Milani Cosmetics

Vegan: Vegan products make up almost 70% of Milani's range.

Milani's values stretch beyond inclusivity, too. The brand is also dual-certified cruelty free and more than half vegan. It protects the environment by avoiding ocean-polluting plastic microbeads and more, but the brand does use some questionable ingredients. Learn more about Milani's ethics and sustainability so you can decide whether its superbly accessible, melanin-friendly cosmetics are right for you.

Milani has been certified cruelty free by Leaping Bunny since 2014. A blog post by the brand clarifies the term "cruelty free" and the process it went through to obtain certification. Leaping Bunny requires brands to "sign an agreement that states that they will not and have not in the past test on any animals during any stage of the development of their product," the blog post states. And all the brand's ingredient suppliers must do the same.

Milani says "using vegan formulas is a foundational element to who we are." The brand offers roughly 120 vegan products, which is almost 70% of its total range. These items are listed on the website under their own section conveniently accessible from the homepage.

Cruelty Free: Certified by PETA and Leaping Bunny.

Though cruelty free and exceedingly vegan-friendly, one thing Milani lacks is transparency around controversial ingredients like palm oil, mica, and shea butter. All of these ingredients have been linked to human rights issues including exploitation, trafficking, and child labor.

Ethical: The sources of mica, palm oil, and other problematic ingredients remains undisclosed.

That same month, Milani’s TikTok account posted that it would be impossible for Heard to have used that specific palette during her relationship with Depp because it hadn’t been created before she filed for divorce in 2016.

During the recent defamation trial between Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, Milani Cosmetics posted a TiKTok video that went viral, seemingly contradicting testimony presented by Heard's legal team. Attorney Elaine Bredehoft had suggested Heard used a certain product by Milani Cosmetics to cover bruises caused by Depp, but Milani said that the product she presented during the trial wasn't in existence until a year after the pair divorced.

Milani then took a chunk from that video and created its own trending content. In it, someone marches to the sound of a viral Backyardigans song while showing that the brand’s correcting kit was released in 2017, while Heard and Depp’s relationship ended in 2016. Depp fans took this as proof that Heard must be lying, since that specific product did not exist at the time and she couldn’t have used it to cover her alleged bruises.