Brand Rating:

NYX Cosmetics

Poor

4/10

Score 4/10

The Shifting Gaia rating evaluates brands based on sustainable practices, ingredients and materials, and social responsibility, among others. Below are a few factors influencing this brand's score:

Certifications

PETA Cruelty-free

Leaping Bunny

Our ratings are based on a scale from 1 (Avoid) to 5 (Top Choice).
See how we rate.

Rated: June 13, 2026
Category: Beauty care
Subcategory: Makeup

Overview:

Sustainability 4.0/10

Non-toxicity 5.5/10

NYX Professional Makeup is a mass-market color cosmetics brand owned by L’Oréal, selling affordable, trend-driven makeup including lip gloss, lip oil, setting spray, eyeliner, concealer, foundation, and eyeshadow.

Highlights:

PETA-certified cruelty-free

Certifications:

PETA Cruelty-Free (Global Beauty Without Bunnies)
Leaping Bunny (cruelty-free)

Sustainability

score : 4.0/10

Packaging

NYX packages almost its entire range in conventional plastic. Lip glosses, lip oils, setting sprays, mascaras, eyeliners, and compacts rely predominantly on virgin petroleum-based plastics, frequently combined with metal springs, mixed-material applicators, and small components that are difficult to separate and recover through standard municipal recycling. The brand does not publish post-consumer recycled (PCR) content figures, compostability claims, or third-party packaging certifications at the brand level, and there is no emphasis on refillable or reusable formats across the core lineup.

The main mitigation is access to a takeback recycling option. In several markets NYX has offered a TerraCycle drop-off and mail-in program that accepts empty beauty packaging (including competitor products) for specialized recycling.

Ingredient Sustainability

The clearest pattern across the sample is a heavy reliance on petroleum-derived ingredients, particularly in the color and lip products. Butter Gloss and Fat Oil Lip Drip are built on mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum), paraffin, microcrystalline wax, polybutene and polyisobutene, all of which are fossil-derived and non-renewable.

Several products also contain persistent synthetic polymers that contribute to microplastic pollution, including polyethylene and nylon-12 in lip products and styrene/acrylates and ammonium acrylates copolymers in the eyeliner. These materials are durable and effective, but they are extracted from non-renewable sources, do not biodegrade, and accumulate in the environment, which places them among the least sustainable inputs a formula can use.

The color cosmetics rely on mica for shimmer and pigment, an input strongly associated with child labor and unregulated mining in India. Through L’Oréal, NYX sources mica via the Responsible Mica Initiative, and the parent reports that roughly 99% of its mica comes from verified sources; independent reporting nonetheless continues to flag that mica traceability across the industry remains incomplete, so this is a managed but not fully resolved risk. Palm-derived ingredients are addressed through L’Oréal’s RSPO membership and certified sustainable palm sourcing, which reduces (without eliminating) the deforestation and monoculture impacts associated with palm oil. Both of these are credible mitigations, but they sit at the parent level and are not surfaced in NYX’s own ingredient communications.

Energy Use and Carbon Footprint

On this front the picture is genuinely strong. Under the “L’Oréal for the Future” program, the group reports that all of its manufacturing and administrative sites have run on renewable energy since 2023, with European operations reaching 100% renewable energy by the end of 2024. L’Oréal measures and publicly reports its emissions with third-party auditing, breaks them down by scope, and holds emissions-reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

The strongest results are concentrated in operational (Scope 1 and 2) emissions; progress on the much larger Scope 3 footprint, which includes raw materials, packaging, and consumer use, has been reported as off track.

None of this is communicated or substantiated at the NYX brand level, so it is not possible to attribute specific renewable-energy or low-carbon manufacturing outcomes to NYX products directly.

Waste Management

NYX’s waste profile mirrors its packaging approach. The brand is built around single-use products with no refill, no buyback, and no closed-loop reuse system, and there is little public evidence of upcycled ingredients, multi-purpose product design intended to reduce consumption, or brand-level circular-economy commitments. For a brand of this scale, that is a notable gap.

The principal offset is the TerraCycle recycling program offered in some markets, which diverts empty packaging from landfill and gives consumers a disposal route that municipal systems often cannot handle for small mixed-material beauty items. This is a constructive measure, but it is recycling at end of life rather than waste prevention at the source, it is not universally available, and it does not extend to refill or reuse.

Business Model

NYX operates on a fast-moving, trend-led model that runs counter to slow-consumption principles. The brand releases frequent new products and shades, leans heavily on social-media-first marketing, creator collaborations, pop-culture tie-ins, and platform activations aimed at a young, high-turnover audience, and competes primarily on low price and novelty. Frequent launches, seasonal drops, and promotional pricing are core to how the brand drives sales.

Non-toxicity

score : 5.5/10

Across the sample, the formulas avoid the most hazardous ingredients: there are no parabens, no formaldehyde or formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, no phthalates, and the brand states its formulas exclude these categories. Preservation relies largely on lower-concern systems such as phenoxyethanol, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium dehydroacetate, and ethylhexylglycerin, and several products include well-tolerated, beneficial actives such as niacinamide, vitamin E (tocopherol), squalane, and plant extracts. The water-based setting spray and concealer serum in particular are clean, low-hazard formulas suitable for most users.

What keeps the sample from scoring higher is a consistent presence of moderate-concern ingredients in the color and lip products. These include generic “fragrance/parfum” and aroma blends, which are common irritants and allergens; synthetic colorants and lakes.

Overall, the sample reflects formulas that are largely free of high-hazard substances and built mostly on low- to moderate-toxicity ingredients, with predictable irritation and sensitivity caveats concentrated in fragranced and pigment-heavy products.

Social Responsibility

score : 6.0/10

Fair Labor

As a L’Oréal-owned brand, NYX is covered by the parent company’s labor and supply-chain framework. L’Oréal publishes a supplier code of conduct that prohibits forced and child labor, sets out grievance mechanisms, restricts unauthorized subcontracting, and commits to regular supplier audits. The group has also done substantive work on the highest-risk part of its supply chain: through the Responsible Mica Initiative it has worked with the Fair Wage Network to define living-wage levels for mica-dependent families in India.

Mica sourcing remains an area where independent observers continue to document child-labor and traceability risks industry-wide, despite verification programs. The supplier code does not, by external assessment, guarantee a living wage across the board.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is an area where the parent company’s scale produces tangible, ongoing impact. The L’Oréal Fund for Women, a multi-year charitable fund, has supported hundreds of frontline organizations across dozens of countries, reporting that it has directly helped millions of women and girls facing poverty and gender-based violence. The group’s Inclusive Sourcing program ties community benefit directly to its raw-material supply chains by supporting employment and income for people from vulnerable communities, with a majority of beneficiaries being women.

These are long-term, measurable, strategically aligned programs rather than one-off donations, which is the hallmark of strong community engagement.

Animal Welfare

NYX is certified cruelty-free by PETA and does not test its products on animals; it confirms it does not sell in retail markets that require animal testing. The brand also offers a wide and clearly labeled range of vegan products, which is a genuine strength for consumers seeking animal-free formulas.

However, NYX is not a fully vegan brand: some products still use animal-derived ingredients such as beeswax (present in the Butter Gloss sample), carmine, and lanolin, so the vegan claim applies product-by-product rather than across the line. Second, NYX is owned by L’Oréal, a parent company that is not cruelty-free and that conducts or permits animal testing where required for some of its other operations.