25 Earth-Friendly Gifts You Can Give Your Vegan Friends And Family

The best gift you can give anyone in your life is the gift of self-care – just a reason to slow down for 10 minutes and simply, chill. But with so many beauty products using animal byproducts, peptides, and animal- and fish-based collagen in their formulas, you have to double- and triple-check the ingredients for that plant-based friend of yours. Luckily, Alder New York makes things easy, as their products are always vegan and cruelty-free. The Keep It Clean Set is basically self-care in a box. It comes with four items including the Everyday Face Cleaner (made with sea botanicals for refreshed and soft-feeling skin), the Clarifying Face Mask (an exfoliating mud mask made with activated charcoal to help clear those annoying pimples), the Cleansing Body Bar (because feeling smooth and radiant definitely should stop at your face), and lastly, the Plant Fiber Soap Dish (a chic addition to any bathroom).

Not to burst your bubble or anything but conventional nail polish is like, genuinely terrifying. What is it, anyway? Believe it or not, nail polish is basically just liquid plastic, so a) it’s totally bad for your health b) it’s usually not vegan and c) it technically never biodegrades – even after it has been rubbed off your nails with alcohol. Yuck! What’s so cool and so different about Kapa Nui – a sustainable and non-toxic polish brand based in Hawa’ii – is that its formulas are made free of all toxic chemicals and animal-derived products. Plus, they’re sustainable, too. Even if their water-based products wind up going down the drain or peeled off your nails, the polish never leaves behind toxic residue or leaches out contaminants into the environment. Made in Hawa’ii, the Kapa Nui Patented Non-Toxic 2-in-1 Base and Top Coat Sealer set is the perfect place to start. Once you gift your vegan friend the base and top coat set, you can explore the Kapa Nui website (most of the color options aren’t on Amazon, just the basic starter sets and non-toxic polish remover products) for an array of vibrant color options. Featuring bright, jaw-dropping hues inspired by the islands of Hawa’ii – including Awapuhi (a shimmery bright pink), Hilo Orchid (a show-stopping purple), and Kona Sunset (a neon orange you have to see to believe), Kapa Nui polishes are about to be every vegan’s new obsession.

The Custom Enhancer Palette from Cover FX has just about everything any vegan beauty-lover could want. Not only does this palette come in a travel-friendly size, but it also is made with talc-free pressed powder (so you never have to worry about asbestos breeding in the formula!) and is fragrance-free, gluten-free, mineral oil-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, and sulfate-free. Each formula is infused with hydrating, hyperpigmentation- and scar-correcting vitamin C that helps protect skin against b*tchy free radicals and as a whole, illuminate the complexion. Even if your vegan friend isn’t so keen on drinking water, you’d never know after using the Custom Enhancer Palette. The shimmering gold bronze, glowing gold, and pearlescent pink colors can be used on the eyes, or cheeks and with just a few swipes of the makeup brush, will add the look of an all-natural, radiant glow.

In a world that’s not always super vegan-friendly, how does your vegan loved one eat? Well, chances are, they had to figure out how to become a good cook on their own. Thankfully, there’s a vegan cookbook that can help with that! The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples breaks down how to make amazing vegan versions of widely-loved pantry staples – vegan yogurt, mayo, bacon, cheese, dressings, sauces, and more – right in the comfort of your own kitchen. You know, because when you’re vegan, it’s not as easy to run over to the grocery store and stock up on sour cream. Chances are, there isn’t any vegan sour cream there. But if you know how to make it yourself, you’re one step closer to cutting out buying over-processed and over-packaged foods and joining the homemade food revolution. Trust us – it’s not just plant-based; it’s actually healthier for you, too. The Homemade Vegan Pantry is full of gorgeous photos of plant-based foods that are guaranteed to even make meat-lovers salivate. With a breakdown of techniques ranging from everything from French-style buttercreams (but vegan) to homemade pasta noodles (but vegan), the cookbook author Miyoko Schinner is a vegan force to be reckoned with.

