Looking for lip balm that's cruelty-free, vegan and has no added nasties? We were hunting for some too (for the past year in fact), but we've now found 3 brands that we truly love...

Firstly, why should you care about natural ingredients?
What ingredients should you avoid?

Unfortunately, many lip balms (and cosmetics in general) contain a bunch of scary ingredients, which can be harmful to our health. We're talking lead, parabens, petroleum jelly/petrolatum, petrochemicals, artificial colours and fragrances and more. Yep, yuck.

These ingredients can irritate the skin, disrupt hormonal balance, promote cancer cells and disrupt neural functioning. (And that's just to name a few side effects..)

Happily though, there are an increasing number of natural alternatives on the market, which are also cruelty-free and vegan.

Although beeswax is a natural product, its collection and production is mostly from intensive bee farming involving cruel methods, so we'd prefer to avoid it.

Our Favourite Natural + Vegan Lip Balms..

Sugar Venom

(Virginia's favourite)

I was looking for a vegan replacement for Grown Alchemist's Watermelon Lip Balm (which I used to love, until reading in the fine print that it had beeswax in it) so have been trying a few options. This Australian-made lip balm is my happy find, because I'm smitten with its performance.

It's deliciously creamy, without being sticky, and it creates an elegant finish - perfect for when you don't want to wear lipstick, but want to look polished. 

Why I love it:

• Creamy, but not sticky
• Keeps lips moist between applications, and with continual use I can increase the amount of time between applications - so it must be doing good! (Seriously, some "traditional" petroleum based lip balms create a moisture barrier - which stops your skin's oils from being able to do their job, and dries out the skin. So instead of moisturising the lips, it's actually drying them out, requiring more and more frequent application to make them feel moisturised - like addiction for lips!)  
• Gentle flavour

Ingredients (Vanilla Flavour): Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Candellila Wax, Capric/Caprylic Triglyceride, Vitamin E, Natural Flavour, Stevia, Mica.

Elo

(Henrietta's favourite)

This organic lip balm feels so luxurious, and I love that it has only 6 ingredients. It is hand poured and wrapped in New York, and leaves my lips feeling moist all day long (yep, there's generally no need to reapply).

Thanks to Jannifer from The V Spot for introducing me to this brand!

Why I love it:

• Feels soft & creamy to apply
• All organic ingredients, and only 6 of them
• Gives long-lasting moisture
• Handmade

Ingredients (Nude Flavour): Shea oil, jojoba oil, vitamin e, pumpkin extracts, lilac extracts, desert mica.

Hurraw

(Henrietta's close-second favourite)

One great thing about this brand is that it makes lip balms in a crazy amount of different flavours, so everyone is bound to find one they like. (Seriously, they've got everything from vanilla, to ginger beer and even earl grey!)
I haven't tried them all, but I quite like the mint flavour as it's so refreshing and icily crisp. It's sort of like eating a mint!

Why I love it:

• All natural, organic & raw ingredients
• Hand made & poured
• Long lasting nourishment
• Large range of fun flavours
• Quite affordable

Ingredients (Mint Flavour): Sweet almond oil, candelilla wax, coconut oil, jojoba seed oil, cocoa seed butter, castor seed oil, olive fruit oil, peppermint leaf oil, vitamin e.

Other vegan & natural lip balms we'd like to try:

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