If you love the dual functions of a BB cream, but prefer to steer clear of makeup that contains animal-derived ingredients, you’ll be pleased to know that vegan BB creams do exist. Like their non-vegan counterparts, the best vegan BB creams provide light coverage while imparting various skin care benefits, but they’re made without lanolin, beeswax, and other ingredients that come from animals. Typically, vegan BB creams are also be cruelty-free, though you’ll always want to double check as the terms actually have completely different meanings (cruelty-free refers to products that are developed without being tested on animals).
Like all BB creams, vegan formulas will give you sheer to medium coverage that’s lighter than your average foundation, but heavier than a tinted moisturizer. Because of this, the shade ranges tend to be more limited, but BB creams are less about full, color-matched coverage and more about blurring imperfections while keeping your skin hydrated and, ideally, protected from the sun.
How To Identify A Vegan BB Cream
The easiest way to tell if your BB cream (or any beauty product) is vegan is to look for the certified vegan logo. But oftentimes, you’ll have to do a little more digging by scanning through the product’s INCI list or checking out the brand’s FAQs page for more details. When in doubt, you can always reach out to the brand for confirmation, or enter the ingredient list into a database like Double Check Vegan to see how a product stacks up.
Shop The Best Vegan BB Creams
In a hurry? Here are the best vegan BB creams:
- Best Vegan BB Cream For Oily Skin: Purlisse Perfect Glow BB Cream SPF 30
- Best Vegan BB Cream For Dry Skin: Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream
- Best Vegan BB Cream For Sensitive Skin: Australian Gold Botanical SPF 50 Tinted Face BB Cream
- Best Prestige Vegan BB Cream: COOLA Rosilliance Organic BB+ Skin Tint
1. Best Vegan BB Cream For Oily Skin
Once upon a time, BB creams were all about the glow. In recent years, however, BB cream offerings have grown to include semi-matte and matte formulas, like this one from Purlisse. The not-quite-dewy, not-quite-matte finish caters to all skin types, but because it’s oil-free and shimmer-free, it’s an especially good choice for people with oily and/or acne-prone skin. This BB gives you medium coverage, and a combination of chemical sun filters provides SPF 30 protection. Purlisse also makes a moisturizing BB cream for those with dry skin, as well as BB liquid blushes and BB concealers if you’re hooked on beauty balms.
Available Shades: 11 Finish: Semi-Matte Key Ingredients: Glycerin, Vitamin E, Hyaluronic Acid Fragrance-Free: No Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1.4 oz.
Relevant Review: “This bb cream is light weight, covers imperfections and adds a beautiful subtle glow. I wanted a bb cream that covered blemishes but allowed my freckles to show and this does just that. This is now my favorite everyday face product, goodbye foundation! I will not the leave house without applying this first. Also can't leave out the fact that this is vegan and cruelty free! Win, win, win!”
2. Best Vegan BB Cream For Dry Skin
If you’re looking for vegan beauty products at a drugstore price, Pacifica Beauty boasts a full line of vegan skin care, body care, makeup, and hair care products. The brand’s Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream uses mineral pigments to adjust to your skin tone for sheer coverage that can be built up. Drier skin types will prefer this dewy (and slightly shimmery) formula, which contains multiple moisturizing ingredients like glycerin, jojoba esters, and hyaluronic acid. It’s also packed with antioxidant-rich ingredients like pomegranate extract, white tea leaf extract, and ginseng extract that can help protect your skin against environmental damage.
Available Shades: 3 Finish: Dewy Key Ingredients: Jojoba Esters, Glycerin, Coconut Water, Hyaluronic Acid, Floral Stem Cells Fragrance-Free: No Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1 oz.
Relevant Review: “This is my second bottle. I love this stuff! Super lightweight, moisturizing, and gives me a youthful glow! Makes it look as though I'm not wearing makeup but my skin is even and smooth. And the best part is vegan and cruelty free!”
3. Best Vegan BB Cream For Sensitive Skin
When in doubt, this Australian Gold Botanical SPF 50 Tinted Face BB Cream is a solid place to start (just turn to the 20,000-plus five-star ratings on Amazon for proof). The tinted formula gives you sheer coverage that blurs imperfections and slightly mattifies skin. But more importantly, it was created with sensitive skin types in mind, using mineral sun blockers to give you SPF 50 protection via a formula that’s free from drying alcohols, dyes, fragrances, parabens, and phthalates. In addition to moisturizing ingredients like glycerin, shea butter, and panthenol, the BB cream also contains kakadu plum extract, which is a natural source of vitamin C.
