Working out the best Lily Lolo products is easier than with most beauty brands, because the range is deliberately small. Lily Lolo is a natural makeup label from London that calls itself the original healthy mineral cosmetic brand from Europe, and it sells a core wardrobe rather than a catalogue.
Here are the eight worth your money, in the order we would buy them, with what each one is actually for.
The two to buy first
1. Volume Naturale Mascara
The easiest recommendation in the range. Lily Lolo describes it as a full-bodied, ultra-creamy mascara built for panoramic volume with a weightless feel, formulated with mango seed butter, strengthening L-arginine and a natural wax complex.
The fibre brush is stated to build volume, definition and separation, and the formula is described as smudge-resistant. Its tagging is where it separates from most natural mascaras: carbon black-free, fragrance-free, silicone-free, paraben-free, and flagged for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers.
Buy it if: you have written off natural mascara before. It is tagged both Best Seller and award winning, and it is the single best entry point to the brand. Find it at Lily Lolo.
2. Mineral Foundation
The product the whole range is built around. Lily Lolo describes finely milled mineral pigments that buff to a flawless, beautifully real finish, made from all-natural ingredients and suitable for sensitive and blemish-prone skin.
The technical detail the brand leans on is the high refractive index and light-reflecting mica, which it says helps minimise the appearance of fine lines instantly. In practice that is the difference between a mineral powder that sits flat and one that looks like skin.
Buy the sample pack first. Lily Lolo sells one specifically for the foundation, and loose mineral shades are notoriously hard to judge on a screen. Then move to the 10g refill sachet, which is the cheaper long-term format.
Powder, colour and glow
3. Finishing Powder
The most useful supporting product in the range and the one most people skip. Lily Lolo describes it as a silky soft, delicate light-diffusing powder that sets makeup in place with oil-absorbing properties, and states it is mineral, vegan and gluten free.
The brand lists it as suitable for oily skin types, oil free and suitable for all skin types, sheer enough to keep makeup looking fresh, and says it enhances durability for longer wear while diminishing the look of fine lines. Translucent means no shade decision, which makes it a low-risk buy.
Buy it if: your base slides by lunchtime. It is the fix, and a sample pack exists for this one too.
4. Vegan Lipstick, in Undressed or Without A Stitch
Ten shades share one formula, which Lily Lolo describes as a new formulation with colour pay-off, staying power and hydration, no animal products or testing, made with nourishing grapeseed, argan and sunflower seed oils.
Two carry the Best Seller flag and they are the two to start with. Undressed is a cooler, mauve-based nude and Without A Stitch is a natural rose. If you want something with more presence, Coral Crush is a bold warm coral and Mi Amor is a bold fuchsia pink.
The nudes, ranked by how bare they look: AU Naturel is a barely-there golden beige, Birthday Suit is a peachy-toned nude, Undressed is a cool mauve nude and Stripped is a deep rosy brown. New to shopping clean colour? Our clean beauty makeup starter guide is worth ten minutes first.
5. Cream Illuminator
Two shades, Brilliance and Afterglow, in a soft balmy texture Lily Lolo says you can blend onto cheek and brow bones for a dewy, luminous glow, or dab at the inner corner of the eyes and on the cupid bow for extra dimension.
The brand states it uses ultra-fine, light-reflective mineral pigments for subtle shimmer, is infused with nourishing oils, and comes in a compact with a mirror. It is also described as layering well with the brand other cream formulas.
Buy it if: you want glow you can apply with a finger on a train. That is genuinely the use case the format is built for.
6. Mineral Bronzer
Lily Lolo describes its Mineral Bronzer as giving a shimmering golden look that suits paler skin tones, made from natural minerals for a natural-looking, sun-kissed complexion. It is stated to be free from harsh chemicals, nano particles, parabens, bismuth oxychloride, talc and fillers.
The detail worth catching is that the brand recommends it for the whole body, dusted onto shoulders, back and decollete, and describes it as silky and baby soft, never cakey or powdery. A bronzer you can use below the jawline earns its jar.
The two to approach with care
7. Natural BB Cream
Lily Lolo calls its BB Cream a versatile hybrid between skincare and natural makeup, a silicone-free beauty balm packed with nourishing and anti-ageing ingredients plus mineral pigments to help blur imperfections and even skin tone. It is described as ideal for light coverage used alone.
Read this before buying: Lily Lolo states the BB Cream contains wheat germ, nut oil and fragrance. If you came to the brand for the fragrance-free, allergen-light mineral formulas, this product does not follow those rules.
8. Star Dust Shimmer
The optional extra. Lily Lolo describes Star Dust as an illuminating shimmer powder that gives a fresh, radiant appearance and acts as a light reflector, great for adding sparkle to highlight bone structure, and says it is suitable for all skin tones.
The brand also suggests mixing it with your favourite body lotion, which is a better tip than most brands give away. Buy it last, not first.
The formats that save you money
Two listings in the Lily Lolo range are not products so much as smarter ways to buy the products, and both are easy to miss.
The sample packs. Lily Lolo sells them for the Mineral Foundation, the Natural BB Cream, the Finishing Powder, the Star Dust Shimmer and a combined Bronzer and Shimmer pack. Every one of those is a product where the wrong shade means a wasted full size, so sampling is not a nice extra here, it is the correct first purchase.
The 10g refill sachet. Once you have landed on your Mineral Foundation shade, the refill sachet is the format to keep buying. Cheaper per gram than repeat-buying the jar, and less packaging in the bin each time, which fits the sustainability angle the brand tags across its range.
There is also a Lily Lolo Gift Card, delivered by email with checkout redemption instructions and, per the brand, no additional processing fees. Given how personal a shade match is, that is often the smarter thing to give someone than a guess at their foundation.
What to buy in what order
First order: the Volume Naturale Mascara plus a Mineral Foundation sample pack. That is the brand tested properly with almost no risk of a wrong shade.
Second order: full-size foundation in the shade you landed on, the Finishing Powder to hold it, and one vegan lipstick. Third order: the Cream Illuminator and the Bronzer, which are the finishing touches rather than the foundation of a routine.
If you are replacing an existing routine rather than starting from scratch, invert that. Buy the product you are about to run out of, not the one at the top of the list, and let the range replace your kit piece by piece as things empty. Mineral makeup rewards getting one product right before adding the next, because the technique carries across.
One more note on budget. Because the Mineral Foundation runs on a refill sachet and the Finishing Powder is translucent, the two products you will repurchase most often are also the two cheapest to keep buying. That is unusual in beauty, and it makes the running cost of this range lower than the first order suggests.
For a value comparison against the drugstore end of clean beauty, see our essence makeup review, and our clean beauty routine guide covers how to slot these into a daily face. Compare the full range and sample packs at Lily Lolo.