We get the question “What makeup do you use?” very often, so we’ve finally sat down and compiled a beauty product list! Our clean living mission started after we healed our bodies and removed toxic chemicals from our homes. While our products focus on cleaning, we are passionate about every product we bring into our homes. Along the way we found some amazing resources, like the EWG SkinDeep Database, the Think Dirty app, and this great resource from Beauty Heroes.
After a lot of R&D, these are the clean beauty products that we love. Use them every day for a fresh-faced look or for that much-needed date night away from the kids—and look good without having to worry about what you’re putting on your skin. Below are our favorite clean beauty products.
Complexion Enhancers: Foundations and Tinted Moisturizers
- Beautycounter Dew Skin*
- Beautycounter Tint Skin Hydrating Foundation*
- W3ll People Biotint*
- Juice Beauty Flawless Serum Foundation*
- Juice Beauty Tinted Mineral Moisturizer *
Concealers
- W3ll People BioCorrect (so great and a little goes a long way)
- RMS Beauty “Un” Coverup
- Rituel de Fille Ethereal Veil
Powders
Blushes
- RMS Lip2Cheek*
- Tinted Lip Balm: French Kisses*– this works on cheeks for blush as well as a great tinted lip balm.
Bronzers
Eye Shadow
Eye Liner
Eyebrows
Eyebrow Shaping Gel – combine w brows
Highlighters
Mascara
- Erin’s Face Matcha Mascara
- Crunchi Lashes For Days Mascara
- W3LL People Expressionist Mascara
- 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented® Ultra Lengthening Mascara*
- Beautycounter Lengthening or Volumizing Mascara
Lips
- Kosas LipFuel
- Dr. Barbara Sturm Lip Balm
- Kosas Lipsticks – Phoenix is the perfect red
- Tinted Lip Balm: French Kisses*
- True Moringa Moonlight Lip Whip
Brushes
Need to clean your brushes? Branch Basics works like a charm for cutting through grease and grime loaded into makeup brushes. For the tough jobs, we recommend wetting your brush and using a few squirts of straight Concentrate, then rubbing in and rinsing with warm water until the water runs clear. For regular maintenance, wet your brush and work through the Foaming Wash and rinse with warm water until the water runs clear. Always dry your brushes laying down. We have a great How-To on our Instagram if you’d like to see this in action!
While we recommend always trying to find products with ingredients rated 1 in EWG’s Skindeep database, we have found this difficult for some product categories. A few products on this list have ingredients that are rated 2 or 3 on EWG’s Skindeep database. We have called those out with an asterisk.
Do you have a favorite makeup product that you use? Let us know in the comments below!
Love to see w3llpeople on the list. Definitely a more affordable option than Beauty Counter.
Just curious if there is a difference between the black and orange asterisks?
Also, what are your thoughts on
glo minerals pressed base?
Thanks!
Hi Courtney. There is no difference between the asterisks. We made them the same now to avoid confusion. We haven’t tried glo minerals pressed base, but we’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
What a great list! I love Drunk Elephant skin care products, use cornstarch-based body powder, Lume deodorant to name a few things that work well for me.
Have you heard of Poofy Organics? I’ve been using their makeup for about a year and have really enjoyed almost everything (only exception is their pencil eyeliner because I can’t get it to sharpen…too soft). Not only do they use clean ingredients, but many of them are also organic! Price point is really good for clean makeup, too. I actually discovered them through EWG because they are rated so well. I highly recommend checking them out!
Hi Erica. We don’t know Poofy Organics, but it sounds great. Thanks for sharing!
Do you have recommendations on makeup brush cleaners? Will the branch basics concentrate work? If so what is the ratio? Also I love seeing all the W3ll People recommendations! I love all of their products. ❤️
Hi Jennifer. We just added brush cleaning suggestions to the blog post, so please have a look and let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks!
I’m surprised honest beauty didn’t make any of the cuts. Their mascara is my holy grail makeup product. It’s the best.
