How to Make Eyeshadow From Natural Ingredients

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DIY Natural Eyeshadow Recipe
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Over the years I’ve come up with plenty of natural makeup options. While I’ve already shared some of my simple eye makeup recipes here, this article gives more details on how to make your own DIY natural eyeshadow in a variety of shades!

Make Your Own Natural Eyeshadow

These recipes use herbs, clay, and real food ingredients. You can also add some mica for a little shimmer if desired. There are lots of pigment options, but I stuck to a few of the most common ones. If you’re in the mood to experiment, then give one of these a try for some homemade eyeshadow.

Tip: Make sure everything is very finely ground.

  • Purple/blue – freeze-dried blueberry powder
  • Pink – freeze-dried raspberry powder,  hibiscus powder, or beetroot powder.
  • Green – spirulina or moringa powder
  • Orange/yellow – turmeric powder
  • Brown – cocoa powder
  • White – kaolin clay
  • Dusty rose – rose kaolin clay
  • Light green – french green clay

Shimmery Mica

I add a little mica to products like lotion bars and tinted face moisturizer. Mica looks equally as good in eyeshadow. This mineral is naturally found in rocks and has a layer structure that catches the light and makes it sparkle. If you don’t have any on hand then it can easily be omitted. Mica doesn’t really add color on its own, just some sparkle.

Ultramarines are another common ingredient in eyeshadow products. Naturally derived ultramarine pigment is made from ground lapis lazuli and has been used for thousands of years. Natural ultramarines can have high levels of lead and other heavy metals due to their nature. Most cosmetics now use synthetic ultramarines derived from clay and sodium carbonate. Plants aren’t as vibrant as synthetic colorants, but I feel better about having them on my skin.

Why Skip Regular Eye Shadow?

I think by now you know the drill. Mainstream beauty care products are full of ingredients I’d rather avoid. Some of them also test on animals. The harsh chemicals in some eyeshadows can cause irritation, redness, itching, and flaking. Someone can use makeup multiple times or even for years only for it to then cause issues, according to allergist Purvi Parikh MD.

While it’s easy to reach for a brightly colored palette in the beauty aisle, it’s easy enough to make your own!

DIY Eyeshadow Safety

Spices like cinnamon and ginger may smell amazing, but they contain irritating essential oils. You’ll find cinnamon powder in these coconut flour apple cinnamon muffins and even this pumpkin spice face mask recipe. But I’m not using cinnamon in my eye shadow!

As much as we may try not to, it’s easy to touch our eyes or sweat and get eye makeup inside the eye. Our eyelids are the thinnest skin on the body at only .3-.8 mm thick and require special care. So while a pumpkin spice eyeshadow may look (and smell!) amazing, it’s not worth the risk of burning eyes.

We’re also not adding any oil or essential oils to the DIY eyeshadow recipe. While oil does make the powder stick to the skin better, it made the eyeshadow clumpy in my experiments. And not in a good way. The easiest option I’ve found is to swipe a light layer of a fast-absorbing carrier oil over the eyelid first. Then apply the eyeshadow powder. This method gives the eyeshadow some staying power without getting oily or clumpy.

I use a lot of essential oils in skincare products like deodorant and lotion, but they’re not so great for eye shadow. This coffee under eye cream uses a tiny amount of lavender essential oil, but it’s also not going on the eyelid itself. Essential oils in the eye can cause burning, redness, and general irritation.

What’s in a Natural Eyeshadow Recipe

Like most of my homemade makeup, it’s an art and a science. I often measure my makeup recipes in drops and pinches, but this DIY eyeshadow recipe is a little more precise. Feel free to play around with the colors though until you get the shade you want.

  • Arrowroot powder adds a little slip and acts as a base for the pigments. Most of the herb powders on their own are a little too course to stay on by themselves. The arrowroot smooths things over and blends them together.
  • Mica (as mentioned before) adds a little shimmer, but not much color. Feel free to skip it if you prefer.
  • Clays are light and powdery and add some soft color. Like the arrowroot, they help the plant pigments blend better.
  • Natural colorants like cocoa powder, turmeric, and beetroot are what make this DIY eyeshadow recipe colorful.

Where to Buy Natural Eye Shadow

If you don’t have the time to DIY,  you can find healthy, natural eyeshadow options from Toups Organics here:

DIY Natural Eyeshadow Recipe
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4.59 from 12 votes

DIY Natural Eyeshadow Recipe

Simple ingredients combine to create a subtle, yet beautiful eyeshadow palette.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Yield: 1 tsp eyeshadow (approximately) per shade
Author: Katie Wells

Materials

Dusty Rose Eyeshadow

Sea Green Eyeshadow

Cocoa Shimmer Eyeshadow

Gold Eyeshadow

Instructions

  • Combine all the ingredients for your desired shade in a small container.
  • Tightly cap the container and shake well to combine. Allow the powder to settle some before opening the lid.
  • Apply a tiny drop of oil to the eyelid and massage in. Use a makeup brush to apply the eyeshadow colors as desired.

Notes

Shelf life: About 1 year if stored properly.
Storage: Keep away from direct light and heat and avoiding using unwashed fingers or unclean makeup brushes. These will contaminate the powder and cause it to spoil faster. 
 

Which natural colors are your favorite for eyeshadow? Do you wear other homemade eye makeup? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

6 responses to “How to Make Eyeshadow From Natural Ingredients”

  1. Erin Avatar

    Hi! Could someone please post pictures of themselves wearing the DIY makeup recipes? Preferably people of various skintones? That would be really cool!

    1. Jamie Larrison Avatar

      Charcoal might work but it’s a little gritty and could irritate the eyelid. Katie uses it to make a natural eyeliner and mascara but those aren’t covering the whole eyelid which is thin and delicate. You could also try a dark grey mica color mixed with a little arrowroot, though I haven’t tried it personally.

  2. Brittany Oltersdorf Avatar
    Brittany Oltersdorf

    If I wanted to make pressed eye shadow for kids what would be a good thing to add to make it more solid?

    1. Jamie Larrison Avatar

      A pressed eyeshadow requires several different added ingredients and the ratios of colorants would be different. The ones I’ve seen use magnesium stearate and a carrier oil, but they’re also not using natural plant pigments. All that to say I don’t think this is something where you could just add an ingredient and change it into a different kind of recipe but if you try it let us know!

      1. Sabrina Avatar
        Sabrina

        Hello!

        Could you mix magnesium stearate with any one of the recipes above to make a natural pigment eyeshadow adhere better. Would these ingredients such as cocoa powder, tumeric and/or spirulinaix well with magnesium stearate??

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