Fresh-Picked Beauty

This is one of those recipes that was supposed to be one thing, but ended up being a totally different (and much better) product.  I was attempting to make a concealer, but I made it way too dark and bronze-ish for my light complexion. I was smitten with the beautiful color and did not want to waste an hour of my formulating time and all my ingredients. I added a bit of TKB Cinnamon Sugar Mica powder to my mix of dry ingredients and realized that I had just created the most beautiful all-over color balm! I plan to use this as a bronzer, a lip color, a cheek color and as an eye lid gloss.

Here it is swatched on my arm in the sun. The most gorgeous nude/peach/bronze/caramel color that is perfect for all skin colors!

 For the dry ingredients you will need:

8 grams Sericite Mica
8 grams Titanium Dioxide
0.10 grams White Cosmetic Clay
0.05 grams Magnesium Sterate
0.3 grams yellow oxide
0.08 grams red oxide (red shade)
0.015 grams black oxide
1.25 grams TKB Cinnamon Sugar

I added the TKB Cinnamon Sugar which is a blend of mica, titanium dioxide, tin oxide and iron oxide. It is so beautiful and imparts a beautiful and subtle glow.

Wear a dust mask and grind the pigments together for about 5 minutes. I have a mortar and pestle with a cover to avoid too much dust from getting into the air.


Gorgeous color!!

Now you need to make the wax/oil base. You will need:

3 grams Cera Bellina wax (you can substitute beeswax)
3 grams Carnauba wax
10 grams Shea Butter (refined)
10 grams Shea Nut Oil
1 gram Vitamin E Oil

Place the ingredients into a small glass bowl and place the bowl in a few inches of simmering water. Melt the ingredients together. Remove from heat, but keep the glass bowl in the hot water because it keeps the ingredients melted while you blend.


Pour the dry pigment powder into the bowl of melted wax/oil. Stir for about 4 minutes to fully blend the mixture smoothly together.

Transfer to a 1-ounce glass or metal container. Allow to harden at room temp.


Has a soft degree of subtle shimmer!

My formula for  Azalea Concentrated Luminizing Drops yields a super lightweight highlighter that will diffuse light and give your skin a radiant glow. You can use it alone or add a few drops to your foundation or body moisturizer.

Azalea Concentrated Luminizing Drops
makes 15 ml

Dry base ingredients:
0.5 grams Thickening Clay (find it here)
0.2 grams Moon Light (find it here)
0.2 grams Aurora (find it here)
0.15 grams Hilite Violet (find it here)
0.15 grams Indigo Shift (find it here)
0.8 grams White Sericite Mica (find it here)

13.5 grams Clear Jojoba Oil (find it here)
3 drops Lavender essential oil (optional)

The thickening clay is something new from TKB Trading and helps keep the colorants suspended in the oil. I like to use White Sericite Mica over the standard mica because it is more white.

I love the combination of these three powders from TKB. I also added in some Hilite Violet (not shown). You can use just the TKB Aurora or the Moon light and make a beautiful batch of drops. Just make sure it comes to about 0.7 grams of pigment. 

When I make formulas that have such little bits of each ingredient, I prefer to weigh out the ingredients to be precise. Sometimes the tad, dash, pinch, smidgen and drop spoons are fine too.

Once you have your dry ingredients measured out, you are ready to combine them. Grab a dust mask because you don't want to breath in the dust that will get in the air when you mix them together.


I like to pass all the dry ingredients though a fine mesh strainer to make sure I get all the lumps out.


Once you have your powders mixed in one container, add the essential oil to your jojoba oil. Slowly stir the oil into the powder a wee bit at a time. You will need to mix until all the pigments are fully incorporated into the oil in a smooth slurry.

 My goodness! This is such a beautiful color!!! Swoon!!!

I ordered a few of these adorable Romeo Glass  Dropper Bottles from TKB Trading. You can order here. 

Pour the mixture into the dropper bottle and you are ready to rock and roll!


The luminizing drops on my hand. One drop is all it takes.

One of my most favorite blush colors is NARS Orgasm blush. It is the perfect shade of pinky-peach with a very slight hint of gold shimmer.  I just had to attempt to make a dupe version. I decided to go with a cream blush base which is also perfect as a lip gloss.  I have named my cream blush color, Charisma.

I got a free sample card of the NARS blush from Sephora so I was able to color match with my pigments and mica powders. The best place to shop for pigments and colorants is TKB Trading.

I settled on a few colors which were almost spot on when mixed together.

For the colorant base you will need:

0.63 grams of TKB Extender White
0.55 grams of TKB Shimmer Raspberry Pop
0.40 grams of TKB Garnet
0.40 grams of Red Basics

For the cream blush base you will need:

4 grams white beeswax
3 grams refined Shea butter
4 grams squalane olive oil

Melt the beeswax, shea butter and squalane in a small glass dish that is in a few inches of simmering water until melted.

Add in the colorants and stir and smooth until the pigments are fully incorporated in the melted base. Takes about 4 minutes.

So beautiful when combined.

My recipe made enough to fill two 7 ml glass pots. I like to keep one and give one away to a friend.

NARS is on the left and my dupe version is on the right. Mine is a cream formula and is very sheer and beautiful. I really love how this beauty recipe turned out!!!!

****NARS is a trademark of Shiseido Americas Corporation.

One of my most favorite lip colors is Clinique Black Honey. I have been wearing it since high school. It is one of those amazing and magical products that goes with every hair color and skin color and makes your lips look naturally flushed.

I wanted to make my own dupe formula and found out it was pretty darn easy! My DIY formula is sheer and transparent and goes on super smooth (just like the original Clinique brand).

