Get a sparkly lip with our tips on making DIY glitter lip gloss
Are you a makeup enthusiast looking to cut costs while boosting your creativity? Consider making your glitter lip gloss shades instead of purchasing them.
DIY lip gloss is one of the easiest homemade cosmetics to make. A bonus is that something you make yourself is guaranteed to be cruelty-free. Once you have the basics down, you will find yourself creating many variations in different colors and scents.
Here’s everything you need to know about making your glitter lip gloss using materials that are easy to find. You may even have some of them already in your kitchen or bathroom.
How Can You Quickly Whip up Glitter Lip Gloss?
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of the DIY process, it’s worth noting that the quickest way to make customized glitter gloss is to use cosmetic-grade products. This could also be a great way to use small amounts of leftover makeup that would otherwise just expire.
Mixing lip gloss with cosmetic glitter provides a DIY touch without actually having you go through a step-by-step process. To add some color, try melting lip balm or lip gloss and cosmetic glitter with a tiny bit of lipstick or eyeshadow powder. Mix, pour and let set in a container before using.
What Do You Need to Make DIY Lip Gloss?
You need three things: a container, a carrier, and featured ingredients. The latter may provide scent, taste or color. Apart from the containers, the examples we provide below are all safe to eat, too.
You can order containers online or reuse old ones from previously bought products. If you’re recycling, sterilize and clean the tubes and pots by boiling them or sanitizing them with rubbing alcohol.
Carriers can come in the form of coconut oil, beeswax, honey, cocoa butter or shea butter. Some recipes use a combination, depending on the resulting consistency. Beeswax will provide more firmness than, for instance, refined coconut oil.
Skin-safe edible essential oils and natural candy flavor oils add scent and flavor. Color and sheen can be added with food coloring, drink mix, and cake decorating pearl dust.
How Do You Make Simple Liquid DIY Glitter Gloss?
This method results in a more liquid-like texture. Because it uses no heat and edible ingredients, it is also a great kitchen activity for young children.
Start with one to three tablespoons of refined coconut oil in a small cup or bowl. Add cake decorating pearl dust—sometimes sold as edible mica powder—little by little. You may also add drink mix for some flavor and added color, or food coloring for a bold hue. Keep going until you get to a color and a sheen you like, stir until the texture and look evens out, then transfer to desired containers.
How Do You Make Solid and Fully Customized DIY Lip Gloss?
To DIY glitter lip gloss that is solid at room temperature, you need to use ingredients that mirror that property. Instead of refined coconut oil, use beeswax cut with softer or liquid ingredients.
You may mix beeswax pellets with unrefined coconut oil, cocoa butter or shea butter. You can also add refined coconut oil, almond oil or olive oil. Honey can be used to add natural gloss and sweetness. The recipe below uses refined coconut oil, beeswax pellets and shea butter.
In a microwavable bowl, combine the ingredients following a 4:3:2 ratio—four tablespoons of coconut oil, three tablespoons of beeswax and two tablespoons of shea butter. Keep in mind that substitution—cocoa butter instead of shea butter, for instance—may necessitate ratio adjustments, too.
Microwave at 30-second increments. Stir vigorously after each half-minute period. If your microwave is powerful enough, you may only need to do this once or twice.
Don’t have a microwave? You can use a makeshift hot water bath by placing the bowl in a much larger container filled with boiling water. Make sure the water comes up to at least half the height of the bowl containing your lip gloss project. Stir the ingredients constantly to allow the heat from the water to evenly melt what’s in the bowl.
After melting and mixing, allow the concoction to cool for a few minutes. You may pour equal amounts into separate containers at this point, should you want to experiment and create more than one lip gloss recipe.
To add the glitter effect, shake some edible pearl dust in. All the other ingredients mentioned in the liquid lip gloss recipe—drink mix, food coloring, etc.—can be used, too. If you’d like more sophisticated scents and flavors, skip the drink mix and use edible essential oils and flavor oils.
Stir in these additions quickly, as the mixture may set in as fast as ten minutes. If your DIY lip gloss has trouble solidifying, help it along by leaving it in the freezer for a few minutes. Cap tightly once it’s done setting.
Now you're ready to rock your lip gloss look with your own custom creation!
Resources—Instructables, LEAFtv
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