homemade lip gloss and lip scrub

In an effort to cut costs, going with cheap make-up is one option.  But sometimes the cheap stuff has odd ingredients, changes color, aggravates allergies, etc.  And of course, for a girly girl who likes to play with make-up, it's not as much FUN.  Flavored lipsticks are less intense if they're the cheap variety, and then there's the whole feeling of "I'm cheapening up on myself", which never feels good.

But what MIGHT feel good is knowing you've got a homemade, (green), healthy, CUSTOM-mixed option. 

In the past, I have made my own custom face masques, hair rinses, hair conditioners, and cheek blushers.  Those, I will offer later.  Today, I present my homemade lip gloss and scrub.  All over the internet, I found recipes for a lip gloss.  The result was ALWAYS gritty.  Some of the recipes even admitted that they were gritty.  One offered a remedy to smooth it out... "stir longer".  I tried.  That does not work.

You see, the recipe generally goes like this.  You take petroleum oil such as Vaseline, add a drink powder such as Crystal Light or KoolAid, and voila... lip gloss. 

When I made it, it was a lip scrub, and no amount of stirring will fix that.  It's as though the people who made up the recipe and passed it around did not bother to test it out, or maybe they were willing to settle for less than the best they could do.   I had to take it a step further. 

Here's the fix for getting rid of the grit in homemade lip gloss:  The night before, put your powder in a small dish.  Drop just enough water into it to dissolve the grit.  The result should be a little too liquid to even envision mixing with Vaseline.  So let it sit overnight.  The next morning, you'll find the stuff in the dish has turned gummy.  PERFECT.  NOW put in a little Vaseline and mix it up.  You'll find no need to stir & stir & stir... the granules are already dissolved, the grit is gone, and as long as it has not crystallized again, it will now mix up perfectly. 

The taste is yummy.  The tint is very faint.  Perfect for younger women who might crave the chance to use make up but who you might be a little worried about them taking that step just yet.  And, if you use more drink mix powder, you get a stronger color.  Less is a fainter color.  AND, of course, if your lips are cracked or chapped, and need a little treatment... skip the step where you dissolve the granules. 

Clean lip gloss pots can be bought in packs with travel-sized containers, or you can take an old one of your own and clean it out REALLY well.  There is nothing more fun than using a lip gloss that you made on your own.

My next experiment will be to use coconut oil.  At room temperature, coconut oil is hard, more like lipstick, and white... so maybe it will leave more color on the lips when used?  Or less?  I know it has nutrients that are good for the skin and lips, so it's worth the try.  I'll write another post when I do that.  Stay tuned.