I have about 2 pounds of Essential Wholesale Vegan Lip Balm leftover, so I decided to just go with this instead of pulling out my beeswax and carrier oils.  This lip balm base is great to have on hand if you are serious about making different shades of lipstick. You can also make a large batch of handmade lip stick base too. Stay tuned for my tutorial on that.

I ordered this from Essential Wholesale.

Measure out 11 grams of the lip balm base into a glass beaker or measuring cup.

Place the glass beaker into a few inches of simmering water. Stir to melt (which happens pretty quickly).

For the colorants, I chose to use 1/4 teaspoon of Titanium Dioxide, 1/8 teaspoon of Red Oxide (blue shade) and 1/8 teaspoon of Red Basics Mica. You can order these from TKB Trading.

Pour the colorants into the melted base. Keep the glass beaker in the warm water so the base does not harden up while you are working the colors into it. You will spend about 4 to 5 minutes stirring and stirring to make sure that all the colors are smoothly distributed in the base and there are no small gritty chunks of the minerals.

Once you get the beautiful color mixed up, carefully pour the hot liquid into lip balm containers. I was able to fill two traditional 4.5 ml lip balm tubes and one 7 ml glass lip balm pot with product.


So pretty!!!! I gave the small glass pot to my personal trainer and she was super happy!!!

Here is the swatch of the finished lip balm. Pretty darn close to Black Honey!

Enjoy!!

-Shannon Buck

Thanks goodness that Spring is here!!! It was a really long winter for me and my poor skin suffered big time.  I have been using this DIY bath soak blend a few times per week and it has really soothed my body.  I gently dry brush before I soak in the tub and I always use warm (NOT HOT) water for about 30 minutes.  I also massage my Super Silky Sunflower & Wild Chamomile Body Oil over my entire body as soon as I get out of the bath. You can get the recipe for it HERE.

This recipe uses dried flowers and herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. I have provided links and information about each herb.  It is no surprise that I highly recommend Mountain Rose Herbs for just about everything!! They really are an amazing company!!!

photo credit: Mountain Rose Herbs

You will need two tablespoons of dried Calendula Flowers.  This is one of the best herbs for the skin. You can find out more information from Mountain Rose Herbs HERE.

photo credit: Mountain Rose Herbs

You will need two tablespoons of dried Chamomile Flowers. This particular flower is very soothing to irritated and dry skin.  It is commonly found in many skin preparations. You can find out more information from Mountain Rose Herbs HERE.

Photo Credit: Mountain Rose Herbs

You will need 1/2 cup of dried Marshmallow Root. When infused into the warm water, this herb is very calming and soothing to the skin. You can learn more about it from Mountain Rose Herbs HERE.

photo credit: Mountain Rose Herbs

 You need 1/2 cup of dried Oatstraw Powder.  This is a gentle restorative herb for tired skin and is very soothing as a bathtub infusion. You can learn more about Avena sativa from Mountain Rose Herbs HERE.


You will need an extra large tea strainer like the one in the photo above.  A large muslin bag that can be tied is also a great option.  I purchased the metal tea strainer from Amazon and use it exclusively for bathtub treatments.

Measure out all the ingredients into your tea strainer and gently place in a tub of warm water. Soak for 30 minutes as the herbs and flowers infuse the bath water and soothe your skin. Remove strainer and compost the spent herbs and flowers.


Finish off the bath ritual by applying my Super Silky Sunflower & Wild Chamomile Body Oil. The recipe can be found HERE.

This information is for educational purposes only, it is not intended to treat, cure, prevent or, diagnose any disease or condition. Nor is it intended to prescribe in any way. This information is for educational purposes only and may not be complete, nor may its data be accurate. As with all herbs,  Do not take internally unless working with a qualified and expert practitioner. Keep away from children.  I am an affiliate with Mountain Rose Herbs,please review my disclosure page for details.. Avoid use  unless discussed with your physician. This information is for educational purposes only.  This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or disease. Green Blessings!!!

Namaste! Chakra balancing products are becoming very popular. Body sprays, essential oil roll-ons, perfume mists, bath salts and even healing stone jewelry are being used by a lot of folks in this hectic world we live in to balance their spirits, minds and energy fields.  I would like to contribute my seven recipes for Chakra Balancing Body Sprays. Once you create your base (essentially just distilled water and a dash of vodka) you can add in some specific essential oils to create balancing mists for each of the seven chakras.

Make your body spray base first.

There are a couple of ways to make the body spray base. You can use simple distilled water with a little bit of vodka or you can use hydrosols.  If you choose hydrosols (aka floral waters) I suggest the following for each chakra.....

Root Chakra: Lemon Balm Hydrosol (buy it here)

Sacral Chakra: Clary Sage Hydrosol (buy it here)

Solar Plexus Chakra: Blood Orange or Neroli Hydrosol (buy it here)

Heart Chakra: Rose or Lemon Verbena Hydrosol (buy it here)

Throat Chakra: Chamomile Hydrosol (buy it here)

Third Eye Chakra: Lavender or Rosemary Hydrosol (buy it here)

Crown Chakra: Neroli or Lavender Hydrosol (buy it here)


If you choose to use the water/vodka blend, mix three parts distilled water and one part vodka together to make the body spray base. For example, if you want to make a four ounce bottle, use three ounces of distilled water and one ounce of vodka. You will need to shake the bottle very well before each use because the essential oils will float to the top as they are hydrophobic and don't play well with water.

Use before yoga, meditation or anytime you need to bring a sense of balance and peace to your world.