I’ve made a few forays into homemade eye make-up remover. My latest version worked really well, but as it sat on my vanity, the strength of the emulsifying wax slowly increased, and my nice, creamy (but liquid) eye make-up remover gradually turned into something rather too thick and creamy to use easily on the eyes without adding more water (it worked brilliantly for getting face make-up off, though). So, this recipe makes a thinner, definitely liquid remover. It’s just emulsified oil and water, with a bit of glycerin. It works like a charm as long as you’re not wearing waterproof mascara (though I’m beginning to think nothing takes off waterproof mascara except maybe turpentine… which I am not going to test for obvious reasons…).
There are just four ingredients; water, a gentle carrier oil (I used grapeseed, but safflower, olive or, canola would work as well), vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), and solubilizer. The solubilizer serves to easily emulsify the oil and water, and though it is technically optional, it sure is nice to have (and it has tons of other applications!).
If you have a scale, you’ll only need the bottle you’re storing the make-up remover in—no dishes! Yay! This recipe is based around using a 125mL bottle; scale as necessary if your bottle is a different size.
I no longer recommend making this recipe—it’s quite old and no longer lives up to my quality standards. I’d recommend this recipe instead!
Super Gentle Homemade Eye Make-Up Remover
25g Polysorbate 80 (optional, but you’ll have to shake it a lot before use if you leave it out)
22g gentle carrier oil (safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, etc.)
3g vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
75g distilled waterBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Weigh the solubilizer and carrier oils into the bottle. Cap it and shake to combine.
Add the vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) and about half of the water. Cap and shake to combine (this is more effective when the bottle isn’t totally full).
Add the rest of the water and the preservative, and give a few final shakes. Use with a reusable cotton pad to remove your eye make-up!
Thank you again for a wonderful recipe, Marie! 🙂
My eye caught the makeup remover pad – did you make these or buy them somewhere? What are they made of? I’m finding store-bought cotton pads are become very abrasive and *hurt* my eyelids 🙁 Thanks!
I make ’em!
Hi Marie-
I too used to use the liquid eye makeup remover. My favorite was Neutrogena, which claimed to be oil-free, but was obviously an emulsified oil/water. It took off waterproof mascara beautifully, but when wearing makeup daily, which I did at the time, it became expensive.
When I started oil cleansing, I realized that the grapeseed oil took off the waterproof mascara just as well, and that I didn’t need a separate eye-makeup remover.
Love your blog and recipes! You are a gem!
Ann— I must say, I’ve always found “oil free” cosmetics to be a bit suspicious, especially if they are supposed to be moisturizing… if it isn’t oil, what is it?!
I definitely found the OCM strips everything off your face, waterproof mascara included, though there was definitely a time investment (and a mess investment in my case, lol). I sure like mixing the oil and water together as I find I really don’t need a lot of oil to get the job done, and if you use too much oil and get it in your eyes, things are a bit blurry for a while 😛 Whoops!
Thanks for reading 😀 I really appreciate it!
BTW – I can’t wait for you to write a book of your recipes – I’ll buy it!
I did actually write a cookbook once 😛 You can check it out on my professional portfolio!
Does Amazon carry your cookbook? I’d love to make those crisps with the cranberries!
Unfortunately not… I took the ultimate self-publishing route by hand-binding 60 copies of it and selling them to friends and family. I sold out of my “extensive” print run about 2 years ago, and given that each book takes about 5 hours to bind, I don’t think I’ll be making anymore anytime soon. That said, I’d love to have it published someday, I was just told that I’m “not famous enough”… oddly enough, I thought it was a publisher’s job to make you famous, but apparently not. So, I guess if my blog takes off you might see it on shelves one day, but other than that… probably not 🙁 Anyhow, check your e-mail, I sent you a PDF of that page in high enough resolution for you to read 🙂
Thank you so much Marie! You are a generous blogger with a beautiful blog!
