Best Cruelty-Free Mascaras in 2021 [With Reviews]

If you apply makeup, you will agree that finding an all-round mascara that lengthens, curls, thickens, and volumizes your eyelashes is such a hassle.

It’s even harder when you want one with these specs and holds a cruelty-free status, plus vegan formulas.

All hope is not lost, though, because there are cruelty-free mascaras that don’t test on animals and don’t use animal ingredients in their formulas. These options are discussed below.

Top Cruelty-Free Mascara Compared

Product ImageProduct NameFeaturesPrice
MILK MAKEUP KUSH High Volumizing Mascara - Best Overall
  • 100% waterproof mascara
  • Pure black pigment
  • Price: $29
Too Faced Better Than Sex - Best Market Value
  • Extra stiff brustles for maximum performance
  • Smudge proof for all day wear
  • Price: $26
PRETTY VULGAR Faux Reals Extreme Volume Mascara - Best Clean Beauty
  • Flake-free sumdge-proof Fuller
  • Fit for day and night wear
  • Price: $23
BLINC Blinc Mascara - Best Innovation
  • Easy on the eyes
  • Easy to take off
  • Price: $26
MARC JACOBS BEAUTY At Lashd Lengthening and Curling Mascara
  • Enriched with lash conditioners
  • Wavy bristled wand for effective curling
  • Price: $27
KVD VEgan Go Big or Go Home Mascara
  • 100% vegan beauty formula
  • Wavy fibre bristles for fluffy and full coverage
  • Price: $24
NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Dol Eye Mascara, Volume Black
  • Tripple mascara formulas
  • lash extending fibre
  • Price: $20
MILK MAKEUP Mini KUSH High Volumizing Mascara
  • Easy to use brush
  • Volumizing capacity
  • Price: $12
TARTE Maneater Voluptuous Mascara
  • Easily usable brush
  • Skinvigorating ingredients
  • Price: $23
TARTE Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Masacara
  • Clinically proven to increase lash volume
  • Made of plant botanicals
  • Price: $21
HOURGLASS Unlocked Instant Extensions Lengthening Mascara
  • Molded brush targets all lashes
  • Zero fragrance mascara
  • Price: $29
Urban Decay Perversions
  • Criss-crossed bristle brushs for better grap on lashes
  • Super cream forula with zero clumps
  • Price: $20
WANDER BEAUTY Unlashed Volume & Curl Mascara
  • Ideal for sensitive eyes
  • Smudge proof for faster curls
  • Price: $24
ILIA Limitless lash lengthening Mascara
  • Flake-free and flexible lengtghening
  • Gentle brush for sensitive eyes
  • Price: $28
Hourglass Caution Extreme Lash Mascara
  • Doesnt contain harmful synthetic fragrances
  • 4D amplifiers brush
  • Price: $29

Reviews of Best Cruelty-Free Mascara Today

1. Best Cruelty-free Mascara – MILK MAKEUP KUSH High Volumizing Mascara

This is our top pick for its big brush with heart-shaped bristles that won’t just volumize your eyelashes but can make them to any shape you want. It’s formulated with hemp-derived cannabis oil that gives it a creamy texture and pure pigments that deliver an extra black finish.

What Are Buyers Saying?

Love this mascara! I got a sample from Sephora and was in love with how full and long my lashes look. I’ve tried dozens of mascaras, and this is, by far, my favorite.

Why Buyers Love It

Buyers say that the mascara is all good and lasts all day long, plus with the big brush, the application is easy.

Price: $29

Buy on Amazon

2. Best Market Value – Too Faced Better Than Sex Volumizing Mascara

Better than Sex is like the most famous mascara in today’s market. It’s favorited by many because of its volumizing intensity, plus its hourglass-shaped brush ensures no strand is left without the Standard Size Black finish.

What Are Buyers Saying

Buy it! I highly recommend this mascara. It is absolutely one of my favorites! Using this, I don’t need an eyelash curler. I find the application very smooth and voluminous.

Why Buyers Love it

It has a film-forming polymer for a crisp smudge-proof standard black-finish. Its ingredients are improved to deliver dramatic curls and the blackest finishes.

Price: $26

Buy on Amazon

3. Best Clean Beauty – PRETTY VULGAR Faux Reals Extreme Volume Mascara

This Black Swan – Satin black mascara gets you an intense black finish with a long-lasting mascara fullness. It promotes a dramatic false-eyelash effect in a single swipe. It’s cruelty-free, smudge-free, and flake-free when applied.

What are buyers saying?

This product is available in color. It’s free of sulfate, formaldehyde, and mineral oils. It’s a natural mascara that contains very few synthetic fragrances.

Why buyers love it

Buyers love it for it gets on all lashes, making them fuller. It is similar to Better Than Sex but not as messy and lasts longer.

