Best Pregnancy Safe Makeup Products to Stock Up On

Now that you’re pregnant, you’ve changed up your diet, ditched the rosé and bought a few maternity bras—but you’re not done yet. Turns out, some of your favorite Makeup might not be safe for you and baby.

The good news? Your pregnancy-safe makeup trade-in may call for a spree at your favorite beauty retailer (it’s doctor’s orders, after all). Ready to get the lowdown on what’s safe and what’s not? Read on for the full beauty 411, then browse the best pregnancy-safe foundation, mascara, concealer and more.

What to Look for in Pregnancy-Safe Makeup

Once your pregnancy is confirmed and you start making your way through the first trimester, your ob-gyn or midwife is likely to provide you with an overwhelming number of handouts, one-sheets and brochures that review everything you should (and shouldn’t do) from now through delivery. If self-care is high up on your priority list, and you have a robust beauty routine, you’ll want to cross-reference your skincare and makeup arsenal with that pile of paperwork to determine what items may be off limits for a while.

There will always be question marks about the effects certain beauty products can have on a pregnant body and developing fetus, but here are some quick and easy tips to follow when you’re refreshing your vanity for pregnancy.

• Avoid dangerous ingredients. “I recommend looking for fragrance-, BPA-, paraben- and phthalate-free cosmetics,” says Engelman. “And definitely formaldehyde-free. Surprisingly, some nail polishes and mascaras still contain formaldehyde, which has been linked to cancer as well as other nervous system issues.” Rebecca Green, beauty concierge and founder of Bloom & Glow, echoes this warning: “Among the ingredients that can pose birth defects, cancer, hormone disruption and irritation threats are retinoids, chemical sunscreens, hydroquinone, parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde and formaldehyde donors, and high doses of salicylic acid (above 2 percent).” So, for starters, you’ll probably want to strike any products with these ingredients from your routine.
• Be aware of hidden dangers. Ideally, you want to find color cosmetics without heavy metals. This can be tricky though; heavy metals, like lead, cadmium and mercury, are never purposefully added to beauty products. You actually won’t even find them listed as ingredients. Green explains that “due to the way natural pigments are mined and processed, they can be contaminated with trace amounts of lead and other heavy metals.” This is why you’ll really want to learn about the brands you’re using while pregnant. “Certain brands take extra care in examining and monitoring their ingredient sourcing and manufacturing processes to reduce heavy metal exposure,” she says. Those are the ones you’ll want on your radar.
• Opt for hypoallergenic options. You may have never worried about purchasing a hypoallergenic beauty product in your pre-pregnancy days, but now that hormones are running rampant through your body, your skin might start spiraling. That’s why you’ll want to have some extra-sensitive, noncomedogenic makeup in your kit. To that end, while they’re generally considered safe, essential oils can also be triggering to individuals with specific skin sensitivities. “You might also want to look for makeup and skincare that’s completely devoid of fragrance, both synthetic and natural,” reiterates Green.
• Be mindful with your makeup selections. As you’re curating this new pregnancy-safe makeup regimen, you’re going to want to think about the products you use most often and the ones that cover the greatest surface areas on your face. Green tells us to “focus on your eyes and mouth, and prioritize safer makeup options for those. In particular, I’d recommend replacing all of your lip products with safer ones, because we literally ingest them.”

Best Pregnancy-Safe Makeup Brands and Marketplaces

Thankfully, if you’re beginning your pregnancy-safe makeup search, you don’t have to look too far. It’s an expanding market, and there’s a plethora of great brands and a growing number of clean beauty marketplaces you can shop from. Of course, even with the most stringent standards in place, you’ll still want to do your due diligence. Research individual products and peruse their respective ingredient lists; even the so-called cleanest of brands will occasionally use an ingredient that’s not recommended during pregnancy. That said, these brands and beauty shopping sites have impeccable ingredient standards and unrelenting vetting processes, making their goodies worthy of your time and money:

For the largest and most diverse assortment of beauty products, Credo takes the cake. The retailer stocks over 130+ brands and 2000+ products, all of which measure up to the Credo Clean Standard. And that’s a ridiculously high bar to meet. Everything you’ll find, from primers and eye palettes to bronzers and brow gels, have zero ingredients on Credo’s “Dirty List;” what’s more, they’re ethically sourced and sustainably packaged. If you need some inspiration to get your glow on in pregnancy, check out the brand’s Clean Scene blog. Get-the-look guides, trendy product spotlights and tutorials by some of Credo’s brand founders and clean beauty makeup artists make this resource a pregnancy gold mine.

If being pregnant has completely re-routed your personal care journey, you’re bound to fall in love with The Detox Market. The clean beauty marketplace features tons of green-minded brands and high-performing products formulated with nothing that appears on their banned ingredients list. And they also have a really cool monthly Detox Box subscription that comes with a sampling of one or more of their iconic brands and $90+ worth of products to try.

This brand’s whole ethos speaks to us; it’s about finding products that aren’t just safe and healthy, but also efficacious and top-performing. “I love that their teams are out there doing the hard work; I can browse with ease and confidence, knowing that their selections check off all of my boxes,” says Green. Keeping your body and baby safe doesn’t have to come at the price of sacrificing any of your beauty ambitions.

This Best of Pregnancy award-winning brand puts safety at the forefront. Every product is put through a meticulous screening and assessment process to evaluate potential dangers, including reproductive toxicity. What’s more, the brand is committed to transparency and shares a list of 1,800 questionable ingredients never used in their products or ingredients. Even their ingredient partners must follow a list of preset safety standards to ensure quality and safety. Nevertheless, you’ll want to evaluate each Beautycounter ingredient independently. While many options are safe and effective, some of their skincare and makeup products may contain talc and other ingredients you might prefer to avoid during pregnancy and beyond.

This clean beauty brand takes a less-is-more approach to their formulations with over 35 EWG-verified skincare and makeup products that are guaranteed to be clean. Using ethically sourced and renewable botanicals, such as green tea, turmeric, pomegranate, rosehip oil and broccoli seed oil, Well People’s cosmetics offer healthier ingredients that don’t skimp on coverage, color and effectiveness.

Of course, beyond these pregnancy-safe makeup brands and marketplaces, you can also shop for pregnancy-safe makeup at Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom and other big-box retailers, if those are your usual beauty spots; just remember that their curated edits are a lot smaller than the diverse collections you’ll find at retailers with clean-mindedness woven into their mission-critical DNA.

Best Pregnancy-Safe Makeup Products

So now that we’ve come clean about what to look for in pregnancy-safe makeup (and where you can find it), it’s time to talk about products. From vitamin-rich tinted moisturizers and lash-lifting mascaras to hydrating lip oils and long-wearing lipsticks, these are the items you’ll want to stash in your makeup bags for the next few months.

Dendy Engelman, MD, is a board-certified dermatologic surgeon at Medical Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery in New York City. She earned her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Rebecca Green, is a beauty consultant and the founder of Bloom & Glow. A mom of three, former personal stylist and clean beauty junkie, she has made it her mission to help busy moms build and master their dream beauty regimen.