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Makeup Free Month Day 30: The homemade makeup I’ve found!

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I love to smell good. So whenever I find hair products, oils, creams that smell good I want them.

With my current reduction in chemicals I’m still finding gorgeous smells. The shampoo and conditioner I use smells amazing and is very gentle.

I haven’t looked at chemicals in perfume. I feel like pouting my lip and saying I don’t want to! I love a good perfume and how it makes me feel. Elegant and fresh…. Yep, the adverts have truly had their way with me! I haven’t used any this month and I’ve actually run out of my last one.

So id love to hear of any recommendations. For products to buy or make? I’m a big fan of essential oils already so if I can be advised of some good mixes that don’t make me smell like a spice shop please? Fresh, light, maybe fruity? I love lemongrass, I use it in my skin scrub but how can us use it like a perfume? Add it to oil and have it in a spray dispenser?

Ive also previously mentioned the homemade makeup company that I spotted online. They are called A&B Homemade and here are a couple of examples of their products and ingredients to compare with the website I shared on Tuesday.

Their Lip Care Set Includes:
Honey Lip balm
Peppermint Lip Sugar Scrub

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Beeswax, Raw Sugar, Essential Peppermint Oil, Raw Honey. That’s it!!

They also do powder/bronzers/blushers which list ingredients such as cinnamon and beetroot!

For example, their Translucent Powder states ingredients as:

Potato Starch
Cornstarch
ARROWROOT
COCO POWDER

In terms of other makeup they do bronzers, powder, mascara and eyeliner, eyeshadow, lip balm and blushers. It’s all made to order and at a reasonable price.

Here is a link to their etsy site-
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/184042083/all-natural-charcoal-eyeliner

Id like to be clear that I haven’t yet tried these products so if you do try them or have done before I do, please give us a review! Once I’ve received my order I will let you know how I get on!

Another blog I found recommends homemade makeup too here

http://www.missmake.com/2011/04/homemade-makeup-bella-faith-cosemetics.html?m=1

And there are larger companies who supply makeup from natural and organic ingredients although sometimes their lists of ingredients still become baffling. Perhaps it’s a regulations thing and they really are very simple products, but I’d prefer it if they could just state that! For those who are interested there is a lovely lengthy list of companies that are said to be natural/organic.

http://www.naturisimo.com/ourbrands.cfm

That’s it from me today, I will be enjoying my long holiday weekend at home with family but will take a bit of time to round up my make up free month. Although this won’t be the end! This month I’ve a night out with homemade makeup planned, the best way to try it out I think! And my old makeup needs to be put to best use by creating one or two more cosmetic only paintings for you!

Susan xx

If you haven’t yet seen my Street Art video – Skin- please take a peek!

If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http://www.justgiving.com/Susan-Merrick

or text MMFM 50 £1 to 70070

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Makeup Free Month Day 29: Makeup in Magazines

 

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I don’t know if it’s because I’m an artist, or because I love playing with makeup. But whenever I see makeup ideas on models or in magazines I always have to stare, a lot, and want to try it. Often on me it doesn’t look good. Many styles require certain face shapes or eye shapes to pull them off well. But I’m always intrigued. I’m the same when I see people with interesting, string or well done makeup on. I’ve spent the day in London today with my son and I couldn’t help but check everyone out. Not advisable really 😉

Yesterday I sat with a magazine (Vogue May 2014) in front of me and normally I (admitting with a slight guilty duck of the head) pay more attention to the images in terms of fashion and makeup pages. But yesterday I was looking more at the language.

To start with I realised that it’s always the ‘beauty’ section. How interesting that it’s not called cosmetics/makeup/skin products… I guess that’s not as catchy. But what message does that instantly send?

This is the beauty section. And that means putting on makeup. Therefore beauty is makeup.
The products are described…
“A wonder product”
“Coral is the only colour for spring/summer”
“Bare legs calls for leg products”
“Here’s your new beauty rule book”

Now, as you know already, I have always loved makeup and how it can make me feel/look. Also how I can play with it to change my looks depending on the occasion, my mood, the style. But when I look at the beauty market in this way it does make me feel frustrated.

I’d like to add though (and I was reminded of this in a great article in Vogue) that often the heart and root of designers, writers, makeup artists and other creatives within the fashion industry is the art. They are speaking out, changing the societal rules, expressing sexuality, sensuality. So much more. But it can get lost. And what we sometimes see/find instead is money, appearance based judgement and a feeling of inferiority.

I recently shared with you a link to Vogue where they were promoting natural skin and a natural look. This was great, and maybe what i’d like to see is a piece in each ‘beauty section’ about natural products. Occasionally we see a one-off article or a one-off product mentioned, but nothing that really shows off natural to its best. So for those wanting to be minimal or natural, (in the truest sense) I want a space for them to see what products are available to them, or how they can still play with their style, without having to use chemically based cosmetics.

I’m sure if I look in more holistic magazines I may find this… Maybe? But what about those of us who like some mainstream stuff too, those of us who just want to know more about how to work with our own faces in a natural way?

Tomorrow I will tell you a little more about the homemade makeup company that I’ve found. It’s going to be the start of my very minimal makeup bag going forward. I see my future as barefaced mostly, choosing oils and natural products to nourish and groom without makeup. Then when I want a different look or feel particularly tired or pasty looking, I will hopefully have some homemade lovelies to play with!

If you haven’t yet seen my Street Art video – Skin- please take a peek!

If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http://www.justgiving.com/Susan-Merrick

or text MMFM 50 £1 to 70070

 

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Makeup Free Month Day 28: Fashion and Makeup

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Makeup, like anything else has fashions, and it seems to go hand in hand with clothing and hair fashion. Including through history for example roman thick kohl on the eyes, plaited hair and headdresses and delicately wrapped tunics, through to renaissance huge dresses, powdered faces, red lips and giant wigs!

