Has anyone try their hand at making homemade cosmetics? Or know if they really work better than the store brands? I’ve come across video tutorials dealing with people making their own homemade beauty products which are suppose to be much more natural and healthier for the skin.
After all, beauty products aren’t regulated by the FDA which means that anything goes, including known carcinogens and ingredients that react with others (including your skin) to create formaldehyde and other evilness. Even if the product claims to be natural, and all ingredients use are okay, but if it lists “fragrance,” then beware. “Fragrance” is protected by trade secret laws and the ingredients (usually dangerous) aren’t disclosed to the companies buying them for their “natural” products.
I’m just curious about it. I’m thinking of making my own face primer or at least trying and testing it out. For those that don’t know, primer is a cream. The concept of it is just like you would prime a wall before you paint it, you can prime your face before you apply foundation. It helps to even out skin tone, fill in tiny lines and pores, helps makeup to stay longer (especially in hot weather) and absorb excess oil in the face.
I did some research and learned that most primers contain Silicon based polymers which give it it’s priming quality. For those that want to make their own primer a good natural substitute for that is Aloe Vera. You can use the Aloe Vera 100% gel or a slice of the Aloe Vera leaf (you just need the juice/gel of it). But of course, that’s just one ingredient into making your own primer. Here’s what I learned…
1. Aloe Vera Gel - This will provide the base for the primer. If you have oily skin you might want to increase the amount of aloe gel you use.
2. Water Based Moisturizer - Since the most important function of a primer is to keep oil at bay it's important to use a water based moisturizer. For me, I used Olay Oil-free Complete All Day UV Moisturizer.
3. Sunscreen - It's optional. I didn't add any to mine because my moisturizer contains UVA/UVB and SPF 15 protection. Some people like to cut down the amount of product they use for their face, so they add sunscreen to their homemade primer.
4. Liquid Foundation - Optional as well. A few also like to add some of their foundation to the product to make it a tinted primer. That way, if they wanted to they can skip foundation when they don’t want to wear too much makeup.
5. Loose Powder - The aloe gel will give the primer it’s base and the powder will help to give the mattifying effect. Tinted face powder, or a compact or even baby powder would work too.
All in all, just make sure that you have a container to mix all the products to create your primer. There's no certain amount of how much or how little to add, it's mostly guess work and what works for you. For example, start off with a 1 to 1 ratio of Aloe Vera gel and moisturizer. If you have oily skin then change the ratio to 1.5 to 1 or reverse it if you have dry skin.
Then add a pea-sized blob of sunscreen (if you're using it). Add a few drops of the liquid foundation (again, if you're using it). Add a couple of pinches of loose powder (just make sure that you don’t add a lot or the mixture will not come together). Blend everything together and you should get an even consistency. Lastly, store it some where its cool.
 DamnBlackHeart · Fri Aug 03, 2012 @ 05:11am · 0 Comments |
