Fresh-Picked Beauty

There is a really wonderful tinted face oil by Kosas Cosmetics that is basically a combination of various carrier oils, some pigments, mica, clay and other botanical extracts. The reviews of this product have been super positive and I have watched a few video reviews. I am impressed and just had to make my own version. Success! I am in love with this super cushioning and moisturizing foundation. It is light coverage and just three drops was enough to do my entire face.

One of the ingredients I used is Thickening Clay from TKB Trading. You can shop HERE.  It is a special clay that when used at about 3% of the formula, it helps keep the other oils and pigments suspended evenly and prevents them from sinking and separating.

Start with the following oils:

6 grams Triglyceride
4.5 grams Jojoba Oil (I like to buy mine from Mountain Rose Herbs) (Shop HERE)
1 gram Squalane
1 gram Hazelnut Oil (Mountain Rose Herbs has a great one) (Shop HERE)
0.15 grams of Vitamin E Oil (Shop HERE)
0.15 grams Argan Oil (Shop HERE)

Add these oils into a small glass beaker.

Measure out the following ingredients:

0.45 grans TKB Trading Thickening Clay
1.5 grams Sericite Mica
1.5 grams Silica Microspheres

You will need to add the Thickening Clay into the carrier oils and blend with a stick blender until fully blended.

You have to use a stick blender for best results because just stirring with a spoon will not work that well!

I bought this little hand held blender for about $15 from Amazon and it works amazing at making different cosmetic formulas.

After blending, it will look similar as the photo above.

Add in the mica and silica.

Blend for about one minute.

Time to add in the pigments to color match your skin tone. I like to use the pre-dispersed pigments in castor oil instead of using the iron oxides. It is just easier and I don't have to make a color grind. I have a few other posts showing how to use these pigments to make YOUR color. Find them HERE and HERE. I ordered these from TKB Trading.

I started with white, a few drops of yellow and a couple drops of brown.

I blended it for about 30 seconds and it was just a little bit too light.

I added just a tiny (half-drop) of brown and red. You really have to go slow with the pigments. It is easier to add little by little because you can't take pigments out.

Pretty close in the photo above. Still a little too yellow so a tiny drop of brown and red should help.

Success! It matches the way I like.

Place the tinted face oil into a 15 ml glass dropper bottle.

Here it is swatched on my arm in natural sunlight. This is just two drops.

Here it is blended out. Pretty good match!

Just three to four drops is plenty to cover your entire face.

I made Perfect Pressed Powder today! I am wearing it in the photo above. I applied my moisturizer and used a buffer brush to swirl the powder into my skin. Really lovely texture!

To start you will need to add the following ingredients into a makeup-only coffee bean grinder. If you are new to my blog, a "makeup only coffee bean grinder" simply means that you only use it for making cosmetics and not grinding spices and/or coffee.

**time to put your dust mask on!
5.3 grams Sericite Mica
2.3 grams Rice Powder
0.5 grams Silica Microspheres
0.5 grams Magnesium Stearate
0.6 grams Titanium Dioxide
0.15 grams Yellow Iron Oxide
0.04 grams Orange Iron Oxide
0.03 grams Brown Iron Oxide
0.01 grams Red Iron Oxide
*****your perfect shade may require more or less of the iron oxides that I used. Start slow and go up in small 0.01 gram increments.

Place the ingredients into your grinder and grind for about 45 seconds.

This is the perfect shade for my light with yellow undertone skin.

I used 0.2 grams of Leucidal Liquid PT to preserve the product. I just sprayed it over the powder and gave it another 30 second grind.

I used 0.5 grams of squalane and 0.6 grams of 190 proof vodka to moisten the powder and get it ready for pressing. I added it into the grinder and turned it on for about 30 seconds.

You will get the texture of moist sand when it is ready to press.

You will need an empty pressing tin, a pressing tile, a pressing tamper and an empty compact.

Fill the pan up with a layer and spread out evenly. Place the pressing tile over the powder and press with the tamping tool.

Pack it in firmly by applying pressure to the pressing disc.

Pop it into the compact and you are ready to rock and roll!

In the photo above, I only have on moisturizer and the pressed powder. I also have on my homemade brow wax, cheek blush and lip gloss.

Cheers!

