There are many wonderful things about having Scottish ancestry. You have a beautiful homeland to visit. You can claim many fantastic people, like J.M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan), Ewan McGreggor, Robbie Burns, and Alexander Graham Bell as your fellow countrymen. Highland dancing is pretty awesome, and you’ve always got a great excuse to wear plaid and listen to bagpipe music. Tanning, however, is not one of those wonderful things.
If you’ve spent some time on my blog you will have stumbled across a variety of photos of me—and in all of them my skin is the envy of every Edwardian lady, pale as can be. I’m not exactly going out and seeking tanning opportunities, either. While I love being in the sun and have no objection to it, the more people I meet who have lived in hot, sunny countries for the majority of their lives, the more obvious the long-term effects of the sun are to me.
The shimmer stick on my arm, blended and not blended.
My un-blended application on my face, so you can see where I put it.
So, rather than seek out a tan (especially on the face!), I figured I’d fake one. This shimmer stick is coloured with clay, oxides, and bronze mica. It’s light on the pigment so you can start slow and work your way up, rather than be forced to start over if you accidentally slip. It’s also a great colour for your lips—a warm, bronzey shade, that is just sheer enough to let the natural pink of your lips shine through.
Shimmer stick’ed! I’ve got in on my lips as well—the effect is subtle, but makes a big difference.
I like to blend this in wherever the sun hits my face—cheekbones, the bridge of my nose, chin, and forehead. It provides a nice, subtle, summery glow and I just love it!
Bronze Shimmer Stick
4g | 0.14oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
7g | 0.25oz cupuacu butter (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
8g | 0.28oz grapeseed oil
1g | 0.03oz magnesium stearate1/8 tsp bronze mica
¼ tsp fine brown clay (something slightly darker than your skin tone, but not rhassoul, it is too gritty)
¼ tsp multani mitti clay
½ tsp sericite mica (USA / Canada)5 drops peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)
Melt the beeswax, cupuacu butter (USA / Canada), cocoa butter (USA / Canada), grapeseed oil, and magnesium stearate together in a small saucepan over low heat.
Remove from the heat and stir in the micas and clays, and the peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada). Once it’s thick enough to keep the clays and micas suspended, pour into four lip balm tubes, reheating over the stove as needed to keep the mixture pourable.
Awesome , when my kids get back in school, I got projects like this to do .
Nice! Let me know how it goes when you try it 🙂
You know I love some good Scottish references. Just a friendly reminder that you don’t HAVE to go to Scotland to get your doses of bagpipes and dancing 😉 Alexander Graham Bell’s summer home (AKA mansion) is less than an hour from where I live! This strikes a chord as well since I’m also one with Scottish heritage that has never had a legitimate tan in her life. I always wished I had red hair so I could better pull it off (my cousins do), and even dyed my hair in grade 10 since I assumed it was just a genetic mishap. I was wrong, and regretted the dye-job for the next 3 years as it grew out 😛
As for the bronzer/fake tanning, before my hyper-awareness of chemicals, I’d tried “sunless tanners” and gradual-tan moisturizers galore. They never, ever, EVER look natural on me, no matter how sheerly I put them on or how much exfoliating I do. I’ve bought bronzers in powder form as well, and they’re definitely tricky to get right unless you plan on doing your neck and chest as well, which seems a lot of bother. Aside from my ability to burn in a matter of minutes, I’ve reluctantly grown to embrace the paleness and like to remind myself that as long as I’ve escaped most long-term damage from said burns, I’ll at least avoid the slow-roasted look that most people get as they age from their ability to tan. At least my body has the decency to remind me (painfully) to limit the sun exposure instead of rewarding me with a golden glow 😛
Anyway, I’m rambling as usual. If I can get my hands on all these ingredients, maybe by next summer I’ll be able to try this out! It seems as well like it’d have a bit more staying power than the powder bronzers, so bonus there!
Ha! I am sorry to admit I giggled a bit picturing you with a mistaken red dye job 😛 A girl I went to high school with once dyed her hair black, which she really ended up regretting as it washed out to grey, and then she was growing out grey hair for a couple years, lol. Whoops!
If you can’t pull of bronzers, then I’m willing to bet you can pull off pink eyeshadow, and I am definitely a bit jealous of you for that! I always end up looking like I have pink eye whenever I try it 🙁 Boooo lol. This bronzer might work for you if you mix in a bit of pink/red to match your skin tone better, but no promises 😛
After my Klingon style burn earlier this season, I’m with you on embracing the paleness and a wide collection of hats. I do not look good as a sci-fi extra 🙁
Giggle away–it was worth of the laughs for sure! It was also 12 years ago, and sufficiently in the past to no longer be painful 😛
I can’t say I’ve ever tried pink eyeshadow, since I figured it wouldn’t be flattering on anyone fair. Maybe I’m wrong? I find most eyeshadow looks weird on me to be honest. Not sure if it’s just because I’m not used to wearing it and can’t get the technique down, or if I’m simply too pale for anything other than sheer colours. Another mystery!
