The Best Cruelty-Free Skincare Formulas that Prove Great Skin Doesn’t Have to Come at the Expense of Animals

We believe in skincare that is kind both to your skin and in the testing process. Here are the best PETA-certified, cruelty-free formulas powered by Japanese botanicals for balanced, radiant results.

What Cruelty-Free Skincare Means

At the basic level, cruelty-free means not tested on animals. When a skincare offering is labeled cruelty-free, it means no component of the formula, from ingredients to finished goods, involves animal testing. Below, we dive into cruelty-free versus vegan, cruelty-free beyond animals, and the best cruelty-free formulas based on your skin type.

Cruelty-Free vs. Vegan

Cruelty-free skincare formulas are dedicated to the ethical treatment of animals and the testing process, ensuring that no harm is done to them during the product development phase. Cruelty-free may contain animal products, like silk, beeswax, honey, or lanolin.

Adversely, vegan is usually focused on the ingredients in the formula, ensuring they don’t have any animal-derived ingredients. Vegan will not include animal products, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not tested on animals.

Cruelty-Free — Beyond Animals

Being cruelty-free is rightfully centered around keeping animals safe, but it can also mean being kind to yourself, a pillar at Tatcha. Emotional well-being and strength are important, and we believe that skincare is a holistic act of self-love. While our formulas are orchestrated to restore your skin’s radiance, our rituals are crafted to bring calm, joy, and nourishment to your soul. Skincare doesn’t have to be something you just check off a list; it can be a check-in with your skin and mind alike, and how interconnected they are.

This kindness mindset is also a focus for our Beautiful Faces, Beautiful Futures initiative. A portion of every Tatcha purchase supports Room to Read initiatives that help children develop confidence and skills to succeed in school and make smart life decisions. To date, our support has provided over 12 million days of school with the Girls’ Education Program and the printing and distribution of over 600,000 diverse books in the U.S. through the U.S. Literacy Initiative.

Benefits of Cruelty-Free Skincare

The primary benefit of using cruelty-free skincare is investing in ethical practices, channeling your money and interests into brands and offerings that are focused on the ethical treatment of animals. However, the products can also potentially have more gentle ingredients and environmental benefits, if the brand invests in sustainable practices, as many cruelty-free brands do.

Are Cruelty-Free Formulas Gentler?

Some cruelty-free preparations can also have the added benefit of more natural and botanical ingredients, such as those found at Tatcha, making the formulations more gentle on the skin.

Best Cruelty-Free Skincare

We painstakingly test skincare products at the Tatcha Institute in Tokyo, but never on animals. If you’re looking for cruelty-free skincare offerings, all Tatcha products qualify. But allow us to recommend some of our most beloved formulas based on your skin type.

For Oily Skin

Treating oily skin can feel frustrating, but it’s actually a gift — the natural oils on your face can keep skin looking and feeling more youthful as we age. The trick to caring for oily skin is finding formulas that help to balance moisture and excessive oil production. The Matcha Cleanse will be oily skin’s best friend. The formula decongests pores and balances oil without stripping away essential moisture. This cleanser is designed to be as gentle as possible while still addressing long-term oiliness and clogged pores.

Next, consider a serum for your skin type. That might include a vitamin C serum to brighten skin, like The Brightening Serum, a hydrating serum to balance and boost moisture, like the Dewy Serum, or a formula that targets fine lines and wrinkles, like The Silk Serum.

Many moisturizers can exacerbate oily skin, but The Water Cream is brilliantly designed to balance oiliness and impart radiance with a lightweight feel. The refreshing gel-cream is clinically proven to refine pores, hydrate, and smooth skin’s texture. Or, consider the new Dewy Milk Moisturizer. This lightweight, creamy moisturizer deeply hydrates while balancing excess oil and boosting radiance for bouncy, supple skin with a lasting dewy glow.

For Dry Skin

Dry skin craves hydration, but not just any moisturizer will do. Rather, dry skin thrives with multiple layers of hydrating products, from cleansers to serums and, of course, moisturizers that sink into the skin for all-day comfort. Dry skin will love The Rice Wash, which leaves skin feeling soft and nourished thanks to rice powder as its main ingredient. The hydrating nature of this cleanser will help to support skin as the first step in your skincare routine.