Shannon

Lush has recently introduced a really awesome solid foundation called Slap Stick. It is not available in the USA as of yet, but I can't wait for it to arrive! You can learn more about the Slap Stick Foundation from LUSH (here).

photo credit (here)

The ingredients of the LUSH Slap Stick Foundation include the following (found on the website):

Screen Shot from (here)

Of course, I was curious if I could make a similar version in my own kitchen. I did a bit of research and found that the LUSH Slap Stick has 45% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and 14% Pigment.  From there I just had to make an educated guess as to the percent of the other ingredients.

LUSH dips the egg-shaped foundation disc in hard black wax and packages it in a sturdy cardboard box.  I was not too keen on doing something similar, but for sure wanted something just as cool.  I decided to pour my melted foundation in an empty EOS Lip Balm sphere. It totally worked liked magic and it can be easily popped into your makeup clutch for touch-ups during the day. 

I need to point out that the LUSH Slap Stick Foundation is 30 grams and my recipe only makes enough to fill the quarter-ounce container.  You could always double my recipe and fill up two empty EOS lip balm spheres.

You will need an empty and sanitized EOS Lip Balm sphere that has had all three parts separated. See photo above.

For my foundation formula, you will need the following ingredients:

4.5 grams Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1.0 grams Candelilla Wax
0.2 grams Glycerine
0.7 grams Jojoba Oil
0.8 grams Sunflower Wax
0.4 grams Argan Oil
0.3 grans Cetyl Alcohol
0.5 grams Silica Microspheres
1.2 grams Titanium Dioxide
Red, Brown, Black and Yellow Liquid Iron Oxides (I get mine from TKB Trading)

Melt together the coconut oil, candelilla wax, sunflower wax, Jojoba oil, argan oil, cetyl alcohol and glycerine. I placed my glass beaker in a few inches of simmering water for about 10 minutes to fully melt.

Blend in the silica microspheres and the titanium dioxide. Stir until it is smooth.

Time to customize the foundation to match YOUR own unique skin shade! Most people will start with yellow and then add varying amounts of red, brown and/or black.

I like to squeeze a few drops of all four pigments into a small weigh boat and using a toothpick, add a tiny amount at a time and then blend it thoroughly to see how close I am to my skin tone. Trust me, adding a full drop from the pigment bottle will often times be too much! Lighter shades will use mostly yellow with a tiny bit of red and a smidge of brown or black. Medium skin tones will use mostly yellow with a little red, some brown and some black. Darker skin tones will start with yellow, add a bit of red and a moderate amount of brown and some black. You really just have to do it little by little to create your unique match. My advice is to start slow and have a gentle hand when adding the pigments. Easy to add and impossible to remove!


Looks about right. This is my shade! I placed my beaker back in the simmering water to warm up and become totally liquid again.


Place these two parts together. (see photo above)

Pour the hot liquid into the container. (see photo above)

Place the remaining plastic base into the other two parts.


Allow the foundation to cool at room temp and harden. Remove the lid to reveal the solid foundation.


A little goes along way. Some oilier skin-types may find that due to the 45% coconut oil, a light dusting of setting powder can be used for best results.

Cheers!

Shannon

**LUSH is a Trademark of Cosmetic Warriors Limited.
**EOS is a Trademark of the Kind Group, LLC

I love the holographic highlighters at Sephora and of course, I would end up formulating my own version. I am so pleased with the one I whipped up today in my beauty lab (aka kitchen!). It looks similar to Milk Makeup Supernova! A very shimmery lavender hue!

Here it is swatched on my arm in natural sunlight. Love this!!!

Start with 2 grams of distilled water in a beaker. Place in a simmering water bath to heat.

I used 0.8 grams of emulsifying was, 0.8 grams of sunflower wax and 0.8 grams of brassica glycerides. Place in another glass beaker.

To the waxes, add in 2.5 grams coconut oil and 1.4 grams of triglyceride. Heat this mixture to 160 degrees in a simmering water bath.

I used a magical blend of TKB Blue Diamond, Hilite Violet and Jill mica blends. I used 0.6 grams of Hilite Violet, 0.3 grams of Blue Diamond and 0.3 grams of Jill. These mica powders made an awesome holographic blend.

What a gorgeous mound of sparkles!!!

You can buy these powders at www.tkbtrading.com.

Add the mica powders into the melted oil/wax mixture and stir well. Return the beaker to the hot water to warm and liquify.



Slowly pour the water into the oil and mix for about 5 minutes to thicken. You want something like thick cream.


I preserved this with 0.4 grams of Leucidal SF Max and AMTicide Coconut preservatives. Mix these two in after the mixture cools to around 100 degrees. Transfer to a small 10 ml glass container.


A little goes a long way!