If, like me, your first reaction to vegan aftershave was both of these;
- What? Why would they not be? And…
- Vegan aftershave – so like fermented grass and seeds?
It sounds silly right, why is aftershave not vegan, who even makes vegan aftershave and is vegan aftershave actually any good? Good questions, let’s answer them.
Why is aftershave not vegan?
No long winded answer here, it’s simply because they still test your Tom Ford on animals. Despite your favourite fragrance being around for years – those pesky scientists still need to check the ingredients, which haven’t changed, still don’t kill humans or cause us to spontaneously combust – so they get some rabbits, dress them up in a tux, lather them in eau de toilette and send them to a ball. Ok, I wish it was pleasant and I won’t go into detail, you can google it for yourself.
Who even makes vegan aftershave and is vegan aftershave actually any good?
A bunch of clever people in some nice looking offices somewhere decided they could do all the sciency stuff without having to send those bunnies to the dance. Let’s take a look at the best vegan aftershaves and how they stack up against each other.
Eden Perfumes
My go to for any vegan aftershave, Eden Perfumes have been making vegans smell fresh to death since 2013 and deserve top spot on this list, despite no affiliate link – what? you think I do these blogs for fun huh?
The smart people at Eden recreate my favourite vegan aftershaves – give them a similar name so you can find them easily in their vast catalogue of scents. You have an old favourite which you’ve found tested on animals? Cool, no problem, I bet Eden does a copy. You may think, aren’t these just fakes? Well, yeah kinda, but ask yourself, aren’t the originals just chemicals in a fancy bottle too?
What I am most impressed by with Eden is the scent is 99.9% exact to the original (I’m sure there’d be some lawyer problems if they copied it 100%). They’ve somehow managed to take my favourite Tom Ford and create a vegan aftershave alternative for me, amazing! They also keep their packaging simple and if you send the bottle back, they’ll refill it with a discount!
At this point you might think I work for Eden, or that you don’t need to keep reading as this is the perfect vegan aftershave. Well, it’s not all perfect as I find the longevity is not the best and they tend to fade after 5 or 6 hours. Eden have tried to combat this with their Elixir range – which does seem to last a bit longer, you’ll still need to top up if you’re hoping to be smelling fresh all day.
You can browse your favourite scents at Eden Perfumes here, starting from £28.
- Smell 10/10
- Longevity 8/10
- Packaging 8/10
- Price 10/10
Lush
Is there anything they don’t do? I mean, give the competition a chance? Basically, if you need anything smelling nice, Lush is your go to as a vegan, and vegan aftershaves they do do (hehe, dodo).
Lush offers 3 different types of vegan aftershaves, you have a traditional small glass bottle, a larger spray bottle and a solid vegan aftershave (of course), in total they have an outstanding 90 product range!
The glass bottles are separate from their usual product ranges and are scents of their own and having tried a couple over the years, longevity is something they do not struggle with, actually, it’s kinda hard to get the damn thing off – perhaps they should have a chat with Eden?
- Smell 8/10
- Longevity 12/10
- Packaging 8/10
- Price 8/10
Their spray bottles are usually scents from their popular product ranges, rose jam, dirty etc etc with a few newbies chucked in too. I find these are also quite strong, so a few sprays goes a long way, but because they’re in spray bottles you get a lot of product per spray – I did warn you!
- Smell 7/10
- Longevity 9/10
- Packaging 6/10
- Price 8/10
Finally the solid vegan aftershaves. A very cool initiative from Lush and something I’ve not seen before, they come in little glass jars, like lip balm for your neck. They don’t seem to last as long as the other two, but that’s not a bad thing and they’ll do fine for a day in the office or night out.
- Smell 7/10
- Longevity 6/10
- Packaging 9/10
- Price 7/10
The Perfume Shop
Alright, so they’re not an aftershave brand themselves, but it seems the vegan aftershave trend is making its way onto the high street. The perfume shop has a range of vegan scents which you can easily pick up in-store or have a look on-line here.
As far as vegan aftershaves, they online have the one in the collection, Phantom from Paco Rabanne. The vegan aftershave scent comprises of; top notes: lemon, heart notes: (whatever that means, let’s just say middle notes) lavender and base notes: “sexy woody vanilla” – who knew vanilla could be sexy. Once finished, and if you liked it too, you can buy refills for the bottle, saving a little packaging!
- Smell 9/10
- Longevity 8/10
- Packaging 10/10
- Price 6/10
Boots
Yep, you can even pick up a bottle of vegan aftershave next to your lip balm. Boots stock a range of vegan aftershaves from a brand called Composition, but what I’m most interested in is the Calvin Klein Everyone. A unisex fragrance from CK is similar to the CK ONE we used to know and love at school, fresh with an emphasis on natural ingredients, it’s Gen Z’s new go to and perfect for an everyday scent.
- Smell 9/10
- Longevity 8/10
- Packaging 9/10
- Price 8/10