It's been such a long time since I've posted, so I thought that I would give you three posts in one.  Hopefully, this sort of thing doesn't happen again, but it's been a hectic few weeks and, sadly, this blog had to be put on the back burner while real life beckoned.

Let's start with homemade make up.  I made loose powder eyeshadow, flavored lip gloss and used an old trick to make "cream" blush.

Loose powder eyeshadow only requires some corn starch and one of two other items: mica powder (which can be found in craft stores) or the leftovers from your pressed powder eyeshadow.  If you are using the mica powder (which I did not), you only need to mix the mica powder into cornstarch until you get the color you desire.  If you are using old eyeshadow, you need to crush it to a fine powder and then mix it in with the corn starch.  You can easily make this into a cream eyeshadow by mixing in some petroleum jelly.

My eyeshadows came out well, but they were a huge pain in the butt to make.  You have to use so much mica powder/eyeshadow and then mix for so long that it's just kind of silly to make it yourself.  Of course, if you get your pressed eyeshadow from a dollar store and then make it into loose eyeshadow, all you're losing is time.  The make up works well.  I don't have any pictures of it in use, sadly, but I tried it myself and then gave some to a friend to try.  She likes it just fine.

The lip gloss was easy and pretty economical.  A little petroleum jelly mixed with whatever color kool-aid that you'd like to mix it with.  I used cherry and pink lemonade.  The pink lemonade came out very pale while the cherry came out looking like dark "nude" color.  You can keep mixing it in until you get the shade you want, though.  I made the mistake of using unsweetened kool-aid and ended up with a very tart lipgloss.  Not a terrible thing if you like tartness, but I'd suggest using sweetened kool-aid.  Since I didn't make my colors very dark, all you're getting is a mostly clear gloss.  However, if you mix your colors darker, you'll get a lip gloss that tints your lips.

Now, the old trick for cream blush is pretty easy.  I've been using tinted moisturizer this summer instead of foundation when I wear make up because it's much lighter (by the by, easy trick for tinted moisturizer - use the foundation you already have and mix a few drops with your favorite moisturizer), so I don't want to cake my face up with a bunch of powdered blush.  Instead, I put two to three small dabs of a cheap lipstick I bought onto the apples of my cheeks and blend it in.  My mom used to do this waaaaaay back in the day and it's a pretty convenient little trick.

I give this stuff 3 out of 5 kool-aid packets.  The eye shadow is just a pain to mix.

* * * 

On to the bath salts!

1 part Epsom salt
1 part Sea salt
1-2 tbsp baking soda
6-10 drops of essential oils (if desired)
5-8 drops food coloring (if desired)

Mix salts and baking soda.  Add food coloring 2-3 drops at a time, mixing very well (the salts wants to clump up with the food coloring, so you'll want to keep breaking those clumps up and mixing until you get a fairly even color throughout).  Once desired color is achieved, add essential oil a few drops at a time.  Remember that the salts won't smell as strong once they're dissolving in water.

These things are amazing!  I'm currently at war with my bathtub and the disgusting junk that grows in it (thanks to our apartment complex flat out lying to us about whether there was a mold problem before we moved in), so I won't bathe in it.  However, I do have plantar fasciitis, so I soak my feet from time to time before I massage them with a tennis ball and then ice them down (it's a real pain).  Why not use the salts when I soak my feet?  So, I did.  Not only does it smell nice (I happened to have essential oils laying around from some body scrub I made from a kit), but it makes your skin quite soft.  I'm sure that my physical therapist appreciates that my feet don't feel like alligator skin when she has to do my deep tissue foot massages.

I give these bath salts 5 out of 5 grains of salt.  They work just as well (if not better) than their expensive store-bought counterparts.

* * *

And, finally, we come to highlighting your hair.

Most everyone has heard that you can use lemon juice to lighten your hair.  However, lemon juice dries your hair out really badly.  Not to worry!

I mixed mostly water, a fair amount of lemon juice and a tablespoon of olive oil in a small spray bottle and then doused my hair in it before I went for my run.  I did blow dry my hair just a bit since I didn't want to run with sopping wet hair, but that didn't seem to make any real difference.  Off I went.  I kept my hair down and I was in the sunshine for about half an hour before I headed back to the car and then home.  Once home, I washed my hair to get the juice and olive oil out.   Lo and behold, my hair was just a tad lighter and I had a handful of red and blond highlights.  The olive oil made my hair really soft and kept the lemon juice from doing too much damage.  It's best to do this out in the sun, but I've read that it will work if you blow dry your hair as well.  I do have to say, though, if you go out into the sun a lot anyway, don't bother.  The sun will naturally bleach/lighten your hair.  I once went from brown hair to medium blond after spending a month in the California sunshine.  If you don't get out much, you could give this a try.  However, your hair will look like you haven't washed it in several months thanks to the olive oil, so I don't suggest going too far from home with this in your hair.

I give this 4 out of 5 lemons.