Price: $23

Buy on Amazon

4. Best Innovation – BLINC Blinc Mascara

This mascara is a great waterproof option, and it stands out for the tube technology. For a maximum fold, the Blinch Mascara forms tiny water-resistant “tubes” around the lashes that never smudge, clump, or flake.

What are buyers saying?

I love this stuff! It is easy to apply, and a little goes a long way.

Why buyers love it

Buyers love it because although it will not bulk your eyelashes, it never gets sticky and clumpy like other mascaras that irritate the eyes.

Price: $26

Buy on Amazon

5. MARC JACOBS BEAUTY At Lash’d Lengthening and Curling Mascara

This is yet another mascara that leaves lashes assuming the perfect curl, length desired, and the effects last all day long unaltered. The mascara is also smudge-resistant and has no flakes.

It is available in the Blackest, Shiniest black shade and has these enriching ingredients: Biotin Peptide t, Provitamin B5, and vegan plant waxes.

What Are Buyers Saying?

Its wavy brush is an added advantage because no lash is left untouched.

Why Buyers Love It

Buyers love it for its packaging and the long-lasting curly effects it delivers.

Price: $27

Buy on Amazon

6. KVD Vegan Go Big or Go Home Mascara

This extreme volume mascara uses plant-based fats as its superpower ingredient for a Trooper Black color (true black) that remains saturated till you get home.

What Are Buyers Saying?

It’s a long-wear mascara with a smooth texture when applied. Its brushes glide into every lash giving a significant, blown-out lashes volume, and remains crisp throughout the day without smudging.

Why Buyers Love it

Buyers love its superior volumizing effects that give an impression of false eyelashes when applied.

Price: $24

Buy on Sephora

7. HOURGLASS Unlocked Instant Extensions Lengthening Mascara

Unlocked Instant Extensions Mascara delivers a flashy extension on your lashes instantly. It has the ultimate formula that ensures more on ‘everything’: more lift, more extension, more color, and more natural results.

What are buyers saying?

I love its black and the plant-based fats used like castor seed oil. It doesn’t contain sulfates, parabens, phthalate, mineral oils, and synthetic fragrances.

Why buyers love it

Its film-forming technology is the top reason most buyers love it, especially those who wish to lengthen their lashes in one stroke.

Price: $20

Buy on Amazon

8. MILK MAKEUP Mini KUSH High Volumizing Mascara

It comes in the Blackest Black and has superior volumizing effects, plus heart-shaped fibers on the brush that reach every strand. Its ingredients include hemp-derived cannabis seed oil, plus pure pigments for an intense black finish.

What are buyers saying?

Love this mascara!! I used to use Better than Sex, but I was so impressed when Milk came out with this. The dramatic difference in my lashes before and after was incredible.

Wy buyers love it

The heart-shaped brush fibers lay in every direction and provide astounding soft-feathery effects on any user, despite their lash types.

Price: $12

Buy on Sephora

9. TARTE Maneater Voluptuous Mascara

With this mascara, be ready for a Triple-Black volumizing, lengthening, and curling effect on your lashes all day. Its brush has over 500 flexible bristles that curl and coat your lashes with a soft-flex and intense pigment.

What Are Buyers Saying?

It gives you thick, fat lashes but doesn’t feel brittle at all. I get compliments all the time.

Why Buyers Love it

Buyers love the Jojoba plant extract and Carnauba wax that lengthen and volumize lashes effortlessly without getting brittle.

Price: $23

Buy on Amazon

10. TARTE Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Masacara

This vegan mascara produces a 35% increase in lashes curl while volumizing, lengthening, and conditioning them for an extra flashy look. Its Rich-Black shade offers a 24-hour smudge-proof and flakeless wear.

What are Buyers SAYING?

“I am a makeup fanatic. I don’t usually have a single favorite brand of any single type of makeup as I love so many. But this is hands down my favorite mascara.”

Why Buyers Love it

Buyers revel in it for it makes the eyes appear brighter and bigger, plus it’s a multi-benefit mascara for blackening, lengthening, and thickening.

Price: $21

Buy on Amazon

11. WANDER BEAUTY Unleashed Volume & Curl Mascara

Coming in the Blackest black, this waterproof mascara is ideal for sensitive eyes and people wearing contact lenses. It has natural mascara ingredients like Castor Seed Oil and glucose that condition your lashes for a fresh Glossy-black look throughout.

What Are Buyers Saying?

Wander Beauty Unleashed Volume and Curl Mascara is one of the best mascara I have used. It stays in place on my lashes and does not “travel” above or below my eyelashes, which is what other mascaras have done.

Why buyers love it

This product is loved for its ergonomic bristle brush that adds a special lift to eyelashes in a single stroke.

