This punchy red liquid cheek and lip tint has become a fast favourite of mine. On first glance it’s a thin, vibrant red liquid. It’s less red than you expect on application, and the slip is divine; lightweight and satiny, with a finish that is unexpectedly rich without being heavy. I love it as a way to add a subtle flush to my cheeks and lips, with or without foundation or other makeup. It’s pretty easy to customize colour-wise, too!
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I ended up with this lip tint after deviating from some matte liquid lipstick formulation attempts—whatever I was trying wasn’t working at all as a matte liquid lipstick, but I saw promise somewhere in a tiny cup of highly bleed-prone liquid for a tint rather than a lipstick. I loved the consistency and the feel, but the first few versions I made were so dang pigmented that they just went everywhere. They oozed vibrant red off my lips and up towards my nostrils (and all over my teeth!), and thanks to the low viscosity of the liquid steering was pretty much out of the question. So! A lower pigmentation concentration was in order.
Over several iterations I dialled the pigment down from 15% all the way down to 3%, which sounds low, but makes for a beautiful tint. I found higher levels were a bit harder to work with, application wise—not only from a whoa that’s way too much colour for my skin tone angle, but also from a come back here you bleeding drop of neon red liquid angle. If your skin tone is darker than mine I’d recommend up to 5% pigment, though I will leave that up to you since it’s your face and all 🙂
For all my liquid lipstick experiments I’ve been using these fantastic little plastic mixing cups I got from Voyaguer for mixing nail polish in. They’re lightweight yet strong, and the size makes them brilliant for mixing up 2–5g batches of things that would get utterly lost in my usual glass prep cups. Since they’re flexible I can squeeze them to create a narrower opening for easy pouring, which is also very appreciated as attempting to send tiny amounts of highly pigmented liquids through a funnel (and then cleaning that funnel!) is pretty much a zero on the fun scale.
I tried versions using both carmine and red lake dyes as well as red iron oxide. The carmine and lake dyes work beautifully, but I found the oxide version fell flat with little noticeable colour. The strong brown undertones for the oxide are also undeniable; if you want a popping, classic red, you won’t get it from red iron oxide. If you want a more natural option, carmine is beautiful, and if you want a vegan option, the red lake dyes are stunning, inexpensive, and available in a wide array of colours.
The liquid base is simple: lightweight fractionated coconut oil and some isopropyl myristate to help everything set relatively quickly. Some thickening clay from TKB keeps everything in suspension fairly well, though it will settle a bit if you leave the bottle untouched for a week or so.
These tints are really easy to make—just a quick measure, mix, and pour—so you can easily have a bottle on hand in no time, and if you’re using lake dyes, you can play with a wide variety of different colours! If you like subtle flushes of colour, I think you’ll really enjoy this one 🙂
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Sheer Satin Cheek & Lip Tint
0.15g | 3% carmine or red lake dye
0.15g | 3% TKB thickening clay4.175g | 83.5% fractionated coconut oil
0.5g | 10% isopropyl myristate (IPM) (USA / Canada / UK / Aus / NZ)
0.025g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)Put on your dust mask. Weigh the red pigment and thickening clay into a small container—you’ll need an accurate scale (preferably one accurate to 0.01g). I weighed everything into a disposable plastic mixing cup for ease of cleanup, and because the cups are so light you don’t risk overshooting the maximum weight on your scale.
Use a little electric mixer (I used the MICROMini™ Mixer from Lotion Crafter) to blend everything together. If you don’t have a wee electric mixer that will work, I recommend adding the liquid oils a wee bit at a time and stirring with a toothpick to create a thick, smooth paste before slowly blending in the rest of the oil.
That’s it! Transfer to your container; I recommend a wee 5mL nail polish bottle. To use, dot a few drops onto lips and cheeks and blend in with a finger top.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this tint does not contain any water, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Be sure to keep it dry to ensure it lasts as long as possible—don’t let any water get into the container and it should easily last a year.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 5g (and that’s a lot!).
- You can use carmine (natural) or a lake dye (vegan). Red lake dyes come in a wide variety of colours, so using a lake dye gives you a broader colour palette to work with.
- If you don’t have thickening clay I’d recommend using calcium carbonate in its place, or 50/50 kaolin clay and silica microspheres. With either of these substitutions you will find the pigment settles out of the product quite quickly and needs to be shaken before use.
- You can use a different lightweight oil with a long shelf life in place of the fractionated coconut oil. Olive squalane would be a good choice.
- Cyclomethicone or isododecane would be a good alternative to the IPM (isopropyl myristate (IPM) (USA / Canada / UK / Aus / NZ)). Otherwise, use more of the liquid oil.
- If you find the amount of IPM is too drying for your lips you can reduce it, making up the difference with more liquid oil.
I just wanted to come on and say Thank you so much for the extra you threw in my package.That was so nice of u!! I am loving all the goodies so far.The day it came,your book came also. It was like Christmas day! Cant wait to get started. My ingredients should be coming in tomorrow. Thanks for everything, gf. Can’t wait to see what is next for you. Xo
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, and thank you for your support! Have tons of fun making things 🙂
Have you found a source for thickening clay in Canada? Can something else be used in it’s place?
