Switch Your Makeup to Cruelty Free for $29 or Less

Foundation, blush, shadows, mascara & lipstick for $29 or less, without sacrificing quality!

Switching your makeup to cruelty free has never been easier...or cheaper.

With more than 50 makeup brands now certified cruelty free, great cruelty-free makeup is available at every price point.

Two brands are also standout values: Jordana and BH Cosmetics. A third brand, Milani, costs slightly more but is still a good value.

Jordana, BH Cosmetics, and Milani are available in local stores as well as online. Milani owns Jordana, so you often see them in the same stores.

• With Jordana and BH Cosmetics, you can get a complete, quality makeover of your makeup for $29 or less.


• Milani has some great individual items that are value-priced, letting you mix these items with the other brands and still come in under $29.

 

Jordana Cruelty-free Makeover: $26.94

Jordana has a complete makeup line, with many good products. To browse the full line, visit the Jordana online store.

A more limited selection is available at Walgreens, Kmart, Duane Read, and Save Mart Supermarkets. Check the Jordana store locator here. Jordana selections vary among stores, so you may want to call your local store first.

Here's the Jordana makeup makeover that worked well for me, purchased online and at Walgreens for just under $27 total.

• Complete Cover 2-in-1 Concealer & Foundation, 1 fl oz (30 ml) in Natural Beige, $3.99. Vegetarian, but not vegan (has beeswax).


• Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara, $3.99. Rated "Best Overall Drugstore Cruelty-free Mascara" by MUA Yisell Santos. Be careful to choose THIS one, though! Jordana has other mascaras, with confusingly similar names, that don't perform as well. Be sure to get the one pictured below, in the totally black tube with purple text.


 

• Color Tint Blush in Sunkissed, $2.99


• Sweet Cream Matte Liquid Lip Color in Tiramisu, $4.99. Great staying power and tastes like caramel . . . yummm!


• Made to Last Eyeshadow Collection in Mint Condition, $7.99. This palette and the What a Steel palette are all vegan, but most of the palettes have carmine, so are not vegetarian or vegan.


• Easyliner for Eyes Retractable Pencil, in Coffee Bean, $2.99. To stay vegetarian (and vegan), stick with Black, Brown Suede, Smokey, Seagreen, Coffee Bean, Blue Devine, Lavish Brown, Sterling Blue, Jet Black, Khaki, and Tantalizing Teal (avoid Eggplant and Blackest Blue, which have carmine).

Total: $26.94. And if you order online, free shipping kicks in for orders over $25, so there's no extra cost.

You can find user reviews of many Jordana makeup items at makeupalley.com. To view most of MakeupAlley, you need to register, but it's free and well worth it.

 

 

BH Cosmetics Cruelty-free Makeover: $29.50

One of my favorite brands, BH Cosmetics has a wide makeup range with many high quality products.

BH is available online at bhcosmetics.com. Sign up online for BH's newsletter for coupons and sale alerts. You can also find many BH Cosmetics products at Kohl's and ULTA, online at Kohl's and ULTA and also locally: see Kohl's Store Locator and ULTA Store Locator.

Here's my makeup makeover from BH Cosmetics, just $29.50. All items are vegan, except the mascara.

• Liquid Foundation in Ivory Beige, $9.50.


• Bliss Lash - Ultimate All-In-One Mascara: Mfr, $5.50. Vegetarian, but not vegan (beeswax). This mascara gives good separation and length. (July 16, 2018 note: Per BH, they are currently out of stock on the mascara, so it doesn't appear on the BH web site. It will be back on the site when it's back in stock.)


• Color Lock Long-Lasting Matte Lipstick in Devotion, $5.50.


• Blushed Neutrals 26-Color Eye Shadow & Blush Palette, $9.00.
  BH eye shadows are only available in palettes. For the best value, find a palette that also includes blushes. The palettes change frequently and they also frequently change which ones are deeply discounted. If the one recommended here disappears or reverts to regular price, you'll be sure to find another good discounted one.

Total: $29.50 This is the full retail price (except the shadow palette was a sale price). BH runs coupons frequently, so sign up for their newsletter. The 20% off coupon at the time reduced my total to $23.60, enough to cover shipping ($5.95) and still come in at $29.55!

For product reviews, check Makeupalley here. The BH Cosmetics online store has an active user community with many reviews on their site, too.

 

Milani Picks at Your Local Drugstore

Find Milani at CVS, Walgreens, and Kmart. Check the Milani store locator here for a store near you.

Milani selections vary among drugstores. Here are good items that seem to be stocked almost everywhere. Note that drugstore prices for Milani are typically $1 or $2 more than the prices at Milani's online store.

• Milani mascaras, $9-$10 typically in stores. Milani shines when it comes to mascaras. Most drugstores carry Milani's Lash Trifecta mascara, but you may also find the Big & Bigger Lashes mascara. Lash Trifecta gives great lash separation, length, and some curl.


 

• Milani Everyday Eyes Powder Eyeshadow Collection, $12 typically in drugstores. Each palette comes with six different shades, from mattes to (not too sparkly) metallics, and all are vegan. The complementary colors are really pretty for everyday and can be mixed and matched for evening looks as well. The shadows have great color payoff and blend nicely. Plus, most of the palettes include one shade that could double as a highlighter. And the included brush is actually not bad, making it even more travel friendly.


 

Milani has a full makeup line at their online store, and it's worth exploring their other items, too. You can find user reviews of many Milani makeup items at MakeupAlley.

Thumbs Up on Performance

The hardest items to find cruelty free are good foundation and mascara. I was glad to find good foundations and mascaras at these low prices.

Foundation Performance

BH Liquid Foundation gives medium coverage with a satin matte finish. Jordana gives medium coverage and a soft, almost dewy finish. BH has a better color selection, especially for people of color.

Both foundations blended easily on my skin and lasted my day. For my fine lines, Jordana gets the edge because it has a soft focus effect that blurs the appearance of lines, much appreciated by me!

Mascara Performance

All the mascaras mentioned here performed well for me, giving me at least length (and some gave volume, too) without clumping or smudging. All held up well all day, too. Milani Lash Trifecta was my favorite, because it added such great length, which I loved.

Shadows, Cheek, and Lip Color

The shadows and cheek color I chose have average pigment. The brands are about equal here. A shout out to the Jordana Color Tint Blush (a creamstick blush) for especially nice blendability!

For the lip color, the BH and Jordana products mentioned here have good pigment. The BH I chose is a traditional lipstick, and the Jordana is a liquid, matte lip color designed for super staying power. Both worked great for me.

These products are equal in quality to more expensive brands I've used, and I have no trouble making them work for me.

Happy shopping!

Last updated: July 2018

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