How to make mascara at home
In my previous post why I do not use waterproof mascara, I already mentioned I am using a mascara I make at home.
However, making mascara at home is not that trivial and although online you may find loads of recipes, majority of those simply does not work well, because they do not follow basic important principles.
Therefore here, I share with you what I know so far on how to make mascara at home, namely:
- a bit of theory you need to know to succeed in making your own mascara
- a recipe for homemade mascara I have been using for last 2 months (this means it is a good one!)
- the recipes for homemade mascaras that I tried and that did not work… to save your time!
A bit of theory on how to make mascara at home
If we already make our mascara at home, we want it to
- well cover the lashes
- be easy to apply and hold well
- be easy to remove
- be natural and non irritating
And because we are already spoiled by taking care of us in the most natural way, we want it to nourish our lashes.
Basic ingredients:
1. Color
If our homemade mascara is to cover and color our lashes, we need a good colorant (for black mascaras the best is black mineral oxide). I tried also activated carbon, however, i was rather disappointed, as in its maximal quantity it still gave rather grey color.
2. Water phase + gum
Helps to disperse the color over lashes, is necessary to create an emulsion. Use mineral water, or some flower water (e.g. cornflower or camomille… for nourishment). Arabic gum is the most used for this purpose.
3. Oil phase + emulsifiers
Contains oils, waxes and emulsifiers. OIls make it easy to apply and shiny, while waxes accelerate drying once applied and hold on place. Emulsifiers help to create emulsion.
From oils, choose hair friendly oils like castor oil, jojoba oil, or other non-greasy oil. From waxes the most used is candelilla wax, beeswax.
4. Preservatives and actives
Homemade mascara has to contain preservative because it contains water and is used for months. We do not want to grow nasty bacterias and mold in something we put on our eyes! Choose a good natural preservative suitable for emulsions and wide Ph range.
From actives, add phytokeratine or hydrolyzed plant proteins or provitamine B5 to nourish your lashes.
Never forget to sterilize all the tools, containers and working area!
The recipe I use
(according to Aroma-zone)
4.4g vanilla infusion in oil (I infused 2 vanilla pods in 500ml grape-seed oil for 1 month)
1.6g emulsifier wax no.3 (INCI: Glyceryl stearate, Potassium stearate) / I did not try to use another one, but I think any w/o emulsifier might work well. I will try others and inform you about the results…
0.4g candelilla wax
3.0g black mineral oxide
10.0g mineral water / flower water (e.g. cornflower)
2.2g acacia gum (arabic gum)
0.4g phytokeratin
4 drops (0.14g) Cosgard (preservative)
Instructions
1. Melt waxes, emulsifiers in oils and add black mineral oxide, heat to 70°C
2. Dissolve arabic gum in your mineral water (or flower water) and heat to 70 °C
3. Once both at 70°C, pour slowly water phase with arabic gum to the melted waxes with mineral oxide
4. Once emulsion takes place, add phytokeratin and preservative
Use syringe to dose into clean mascara tubes (the quantity is for 2 tubes).
IMPORTANT: LET REST FOR 2-3 dayx!
Your homemade mascara has to set, as waxes regain their consistency slowly. If you do not wait (I know you will not!) don’t be disappointed it is too oily, or too dry 🙂
Result
Left eye (my right eye) with my mascara, the other without.
Recipes for homemade mascaras that did not work
These recipes did not work, because they were either too simple or I did not have all the ingredients and tweaked the recipes…
1. Variants of the recipe above that did not work (underlined ingredients I changed)
2.2g vanilla infusion in oil
0.8g emulsifying wax no. 3
0.2g candelilla wax
1.1g powdered active charcoal (instead of black mineral oxide)
5.0g mineral water
0.2g agar-agar (instead 1.1g arabic gum)
0.3g phytokeratin
2 drops (0.07g) Cosgard
This combination created a very dry emulsion.
I tried the same tweaked recipe without agar agar/ arabic gum, adding
– only 0,3g charcoal powder – less dry, however too dry after application
– only 0,1g charcoal powder – good emulsion, however, not enough of color
– 0,3g charcoal powver and 7g of water (instead of 5) – this was too watery…
Activated charcoal absorbs too much water in comparison with black mineral oxyde…
Recently, however, aroma-zone published a recipe with charcoal as the only colorant, I did not try it yet.
2. A different recipe for homemade mascara that did not work
17g rose water
5g activated charcoal (instead original black mineral oxide)
2g castor oil
1g stearic acid
1g jojoba oil (instead of original lanolin)
1g rice liquid protein (instead of original phytokeratin powder)
a bit of agar agar (instead of guar gum)
4 drops of GSE (grapefruit seed extract) or other preservative
2 drops vitamin E
Int his recipe it seemed 5g of charcoal is too much, mascara was very dry.
I tried 2g of charcoal instead, but it was very watery after. Adding additional 1g did not help. I added other 3g, but it was of course too dry, so I added 2g of castor oil and while it finally started to be applicable to lashes, it was too oily, it did not dry and was crumbly.
In this recipe I ignored the most important parts – guar gum and lanolin for emulgation. That is why I did not succeed to add activated charcoal in small quantities and larger quantities were too dry.
3. A very simple recipe that does not work…
Combination of aloe vera gel and activated charcoal.
Will dry out and won’t cover well the lashes.
Do you have your preferred homemade mascara recipe?
