Introduction to Homemade Makeup

Creating your own homemade makeup can save you money and help you to customize your look. You can blend your own shades of eye shadows and blush, carry your own scented lip balm, and cleanse your skin with your own fresh-smelling pine toner. Creating your own makeup can also help you to use cosmetics with more natural ingredients and fewer chemicals. There are some basics you need to be aware of before setting out to start on your own makeup line. You'll need containers, some common bases, and colors and scents.

Containers

Before you begin creating your own cosmetics, you will need to assemble all the containers you will need to put your makeup in. In general, glass is much better to work with than plastic, so buy or save jars, along with tight-fitting lids, of various sizes. If you are going to make lip balms, blushes or eye shadows, you will need small jars, one or two inches in diameter. If you are going to make creams or lotions, you will need larger jars. You can, of course, use plastic, but plastic cleans less easily and is generally less sturdy to work with. Also, if your makeup has been heated and needs to cool, you need to make sure the plastic container you put it in will not melt when you put your cosmetics in it.

Reuse, Recycle

Reusing old containers is a good way to save money and more use out of them, but you must clean them carefully before using them for makeup. Any kind of residue, from old colors to oils to scents, may ruin you new makeup. If there are any labels still stuck to the outside, remove them as completely as you can. Soaking a container in hot water and soap and then scrubbing will help remove most outside labels and stickers. Rubbing alcohol can also help remove old adhesive from the outside of jars or bottles.

Bases

There are several things which you can use as the bases of your own cosmetics, although which ones you need depend on exactly what you are trying to make. Beeswax is often used in recipes for lipsticks and lip balms. Natural butters such as aloe butter, olive butter and hemp seed butter are also often used for balms and lipsticks. (see references 1) Oils, particularly castor oil, and shortenings are also used as bases for some makeup recipes. Aloe vera gel, lecithin and glycerin may also be needed. For example, you can make a simple and easy lip gloss from 1 tsp aloe vera gel, 1/2 tsp of coconut oil and 1 tsp of petroleum jelly. Add the ingredients together, stir, and heat gently in a pan or a small bowl in the microwave. Just heat until the ingredients mix together; you don't want to cook it. Remove from heat, pour into your container and let cool.

Scents

Though not mandatory, you may want to add scents to your makeup. Pure essential oils can be added to some kind of makeup, as can coconut oil. You can also use organic sources of fragrance, such as lemon juice, rose petals, pure vanilla extract, or pine needles.