DIY - Make Your Own Lip Balm!

Hey Brown Spice Beauties! It is time for our monthly DIY Eco Friendly Makeup Tip. This one comes courtesy of Beautylish.com. This is a great site. They always provide lots of Tips & Tricks for us makeup lovers.

Beautylish.com writes:

Do you have a bunch of near-empty lipsticks that you don't know what to do with? Don't throw them out! You can turn those favorite shades into tinted lip balms. Customize your color, flavor and scent, and even recycle old tins and tubs to give the balm a personal special touch. Just follow these four simple steps.

HOW TO Make Your Own Lip Balm

1. Choose a container or tin for your lip balm. You can use an empty Altoids tin or anything that will hold the balm. Just be sure to wash it in hot soapy water and let it dry completely.
   
2. Prepare your ingredients. The general rule is two parts oil to one part beeswax. You can use any oil that you like. Try adding almond oil for added moisture or peppermint oil for a fresh scent.
   
3. Melt the beeswax in a double boiler, ensuring that the top bowl does not touch the water. Once the wax melted, remove from the heat. Add your oils and as much lipstick as you want (the more lipstick you use, the darker the color will be).
   
4. Immediately pour the hot mixture into the desired tin. Let it cool overnight before using it on your lips.

We Love this Tip. I mean, how many times have you gotten down to the last bit of lipstick in the tube and just threw it away? Now, you have a new way to get the most out of that lipstick and what girl doesn't love lip balm? Plus, using all natural ingredients and re-using old containers makes this a very Eco Friendly option.


If you have tried this or decide to try it, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

DIY Homemade Deodorant Recipe: Thank You to The Beauty Bean

Hello BSB Beauties! It is time for our monthly Eco Friendly tip. This one comes courtesy of The Beauty Bean, which is one of our favorite sites to follow. The always offer up some of the best DIY beauty tips. We came across a post they made with a great DIY Homemade Deodorant Recipe. This is a way to save money and provides an all natural alternative to the usual store bought brands. Here is the recipe!

                                                  1/3 cup virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
5-10 drops lavender, tea tree or lemon essential oils, optional

Mix baking soda and arrowroot powder in a small bowl before blending with virgin, cold pressed coconut oil (ideally in is solid state). Add essential oils, as desired. Add more coconut oil or baking soda as needed so that the paste resembles the consistency of a store-bought deodorant. Pour into small container and store in the refrigerator.

We thought of another tip to include with this recipe to add an environmentally friendly element. Instead of throwing away your old store bought deodorant containers, clean them out and fill them with this mixture. The mechanics of the container will still work and you have eliminated some extra waste. Just store container in the refrigerator like the recipe calls for and just wind it up when you are ready to use it. Consider it another baby step towards a more Eco Friendly, all natural lifestyle..

We plan on trying this recipe and posting a review once we have had a chance to give it a good test run.

If you have tried this DIY recipe or decide to try it after reading this post, please post a comment and let us know what you think.

Natural Eye Makeup Remover DIY

If you are like me, you use a TON of eye makeup remover. Over the course of these past few years, I found that I was going through those little bottles of eye makeup remover every other month or even sooner that that. The problem is that while there are so many brands out there, many of them sting my eyes or worse yet, do not work until I really rub. Because I, ahem, am getting older, I do not want to tug or pull or even rub around my delicate eye area too much. A few months ago, I decided that there had to be a more natural alternative to these chemical laden eye makeup removers. So I started researching, found a few recipes and tested them out.

The final outcome, a two ingredient homemade natural eye makeup remover that works like a charm, is inexpensive and is gentle on your eyes.

Ingredients:
2oz Organic Light Olive Oil (Purchased at Whole Foods, any organic light version will do)
2oz Witch Hazel (I used Dickinson Witch Hazel)
Small Bottle (Purchased at Walmart)
..yes, that is all we will need,  BSB beauties :)

Organic Olive Oil, Empty Container, Witch Hazel

Process
1. Combine 2oz of Organic Olive Oil and 2oz of Witch Hazel into a small container.
2. Shake well. (I find that I must shake the mixture before using.)

Before Shaking the Mixture and After Shaking the Mixture

To use:
I shake the mixture and dispense a small amount on a cotton pad. I then disperse a small amount on a cotton pad. I place the soaked cotton pad on my eye and give it a few seconds for the mixture to dissolve the eye makeup. Then I wipe clean. The mixture does leave a little residue, that I like becuase it adds a little extra moisture around my eye area.

Pic 1: Random Shadows and Liquid Liner Pic 2: After one swipe Pic 3: All removed :)

As with anything, please test to make sure you are not allergic or sensitive to any of the ingredients above. This recipe works for me and my skin type. I hope that it helps you if you are looking for natural alternatives and ways to green your makeup routine.

Enjoy!

BrownSpiceBeauty Eco Friendly Makeup Tip! 1.1

BrownSpiceBeauty is all about being Eco Friendly, but making that transition in all aspects of your life can be a challenge. We believe in taking baby steps and finding ways to incorporate Eco Friendly practices into your everyday life. We plan on sharing interesting and new ideas for being more Eco Friendly when using cosmetics and hair care products each month on our blog.

Eco Friendly Tip 1.1
Our first tip is for our disposable contact lense wearers and the people who love them. I am a contact lense wearer myself and one day, after putting in my contact lenses, I was getting ready to toss the left over containers like I always do when, I had an idea! Why don't  I use the contact lense containers for mixing makeup instead of tossing them?

It was PERFECT! It has a little lip on the bottom that makes it easy to hold, there is more than enough space in the cup for mixing just the perfect amount you need and it can be washed and reused. You can mix pigments, shadows, lipsticks. glosses....the list goes on and on. It is also great for holding nail polish colors when you are doing nail art. I like to use it most to mix my lip colors. I can mix just the right amount and color I need.

Another great idea is if you leave the contact lense cups connected instead of pulling them apart each day, you will end up with a palette that you can mix multiple colors or products in to complete your look for the day. You can have a lip color, shadows, highlighter or etc. in each cup. When you are done with your look just clean it out and it will be ready for the next day or look you decide to conquer. Keep a good stash of containers so you can replace them once you see they have had it.

Great Idea, Eco Friendly, You can't beat that! ;-)

Let us know if liked our tip and if this is something you would start doing yourself.