DIY Eyeliner and mascara

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So I have some good news and some bad news. 

Good news first: 

DIY eyeliner is the best thing I have ever done. It's so easy and left some serious definition to my eyes. 

Bad news: DIY Mascara is probably the worst idea I've ever had. 

So first I'm going to tell you all about the eyeliner and then going to talk about my mascara mishap and why I'll never try to DIY this product again. 

Eyeliner

Ingredients: 

-activated charcoal capsules

-water

Break 4-6 activated charcoal capsules into a small container (this is super makeshift, but I put the empty metal cup from an old tea light into an old altoids tin and used this as my container. We'll call it recycling). Then add drops of water and stir with toothpick until desired texture. 

Result: 

I used an eyeliner brush to apply

Mascara

Now off to the disaster. Sorry there aren't any pictures for this part, but this was seriously the messy thing I had ever done. The recipes I found said: 

1tsp coconut oil

1tsp Shea butter

11/2 tsp bees wax

4 tsp aloe Vera gel

1-2 capsules activated charcoal. 

Melt the first 4 ingredients either on the stove or in a microwave safe bowl for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. Stir in the activated charcoal. Transfer to a cleaned and sterilized mascara container. (May put into a plastic bag and squeeze into container). 

First thing that made this a struggle: have you ever tried to clean out a mascara container? This seriously took an hour. I moved all the dishes out of the sink and then spent an hour trying to scrub out the mascara residue from my old container. Note my previous mascar was done for. I could 't get a drop out of it. But it still had dried out or mascara stuck to the sides that was impossible to get. So after and hour of scrubbing, soaping, slushing, it came clean and I sterilized it in my dishwasher. 

Then I used the microwave version, because remember, a part of this is the recipe needs to be quick and simple. I'm a busy girl and I don't have eight hours a week to make a tube of mascara. So I melted the first 4 ingredients together and the stir in the charcoal with a toothpick. Then I poured it into the mascara container. But guess what! As soon as I put it into the container, it turned solid again. Then it clumped around the brush! I thought it just must have been a fluke. It would probably work. So I finished cleaning up, which was all sort of another adventure. Because the main ingredients were wax and oil, it stuck to my dish and because it was black with charcoal it was stuck and black. This took another hour. I had to use vinegar, baking soda, coffee grounds, my Norwex spiri sponge ( which is now ruined). Then I put it in the dishwasher. So now between all those things it is mostly clean. So then I had to wash my hands. I looked and felt like a grease monkey and it took forever to get the stuff out of my fingernails. I had to shower to get clean again. 

Finally I was able to apply it and it was so chinky it wouldn't even go on my eye. I even tried adding some saline solution to break it up. Nope! Worst adventure ever. 

I know when I'm defeated, so I ran to The Wedge and bought a tube of 

Zulu Mascara. It's mineral based, natural, organic, and not tested on animals. It was recommended by the staff over other brands. And it was only $14. So far I love it! i will need go back and will definitely not try makin mascara again. Even if I found another recipe, the clean up was too messy to make it worth it. Guess I'll be leaving this one to the professionals.