Save Your Skin With These 8 Vegan and Cruelty-Free Sunscreens

Though the summer season is reminiscent of beach days, picnic lunches, and bike outings, it also means being a lot more careful about protecting your precious skin while spending more time outdoors. Sunscreen has never been more important.

Luckily, finding vegan and cruelty-free sunscreen options is getting easier as brands commit to offering more vegan-friendly skincare products and being transparent about the ingredients and practices they use. But choosing a formula that fits the criteria and doesn’t leave your skin chalky or greasy is no easy feat. We’ve sifted through hundreds of products on the market to find formulations that are kinder to the environment and the animals while also being kind to your skin (let's please avoid skin cancer!). Here are our favorites.

1. Earth Harbor Eclipse Mineral Sunscreen

Using Sheer Mineral Matrix technology and non-nano zinc oxide, this lightweight SPF 30 blends effortlessly into any skin tone without leaving a mineral cast while macroalgae and green tea extract infuse antioxidants into the skin to protect, boost radiance, and prevent early signs of aging. It’s a full solar eclipse for your skin that you’ll love year-round.

2. 100% Pure Green Tea SPF 30

With this dual-purpose moisturizing sunscreen, you can give your skin a burst of all things green: green tea to combat aging, cucumber to soothe skin, aloe to hydrate, and avocado to moisturize. Comfortable for all-day wear, this sunscreen will protect you from harmful UV rays while keeping your thirsty skin fully quenched.

3. Malu SPF 30 Day Cream

This nourishing day cream summons the power of traditional Hawaiian healing and medicinal herbs to protect and nourish your skin—and all without leaving a white cast. Laukahi nourishes, noni fruit provides antioxidants, and non-nano zinc oxide ensures excellent SPF coverage. Plus, this cream uses only reef-safe ingredients, bringing that aloha spirit to you and the planet.

4. Cocokind Daily SPF 32

A bonus about this brand is that they fully explain why they choose every ingredient going into their products.

Better still, the brand’s website shows the product on multiple skin tones, so that customers know it works for tanned and darker tones without leaving a white hue. In addition to non-nano zinc oxide, ingredients such as blue phytoplankton and microalgae work to protect your skin against everyday stressors like pollution and blue light from your computer and phone screen.

5. Sun Bum Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm

When adding a layer of cruelty-free sun protection, we often forget about protecting our lips. But our lips need sunscreen, too.

Thanks to Sun Bum, this travel-friendly lip balm will keep your kissers safe on sun-centric days. And the banana scent makes it smell and taste more like a snack, so you’ll want to glide it on your lips frequently. Formulated with aloe vera and Vitamin E to protect and moisturize, this mineral balm is the ultimate pocket essential and can be used under your favorite lip color for added protection. Those UV rays won't feel quite so daunting with this on your side (and on your lips).

6. Black Girl Sunscreen SPF 30

Made by women of color for people of color, Black Girl Sunscreen is specifically crafted for everyday use on darker skin tones and it also doubles as a moisturizer.

Ingredients such as avocado moisturizes and provides antioxidants, while jojoba soothes and hydrates skin, helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Cacao also provides a dose of antioxidants to fight free radicals and carrots juice contains Vitamin C, which promotes healing and boosts the level of melanin in the skin. And because the formula dries clear, this sunscreen can be used before outdoor activities and under makeup. 

7. Goddess Garden Daily SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen Continuous Spray

This 100-percent biodegradable formula is filled with nourishing organic ingredients such as aloe vera and sunflower oil and was created for those who prefer a spray formula instead of a thick lotion.

This gentle and effective fragrance-free spray is safe for sensitive skin (basically, all skin types) and is sheer and dry to the touch when applied, providing water-resistant protection for up to 80 minutes. Plus it’s scented with lavender essential oil, so you’ll smell good, too.

8. Juice Beauty SPF 30 Tinted Mineral Moisturizer

For those who love multitask products, this tinted, cruelty-free moisturizer blends reef-friendly mineral zinc broad-spectrum SPF 30 with a light tinted foundation coverage while hydrating your face with coconut, sunflower, and jojoba oils and plant-derived hyaluronic acid.

Especially beneficial for normal, dry, or mature skin, this broad-spectrum BB cream is available in four shades (sheer, ivory, sand, and tan) to provide a radiant, even-toned complexion that is also protected from the sun’s harsh rays.