kept in touch for over a decade until they deciding to tag-team to create cleaner cosmetics.
In general, I feel like P/Y/T Beauty is known for two things. First, they make multipurpose products that minimize your makeup bag. For instance, P/Y/T’s mascara comes with a clear lash primer that also doubles as a brow gel. I’m a HUGE fan of products like that! Secondly, P/Y/T provides far less-toxic alternatives at a far more affordable prices.
What I Love About It | This primer + mascara combo is a bit magic. Somehow, it manages to be water-resistant (literally it’s my cry-my-eyes-out-but-still-be-smudge-free favorite) and yet, it still washes off oh-so-well by the end of the day. I’m not sure how this all works but it’s wonderful.
When I was testing this mascara out, I never woke up in the morning with the dreaded-racoon-eye. No lingering-mascara was ever leftover from my late-night wash. Yes, please!
I’m also a big fan of P/Y/T’s price point and formulas. It’s an affordable (less chemically-laden) mascara with all the benefits of being long-lasting and having lots of length. P/Y/T’s tagline is “this is Beauty without the BS (bad stuff)” and I think that phrase especially applies to this mascara.
The packaging also looks lovely (it’d make for a great stocking stuffer) and the “What’s In” vs “What’s Not” section on the packaging is super informative, which is a nice touch.
Good To Knows | This mascara seems built for length instead of build-ability. My tube also seemed to clump up just a touch more after about a month of use. Three months in and there were definitely clumps on my lashes—but that was okay because most mascaras expire after three months so it was perfect timing.
Ideal For | The Evolving Makeup Enthusiast. If you’re someone that wants a less-toxic mascara that’ll still act like your mainstream favorite, then this mascara will be a game-changer for you.
Price | $20
Ingredients | Almost all of the ingredients in this mascara were between a 1-2 on CosDNA and EWG. There were about four ingredients that ranked between a 3 and 4. These are the ingredients you might want to be mindful of: Phenoxyethanol, Aminomethyl propanol, Acacia senegal gum, and Propylene glycol
Ethics | Everything from P/Y/T is 100% cruelty-free and also Leaping Bunny-certified.
Sustainability | I couldn’t find anything on P/Y/T’s website about any green initiatives. I do know that the mascara packaging is recyclable though.
Odylique: Organic Mascara
Odylique – which means ‘power of nature’ has been a family business three decades in the making. What started out as a passion for organic gardening has quickly transformed into one of the UK's largest ranges of certified organic skincare.
While creams, tonics and scrubs are often touted as Odylique’s headlining products—I think their cosmetics line is the true victor here.
What I Love About It | One swipe of this mascara gives some light, ultra-natural-looking lash coverage. And while it’s not ideal for creating long lashes, this mascara works great if you coat, recoat and recoat again, for an extra thick (but not-spidery) look.
Out of all four mascaras, this one is most buildable. I know '“extreme volume” has been trending for lashes recently, so this Odylique’s mascara is great for that. It’s also impressive that you can get so much volume out of this mascara even though its free of synthetic fillers and fibers. Well done Odylique!
Good To Knows | While this mascara is waterproof (I misted myself with water a few times without any smudges) I find that it’ll bleed if you have watery eyes or if you tend to tear up. That’s a bit frustrating.
Ideal For | The Allergic Makeup Maven. This makeup is uniquely free of tons of the top allergens: lanolin, wheat, dairy and soy derivatives, salicylic acid, peanut oil and common allergen tree nut oils.
Price | $33
Ingredients | Like Dirty Hippie’s mascara and P/Y/T’s mascara, this brand also has a bit of Acacia senegal gum in it. It doesn’t bother me, but I like to share all the details with my readers.
Odylique stands out to me for its ingredients and transparency. They are incredibly clear about organic percentages with their products. For instance, in this mascara, 88% of the ingredients are organically grown.
I also applaud Odylique for going the extra mile in testing their minerals. The minerals in this mascara pass an Ecocert/Cosmos test to ensure they are free from lead, mercury, arsenic and other heavy metals.
Ethics | This mascara’s ingredients come from certified fair trade suppliers. You can read more details about that here and each item handmade in the family’s Suffolk-based workshop.
Odylique’s products PETA certified and are never tested on animals. Instead, they have a panel of human volunteers who have sensitive and allergy-prone skin. The panel gives back loads of feedback before any Odylique hits the shelves.
Odylique also supports non-profits like the Pink Ribbon Foundation (during Breast Cancer Awareness month), East Anglian Air Ambulance and St Nicholas' Hospice.
Sustainability | This mascara’s box packaging is locally made, recyclable and non-toxic—it’s also is printed on FSC cardboard paper. On the packaging you’ll read that Odylique is part of The Soil Association and is certified organic—here are some details about that here.
Odylique’s sustainability journey recently led them to replace all of their 200ml bottles, 50g and 175g jars with new packaging made from 100% recycled materials made from old milk bottles. The company also donates to Friends of the Earth and The Woodland Trust.
Whew! That was a bit long of a post. Did I miss a mascara brand that is especially ethical or eco-friendly or natural? Let me know about it! DM my sister and I on Instagram with your suggestions and we will add the brand to our list of mascaras to review.
PS Want to read more natural mascara product reviews? Here’s another post I wrote a while ago that covers two more popular mascara brands.
XOXO,
Lemon