For the vegan who works from home or the coffee shop or the college campus or who, in general, is always on-the-go, a plant-based backpack that can fit all the essentials is a total must-have. The unisex LXY Vegan Leather Backpack Vintage Laptop Bookbag has a total of six compartments and that gorgeous, classic brown leather (except, it’s not actually leather at all). With a vintage-slash-retro kind of style, this vegan leather backpack has adjustable and sturdy shoulder straps that, along with the interior compartments, can hold just about anything. It also features two hidden anti-theft pockets for valuable items and a front pocket also hidden by the pack’s front flap. Durable and strong, it can hold a laptop, a phone, books, chargers, and a handful of other necessary items without straining the back or breaking the bag’s synthetic leather straps.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or meatarian, everyone can agree that Cocomels are f*cking delicious. Of course, when you check out the ingredient label, Cocomels might not look or sound like a candy at all; but pop one of these coconut-sugar-based organic vegan caramels in your mouth and your tastebuds will be sure: These are definitely candies! But even with a comparable taste to the good-tasting-but-not-good-for-you stuff, Cocomels – made with coconut milk, coconut sugar, and sea salt – use 30 percent less sugar than traditional candy, so they’re undeniably the healthier option. They are also the more sustainable option as well, as each aforementioned ingredient is sustainably sourced and clean. Cocomels even uses organic sweeteners to achieve that totally mouth-watering result. Each candy tastes just like caramel but is vegan, plant-based, kosher, dairy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, certified organic, and made without high fructose corn syrup. The company also never uses shiny glazes that could contain harmful, toxic chemicals. The shine you see on a Cocomel is 100 percent natural! So, got a vegan friend with a sweet tooth? Cocomels are here to save the day!

Green and plant-based skincare can be notoriously tricky, so instead of wasting your time checking every ingredient and every label on skincare products, head over to Sephora’s Clean at Sephora collection. A fan-favorite serum that is Clean at Sephora-approved, Herbivore Bakuchiol Anti-Aging Serum is a natural (and vegan) alternative to retinol that smooths any type of skin – normal, dry, oily, and even combination. Perfect for eliminating fine lines and wrinkles, evening out uneven skin tone, illuminating dull skin, and smoothing out uneven texture, this serum is made with Bakuchiol, a natural alternative that refines the skin’s overall appearance without the reddening and skin-irritating side effects of retinol. Also formulated with polyhydroxy acids (which visibly resurface the skin and enhance its ability to absorb hydration and antioxidants) and tremella mushroom (which adds hydration and retains moisture by holding up to 500 times is own weight in water!), this serum by Herbivore is cruelty-free, vegan (DUH!), and comes in recyclable packaging that is better for the environment. Like all Clean at Sephora products are, the Bakuchiol serum from Herbivore is made without sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and other nasty sh*t that’s bad for your skin, health, and vegan lifestyle.

If ever there was a Scary Mommy-approved vegan cookbook, it certainly would have to be Thug Kitchen 101: Fast as F*ck: A Cookbook. This no-holds-barred approach to cooking vegan fare at home is as instructive as it is both hilarious and profanity ridden. With more than 100 easy and accessible plant-based recipes within its pages, Thug Kitchen simplifies the cooking process and makes that sh*t as easy as possible. And it doesn’t just have recipes; Thug Kitchen also explains some of the lesser-well-known ingredients that are often staples of vegan dishes. From chickpeas to nooch (yeah, WTH is nooch?!) Thug Kitchen breaks everything down in a way that is funny, relatable, and full of curse words. What more could you want in a cookbook? It’s pure f*cking genius.

When it comes to beauty, fragrance is one of the most difficult categories in which to find non-toxic, vegan, and cruelty-free products. After all, lots of perfumes are made with the general ingredient of “fragrance,” which can include any number of toxic chemicals that the company itself isn’t required to disclose. Let’s not also forget that most conventional perfumes on the market aren’t vegan at all; many feature animal-derived ingredients that don’t bode well with the vegan lifestyle. But with Skylar – a clean perfume brand that is Clean at Sephora certified – you never have to worry about nefarious, animal-derived ingredients. Made in Los Angeles, Skylar fragrances are always vegan, clean, hypoallergenic, and cruelty-free. And what’s so deliciously good about the Arrow scent is its hint of warm floral notes – midnight jasmine, vanilla bean, and patchouli haze. It’s plant-based, smells of expensive floral notes, and ethically, is something any vegan can get behind.

Listen, we can all agree that a leather jacket is a super chic addition to any outfit. But a sustainable, ethical one? Not so much. For the vegan fashionista who is constantly checking labels and the company’s brand ethos, this faux leather jacket – available on Amazon – should get the job done. Made a 100 percent polyurethane shell and with 100 percent polyester interior lining, the wearer of this faux leather jacket can rest assured that no animals were harmed in the making (or the wearing) of this jacket. With a slanted zipper design and two side pockets lined with zippers, this faux leather jacket adds a bit of attitude to any ‘fit whether it be a jeans-and-a-T-shirt look or even a frilly dress. With a big statement collar featuring four rivets and a well-tailored fit, no one would ever take a look at this leather jacket and guess that it wasn’t 100 percent genuine leather!