In the previous century makeup and cosmetics became more widely produced and available and with the advent of television and film, fashion as an industry seemed to explode. In the 20th century many of us can pinpoint a decade (and some I’m sure can be even more precise) depending on clothing, hair and makeup style. As clothing fashions change so do hair and makeup. What’s current can often take precedent over what suits an individual, but it can also push people to try new ideas and styles that they may find works well.

I LOVE fashion, and especially playing with mixing fashions! I love vintage clothing and finding pieces in my wardrobe, on the high street, in markets or charity shops that come together to make a funky, chic, elegant, classic or random look! Sometimes I get it wrong and sometimes it works. But for me it’s so much fun.

As a teenager I did this too which was occasionally mocked at school. At a time (early 90s) when most my age were wearing either jeans and trainers, track suits or big shirts and dr martins I would choose platform shoes, wide leg trousers, floaty blouses and lots of vest layering. I would scour J17 and other teen mags to see what the models were wearing and pull together what I had to try and make my own idea of fashion. On one school trip I wore some top shop fitted flares with photos of sunflowers all over them, with a white sleeveless blouse. It was the first time I really realised that others may laugh at my clothing choices. It certainly dampened my style for a while. I would stay safe until almost at UNI… When I realised I could wear what I wanted and sod what others thought (even if at times they may have been right!).

So now, in my thirties I am trying to find the balance between my age and being a mum, whilst still wanting to explore with fashion, clothing hairstyles and makeup.

This month without makeup I have at times played it very safe with my clothes and not done much with my hair, feeling that it would look silly to have myself done up without the makeup too. But as I’ve gone through the month I’ve realised that I CAN still feel confident in my clothing and hair styles without wearing makeup.

Yesterday I completely decluttered my wardrobe. 25 items of clothing including 3 suits, 5 dresses, several tops and trousers all going! And I’m doing shoes tonight. Anything that I don’t really wear, or feel crap when I wear it. Anything that looks as old as it is, or looks dodgy on me…. Gone. The best part was that it made me look more closely at what I had and I’m sure I’ve spotted at least 10 new outfit combinations in the wardrobe!

At the end of this week (the end of my makeup free month) I will do the same with my makeup. All of it will go unless it proves to be good for my skin/ work well. I do think that it will all go (into my painting kit) and I will buy a few select new products to replace it.

I dare you to do the same. Declutter your wardrobe and your makeup. Be really strict and feel good about what you have afterwards. I today went to work wearing a dress that I hadn’t thought looked right, so had been sat in my wardrobe for ages, but it has strong colours so for me without makeup it actually looks great. Here’s to having more space in my wardrobe, and to clothes that feel good!

If you haven’t yet seen my Street Art video – Skin- please take a peek!

If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http://www.justgiving.com/Susan-Merrick

or text MMFM 50 £1 to 70070

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Makeup Free Month Day 27: bad skin day and ingredients

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Bad skin today. A combination of not enough sleep (thanks to excited children who decide they only need a few hours when on holiday!), red wine last night (my excitement when on holiday) and the time in my cycle.

It’s a day when I would normally want makeup. So I feel like this is a good time to look more at the ingredients of the makeup I’ve been using for years…. Maybe to put me off a bit 😉

To do this I thought I could pop into a shop and look at the labels. Hmm not so easy. The boxes often don’t have ingredients on, and many bottles/containers currently seem to hold their ingredient list on the inside of there labels. Which you wouldn’t normally peel off until you had bought the product!

So… It seems easier to use the good old internet for the ingredient lists for each type of cosmetic product. However as I started to search and see the huge long lists of ingredients I realised that I’d not only potentially bore you all, but I was just replicating what we have available already! So here is a very thorough website where you can check not only the ingredients of your specific product but it also has it’s own ‘safety’ guide/rating.

I will start with their list of foundations, and if you click on one of them you can see what is in it.

http://cosdna.com/eng/product.php?q=Foundation

I have asked another company specialising in homemade products to send me an ingredient list for their products. When I get it I will share it with you so we can do a comparison.

Ok. Off for water and sleep now- hopefully improving my skin for work tomorrow!

If you haven’t yet seen my Street Art video – Skin- please take a peek!

If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http://www.justgiving.com/Susan-Merrick

or text MMFM 50 £1 to 70070

 

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Makeup Free Month Day 26: Some recommendations and a plan!

 

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Yesterday I asked about Suncream and gained a couple of great recommendations for organic/natural products.

Mineral Sunscreens

organic sun protection

Another friend recommended renskincare.com for general skincare but I couldn’t find a sun cream product. I want to add too that I haven’t personally tried any if these products or companies, they are recommendations from others 🙂

I’ve just realised (yes a bit slow…) that I only have six days left of my challenge. I want to get some skin products to try before I finish! However, if I don’t in happy to get them after and report back here with what I find.

I’m not going to continue to blog each day once my make up free month is over. But I do want to continue to talk about both my art alongside issues such as skin/health/chemicals etc. My art journey has taken such an exciting turn in the last year that I’d like to start talking about it more here. Perhaps I can manage a blog post every few days??? Don’t hold me to that though!

I’ve also decided that I’m going to produce another piece of makeup art with my left over old makeup. Rather than just throw it in the landfill I will use up my makeup in a piece of art that I will describe and photograph it here. I will then do my best to recycle the left over bottles/packages!

Right, best get planning!

If you haven’t yet seen my Street Art video – Skin- please take a peek!

If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http%