Follow up with The Essence, a brilliant plumping, softening, and resurfacing liquid. This bestselling formula is made entirely (100 percent!) from Tatcha’s proprietary Hadasei-3, a trio of fermented Japanese superfoods, including Akita rice, Uji green tea, and Okinawa algae. The three ingredients work synergistically to support the skin and also help improve the performance of other skincare formulas in your routine, so using this morning and night is additionally beneficial.

A hydrating serum will help keep skin looking and feeling more moisturized. Consider the Dewy Serum, which works to nourish and plump the skin with squalane and hyaluronic acid. Or grab The Serum Stick, an on-the-go, pocket-sized serum that provides instant and deep moisture, while also blurring the look of fine lines and minimizing makeup creasing (basically, a must for mid-day touch-ups).

Moisturizers are dry skin’s best friend. Visibly plump and seal in moisture with The Dewy Skin Cream, which has hyaluronic acid, red algae, and squalane. This formula has a rich, creamy texture that provides antioxidant protection from visible signs of premature aging. Or if you need a slightly lighter experience, grab The Silk Cream, which toes the line between deeply hydrating and balancing skin, thanks to its rich yet weightless gel-cream formula, featuring silk extract. The formula uses a complete liquid silk protein, which parallels the amino acid structure of human skin, to form a whisper-light veil, while Japanese superfoods supply amino acids directly to the skin.

For Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin can feel challenging to support, especially when experiencing difficult issues like extra dry skin, psoriasis, eczema, or reactivity. While cleansing sensitive skin can be an impossible task, The Indigo Cleansing Balm actually improves and repairs the skin barrier’s function for stronger skin over time.

Sensitive skin might enjoy an essence or serum, but if skin is feeling particularly reactive, it’s best to keep things simple. Follow up cleansing with The Indigo Calming Cream, a soothing formula that features potent Colloidal oatmeal and Japanese indigo. The decadent cream provides visible redness and itchiness relief with lasting hydration.

If skin needs some additional TLC, try the bestselling serum-in-moisturizer treatment Indigo Overnight Repair. The treatment works best with consistency and is designed for daily overnight use, with the Japanese indigo, ceramides, and mondo grass formula visibly calming irritation, strengthening the skin’s barrier, and balancing the microbiome for skin as strong as you are by the time you awake.

For Mature Skin

The key with mature skin is understanding your skin type first and foremost. While skin might morph or shift as you age, it’s likely to retain many of the properties it has had your entire life. Once you nail down your skin type, you can support it with the appropriate routine, whether that be dry, oily, or sensitive. However, be willing to shift on a whim. Skin can become fickle when it ages, so some days it might be particularly dry or sensitive, and in that case, support it with nourishing ingredients. For cleansing, you might enjoy either The Indigo Cleansing Balm or The Rice Wash, both of which nourish, but the Indigo Cleansing Balm works to repair the skin, too, which is always a good idea with mature skin types. Or if you enjoy a cleansing oil, try the Camellia Cleansing Oil, which is crafted with Japanese camellia oil, a featherweight botanical oil prized in Asia for its superb moisturizing activity.

Just as dry skin loves The Essence, so will mature skin. Press it into the skin after cleansing and before a serum and/or moisturizer.

Keeping your skin type in mind, choose from The Longevity Serum, The Dewy Milk Moisturizer, The Water Cream, The Indigo Calming Cream, The Dewy Skin Cream, or The Silk Cream. Or, if skin really needs a deeply rich cream, as many more mature skin types might, try the intensely hydrating Ageless Enriching Renewal Cream, which nourishes the skin with botanical extracts.

For Combination Skin

Combination skin can feel confusing — too much moisture and skin feels heavy; too little, and it can crave more nourishment. The secret to balancing combination skin is to find the delicate dance between hydration and oil absorption. To cleanse, The Matcha Cleanse is ideal for combination skin as it balances without stripping away essential moisture.

If your combination skin errs on the side of dryness, consider the Dewy Serum, which plumps skin with squalane and hyaluronic acid without weighing it down. For hydration, moisturizers for combination skin should have a gel-like texture, which is absorbed more quickly and is less likely to clog pores and cause breakouts. Start with a small amount and increase as needed to avoid over-moisturizing and stressing the skin. The Water Cream or The Dewy Milk Moisturizer is ideal as they hydrate, but don’t feel heavy on the skin.