I’ve never been someone who wears a lot of makeup. I always feel bad when I buy makeup; most of it goes to waste because it expires before I use it all. Also, I hadn’t found a liquid foundation that didn’t irritate my sensitive skin. I tried using Airbrush makeup, which works really well and doesn’t irritate my skin, it just has a high learning curve to use. When I found out I could make my own mineral makeup, it seemed to meet my needs well because it’s cheaper than buying mineral makeup from the store, and if I waste it, I don’t feel so bad. Plus, I could potentially find out what ingredients irritate my skin (so far, Bismuth Oxychloride).

I bought the Mineral Makeup Kit from TKB Trading. First thing I should have done was email them back saying that I got 4 lids for one size of the containers, instead of two lids and two bottoms. I waited too long for their return policy. Oops. I still haven’t contacted them about it. But if I wanted to replace the 2 containers, it’d only be about $4. Meh.

If you do buy the kit, I would recommend reading the instructions that come with the kit first. It lists the things you could potentially make. it comes with two containers that are good for foundation, 2 medium size (probably blush and concealer), and 2 eyeshadow size containers. If you want to make more than that, I would recommend more containers.

The basics of making mineral makeup go like this:

• Sanitize all the things you will be using with alcohol. You should wear a dust mask and gloves. I also put down wax paper over my breakfast table.
• Your ingredients will go into a coffee grinder. You grind the minerals together to get it evenly mixed.
• Once you’ve blended the things you want to make, put them into a container.

Kinda simple.

Here’s the thing about making powdered makeup. It makes a horrible mess. The first coffee grinder I got was the cheapest one I could find on Amazon. The powder started to work it’s way out of the coffee grinder at the seal. I chalked it up to a terrible coffee grinder. A while later, I bought a new coffee grinder from Bed Bath and Beyond. Same problem. The powder started to get down into the inside of the grinder, and it was still coming out at the seal. Not to mention it wasn’t mixing the powder well enough; a lot of it was sticking to the sides, and it wasn’t mixing the powder at the bottom. Maybe I expected it to mix better than it actually does. Maybe I was being too impatient. I did my best to get a foundation, concealer, and mineral veil made and then stopped after that.

I haven’t given up though. I read that some people use a mortar and pestle to grind the minerals together. I bought one, but I haven’t tried it yet. My hope is that the mortar and pestle will give me greater control, even if it will take longer to mix. I will report my findings once I give it a try.

I thought I lost my lipsticks I made… So I made some more. I ended up finding my first sets so it ended up ok 🙂 but here’s a pic of a couple hours worth of work.

I was reading one day on reddit (go figure) about things that are cheap to make and have a high markup. One person talked about Makeup. That sent me on another research hunt to find out what it takes to make makeup. One of the easiest things to make is Lipstick.

I took a look at the site www.tkbtrading.com which has a kit with a mold. The only problem I had when I went to their site was that they were out of the lipstick molds. (This seems to be a frequent occurrence because as I write this, they are out of stock.) But I had a problem; I WANTED IT NOW! So I cheated a little. I ordered everything individually that came in the kit minus the lipstick mold (and probably some instructions). I found a few other sites that sold lipstick molds, but the only other place that had an inexpensive lipstick mold that was the exact shape I wanted was Lipstix Remix (and they are currently not taking orders… that’s interesting…) Lipstix Remix is really meant to take the leftover lipstick in the bottom tubes to remelt them and create a new usable lipstick. That’s not really what I was after, I just wanted the molds. I bought two kits so I could have two molds. 

So now armed with my materials and tools, I got to work! Here are the basic steps:

• Clean all the materials you are going to use with rubbing alcohol.
• I use olive oil on a cotton swab to rub the inside of the mold so it will release the lipstick bullet easily.
• Melt about 4 grams of the uncolored base in the microwave in 20-30 seconds at a time. WATCH CAREFULLY to not over melt. (I think I use more base than is suggested because I don’t want super strong colors)
• Add colorants to the uncolored base until you get the color you like.
• Remelt in the microwave if it starts to get too hard to stir anymore.
• Once you’ve got the color you like, pour into the mold.
• Place the mold in the freezer. I’m pretty impatient and pull it out of the freezer about 10 min after I put it in, I think recommended is 20 min.
• Carefully press the empty tube onto the bottom of the bullet.

That’s it! Pretty easy and only about 30 minutes worth of work for some professional looking results. The TKB Kit is about $57 and makes 16 lipsticks and comes out to about $3.56 per lipstick. Not too bad and it gets cheaper as you go since the mold is probably half the cost.

Here’s a picture of my first color!

For a little more information on lipstick in general, check out TKB Trading’s FAQ on Making Lip Products