Makeup Artists Love These Natural Makeup Brands

Founded by Danish-born makeup artist Kirsten Kjaer Weis, her namesake brand makes fabulous face products in beautiful sustainable packaging (check out their blushes and bronzers) using certified natural or organic ingredients. But Carrillo is particularly a fan of this gorgeous oil, which can be used as a primer for the brand's luxurious foundations. "I use it on all of my clients because it's so special," he says.

"Ilia is one of the longest-standing, highest-performing brands in the space, with the most beautiful shade ranges across all categories, from lips to cheeks to complexion," says celebrity makeup artist and natural beauty expert Katey Denno, whose clients include Judith Light, Mindy Kaling, and Beanie Feldstein. One recent brand highlight is this serum-like foundation, also a big hit with Oprah Daily's beauty and wellness director, Brian Underwood.

Harris is a huge fan of Inner Beauty's "really beautiful" products "with great colors." That includes this weightless, long-wearing eye shadow. It illuminates the eye area with a pearlescent finish and moisturizes skin with shea butter and flower water. The brand's formulas, developed with the assistance of a naturopathic doctor, are based upon botanical ingredients and are made in small batches in Italy. Bravissima.

Glossier claims to make simple uncomplicated products—and that includes cruelty-free formulas that revolve around straightforward natural ingredients. Take this concealer, for example: It's enriched with avocado and jojoba oils, beeswax, cocoa butter, and mineral pigments. "This product is super buildable, and sometimes I even use it as a foundation," says Carrillo. "It has a dewy finish, so I use it to give skin a beautiful glow and then mattifiy the areas I want go have less shine."

Harris loves to use this moisturizing face tint on his clients with dry or mature skin. It's free of a litany of ingredients that some believe are toxic, including parabens, formaldehydes, triclosan, retinyl palmitate, and oxybenzone. The brand is also vegan and cruelty- and gluten-free. But it isn't just about what's not in the formula, either—the product also contains skin-loving ingredients such as avocado, meadowfoam, red raspberry seed, jojoba, and rosehip seed oils to nourish your complexion as it hides imperfections.

After spending years working at Sephora, Athr's founder, Tiila Abbitt, realized she wanted to develop a cosmetics line formulated with a large list of do-not-use chemical ingredients. She also turned her attention to the packaging, tackling waste with Athr's minimalist packaging that eschews plastic components. Says Denno, "Abbitt makes palettes inclusive of fun colors and easy-to-wear neutrals—the options for creativity are vast."

Celebrity makeup artists Gucci Westman knows a thing or two about gorgeous makeup—her work has graced the faces of Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, and Naomi Watts. What she felt was missing from the beauty world: clean makeup with a luxury feel that her A-list celebrity clientele would want to use. So that's exactly what she created—a brand with a mission to leave certain ingredients out of her formulas, including phthalates, sulfates, mineral oil, parabens, and silicones. For his part, Carrillo loves the blush sticks: "They come in nice colors and leave your skin glowing even after you wash them off," he says.

Introducing the Oprah Daily 2021 Beauty O-Ward Winner for Best Lip Oil. This nutrient-rich formula leaves behind a kiss of color, but plenty of nourishment. But Harris insists the brand, which takes a "holistic" approach to beauty, creating products good for you and the planet, has plenty of other stellar offerings. Among his favorites: the creamy and buildable Flush Balm blush and The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick, which he uses to contour.

This balm is a miracle, indeed. It can be used over or under foundation as a contour or highlight depending upon your skin tone. (Pro tip from Harris: "Make sure you break the wax seal that covers the top before trying to use the product.") The product comes from Jones Road Beauty, the latest venture from makeup legend Bobbi Brown. She didn't want to create just one more beauty brand; she wanted to create a better beauty brand. Part of that is adhering to formulation standards even more stringent than those of the European Union, forbidding the use of more than 2,700 controversial chemicals.

Meet the country's cutest zero-waste color cosmetics brand. These lip and lid shades are completely plastic-free, wrapped in recycled paper, and are stored in boxes made from 100 percent recycled paper waste. Just tear away paper just like you would a Crayola crayon. In addition, the formulas are clean, clean, clean. Needless to say, Denno is a big fan. Here's how she uses them: "On a moisturized face, swipe the Balmie over your skin and then blend with a clean finger," she advises. "I love that they come in a wide array of shades—some shimmer, some matte—and can be used all over the face."

RMS Beauty founder Rose-Marie Swift is one of the OGs of clean makeup. With a focus on what she calls "living ingredients" (RMS formulates using raw, food grade, organic, wildcrafted and natural ingredients that are as close to their natural state as possible), Swift has created a collection of products that are elegant and easy to use. "The entire line is so pretty, but the highlighting products are beyond," says Carrillo. "The luminizer imparts the most beautiful lit-from-within glow. Two words: Flaw. Less."

Exa made a splash when it came on the scene a few years ago as it was one of the largest shade ranges in clean foundation (43 shades and counting). It was so impressive, the product earned a 2020 Beauty O-Ward from our editors. It's also become one of Harris's go-tos: "It's practically invisible on skin, and the shade range is as good as any high-end brand out there," he says. "It's also very hydrating without being greasy—a huge plus in my book."

Glitter has gone green. This shimmer is crafted from non-toxic, plastic-free plant cellulose, making it biodegradable in 28 days. "I'm so grateful to this brand for filling this void in the clean and eco-friendly beauty space," Denno says. "Their cream-to-powder shimmery shadows are absolutely gorgeous."

"Cheekbone has hit it hard with their wood pencil concealer/foundation sticks," says Denno. "I also love following the brand on Instagram to see all the ways they sculpt a face using these sticks." In addition to being cruelty-free, the brand donates a portion of its proceeds to charities aiming to make a difference in the lives of indigenous youth (the brand's founder has Anishinaabe roots).

Another one of Denno's ride-or-dies is Vapour Beauty, which classifies itself as "unconventionally clean." The brand bases its formulas around organically farmed, naturally derived, minimally processed plant ingredients that function as skincare/makeup hybrids, like this multi-use color stick. "The founder has rosacea, so all the products are really gentle on sensitive skin," says Denno. "I've never had a client have a reaction to one of their products."