Hello Chassidy. Thanks for letting us know! We’ll check it out.
What about Face cleansers, and hair products?!? I’m having the hardest time finding a new face wash shampoo/conditioners and hair gel to tame my curls!!
Hello Theresa. Thanks for reaching out! We did a blog post about a year ago on our favorite personal care items. Here it is: https://branchbasics.com/blog/our-favorite-non-toxic-personal-care-products/
Crunchi is def my go to for skincare and foundation!
Hi Kelly, I am currently using Evan Healy’s sheer cover stick. I love it. It blends right into my skin. I also like her hydrosols and Whipped Shea Butter for Lips, Ere Perez avocado waterproof mascara, auNATURALE lipstain ( matte and stays on well), auNATURALE eyeliner pencils, and Sappho Silky Setting Powder. I don’t use too much right now but I have used RMS concealer in the past and liked it.
I use the products from Jordan essentials which is a company that was started by a lady in her kitchen making all natural products for her family members, and has grown to be released nationwide if not international, the products are awesome most of them are shea butter based and they have makeup they have lipstick they have Foundation they have body butters , hand lotion bar, shower gels salt scrub etc etc…for just buttering yourself up, and all kinds of different products! go to
Jordanessentials.com and check it out love love love these products.
Thanks for sharing! What does the asterisk mean next to some of the products?
Hello Jessica.
The asterisks refer to products that have an ingredient rated between 2-3 on EWG and not purely 1 ingredients.
Can you recommend a good makeup remover? I purchased organic makeup remover pads and am looking for a clean product to use with them.
Thank you so much for all your recommendations!
Hi there! Branch Basics foaming wash works GREAT for removing makeup, even eye makeup!
LOVED finding this in my inbox. It is exactly what I needed and I am so tired of the green-washing I really hate all the research required, I get so tired of it! MADE SAFE is a great new resource but they haven’t done much with makeup so this was *really* helpful to me. Also, I had no idea Beauty Counter was this clean. What a relief.
If you ever decide to do a skincare version of this, please consider including NYR Organic in your research 🙂 I am well and truly obsessed with the Frankincense skincare line.
I’m so happy to find this post!!! My bestie and I were recently talking about revamping our makeup drawers! She’s a looong Time Dept store makeup user and I use it all. But we’re both to the point of going as chem free as possible, and getting our kids that way too!! I’m loving all this info on products to try! Thank you Thank you!!
This is so helpful thank you! What does it mean if there is an asterisk next to a product?
Hello Emily. Products on the list that have ingredients that are rated 2 or 3 on EWG’s Skindeep database are marked with an asterisk.
Thank you!
Hello!
Loving your product so very, very much.
I’m in the market for a concealer, so I checked out your recommendations. The W3ll People concealer has a long ingredient list- and contains Hexylene Glycol and Caprylyl Glycol. Your site has suggested we toss all products with
-ol suffixes. Are there certain-ol chemicals that are better than others?
Consonant skin care (made in Canada) has a foaming face wash I like very much. Have you used any Vapour Organic products?
Hi Jan. Thank you for your comment. We haven’t tried Vapour.
Curious what your thoughts are on Thrive Causemetics makeup?
Hello Angela. We are not familiar with this brand. We encourage you to check the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep
I have used this product & I can say its awesome 🙂
Arbonne and Neora both claim to be clean and I know ladies who use and sell those products. Do you have any knowledge of those two brands you could share? I noticed you had Beautycounter products listed several times.
I was surprised to not see more Crunchi products on your list! I love the info you guys share, but Crunchi’s ingredients surpass several of the brands listed here.
Thanks for your comment. We are not too familiar with Crunchi, but we’ll check it out. Thanks!
Beets and blush is a great new start up company! I went to highschool with the girl and all of her products are all vegan, cruelty free, and non-toxic. She has a passion for safe, yet effective skin care with versatility