Letting your little ones express themselves through face paint and play makeup might seem innocuous enough but behind the bright colours and glittery polishes often lurks suspect ingredients we wouldn’t dare place on our own skin, let alone our precious kids’. Lead, nickel, cobalt, chromium and parabens are the main offenders, with some studies finding them in kids face paint and makeup kits in alarmingly high levels. It’s pretty scary stuff but the good news is you can still indulge your little one’s creativity with options that aren’t only non-toxic but also cruelty free and vegan too. Here are some of our favourites. 

Natural Earth Face Paint  

Whether it’s birthday parties, Halloween or dress ups, these certified organic face paints will be sure to excite kids and parents alike. Instead of nasties like heavy metals, parabens, phthalates and formaldehyde, paints are powered by fair trade organic shea butter, and organic caster seed oil. They’re coloured using clay and mineral pigments, are free of nano particles, plus are vegan friendly. Try the kit or buy colours individually. 

No Nasties 

This Aussie company ships worldwide and has a great range of play makeup for little ones. Tried and tested on our own kids, the bright colours and wide range of products like eye shadows, face paints, peelable nail polishes and hair chalk have been a hit during creative play time. Products are F, D and C colour free and don’t contain talc, parabens, mineral oil, bismuth oxychloride or ferric ferrocyanide. They also list their ingredients of their products on their website, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting every time. 

Piggy Paint 

If your kids are into nail polish Piggy Paint is a great choice, not only for younger kids but tweens and teens too. Natural, non-toxic and water (rather than solvent) based, Piggy Paint has a huge range of colours and is free from the usual three (formaldehyde, toluene, DBP) as well as Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone. It also doesn’t have a harsh odour. Colours can also be removed with its specially formulated acetone and zero VOC free formula polish remover. 

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