So, last week I put up a post about DIY Finishing Face Powder. That lead us happily into DIY blush this week.
I try so hard for you guys. An entire weekend of research, scrolling through endless blog posts & badly edited youtubes. I really wanted to post a blush that really was DIY – rather than crushing up old eyeshadow or melting a lippy. I also didn’t want to involve ingredients that you had to get especially to make it – like beeswax, mineral pigments & micas. Nor did I want you to be putting Vaseline (a petrol by product) or talc (not so good for your pores) on your face. So, I thought I was armed with sufficient knowledge and I strode confidently into my kitchen. Where I failed….miserably and to the great amusement of Mummy Ask! Many times. Like, so hilarious that tears flowed, pants were in danger of getting wet and a consoling glass of wine was poured.
I first tried a recipe that seemed very popular on the net and had been blogged and reblogged. I am saying blogger, blogger pants on fire! The original (well I guess it was the original source) & in fact subsequent posts used talc but said you could use corn flour. The idea was water, with a little red food dye added, is mixed with talc/corn flour to form a crumbly paste that when mashed into a container dries to a powder blush.
The result is flubber! Don’t believe me? Here is the recipe for flubber. It was sort of watery and hard at the same time because flubber is a non Newtonian fluid. So that’s fail one.
Then there is beetroot powder. I’d looked at it buying it on eBay quite cheaply but it would take a while to get here and I was feeling the pain of my fail. So, an immediate remedy was called for and $19.95 at the health food store later, I had powdered beetroot. It was promising but the gritty texture was going nowhere near my face. The Internet suggests further grinding in an electric coffee grinder. Which would be great it I had one. Well, I do but I’m not sure where it is and it’s definitely full of coffee bits. If I wasn’t going to turn myself into a pretzel for this, why would you? I guess I’ll sprinkle it on a salad or something and if I do, you’ll know! Fail two.
Not to be dismayed, I put Mummy Ask through a painful number of youtubes and tried a concoction of coconut oil, corn flour and food colour that we now refer to as ‘the goop’. Feels and looks terrible, like paste plus smells like tanning lotion. Or as Mummy Ask says ‘It’s a pink poultice that will either set like concrete in my pores or suck the last bit of post menopausal life outta me’. Fail three.
Then there was a sort of manic frenzy that involved Mummy Ask & I adding food colour, cocoa and body lotion to make a cream blush. What it made was an indescribable mess that was so gross and wrong and caused such hilarity that no picture was taken. This was the point that I considered poking my eyes out with a teaspoon. Not just at my fails but also at the tremendous amount of little dishes and teaspoons covered in filth that would now require washing. Fail four.
And then I decided no good could come from this kitchen mixology unless I broke out the minerals. I just happen to have this cool red mica kicking around. It’s pretty cheap on eBay and will last age. Or you could bust out that hot pink eyeshadow you never use and carve it out into a bowl with a teaspoon handle & crush it up.
Either way, just mix with corn flour or arrowroot until it’s your perfect shade. I used 1 tablespoon corn flour & 1/2 tsp cool red. This made an awesome powder blush but no cream blush will grace my kitchen!
So after much error and many trials, I give you DIY blush! If you have ever doubted how much care I put into these posts or perhaps thought I’ve tricked my pics in photoshop – you now know the rigorous testing and comical trialling behind the post. I often shield you from my disasters but these were begging to be shared. If you don’t believe me, I dare you to try what you can find online and prove me wrong! It will provide a full afternoon of fun, especially if you do it with a friend and bottle of bubbles!
If you try this or any other DIY blush let me know! And please post photos to my facebook wall xxx
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