It’s exam season, the time of year where anything unrelated to academia becomes absolutely fascinating. Everyone says that regular breaks are needed during intense studying, and that we should find creative things to do which don’t involve more staring at a screen. While browsing the YouTube beauty section, I saw a few cheeky DIY videos which I otherwise might have overlooked, but procrastination made me click on them. One was showing how to create new makeup products out of the existing ones that you’re bored of – saving money and getting a new look out of stuff you like, but don’t wear much.
A super simple recipe was finding an eyeshadow shade you like the look of but don’t seem to wear that much (we all have them, it’s irritating) and mixing it with clear lip gloss to create a new colour. The best part about doing this is choosing a shade which you probably wouldn’t buy for yourself in case you weren’t brave enough to wear it around, but that you still want to try. Well, here’s a free trial if ever you saw one. I picked a dark brown shimmer, ‘Hustle’ from the Naked 2 Palette. I love the palette but definitely won’t use up all the shades otherwise!
To mix up the magic you will need:
1) An eyeshadow or ‘Hustle’ equivalent
2) Clear lip gloss
3) A plate and small beauty brush you don’t mind getting messy
4) An old lip gloss pot or tube
So the most satisfying part of this is destroying the eyeshadow. I used the end of a thin eyeshadow brush to break into and then scrape out ‘Hustle’ from my palette, and carefully shook it onto a small plate. Then it was a case of deciding on thickness – I squeezed out some old clear gloss I had in my drawer onto the plate, and began mixing it into with the eyeshadow to create a smooth paste.
Next is the messy part – getting the mixture into the pot. I used an old Barry M lip tube (essentially a plastic cylinder) – I mixed another gloss with Hustle, and did some slow, careful scooping into the tube. It is basically a game of poking and trying not to spill! I’d recommend using a pot instead, although I liked my tube because it meant applying was less messy – there was already an applicator! And here you have it: a fancy new lip gloss without spending a single penny. It doesn’t matter whether you wear it once, 10 times, or every day – there’s no guilt about cost benefit analysis and all of that.
Budget beauty for boredom – what’s not to love? It’s kind of like art therapy in a strange fashion-y way. Try it out! Our Instagram is waiting to be hustled at @scanfash, tag us using the hashtag #scanstyle.
