If you’ve read the book (and if you haven’t: tsk! tsk!) you know that we did our share of experimenting with DIY makeup.
It takes a committed kind of girl to make her face from scratch—a girl both of us admire, but that neither of us naturally is. (And click the link at the bottom for some recipes we wrote for ReadyMade magazine!)
So instead of pretending, we boiled our DIY makeup section down to simple ingredients that translate into great makeup. I’d venture to say that the two most successful were beet juice as a lip and cheek stain (truly amazing) and activated charcoal as an eyeliner.
What’s activated charcoal, you ask? It’s the stuff they used to give people for food poisoning that you can buy OTC for tummy aches—it’s also the stuff in your Brita filter. Given my sensitive stomach, I always keep these capsules (pictured above) around the house, and one fine day decided to open one up. What I found inside was the purest, darkest, most perfect black powder. Hello smokey eye.
Now, is this substance the most perfect clean eyeliner? Arguable. The texture is a little rough and I’ve heard that it can dry-slash-irritate the skin—which would make sense because its tremendously porous. I never had any problems with it myself but I’d be very careful not to get it in my eyes either—a rule that applies to most things. Eyes don’t tend to like foreign substances so much, clean or not. The results are lovely though, and it sure beats some of the toxic potions out there, not to mention the eye charcoal out of India that I so adore (but that used to be contaminated with lead and still makes me nervous). Just look at Kathryn (left), one of our readers who tried it on her eyes. Rarr!
Have you ever attempted making your own makeup? Did you try our suggestions in the book, or are you the girl who cooks up magic potions in her kitchen? (Total badass moves.) Either way, we’d love to add some recipes to our repertoire or hear about your experience in the comments. We’re smelling a challenge coming on…
Image via a ReadyMade article, where we shared some DIY tricks
Today I stumbled upon a website I love! Yes, I found it because the website said very nice things about our book (Google alerts, yo!), but that’s not why I love it.
I love it because it’s cute and thoughtful and smart all at the same time. It’s called The City Mouse, and it’s positively charming.
I particularly liked this list she put up about reasons why she wants to start making her own stuff, DIY-style. I especially like numbers 4, 5 and 6, but I also like the idea that when we make our own stuff, it really does feel good, beyond the obvious economic, environmental and health benefits.
Here are some DIY recipes we have shared in the past:
Stuff you can do with baking soda (other than put out fires in your oven)
A vitamin C recipe for your skin
A bunch of beauty product recipes from scratch
A honey face wash from the kitchen
And here are the city mouse’s awesome 10 reasons to go DIY:
1. It doesn’t take as long as you think.
2. It’s productive – while you are making something, you are not watching TV, or Youtube, or checking status updates and tweets.
3. What you make will taste/feel better than the store-bought version.
4. You will not be eating chemicals or putting them on your skin.
5. You will not be releasing chemicals into the soil, air, water.
6. Homemade products don’t require wasteful packaging.
7. You will feel proud and satisfied.
8. You will learn something.
9. You will likely save money.
10. You have the freedom to customize your products.
Check out her site, here. And tell us: What is your favorite reasons to go DIY—or your favorite recipe?
Image via
In keeping with this whole makeup theme, we want to know: What’s a typical makeup day for you?
I work from home most days, so I often don’t wear anything. But if I do leave the house? Hells ya. Even a little trip to the grocery store has me putting on a face. Nothing too heavy, but definitely some concealer and a quick smudge of color on my lips and cheeks. Mascara has become a 50/50 for me: I tend to either go intense on the eyes—and that means using our DIY charcoal liner—or really neutral with a darker lip. Ok, your turn.
This is our favorite makeup application trick because it appeals to our completely lazy side while also working and looking nice. Here goes: Instead of layering on your lotion or sunscreen (or both) and then finishing with mineral powder, foundation or heavy concealer, try a two-fer! Squeeze some lotion, argan oil, coconut oil or suncreen into your palm, then sprinkle about a quarter teaspoon of loose mineral powder into the goop. Rub your hands together to blend, and then sweep your hands over your face, starting at the center and moving outward.
You basically get the effect of a nice tinted moisturizer (with SPF!), but with a few perks.
First, because the minerals market is so huge, it’s easier to color-match perfectly to your skin tone. It may take some doing, and you might want to combine two different colors to get it just right, but it’s doable.
Second, the pure oils and the minerals are known quantities. There won’t be any surprise reactions to mystery ingredients.
Third, because minerals can look like garbage on dehydrated skin, this eliminates that problem altogether by building in the moisture and adding a little sheen.
And finally, because you get a nice light coverage, you don’t have to worry about the maskface that sometimes comes with foundation or poorly applied powder.
As always, make sure your minerals are clean—no parabens, silicone or extra crap in there—and same goes for whatever you’re mixing it with.
Have you tried it? Got any other application tips to share?
In this recent article from ReadyMade magazine we shared some of our favorite DIY makeup tricks.
The assignment? To make your entire face from scratch.
Here are our best simple recipes for:
Image via
