Blush was one of the first things I stole from my mom when I was too young to wear makeup. I have big cheeks, and liked the flushed milkmaid look- fresh and healthy. In Paris, women don't seem to wear pink blush too much, favoring pale cheeks or highlighted cheekbones. That doesn't work for me. I prefer old school Dauphine Marie-Josephe de Saxe-era French court makeup, with heavy rose tones from ears to the apples of my cheeks. I used to do stuff like just swipe beet juice onto skin, or mash a few raspberries or strawberries together with olive oil for lip tint. Applying pomegranate juice directly to cheek or lips was another easy beauty DIY. However, powder can be applied more precisely, doesn't cause breakouts, and lends the matte look I need for my oily skin.
Homemade beetroot powder blush is coarser and darker than storebought, but looks subtle on skin. Some people incorporate arrowroot powder to tone down the redness. I haven't calculated the energy consumption of using a dehydrator or oven to make this, but it surely uses a lot less resources, water, and time than conventional store bought blush. I use organic beets from
Joel Thiebault, eat the greens, and dehydrate as many roots as I can at once. If you don't have a dehydrator, slice beets into 1/4 inch slices and set the oven under 100°C (the lowest setting is fine), with the fan on. Place on cookie sheets in the oven. It takes up to eight hours to dehydrate beets, after which you simply pulse them a few times in a food processor, with arrowroot, if desired. If you have a dehydrator, leave thinly sliced beets at 200°F overnight. The same process with golden beets makes yellow eyeshadow. Use mortar and pestle if you don't have a food processor.
UPDATE: Bonnie had the great idea to mix golden beets with red for a peachy blush. If anybody tries, I'd love to see it!
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| Louis Vuitton coat, secondhand (similar here) |
The color is universally flattering, but you can dehydrate cherries or strawberries at the same time to make a different hue. For DIY lip and cheek stain, mix two teaspoons beetroot powder for every one teaspoon each oil (I recommend almond) and candelilla wax. Above is a bad picture of me wearing the lip stain- my lips are flesh toned normally, but the lip stain gives a nice berry hue and has great staying power. Keep homemade cosmetics out of sunlight in a tightly sealed jar, so they last a long time. Just wash your brush with bar soap every week to keep bugs away :)
The "flushed milkmaid look" - I love this description of how one of my favorite blush techniques looks! This is a really brilliant idea, as I've been troubled by the thought of where all the packaging ends up. Solution: just make it from natural products at home.
ReplyDeleteI love that the flushed milkmaid look is coming back finally on the runways. Not that it matters, because it's all I ever wore anyway. Thank you! I hope you share some of the natural products you make with us!
DeleteFlushed milkmaid is an apt description! I'm not very good at getting the right amount and placement of blush on myself. Either it doesn't show up or I overdo it and look like a hardworking peasant on ye olde Maoist propaganda posters.
ReplyDeleteLol, the nice thing about this is that it's hard to overdo it. It builds to a certain point and looks good in photos but sometimes I've put way too much beetroot powder on and... it looked the same. I think the grittiness of it only lets you put so much on. Some people may find that as a disadvantage but even on dark skin I think it gives the perfect amount of coverage.
DeleteI love the idea, however my skin doesn't. I've tried this with cocoa powder, but I think maybe my skin is too dry. It becomes very very itchy. I love the simple diy solutions, and they seem to work for everything, exept for the make up front. But hey, keep them coming, always willing to try something new.
ReplyDeleteAh that's too bad it became itchy! Truthfully I don't like cocoa powder on my face either. It's too much caffeine or something. That is a good note, maybe it doesn't work for dry skin.
DeleteFWIW, my Whole Foods sells beet powder in the bulk tea/spice section!
ReplyDeleteWhat!? That is awesome! Before I had a food processor, when I lived in the US, I was grinding up baked slices with mortar and pestle. Would have been nice to go to a Whole Foods to get some!
DeleteOh gosh, thanks for the link! I guess I should update my blog with Paris Day 2, huh?
ReplyDeleteI loooove beets. The hardest part of this project, for me, will be not eating my fresh beet chips. ;)
Lol oh believe me I eat them too... and even the powder, I save some and put it in drinks :)
DeleteThanks for the idea!! I just have a doubt, I'm trying to make it from beetroot chips that I bought and I don't have a food processor so it's not as tiny as a blush, more like pieces of chips and it's not ideal to apply, any advice please??
ReplyDeleteHomemade beetroot powder blush is coarser and darker than storebought, but looks subtle on skin. Some people incorporate arrowroot powder to tone down the redness. I haven't calculated the energy consumption of using a dehydrator or oven to make this, but it surely uses a lot less resources, water, and time than conventional store bought blush.day nghe spa
ReplyDelete