This entry was posted by evik on May 1, 2013 at 22:04, and is filed under cosmetics making, eyes. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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#2 written by evik 7 years ago
Hi Agnes! Not a silly question at all 🙂 I simply recycled old mascara tube. I have multiple of those (I kind of rarely throw old mascaras, not sure why…). Indeed, you can buy an empty mascara in specialized online shops, for example in Europe I know aroma-zone.fr:
http://www.aroma-zone.com/aroma/flacons_fra3.asp
They ship all over the Europe and over 50 EUR they deliver for free. If you find any other supplier, please, let me know!
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#3 written by Agnes 7 years ago
Hi Evik,
thanks, I went to ebay, as I normally buy things there. There are a few of them to buy, but all from United States- does not compensate the postage.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-1-SHINY-SILVER-Mascara-Wand-Vial-Empty-Wholesale-Cosmetics-Craft-/280810008636?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416194b03c
However, you can cheap and easly buy mascara wands from England if you put into ebay uk the keywords: mascara wand. They are disposable and cheap. The problem is it will not solve that there is no vial to stuck the liquid into. So I guess it is easier and better to use and old one. Anyway the brand made wands are better I guess than these cheap disposable ones.-
#4 written by evik 7 years ago
Thanks for the info, Agnes, humm, this is a very relevant issue with the vials, however, the Aroma zone have them (they call it essoreur/l’égoutteur), see here the description http://www.aroma-zone.com/aroma/fiche_packaging_gammenoire.asp.
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#5 written by Agnes 7 years ago
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#6 written by evik 7 years ago
Agnes, the Cosgard is INCI: Benzyl alcohol, Dehydroacetic acid, aqua (Water). I have it also from Aroma-zone (http://www.aroma-zone.com/aroma/fiche_conservateur_COSGARD.asp). It seems its synonym is Geogard 221 – try to search for that, you might find more resources…
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#7 written by Janene 7 years ago
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#8 written by evik 7 years ago
Hi Janene!
I am not sure where you are, I got mine from aroma-zone.fr. I believe you can use as well a black mica instead. Vitamine E is preservative, but against rancidity, not against bacteria or mold. As for beeswax, it indeed does have antimicrobial properties, although not for all of them and I think there should be an important part of it in the recipe, which it is not. Moreover, it does not have effect against all spectra of mold and bacteria [http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0354-4664/2012/0354-46641203927K.pdf]. You can try without the preservative, but do really sanitize everything you work with, including tools, bowls and the mascara pot (you have to do that anyway).
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#12 written by Gabriela 7 years ago
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#14 written by Chrysta 6 years ago
Hello! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. I’m really excited to make it, but I thought I’d ask if you still use this, or have you made changes to it or moved on to another mascara? Also, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on using vegetable glycerin as a preservative instead of Cosgard? Thanks!
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#16 written by Chrysta 6 years ago
A year? That’s great! I’m not exactly sure on the details of how glycerin as a preservative would work, I was hoping you may be familiar, haha. I read that it provides lubrication and serves as a humectant. Here’s a brief excerpt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol#Pharmaceutical_and_personal_care_applications. Do you think it could serve the same purpose as Cosgard does in this recipe?
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#17 written by evik 6 years ago
… ah, I hoped I am not aware of some excellent property of glycerine! I would love it to be preservative. I can imagine, if it is 100%, that “not having a water” in the product conserves well. The problem is, 100% glycerine for water phase will make it very sticky, I am not even sure what that would do with the emulsion. If we want to go 100% natural, than unfortunately, we have to live with the problem of natural bacterias and molds growing in our product. Just like with food. Make it, keep it for few days in the fridge and use it no later than few days after we made it!
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#19 written by Amber 6 years ago
Hi, Evik! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes; they look like they really work!
My questions are all about substitutions, and whether they would work okay or would they ruin the recipe (this is in the spirit of saving me from buying even MORE cosmetic ingredients!)
1.) Do you think this recipe would work with Olivem 1000 as the emulsifier?
2.) Can candelila wax be substituted with liquid oils, or with beeswax, to the same weight?
3.) Could Cosgard be substituted with Geogard Ultra
4.) Can I just used boiled tap water instead of mineral water?
5.) Is phytokeratin needed, if I use an oil rich in nutrients / moisturising properties?-
#20 written by evik 6 years ago
Hi Amber!
Good questions,recently I remade my mascara using Olivem 1000, so can answer you:
1. Yes, but I feel it is a bit more dry. It’s not the same. But this can be also because I used black mica instead of black oxide…
2. Candelila wax is very important there. It makes the right consistency that is not too oily and that does not dry, just hardens. You definitely need wax and I think beeswax does not have the same properties as candellila. However, never tried it…3. I believe yes, but test for pH (http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.cz/2010/10/preservatives-geogard-ultra.html)
4. Yes
5. No, it is not needed, but increase the black oxide instead, so that there is the same number of powder ingredients
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#21 written by Amber 6 years ago
Thank you so much for such a full and helpful reply! 🙂 I’ll probably make this one of my Summer holiday projects, when I’m able to purchase the extra ingredients.
I really love your blog! I’m going to try to make your zinc oxide deodorant this weekend; it’s one of very few on the internet that doesn’t contain bicarbonate of soda (which seems to be a major skin irritant) – I’ll report back and let you know how it goes!
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#22 written by evik 6 years ago
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Didn't find any related posts :(
Dear Evik,
might be a silly question, but did you just stuck the liquid into an old tube? Or can you buy somewhere empty tubes and mascara too? I looked on ebay, nothing, that is why I am asking.
thanks in advance