Ann
Thanks, Ann! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
Oh gosh. You need to find yourself a better book agent. Wish I knew someone!
I have one now 😉
After seeing the notes on your cookbook I immediately tried to find it online.Sad When you new book is a best seller, they will beg for you to get the cookbook out there.
I’ve still got all the files if they change their minds, haha! I did actually show it to my editor, she seemed to think it was pretty cool… so who knows? 😛
Ah have just come across your blog and am going to have to invest some serious hours going through all the posts but this looks so good, and I was just thinking about making face cleaning pads the other day. Looks like I came to the right place..
Yay! Thanks for stopping by and reading 😀 Definitely make yourself some face cleansing pads, they’re awesome! Enjoy and keep commenting, I love comments 😀
Sounds good where can I buy supplies?
As noted above, I buy most of my ingredients from New Directions Aromatics and Saffire Blue 🙂
Hi Marie. I was wondering if I can use soy lecithin to help combine water and oil? I use it in creams and lotions and it works like emulsifyer. Thanks in advance.
Hi Iryna—I’ve experimented with soy lecithin a little, but not enough to give you very solid advice on using it here. I do know that it is not a complete emulsifier (best suited to incorporating small amounts of water into larger amounts of oil), so I would hypothesize that it’s not the best option here, but I can’t say for sure. Feel free to try it and let me know how it goes, I’m all ears 🙂
Hi again 🙂
Two questions:
1. Which kind of water do you use when a recipe calls for water? Do you buy distilled water, boil, tap?
2. I learned (from you 😉 ) that anything with water in it must include preservative. Is it safe to assume that anything that we don’t put water in (including aloe juice and other liquids) don’t need any added preservative, unless you advise us to?
Thanks for your kind answers to my numerous questions!
Whoops! Good catch, looks like I forgot the line regarding preservatives on this one—it’s been fixed 🙂 It is safe to assume that if something doesn’t contain and water and won’t come unto contact with water (like something used in the shower), it doesn’t need a preservative.
Distilled 🙂
Great, thanks so much :)! I’m making a list of the recipes I want to try… I’m almost afraid of the amount $$ I’m gonna tally up, but I prefer to pay the shipping once…we’ll see ;)!
So if I want to make the Everyday french green clay bar, should I add some preservative in there too, since I’m gonna run water on it? Or is it enough that it has a chance to dry during the day?
Thanks for your quick responses; your dedication is very impressive!!
Merci beaucoup <3
Yes, that would be a good idea; the chance for spoilage is there, especially if you live somewhere humid so the bar won’t dry quickly. Mine is still fine after several years (though I rarely use it—so many things around to test!), but I live somewhere super dry.
Super, will do :)!
Merci again :D!
Hi Marie, I really love your recipes. How can I ask you some questions?
Can I know the expired date of this product? Do I need to keep it in black bottle to avoid the sunshine, and I also need to keep them in refrigerator to preserve?
I would recommend keeping it in a dark bottle in a cool place, but the actual expiry date will depend on a lot of factors, like the cleanliness of your ingredients and the bottle, how fresh your ingredients are, and how it is used. Just watch for signs of spoilage as you would with food—mould, colour change, consistency change, and a bad smell are all signs that you should chuck it. I’d recommend making it in small amounts that you know you can finish within a month or so. Thanks for reading!
The product is spoiled long before the first signs of mold etc.
I would recommend a reliable preservative like phenonip. Otherwise the product only last for about two days, even if its fridge stored, skin care product is just as sensitive as food.
It sounds like you and I have very different definitions of “spoiled”. I am the type of person who will cut mould off a block of cheese and keep eating it. It’s all about what you are comfortable with. I, personally, am more wary of the preservative than unseen, undetectable bacterial action. Of course there will be microbial/bacterial action—bacteria is everywhere. Chances are your hand lotion will be one of the cleaner things you touch over the course of a day. Additionally, my skin is far less sensitive to unseen bacterial action than my digestive tract is. I’ve never been sick or had an infection from using my DIY products. But, the best part about making your own products is that you’re free to use whatever preservatives you’d like.
