You don't need purchase expensive ingredients or have a chemistry degree to make recipes for eye shadow. Rather, all that's required is an eye for color and a zeal for experimentation.
Making Your Own Eye Shadow
If you are looking for one-of-a-kind eye shadow colors and textures, then forget about draining your wallet buying expensive designer eye makeup, and get busy in your own kitchen. Homemade eye shadow requires a handful of basic ingredients, such as:
- Mica color powder
- Arrowroot powder
- Magnesium Stearate
- Essential oils
- Iron oxide pigment color
Once you obtain the aforementioned ingredients from health food stores or online retailers you can add your own touches to design eye shadows that best suit your personality.
Color Combinations
One of the highlights of making homemade eye shadow is that you can easily adjust the colors. You can choose from a palette of lights and darks or combinations of both. Just remember that the standard color wheel applies to eye shadows. When blending colors keep in mind that:
- Red oxide and yellow oxide make orange
- Red oxide and blue oxide make purple
- Blue oxide and yellow oxide make green
- Red, yellow and blue oxide make brown
Simple Recipes for Eye Shadow
The following are easy recipes for eye shadows that can be made at home:
Matte Eye Shadow
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons micronized titanium dioxide
- 1 1/2 teaspoons magnesium stearate
- 1/4 teaspoon jojoba oil
- A few drops of any essential oil
- 2 teaspoons of iron oxide pigment color of your choice
- 2 1/2 teaspoons mica powder
Directions: Mix micronized titanium dioxide, magnesium stearate and jojoba oil in a bowl. Slowly add a few drops of any essential oil, the iron oxide pigment color of your choice and mica powder. Mix gently, making sure not to crush the mica powders. Put into a sifter jar or small container and apply to eyes with a small brush.
Note: You can change the tint of the eye shadow by adding more of the iron oxides. Also make notes to your recipe for eye shadows so you can duplicate any amendments in later batches.
Cream Eye Shadow
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of jojoba oil (plus 5 drops jojoba oil to mix with mica powder)
- 1 teaspoon of beeswax
- 1 teaspoon of carnauba wax
- 1/2 teaspoon magnesium stearate
- 3/4 teaspoon of baby powder
- 2 teaspoons mica powder
Directions: Place waxes in a double boiler and heat gently until both ingredients are melted. Remove from heat and place wax into a bowl. This will be the wax base for your eye shadow. Combine the magnesium stearate, baby powder and mica powder in a bowl. Add the colored powdered eye shadow to the bowl containing the melted waxes. Quickly and carefully mix the colored powder eye shadow, stirring constantly. If the mixture starts to set, re-melt it by placing it back into the double boiler. When fully blended together, pour mixture into a sterilized container. Allow mixture to sit for at least three hours before using. Apply homemade eye shadow with an applicator, cotton swab or a clean fingertip.
When making recipes for eye shadows at home, remember that adding more mica powder to your mixture will lighten the color and give it a metallic finish. If you prefer to add sparkle to your homemade eye shadow, then add a small amount of cosmetic grade glitter to the mixture before it sets.
