This is a project my friend Sarah found. She’s on a quest to make some all-natural tinted moisturizer/light foundation, and this was the starting point. So, we ordered up all of the ingredients, and this weekend we made some fleshy-coloured face powder.

It’s simple enough. Mix everything together, and then mix some more. Lots more. We pressed the mixture through a fine sieve about twenty times, adjusting the colour as we went. We started with this recipe. It was a bit off. Very, very pale.

In the end, this is what we did, more or less. You’ll have to tweak the colour balance to match your skin tone, but it’s nice and simple, so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble.

Mineral Make-up

8 tsp non-micronized titanium dioxide
1 tbsp sericite mica (USA / Canada)
4 tsp zinc oxide
1 tsp magnesium stearate

1½–2 tsp yellow iron oxide
¼ tsp brown iron oxide
Pinch of red iron oxide

¼ tsp jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
5 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)

Rubbing alcohol, optional

Mix together the first four ingredients, and then add half of each oxide. Mash and grind everything together in a mortar & pestle, or press through a fine sieve. Or both. The colours in the oxide will come out more as you mash and press away, so don’t be too heavy handed with the oxides. Gradually tweak here and there, as necessary.

Once you’ve got the colour you want, drop in the jojoba and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)s. Toss them into the powder and then press through the sieve, back and forth, until they are totally incorporated.

You can leave it at this point for a loose powder, or you can stir in a bit of rubbing alcohol to make a paste, and then press it into a powder compact. Leave it open and the alcohol will evaporate off leaving you with a pressed powder.

Notes as of October 2016:

  • You’re definitely going to want to make this in a coffee grinder that you only use for DIY projects. It’s the only way to get an even, thorough colour blend, plus it’s way faster! Just make sure you wear a dust mask so you don’t inhale the powders after whipping them up—that can be dangerous to your health over the long term.
  • If you want to press this makeup, this method is about 1000x better than the rubbing alcohol one mentioned above!
  • Check out my book, Make it Up, for an updated formula and more colour blends and colour blending tips.

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