Marie:
Here again !! I have couple of questions. I have Polysorbate 80, I can use it instead of solubilizer for this formula? The other question is if I can combine half water and the other half aloe vera liquid.
Thank you!!!
Angie
Hi Angie! I haven’t tried it, but from my reading Polysorbate 80 should work 🙂 And yes, you can use half water, half aloe vera liquid! Have fun 😀
Hi Marie:
Thank you for the information!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll try immediately and let you know the results!!!
🙂
🙂
Made it as per above recipe with safflower oil, veg glycerine, polysorbate 20, diluted 1g of aloe 200x powder into 200ml distilled water, and 1% optiphen. It stung my eyes…. have you any idea the culprit? maybe the aloe water or the optiphen? TIA
I don’t have any experience with optiphen, but that would be my top suspect :/
Since this is an oil and water emulsion, will we need a preservative? How long will it last without one?
You’ll definitely need a preservative—read this for more info. There’s no way to estimate how long it’ll last without one, there are just way too many variables. Maybe a day or two?
This formula sounds great, but I have read some very suspicious things about Polysorbate 20 (solubilizer). Can you help calm my fears? Thanks
Hey Kate! My favourite source for all things ingredient research and safety is the EWG’s Skin Deep database. The concerns around Polysorbate 20 are mostly around contamination, so if your supplier is reputable you shouldn’t have much to worry about. Otherwise, a blend of Turkey Red Oil and guar gum works well as a natural alternative 🙂 I used it in this recipe, to give you an idea of how much to use.
Hi Marie! Thank you so much for your amazing recipes and I love all your videos. I was wondering if you had any suggestions on cleaning/disinfecting new glass bottle containers, including used-up containers for reuse. I cleaned an old eye makeup remover plastic bottle container with dishwashing soap which I’d like to use for this recipe. Should I swish it with 99% isopropyl alcohol before I refill it? Or would the alcohol residue (if any)cause my eyes to burn since this will be filled for this eye makeup remover recipe? Thanks, Chubbs
Hey! New containers can be assumed to be clean, given your supplier is reputable, at least. For old ones… that gets tricky. I typically only re-purpose sturdy plastic and glass bottles (rarely the lids) and sturdy plastic tubs that are thoroughly dishwasher safe. Anything that isn’t sturdy enough to go through the dishwasher is a recycling candidate as I’m concerned about getting it clean enough, and if your old makeup remover plastic bottle is anything like the ones I’ve seen, I would recycle it. A new bottle might cost $1, and you’ll be rubbing this stuff on your eyes, so I’d spend the $1.
Thanks so much Marie! That does make a lot of sense. I’ll surely have a lot of peace of mind with brand new purchased bottle containers. Yay!!
No worries—happy making!
Marie,
Please help! I tried this recipe exactly as instructed, but when it came time to shake the bottle container, the concoction turned white like milk, with curd-like pieces (kind of like solid coconut oil). I have no idea what happened or what I may have done wrong? If this concoction can’t be saved as an eye makeup remover, can I add or do anything else to use it for a different purpose, like a body cream or soap or something? It just hurts to throw this away. 🙁
Odd indeed; did you change any ingredients? Is it particularly chilly where you are?
I used the exact ingredients with the amounts from the recipe. It’s pretty warm here in southern central states. What color does the final concoction supposed to be? I was trying to see how close I may have come to how it’s suppose to look like. I guess I could retry a new batch and hopefully it will turn out a better result.
Whoops—I just realized I thought you were commenting on a different recipe I recently released. Sorry! I’d recommend tweaking the procedure; heat the water and glycerin in one container, and the oil and polysorbate in another, and then whisk that together. The heat should help the emulsion 🙂 You might also try a few more grams of polysorbate 80 to be extra sure the emulsion takes. Otherwise… this recipe is even better 🙂