Soothing & Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid Serum
Acne was the thing I was trying to fix when I started my DIY skin care journey over 15 years ago. I spent hundreds of dollars on every oil, butter, clay, botanical, and essential oil the internet said would help. Sometimes something would help, but it never lasted for...
A dewy skin cream
I think this might be one of the first fancy formulations we've looked at where the cost of making it yourself isn't several orders of magnitude lower than buying it—and mostly because of one ingredient! (I'm just talking about the cost of ingredients used in the...
Rose & Jojoba Natural Face Lotion
This beginner-friendly, 100% natural face lotion is lightweight, soothing, and perfect for new lotion makers. It’s packed with hydrating humectants and skin-soothing ingredients—and I’ve taken care of all the fussy stuff so you can start emulsifying with confidence!...
A two-in-one glowy eye balm
This was another fun one—apologies for the goblin cameo 😅 Ingredients: Aqua/Water/Eau, Propanediol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Sodium Stearate, Xylitol, Lactococcus Ferment Lysate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Oleth-20, Glycerin, Citrullus Lanatus (Watermelon)...
Homemade Burt’s Bees x Hidden Valley
Last year I was doing some archaeology-level digging into Burt's Bees and I stumbled upon a corner of their website that left me feeling all sorts of unexpected emotions. Intrigue. Confusion. Disgust. Fascination. Curiosity. It was like the season finale of Grey's...
A water-in-oil lip balm with squalane and amino acids
We found some fun blended ingredients in this one and settled out at a "I think this is a good place to start, but experimentation is definitely required" point. Extra thanks to Jeanette and Samantha for their insights and additional research 😄
An all-natural brightening eye cream/balm
This is a really interesting product with a loooong ingredient list that is mostly inaccessible to home makers—but we found some really neat ingredients, like the main emulsifier and a natural thixotropic thickener!
Making 100 year old lip balm
As a lover of all things skincare and all things Titanic, I'm constantly looking for ways to fuse those loves. Naturally, this means I'm super curious about the sorts of cosmetics the passengers on the Titanic might've used, so last year I went searching for some...
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser
What an interesting product to pull the curtain back on! I don't think it's super-duper DIY-able; a 'tribute' sort of product is definitely do-able, but it uses several ingredients we can't get to structure & solubilize, and without experience with them it's hard...
A ‘miracle’ under-eye wrinkle fixing serum
This session/product felt different from other live ingredient list analysis sessions. It's definitely not the first time we've run across a key ingredient that we can't get, but I think it's the first time we've looked at a product that does what it claims, but in a...
Creamy Overnight Lip Mask
This formulation is the creamiest, simplest, most flexible lip mask I’ve ever formulated. You’ll need just five ingredients (three of which can be substituted), it works in a tin or a tube, it’s easy to customize, can be fully vegan, and makes brilliant gifts. Let’s...
A popular/trendy lactic acid product
An interesting one, and one I think is relatively do-able at home for intermediate makers. It's an emulsion with the added complexity of getting the pH just right, so that's the skill you'll want to be comfortable with if you want to tackle this product.
Fancy Aloe Vera Gel (2 Ways)
Let’s riff on my new aloe gel formulations and make some fancy aloe vera gel! We’ll make one with soft xanthan gum and a second with Sepimax ZEN, really taking advantage of how it lets us include oil-soluble ingredients.
A high-end eye cream
This one felt more DIY-able than I expected given the price point! The spreadsheets include links to the more unique ingredients, and I also drafted up a simpler gel cream version after the call and included that.
Dermalogica’s Ultracalming Barrier Repair
This product has hundreds of positive reviews that praise its ability to calm and moisturize even the most sensitive skin—so what makes it work? And can we use some of those lessons in our own formulations? I really enjoyed creating a more accessible...
Ciaté London’s Raspberry Burst Exfoliating AHA Lip Serum
Why should our regular skin get all the AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) love? This exfoliating lip serum is such a cool idea—we learned lots and put together a very DIY-able version using ingredients we can get at the end of the live stream 😄
Triple Weight Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum
A lovely hyaluronic acid serum starring three different weights of hyaluronic acid plus some of my favourite soothing, brightening, and hydrating actives.
Creamy Gelled Facial Cleanser
This formulation was inspired by January's live ingredient list analysis for Glossier's Milky Jelly Cleanser. I've been using this for a few weeks and I'm really liking it so far!
Clinique’s All About Eyes
With thousands of 5-star reviews, Clinique's All About Eyes is loved by many for hydrating and de-puffing the under-eye area. What can we learn from this $51CAD/15mL (0.5 fl oz) cream? Let's dig into the ingredient list and find out!
Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser
This one was really fun, especially with the discovery of the re-formulation (thanks, Reddit!). 🕵🏻♀️ That re-formulation is why we've got two starter formulation spreadsheets for this analysis—one that's based on the new...
Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Frankincense Intense Age-Defying Cream
Neal's Yard Remedies' is famous for their all-natural skincare products that blend nature with proven skincare technologies like peptides. I first studied their Frankincense Intense Age-Defying Cream back in 2018 and was really excited to dig into it again with more...
Candy Cane Lip Scrub
Winter is hard on lips, so this scrub is designed to be paired with my Candy Cane Peppermint Lip Balm to create perfectly gift-able, minty lip kit. Begin by buffing off any dry skin with this rich scrub, and then follow up with the creamy lip balm for soft, pampered,...
Vitamin C & Salicylic Acid Serum
I hope you enjoy this formulation ❤️ I've been loving it as a gentle way to get some brightening + chemical exfoliation into my skincare routine.
Candy Cane Peppermint Lip Balm
Welcome to our first holiday DIY of 2023! We're kicking off with a lovely Candy Cane Peppermint Lip Balm as lip balm is one of the most giftable DIYs around. It's inexpensive to make (but expensive to buy), almost everyone uses it, it's got a long shelf life, and you...
