The Hunt for the Best Natural & Non-Toxic Mascara: Part I
Most mainstream mascaras are packed with phthalates, parabens, and coal/tar byproducts. Needless to say, my sister and I have been trying to find a nontoxic lash-darkening alternative (that still acts like a traditional mascara) for about three years now.
It’s been surprisingly hard.
With fall in the air, Hazel and I decided to rekindle our efforts. We also decided to document our official hunt for the best eco-chic natural/nontoxic mascara on the blog. Thus begins Part I of our luxurious lash journey:
First off, our criteria are fairly simple. We’re looking for mascara that lengthens, thickens and defines—and it needs to last past 5pm with minimal smudges or flaking. Bonus points are added for mascaras that are ethical + sustainable.
We’ve categorized our mascara hunt into two categories. We want to find one mainstay mascara for day-to-day wear and one “special event” mascara for those nights when we want to go bigger and bolder with our eye makeup.
Endlessly Beautiful's Natural Organic Mascara:
While this vegan mascara has been touted by the substantial likes of Bustle, People, and Trend Spotter, the product is actually still part of Jennifer Muthui’s small family-run business—I love that! The mascara is 100% natural and 85% organic. It’s also free of artificial colors. Instead, Endlessly Beautiful’s mascara uses coffee powder to darken each lash.
What I Love About It | As far as vegan-formulations go, this mascara is unique for its un-clumpy nature and how well it holds a curl. We’ve found that two coats usually work fairly well for daily wear. Nothing about this mascara is ideal for building volume or va-va-voom lashes (it’s officially out of the running for our Special Event category) but the mascara does win points for buoying up your lashes on the day-to-day. This mascara also smells a bit florally (and almost wine-ish) which is a nice touch.
Good To Knows | So far, in our oh-so-scientific testing, this mascara lasts about 5ish hours before it starts to get a bit smudgy. A quick mirrored-swab and reapplication does the trick, but I have some suspicions that this mascara might not hold up nearly as well in a more humid environment.
Ideal For | The straight-lashed babe who wants a bit extra curl-support
Price | $22
Ingredients | Most of Endlessly Beautiful mascara’s ingredients are fairly safe. You might want to be mindful of the Tocopherol Acetate ingredient.
Ethics | This mascara is made in the USA and manufactured without animal-testing.
Sustainability | This mascara is still filled with the customary 0.25 fl oz amount of tinted liquid but it’s packaged in your typical mini-mascara sized tube—decreasing the size helps cut down on raw plastic packaging materials.
Real Purity Mascara
Real Purity was started in 1986 by Virginia Easterling—a registered nurse, a licensed esthetician, and a trichologist. Easterling had a passion for botanicals and clean beauty. Four generations later, and Real Purity is still going strong and still in her family. While the company is primarily known for their impressive stench-suppressing natural roll-on deodorant, their mascara stands out for it’s use of Xylityl Sesquicaprylate (a sugar-derived, natural preservative that protects the integrity of mascara without the use of parabens or formaldehyde releasers).
What I Love About It | This mascara really rocks at lengthening your natural lashes. The wand separates lashes extremely well, while the mascara liquid coats and almost acts like it uses some sort of fibers to enhance your lash length. This mascara stands out for its one-coat coverage too.
Good To Knows | We wouldn’t recommend this mascara if your an eyelash-curling enthusiast. The formula doesn’t help hold a curl at all. Also, as with almost any other lengthening-mascara, you are going to be dealing with a flakiness issue. In this case, teeny-tiny flakes sometimes came off our lashes. It’s not a deal-breaker by any means, but it’s good to know about before buying. This mascara lasts about 7ish hours before the flakes become significant.
Ideal For | Someone with shorter lashes looking for extra length (but not extra thickness).
Price | $16
Ingredients | Most of Endlessly Beautiful mascara’s ingredients are fairly safe. You might want to be mindful of the Aminomethyl propanol.
Ethics | Real Purity refuses to test products on animals.
Sustainability | We’ve reached out the company to ask about their green practices twice so far. We are still waiting to hear back. In the meantime, Real Purity does have a neat (and expansive list) of a few great eco-friendly stores they suggest shopping from. You can find the list here.
What natural mascara products should we try next for Part II? DM us on Instagram and my sister and I will add them to our list to review!
Love,
Hazel + Lemon