Sadly not—I’ll have to see if I can get Michele to bring it in!
Hai, is it possible to use fruit extract powder for pigmentation instead of the carmine or red lake dye ?
You can certainly try it, but in my experience, powder botanicals and fruit extracts perform very poorly in applications like this, and nowhere close to comparably in terms of pigment strength. Give this a read for more info!
Never mind. I missed your comments about that!
Hey Marie! I’m pleasantly surprised by this recipe! I really love the first batch I’ve made and I’m looking forward to seeing how it wears.
I was a little unsure, as I have liquid lake dyes and powdered Carmine. I lowered the amount of oil a titch and used the liquid. I also had isododecane but not what was in the recipe. And yet, it’s awesome! I also put it in a small roller bottle, because that’s what I had.
So many enjoyable weekend days making, tweaking and experimenting thanks to you!
I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying it! I should really try it with the isododecane swap as well—that stuff is so dang cool 😀 Thanks for sharing and DIYing with me 🙂
Love this recipe! Made the first batch as written, but with isododecane since TKB Trading didn’t have the isopropyl myristate. For the second batch, I used 10g carmine and 5g red oxide blue shade, along with 2 toothpicks dipped in blue ultramarine to make it more of a red plum color. I call this one “plum berry” and it’s my favorite for blush. Both colors are pretty close to the 2 liquid lip/cheek tints I used to wear everyday and have been discontinued since forever. Thank you!
Wahoo! I’m so stoked you’re enjoying it 😀 Thanks so much for sharing and for DIYing with me!
Hello Mary
Thank you for this wonderful recipe
But I want to know the validity of this recipe
Thank you?
I’m afraid your question doesn’t make much sense to me—none of the definitions of “valid” seem to apply? Have you reviewed the FAQ to see if your question is answered there?
Can’t I use mica powder in this recipe. WHT would be the quantity
I don’t recommend it at all; we need the dyes/carmine to actually tint the skin—micas won’t do that.
Lush has a skin tint that I would love to DUP. It’s only 1 of 2 that they have. It’s not the bronzer one, it appears white. What do you think?
It looks like a highlighter, and I’ve shared quite a few of those 🙂 There’s a good base formula in my book (Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care), but you could also try this, this, and this 🙂 Happy making!
Hi humblebee, is there any substitution for thickening clay? We dont have here in the Philippines, if there’s any, what’s the amount, thank you
You’ll find the answer to your question in the “Substitutions” section of this post. Happy making!
I just remembered that I made this while back with carmine, almond oil and 50:50 kaolin : silica for thickening. Hint of vanilla CO2 brings delicious for scent. I love classic red but haven’t really used any lip makeup for long time. I however liked it – I think it’s beautifull “low profile” tint with less drying and more light skin feel (I have both this and moon drops lip tint). I questimated the amounts though. :p Thickening works, to my surprise, quite well. I actually added some kaolin to my latest moon drops batch. Containers I used are beyond cute – tiny clear glass bottle (1,5 -2 ml or so) (with no brush) 😀
I tried this recipe exactly as written and don’t edit anything but the result was not long lasting with me is that normal and how to solve that
Hello Marie,
You are such an inspiration! Thanks for all you do to educate in such a fun way.
I have a product that I love which is no longer made and the company is no longer in business. I am trying to reverse engineer it.
It is a transparent cheek stain that comes in a small, deodorant style roll up tube. There isn’t any mica in it and the clear flush of color is great. Here’s the ingredient deck: Glycerin, Water, Propylene glycol, Sodium stearate, Silica, Disodium EDTA, PVP, (Caprylyl glycol, Phenoxyethanol & Hexylene glycol).
I know the preservative system is a blend of the last three listed ingredients, which I put in parenthesis… I’m going to make 2 versions, one with Red Lake #40 for a stawberry red tint and another with Red Lake #33 for a beet pink tint.
I have all the ingredients (listed below) and wondered if you might be interested in such a product as well or have any advise to offer as to the order of operations, etc. as this is the first time I’ve attempted such a project. It is for my personal use only. Though, if successful, I would like to gift a few to my girlfriends.
Sincerely,
Susan Hable
Thanks so much for developing this one and shareing everything with us. I’m currently whipping up a new batch as I loved the one before last xmas! I used a blend of kaolin clay & silica microspheres instead of thickening clay, plain MCT oil and had fun with the colour. I’ve actually used many natural ester oils (replacing IPM) and enjoyed them all. Coco-caprylate is perhaps a bit more prone to bleeding and it isn’t as easy to mix as others. Mine has 5 % carmine but I’ve got few more pigmented ones.I find the one with 5 % carmine easy to apply and wear daily basis…it looks stunning in container too! I pair heavily pigmented ones with wax based lip liner or simply choose creamy tint instead. As you said, if it is untouched about a week or so, there will likely be sedimentation. I’m fine with it. I mixed everything directly in a small pots / jars with a toothpick. I’m definitevly buying IPM in the future – it is much less pricy and likely more versatile. Just in case someone else is thinking about re-making this one. xx