Make-up with Powdered Cranberry

Because cranberry is such an unpredictable colorizer in emulsions and gels, I decided to give it a try where the color is guaranteed not to go wonky – in powdered make-up. Little did I know that cranberry had fresh surprises up its sleeves (who would have thought cranberries even have sleeves?)

Here's what I discovered the day I decided to incorporate it into powdered make-up.

Coily-Kinky-Curly - Look What You Started

I am floored by the amount of time it takes to manage coily, kinky, and curly hair. The more I learn about the different challenges curlies face daily, the more I realize how huge a challenge it is to create the perfect products for them.

But there is help to be had.

How to Make an Exfoliating Lavender Cleansing Bar

There seems to be no end to this cleansing-bar-creating passion of mine. My (normal-to-dry, mature) skin absolutely loves these bars for a morning cleanse, and the lavender-fresh scent is a lovely way to greet the day. The blue swirly pattern on the top is due to the addition of (optional) jojoba exfoliating beads. If you don't want to add the beads, you'll still get a gentle exfoliating effect from the lavender.

DIY Concealer Wand in Action

I've had a couple of questions about how I use the light-deflecting wand we learned how to make in this post. 

The best way to answer that is to show you.

DIY Make-up Tips - Where to Start?

Welcome to the first in this mini-series on DIY make-up. Because of these 2 great questions from Alicyn, we're going to start at the most logical place of all – the beginning!

Alicyn wrote:
I mainly use lip balms, black mascara and eyeliners, and occasionally lipsticks for lips/blush.
1) what's the easiest/cheapest place to start?
2) how do you give makeup extra skin-protecting or -enhancing oomph?

Coily-Kinky-Curly - The First Feedback!

We've been waiting patiently (and anxiously) for the cKc tester team to send us their feedback, and it's still trickling in, but here is the lowdown so far. We have heard back from 20 (out of 25) testers – and I am BOWLED OVER by all of the positive feedback!! Yay Curls!!

Lola and I are still going over the details and comments from our wonderful testers, but I'm so excited that I just have to share the 'headlines' with you!

Cranberry Chameleon Cleansing Gel

This cranberry cleansing gel keeps morphing. It's an absolute joy to use, but the color has a life of its own.

Here is batch 2 of this product
left:  immediately after making
middle: after 2 days
right: after 2 weeks

Maybe by the time the bottle is finished the color will be back at square one?

Time will tell.

DIY Make-up Tips: A New Mini-Series

Every time people discover I do my own make-up, I get the same look of disbelief – "is that even possible?" I hear them thinking.

It really is.

"Like, foundation, blush, eyeliner, lip pencils, concealer, lip gloss, eyebrow pencils, mascara, mineral make-up, kohl liners and pressed eye shadow?" They then ask (but not always in that order).

Yup.

It's fun, works just as well (if not better) than store-bought, and it's not even that difficult. Honest engine.

Meet SugaNate - Good Clean Surfactant Fun

Sodium Hydroxypropylsulfonate Laurylglucoside cross polymer. This long and almost unpronouncable INCI name belongs to a surfactant. Usually the manufacturers just leave it at that, but this particular surfactant has gotten a bit of love in the name department – somebody actually came up with a common name for it – SugaNate 160.

(can't help it, that name totally conjures up a rap artist for me)

Touche Éclat - Let's Make Our Own

One of the biggest bonuses of doing your own color make-up is having something truly unique and 100% tailored.

We've dissected Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Èclat to see exactly which components are necessary to make a light-deflecting, dark-circle-erasing, radiance-boosting, magic concealer wand.

Now let's make our own!

Cranberry Cleanser Color Fun

A while ago, I photographed the cleansing gel on the left – shortly after it was produced. The picture is not photo enhanced – it really had that vibrant, magenta-pinky-red color – all because of the addition of powdered cranberry. 

On the right: same product after a month of daily use – the vibrance now replaced by a lighter, orange-tinged hue.

Working with cranberry is educational – to say the least.

Touche Éclat - Yeah, We Can Do That

The iconic Yves Saint Laurents' Touche Éclat is often referred to as the 'one make-up product no woman should be without'. Many professional make-up artists and models swear by it, and to be fair, it's been around for so long that it has definitely earned itself a spot on the 'withstands the test of time' shelf.

What's So Special About it?
Ever since it was first introduced in 1991, Touche Éclat has continually gotten rave reviews for its 'ability to deflect light and attention from problem areas'. Described as a 'radiance boosting highlighter pen', this little magic wand 'whisks away dark circles, fine lines, and signs of fatigue with a few strategic strokes'.

I'm amazed. I'm enthralled. I'm totally curious.

But I'm not buying it.