Price: $29

Buy on Amazon

12. Hourglass Caution Extreme Lash Mascara

This all-in-one mascara gives your lashes the maximum length, intense volume, and the perfect lift they deserve. The 4D amplifier brush sufficiently saturates the lashes from root to tip, thanks to the vegan-friendly ingredients free of parabens and sulfates.

What Are Buyers Saying?

I have very small lashes, and this mascara should have a caution label as my lashes are now BOOM! Highly recommended.

Why Buyers Love it

This mascara delivers the desired volume already in the first stroke, so no need to apply extra shades. It’s also easily removed using water.

Price: $20

Buy on Amazon

13. Urban Decay Perversions

Buy this mascara if you are looking for thicker lashes, thanks to the pigmented formula this volumizing mascara is made with. It comes in the purest, deepest black and has long-lasting feathery effects on your lashes when applied.

What Are Buyers Saying?

Gives great defined lashes! No clumping, which is my biggest pet peeve! Stays all day. I found my forever mascara!

Why Buyers Love it

It comes with a unique tapered brush that captures even the tiny lashes at the eye corners. It also gives the most striking looks on lashes diagonally.

Price: $24

Buy on Amazon

14. ILIA Limitless lash lengthening Mascara

ILIA is a buildable flake-free mascara that lifts and volumizes your lashes for a fuller and healthier look. It’s made using Organic Bee, and Carnauba waxes for a weightless conditioning of every lash.

What Are Buyers Saying?

This is a rich mascara that doesn’t clump or smear. It is super easy to remove with water and does not leave a residue on the skin. Extremely gentle for sensitive eyes, even more so than Neutrogena.

Why Buyers Love it

Buyers love this mascara because it’s 95% natural and is also extra gentle for use with sensitive eyes. It’s also easy to remove with water.

Price: $28

Buy on Amazon

15. NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Dol Eye Mascara, Volume Black

This is a lengthening mascara with an extending fiber brush that’s extremely easy to use. It comes with a special blend of natural oils and nylon to extend your lashes flawlessly. With an extreme black finish, the end results give the impression of fake lashes.

What Are Buyers Saying

This mascara is amazing. It makes my lashes look great without making them look overly done.

Why Buyers Love it

Buyers love this mascara for its transformative lengthening effects, thanks to the natural ingredients used like beeswax and carnauba wax.

Price: $29

Buy on Amazon

Best Cruelty-Free Mascara Buying Guide

We can all agree that acquiring a good mascara is essential to top up your flashy eyeshadow effect.

More so, cruelty-free and vegan fashion is even better since you will apply makeup at no expense of dead animals or animal cruelty.

While mascaras are sold in many beauty outlets around you, it’s crucial to know what to look for in a good mascara to avoid dissatisfaction after making a purchase. Let’s look at some of them:

Long-Lasting

You should make sure that the mascara you buy will last all day. You do this by checking if it contains high-quality natural ingredients.

Also, be cautious of harmful ingredients like parabens used to preserve the mascara’s longevity.

Brush Size

The size, material, and design of the brush affect the final look of your lashes. If you want to add some volume to your lashes without them looking clumpy, go for wands with long bristles.

Short bristles will not deliver the desired results in one coat, so you will apply multiple coats, which might leave your lashes looking all clumpy.

Easy to remove

Good cruelty-free mascaras should be easy to remove and after a long day of work. You don’t want to end up scratching and hurting your eyes when removing your mascara.

Water-based mascaras are easily removable with water. However, they also have their disadvantages.

Quick to dry

A good mascara should dry fast and effectively. You want one that dries slowly enough so you can apply more coats, but still fast enough so you don’t wait for ages before leaving the house.

Most vegan mascaras have ingredients that promote smooth drying when applied.

If concerned, you can now search and purchase the Best Cruelty-free and vegan mascaras on our website www.veganfashionblog.com too.

FAQs

Can Mascaras Hurt the Eyes

Dermatologists reveal that continually wearing mascaras can cause eye inflammation and even lead to eyelashes loss. It’s crucial to remove your eye makeup before going to bed.

How long should I wait to Wear Mascara after Eye Lash Lift?

24 hours is the ideal waiting duration. You’re free to use whatever eye makeup you desire after an eyelash lift.

Do all mascaras use beeswax?

Not all mascara manufacturers use beeswax. Most vegan options replace beeswax with natural plant oils like castor seed oil.

Is it healthy to leave mascara on?

If you fail to remove mascara, material accumulation under the eyelid can cause cornea erosion and irritation if left untreated.

Summary

It’s crucial to invest in a decent cruelty-free, and vegan mascara whenever you can. The products mentioned in this article are the best cruelty-free options in the market today, plus they all use vegan formulations, so no worry if you are exclusively vegan.