First Posted: 7/1/2013
I recently read an article on using random household items in unconventional ways to make your life easier or to create something new altogether. Since then, I decided to go through all of my makeup and skin care products, as well as household items and, with a little research online and a few things I’ve heard, I tried some of these DIY tricks.
Here are the five things that I tried and found most useful in my everyday routines, first starting with the ever-annoying breakout.
Concealing is probably the best way to hide a monster pimple, but a lot of times you only get rid of the redness, not the large swollen bump on your chin. I have learned that warming up a tea bag in hot water then placing it on the problem area, repeating two to three times, will help loosen the debris in the clogged pore, allowing you to extract it easier. Follow this with a cold spoon to bring down the swelling, finally allowing you to conceal over the area much better.
My second favorite thing I like to do is, when I am out of hand and foot lotion, I like to take one of the many soy candles I have in my apartment and melt them; since it’s a soy wax it doesn’t get as hot as a normal candle. I then use the soy wax as a hand and foot lotion. The soy wax makes my hands and feet extra smooth and soft, great for rough dry skin. Plus it makes for an awesome massage lotion!
The third item is mascara as eye liner. If you have ever run out of your gel or liquid eye liner, just dip your angled brush into a water proof mascara and use that as a liner; it lasts all day with no flaking or running.
Item number four is rubbing alcohol, a great trick if you accidently smash your favorite blush or eye shadow. First continue to chop up the already damaged product into a fine powder, then place powder back into the compact or shadow pan and press down, packing the product in and flat. Saturate with rubbing alcohol and continue to smooth the product out. Once the alcohol dries and evaporates, your makeup will be like brand new.
Item number five is a cheap and excellent way with the use of olive oil as an eye makeup remover! You may need to use a little more product then you would with a typical synthetic cleanser, but the olive oil breaks down the waterproof properties of eye makeup with an organic approach, leaving the skin around your eyes hydrated, conditioned and makeup free.
I can probably go on and on with the many different items I learned that you can use in non-traditional ways to get the most out of your purchases. With that said, I will leave you with two more.
Tip: Use a flesh-toned eye pencil to open your eyes more by applying it to the water line. You can also use it to highlight your cupids bow to give you a fuller pucker, and spot conceal pimples or under-eye circles.
Trick: Before you try to conceal a tattoo for a special event try using a white waterproof liquid liner over the tattoo before applying the concealer; it will virtually vanish.
