DIY Makeup: Save Money and Have Fun

Most women have never even considered DIY makeup as a viable alternative. It sounds messy, and where would you get the ingredients? Well, DIY makeup is easier than you think. The internet offers a wealth of information about DIY makeup products that feature all-natural ingredients and reasonable prices. But why bother?

Well, according to a 2007 report by the Telegraph, the average woman absorbs a little under 5lbs of makeup a year. And, if that weren't bad enough, those 5lbs of makeup contain a slurry of chemicals the aggregate effect of which has never been properly studied (although it is known that prolonged exposure to some may cause cancer and advanced ageing). Which means not only are you putting your long-term health at risk, but you're paying for the privilege.

But more importantly, its a fun project for a sleepover, bachelorette party, or rainy Saturday afternoon. Many women even make a small income from selling their own makeup. If that sounds like fun, check out these websites that offer ingredients and instructions for several different DIY makeup products.

Bramble and Berry

No matter how you slice it, the ingredients for makeup can be hard to find. Unless you're prepared to grind up some chalk and flowers together and smear it on your cheeks. DIY mineral makeup foundation kits ($40) provide all of the necessary ingredients for making the kind of mineral makeup that L'Oreal and Bare Minerals charge you an arm and a leg for. But DIY mineral makeup kits like Bramble and Berry allow you to customize your own colors, provide you with containers, detailed guides and recommendations for color mixes that might work well for you. I recommend checking out the site as they offer a bevy of DIY kits including lipstick, eye shadow, lip balm, soaps, oils, and much more.

Soap Conscious

While Bramble and Berry claims to be all-natural, their ingredients contain some things that I can't readily pronounce without a lot of sounding out. If you're looking for something with super organic identifiable ingredients, consider the mineral makeup kit from soap conscious. Their starter kit is $165 and includes the ingredients to make foundation with sunscreen protection, concealer, setting powder, blush and color booster. Plus, the containers to make 20 products that can be refilled enough to last at least a year (according to the website). And the accompanying instructions have been written with absolute beginners in mind.

www.makeyourowncosmetics.com

While these guys don't offer a kit, their website offers many recipes for makeup and lots of other beauty products. And they give you a lot of information about the ingredients themselves as well as a place to order them. If you are still unsure if DIY makeup is for you, then this is a great place to start small (say, with one product as opposed to seven) and reduce your start-up costs. They even give you information about the difficulty level of each makeup recipe on a scale of one to five so you know what you're getting into.

Cranberry Lane

This has to be my favorite site on this list for piecemeal DIY makeup. The ingredients are mostly natural products like aloe vera gel, rosewater, and beeswax. Their instructions are simple yet detailed, and you can buy all of the products straight from the website. Plus they offer classes and demonstrations that you can take part in if you're still nervous about tackling the project by yourself.