DIY Cream Eyeshadow

I…am a fan of black eyeshadow. I cannot get enough of it. Literally. I can’t get enough of it, because I have yet to find one that is dark enough to show up on my eyelids in photos as a true black. They show up really well in person, but no matter how much I pack it on, it will not show up well in photos. So I keep picking up eyeshadows, and eyeshadows…and eyeshadows. I was browsing around on YouTube and of course saw people using MAC Carbon, which is definitely dark, and came across Urban Decay’s Blackout, which is also super dark. But before running out to the store and throwing money around, I came across a few tutorials on how to make your own cream eyeshadow, and I thought that was pretty interesting. Which of course led to today’s experiment. 😉

What you will need:

Eyeshadow, moisturizer (lotion or facial moisturizer), a clean jar/container to store the concoction in, something that you can use to scrape eyeshadow out of its pan, and a mixing utensil.

I’m not sure if there’s an exact science to this DIY, but here’s how I did it:

1) Start with a small amount of moisturizer in the jar/container. You don’t want to start out with too much, because you may end up with more moisturizer than eyeshadow, depending on how much eyeshadow you want to use. You can always add more later.

2) Take your eyeshadow pan and scrape out as much of the eyeshadow as you think you will need for this project. As with the moisturizer, you can always add more later. I used the entire pan (plus another dash of moisturizer) just to see what would happen. Add it to the jar with the moisturizer.

3) Carefully mix the two together until it has a creamy consistency.

Honestly, this looks better in person.

And there you have it! You have now made your own cream eyeshadow! I decided to swatch what was left of the original eyeshadow and the creamy one to see how much of a difference it made:

Um, yes. Huge difference. The eyeshadow on the left is supposed to be a dark, matte black. Emphasis on “supposed to be.” Which is why it’s been sitting around after only being used once or twice. The eyeshadow on the right? Clearly it has no problems being seen.

If you decide to try this, please let me know how it turned out, or if you have any suggestions! And now that I have been enlightened, I will be busy emptying out all of the rest of the eyeshadow pans that I have not been using due to them not showing up very well in photos. 😀

In the Lab: DIY Hair Mascara – Eyeshadow and Gel!

So my hair color is…not consistent. 😉 My natural color is a mixture of dark brown, medium brown, auburn, and copper. I have sandy sections in the summer due to the sunlight. Did I mention the few blond hairs that eventually turn gray? Yeah, those are fun. Anyhoo, my hairline has been playing tricks on me for the last year or so. I really thought that I was losing hair until I looked at it really closely in the mirror earlier in the year. As I pinched that section repeatedly, I realized that I was not losing my hair. In fact, there are plenty of strands there (of the baby variety!) – they’re just extremely fine, and extremely light in color. The solution? Hair mascara!

I’ve used hair mascara that you can buy at beauty supply stores, and then realized that brown/black eye mascara works just as well. The only problem is that the hair does not stay soft, and it’s not always easy to wash out. So I decided to see if I could make some myself, because really, it just sounded like fun. And I was bored. And there we have it.

Ingredients:

Black/Brown eyeshadow (or whatever color combination works for your hair!)

Hair gel

A bowl for mixing

A utensil for scraping eyeshadow and for mixing

A clean mascara wand

Hair! 😀

1) Scrape out your eyeshadow into a bowl. I blended a “light” black shadow with a light brown shadow to get a brown/black shade. You can use whatever combination you want! 

Kinda yucky looking, huh? It’ll be alright, I promise. 🙂

2) Grab your gel, and mix enough of it together with your eyeshadow(s) so that it has a slightly muddy consistency. I know “muddy” isn’t the word that you would want to use to describe this, but for me, it was probably the most accurate description! Ha! I used  Isoplus Styling Gel. I needed to find a way to get rid of it anyway.

3) When it’s all mixed up and ready to go, dip your clean mascara wand into the mixture, and proceed to apply it to your hair. If you do have thinning spots, make sure that you fill them all in with the color. Gently, though. If you rake it through, then you just might end up bald. That would not be good! And that applies to all hair mascaras, DIY or store bought. Be careful with your tresses!

 

And there you have it! Mind you, it’s also super easy to wash out – takes much less effort than it does with regular mascara. If you want to store some for later, I would suggest buying some empty plastic mascara tubes from eBay or from stores that sell supplies/containers to people that make their own cosmetics for personal or commercial use. Please do not re-use old mascara tubes, even if it’s only to be used on your hair. You might be forgetful like me and think that it’s regular mascara. *looks around* Hey, it happens. 😉