Available Shades: 3 Finish: Matte Key Ingredients: Glycerin, Kakadu Plum Fruit Extract, Shea Butter, Panthenol, Squalane Fragrance-Free: Yes Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 3 oz.
Relevant Review: “This is the ONLY sunscreen I can find that is a mineral sunscreen, with tint, vegan and cruelty free, in this price point, made by a major brand [...] I don't know why all those criteria together is impossible to find, but thank you Australian Gold for fulfilling my needs!”
4. Best Prestige Vegan BB Cream
If you’re a longtime fan of BB creams, consider splurging on this rose-infused option that combines moisturizing ingredients like sunflower seed oil and rose stem cells with a hint of shimmer to give your skin a glowing finish. Despite the dewy sheen it imparts, COOLA’s Rosilliance Organic BB+ Skin Tint is noncomedogenic, so it won’t clog your pores. And thanks to the titanium dioxide inside, it provides water-resistant SPF 30 protection.
Available Shades: 3 Finish: Dewy Key Ingredients: Safflower Seed Oil, Glycerin, Sunflower Seed Oil, Rose Stem Cells, Acai Fruit Oil Fragrance-Free: Yes Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1.5 oz.
Relevant Review: “The best BB cream out there. Perfect for pool and workout days. I wear under my foundation on full makeup days. I love the dewy glow it gives my skin. Good SPF and moisturizing. It is sheer and lightweight.”
You May Also Like
This Prestige Tinted Moisturizer With SPF
Though technically a tinted moisturizer, this PÜR 4-In-1 formula gives you the benefits of a BB cream, including mineral SPF 20 protection (that means you’ll still need to apply an SPF 30 sunscreen underneath). You can use the sheer coverage formula on its own or as a perfecting primer — either way, the tinted moisturizer packs in plenty of skin care heavy hitters, from hydrating and soothing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and chamomile extract to actives like lactic acid and retinol to gently exfoliate and speed up skin cell turnover.
Available Shades: 15 Finish: Dewy Key Ingredients: Shea Butter, Aloe Vera, Retinol, Vitamin E, Hyaluronic Acid, Ceramide Fragrance-Free: Yes Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1.7 oz.
Relevant Review: “It’s everything I’ve been looking for in a tinted moisturizer — lightweight, has just the right amount of coverage, not heavy at all, and gives the face a beautiful glow! Perfect for these hot summer days when you don’t feel like wearing heavy makeup foundation!”
This Drugstore Tinted Moisturizer Without SPF
If you’re open to tinted moisturizers as a BB cream alternative, but don’t want to spend upwards of $35, this Wet n Wild Tinted Hydrator is an amazing drugstore option. Ringing up at just over $6, it functions similarly to a BB cream in that it provides sheer to medium coverage to even out your skin tone, and is packed with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and a vegan form of squalane. The formula is oil-free and fragrance-free, and suitable for all skin types, though note that it doesn’t provide any sun protection.
Available Shades: 11 Finish: Semi-Matte Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic Acid, Vegan Squalane Fragrance-Free: Yes Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1 oz.
Relevant Review: “I love this vegan tinted moisturizer. It has a really great coverage and could be buildable and it just feels really great on your skin. I think I'll be fantastic in the colder seasons when your skin gets dry or if you have dry skin [...] give it a go.”
This CC Cream With SPF & Antioxidants
One last BB cream alternative for your consideration is this CC cream from Honest Beauty. It ticks off almost every box imaginable in terms of what you’d want from a vegan BB cream, but offers even more benefits thanks to the vitamin C inside. With this multi-tasking formula, you’ll get sun protection (courtesy of mineral-derived SPF 30), blue light protection, and plenty of nourishment from glycerin, sunflower seed, jojoba esters, and soothing allantoin. All of that for less than $25 — why not give it a shot?
Available Shades: 9 Finish: Dewy Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, Allantoin, Jojoba Esters, Glycerin, Vitamin E Fragrance-Free: Yes Cruelty-Free: Yes Size: 1 oz.
Relevant Review: “Love this moisturizer!! It ‘blurs’ large pores very well and I like that it’s clean, vegan, and spf 30. The tint makes your skin look overall more even.”
About The Author
Marissa DeSantis has worked as a beauty writer and editor for nearly 10 years. Her pieces can be found across print and digital publications like Bustle, Evening Standard, Teen Vogue, and InStyle.
