Mineral make-up: Make your own basic eye shadow

[swift]

I've caught the mineral make-up bug, and thought I'd share some of my experiments here.



EYESHADOW BASE

4 tsp serecite mica
1 tsp titanium dioxide (I use oil soluble)
1 tsp dry-flo

Put the ingredients into a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet and grind for quite some time -- at least 2 or 3 minutes (less with a Magic Bullet). Now put into a container to be used as your base. (Feel free to increase the amounts by the same ratios -- I generally make up 8 tbsp serecite mica, 2 tbsp titanium dioxide, and 2 tbsp dry-flo so I have a ton around!) An eye shadow container takes about 7/8 tsp.

There are tons of variations on eye shadow bases, but you want the base to stick around, to be opaque, and to glide nicely across your eye lid. That's why I've chosen these ingredients.

A FEW BASIC EYE SHADOWS

Cream - a matte base (and a great example of the power of iron oxide)
3/8 tsp base
1 scoop yellow iron oxide
Squish in bag. Squish it well as iron oxides are hard to incorporate at times.
If you like it and want to make more for a container, double this recipe.
That's it! You have a cream eye shadow!

(Notes: This is not a shiny colour. To get shine, we need to add micas. This is intended as a nice basic cream colour to use as a base for other warm colours.)

Tan - a matte base.
3/8 tsp base
1 scoop brown-umber iron oxide
Scoop, squish, test. Rejoice.

So you can see the power of iron oxides to colour your eye shadow. Try these bases with other colours using the same ratio of 3/8 tsp base, 1 scoop of your colour (ultramarine pink, chromium green, magnesium violet, or other iron oxides).

White - a shiny base
2 scoops white mica (satin or matte, depending upon your desired shine level)
2 scoops sunpearl silver mica
3 scoops base
Scoop, squish, test. Put into container.

If you use something like an arctic silver with a blue tinge, you are going to get a white base with a hint of blue. (If you like blue, why not a variation on this white with the arctic blue?)

I've posted a whack of various recipes and ideas, including the breakdown of why to use the ingredients listed and the like, as well as links to other sites with MMU recipes on my blog: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search/label/MMU. It's way too long to post here. (This is the blog for my youth crafting programs, and I've been trying to post a tutorial at least every other day for various things -- the main page can be found at: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/.)

I am now officially addicted to wearing eyeshadow. You can wet the eye shadow and use it as a liner or to foil (which, I found out, does not look good on me!)

[MissColee]

wow... Im totally impressed!

[YoungMom]

Wow....that is all I can say! This is so way beyond my skill level. Great job!!

[Redd]

That must be so much fun!! I love wearing mineral eyeshadow and I probably own 50 things of it.
You make it sound so easy to make!

[swift]

Mineral eye shadows are surprisingly easy to make! Coming up with the base can be difficult, but combining the colours to get what you want can be quite simple at times (depending on what colour you're seeking!)

I find the best way is a 3:2 ratio of colour to base. I have a variety of different micas and iron oxides, and it's really a trial and error kind of thing. Some iron oxides are very dark -- black and blue, for instance -- so you'd start with a tiny bit and work up from there. And no matter what anyone says, you need some micas in there or it will be really really dull. (For bases, this is fine, but I think you need some depth to the colours, and micas provide that. For instance, for my black I use black-blue iron oxide, black satin mica, and blackstar blue mica. I find each adds something different. The iron oxide gives me the base black, and the micas give me depth and some light shine. Otherwise, it looks like I used a Sharpie on my eyes!)

Most of the time, we avoid trying something because we're scared to fail. I figure the worst that can happen is that it doesn't work out and I have to throw it away and start again. I've done mineral make-up (blush, finishing powder, glitter powder, and eye shadow) with my youth groups quite a few times and they dive right in and come up with all kinds of insane colours I'd never thought about, and it gives me new ideas (What about pink and brown together? Or white and gold?). Once you start, you won't want to stop! You'll be stopping people in the street, asking what colour eye shadow they are wearing. You'll be trolling the make up sites for colour ideas. And you will start wearing make-up every single day, even when you're having a slobby day in your pjs! It is very addicting, and it is kind of frustrating because you'll make a great colour, then you won't need to make more for a year or so! So you'll have tons to give to friends. Just keep a record of everything you do -- you'll kick yourself when you need more chrome grey and you can't remember what you did (and you will forget, so write it down!)

As a note, if you want something more than these three colours, I have written more on my blog for metallics. I'm working on posting some colour themed tutorials in the next week or so. If you have some ideas or requests, let me know!

[smittenheart]

umm..yeah..I wish I totally knew what you were talking about..hehe..I love love love makeup but I'll leave it to experts like you guys to make it for me..waaayy too much talent for me..

love all the info..

[tojoyamoto]

Awesome!     Thanks for posting this-- and I'm checking out your blog right now!

[Bramble Berry]

I usually just mix 1 part sericite and 1 part mica together to make eyeshadow. This always makes a really sparkly eye shadow - I'm excited to try out your recipes for a matte finish eyeshadow.

[swift]

I usually just mix 1 part sericite and 1 part mica together to make eyeshadow. This always makes a really sparkly eye shadow - I'm excited to try out your recipes for a matte finish eyeshadow.

Although the serecite mica alone is really lovely, I find the addition of the titanium dioxide gives it more staying power, and the dry-flo gives it a nice lightness, silkiness, and glide that I really like. The titanium dioxide is also good for mattifying eye shadows, but you can get some great shiny (too shiny for some!) eye shadows as well.

If you don't have serecite mica, you can also use micronospheres (more information can be found here...http://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com/store/details.asp?prodid=60385&cat=51&path=4,51), alone or with titanium dioxide and/or dry-flo (again, dry-flo is optional!)

BTW: I love your pink champagne recipe. I made it a few weeks ago and it always gets comments!

[swift]

I've added two new posts on MMU eye shadows for black and grey eye shadows, which brings the grand total to five posts on MMU. I'm working on some colour posts in the next few days! If you are interested, please visit my blog at http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!