I also get a kick out of my super tanned friends who love bronzer and claim to be “pasty” without it. I’m like, “Really? Do you KNOW who you are talking to?” Sigh…
I didn’t bother learning anything about make-up application (other than smearing on blue eyeshadow with my fingers) until I was out of university. That’s where YouTube came in super handy! I found Lauren Luke to be suuuuuper useful (and very amusing with her accent). Maybe she can help you with the pink eyeshadow thing? She’s pretty pale herself…
Also, I have a tan! And by that I mean all my exposed skin looks normal, and then you see my stomach, and think “holy hell, you are normally even paler than you currently are?!?! YIKES.” Oh well, haha.
I’ll look into some makeup tutorials when I’m bored someday 🙂
Congratulations on your pseudo-tan! I hate that when I get any bit of colour (usually just freckles in my case), I feel so proud to not look ill, then my pride is squashed the second I’m next to any other human being… haha. The X pattern on my back from my Canada day burn is actually a pretty noticeable, and I would call it a legitimate tan, albeit pretty wimpy compared to most people. Someone recently commented on my “bad burn” when they saw it, and I was pretty deflated since I THOUGHT it looked brownish. I informed them it was from almost 2 months ago, and was actually a TAN DAMMIT (minus the yelling). I also have a slight flip flop tan! Then again, it’s hard for me to be proud when the only way I get any colour is if I first turn into a boiled lobster, then peel like a banana. Apparently my X is actually my mark of shame 🙁
I can proudly (desperately?) say that my tan is still holding out… ish. I have a tan line or two, at least. But they are on their way out. Oh well. Now I will look like Lady Mary for the next 8 months or so. It’s for the best, I’m sure (so I can maintain my exceedingly youthful appearance… because it’s awesome being mistaken for being 14…). Perhaps we can team up for Halloween and head out as the Crawley sisters? I may have convinced Craig to go as Matthew so we can be Mary & Matthew for Halloween… 😉 Hehehehehe.
I knew I liked Lady Mary for a reason! It must be the paleness… I feel instantly bonded to similarly pasty people 😉 I definitely LOVE the costume idea. You’d have no shortage of ideas, outfits, or hairstyles to choose from 🙂
Hahaha, yes, us pale types must stick together, bonded by our lack of melatonin 😛 Also, I am SOOO tempted to set us up with costumes for day, night, dinner parties, war time… yeah. I have a problem. I also need several additional weeks before Halloween…
I think with a maiden name like McKinney, i an Scott-Irish. I want to visit both places. I really need to study my ancestory.
It definitely sounds like you’ve got some Scottish and/or Irish in you, Deborah! Definitely visit—both places are oh-so beautiful. I was over in Ireland and Scotland last September, and I love them both. I would really like to spend some more time in Ireland to see more of the countryside—what I did see was just stunning (if not rather blustery!).
Marie, I have some bronze make up that I got on a cruise. What would be the best oils to mix with it to get some of the gloss or a lotion-ish make up? I have some coconut oil, some cocoa butter, and some bees wax. Also some almond oil. Any suggestions?
I’m not really sure what you’re asking here, Deborah—do you want to turn a powdered bronzer into a cream bronzer?
Yes Mamm, that is what I want to do.
Hmm. What’s in the powder? I haven’t had a lot of luck adding pre-made powdered make-up to DIY lotions… well, unless mould-farming was my end goal, lol!
I don’t have a list of ingredients.: (
I got the Bronzer make-up while on a cruise. I just thought it’d be easier to make it a solid instead of a powder. I do know they said you could mix it with some kind of oil and use it for a lip gloss. They used it all over my face, added some kind of oil to it, for my cheeks and eyes, and something else for my lips. They used it for everything.
Hmm. Well, I’d probably start with coconut oil since it’s got enough thickness to it to suspend the powder, but is nice and light on the skin. Good luck! It’s nice to have all purpose products 🙂
Hello! Just ordered basically every ingredient NDA has to try a couple of your recipes, including this one. Unfortunately they sent me ucuuba butter instead of cupuacu butter. Could ucuuba butter work?
Oh no! That’s not a very good swap 🙁 I generally don’t like ucuuba near my mouth as I find the smell/taste a bit off-putting in that proximity. Do you have another soft butter like mango or shea you could use instead?
I have mango. I decided not to make it today, but I made your concealer instead – that sea buckthorn oil makes it so tricky! I couldn’t use any multani mitti clay and had to use kaolin and lots more titanium dioxide and a bit more sericite mica, but it has turned out well, if a bit hard (makes sense given how much dry I added)
This stuff is so fun.
Woo! Yay for DIY beauty 🙂
Marie, can you help me with a subsitute for the fine brown clay ? because I can’t find it anywhere.
Wendy
Ps I live in europe
Hey Wendy! You can just leave it out (both of the clays, if you want) and use some brown iron oxide instead. You’ll need FAR less iron oxide than clay, though, since it’s a much more potent pigment, so start with a teensy amount and work up to it 🙂