Some DIY Inspiration

Today is the last day to enter for the Shark Sauce giveaway, so sign up!  Also, be sure to check out the Holy Snails Shop if you want to get some of your own.  Here's the end of DIY week.  It's not the end of DIY on this blog, not by a longshot.  I'm still trying to figure out the balance between product reviews and DIY and unboxings/hauls/fluff, and with a themed "week", I have to leave out a lot of the other stuff.  Anyway, here's some inspiration!

Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil Dupe


From Sephora, $105


Ingredients: 

Persea Gratissima (Extra Virgin, Cold Pressed Avocado) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Organic, Cold Pressed Concord Grape) Seed Oil, Rubus Fruticosus (Cold Pressed Blackberry) Seed Oil, Salvia Hispanica (Cold Pressed Chia) Oil, Dimethyl Isosorbide (and) Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, Chamomila Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Oil, Tanacetum annuum (Blue Tansy) oil, Anthemis nobilis (English Chamomile) oil, Eriocephalus punctualatus (Cape Chamomile) oil, Citrus Aurantium Amara (Neroli) Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Blood Orange) oil, Cananga Odorata Flower (Ylang Ylang) Oil, Vetivera zizanoides (Vetiver) oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil (and) Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, CI 61565 (Green 6), CI 60725 (Violet 2).

First, go look at this dreamy page on GoW.  You can also use my referral link to Garden of Wisdom and get 15% off your order of $25 or more.  Ready?  Ok, here we go:

Avocado Oil - $4.35 for 2 oz
Grape Seed Oil - $4.35 for 8 oz
Blackberry Seed Oil - $6.75 for 1 oz
Chia Seed Oil - $9.95 for 0.33 oz
Dimethyl Isosorbide - $7.95 for 0.25 oz
Chamomile Oil - $13.40 for 0.13 oz
Blue Tansy Oil - currently out of stock
Neroli Oil - $26.55 for 3 ml
Blood Orange Oil - $4.65 for 1 oz
Ylang Ylang Oil - $9.35 for 0.25 oz
Vetiver Oil - $9.90 for 0.25 oz
Sunflower Oil - $4.10 for 1 oz
Rosemary Oil - $7.65 for 0.5 oz

I think Retinyl Retinoate is fairly new, so it isn't super accessible to the DIY market yet.  It looks promising, but there's also good ol' retinol ($4.95 - 3 g), retinyl palmitate ($5.95 - 10g), or retinyl acetate ($4.50 for 2.4g).

Here's a link to a girl DIYing her own Sunday Riley Blue Tansy (video available).  I personally think that's way too much essential oil, but it's pretty cool to watch.  Also, who says you have to keep all these ingredients?  Most of these are essential oils (which you can also get in blends, by the way, to save some money), and the bulk of this is Avocado Oil and Grape Seed Oil.  You don't even have to use those if you don't want to.  The beauty of DIY.

Roll On Eye Essence

I've no idea if there's already a product like this.  I'm just brainstorming.   How about some Idebenone ($8.25 for 5g), the supercharged version of CoQ10 in Elizabeth Arden's Prevage line, some MAP ($14.95 for 1 oz) or Niacinamide ($3.95 for 1 oz), and a dash of Retinol ($4.95 for 3g) in some delicious Sea Kelp Bioferment ($6.95 for 1 oz) for some lovely collagen production and wrinkle fighting?  And then let's load all of that into one of these:

Amazon.com, $7.47 for 18 bottles

DIY Cleansing Oil/Balm

Wish for fancier oils than mineral oil in your first step cleanser?  A recipe can be as simple as an oil and emulsifier of your choice.  You'll have to play around with the ratios depending on which oil and which emulsifier you go with, to see how you like the feel of your skin after it's rinsed off, but I like to think of that as part of the fun.

Eyelash Serum

Look, an empty mascara tube:

Amazon.com, $4.40 for 2 bottles
Here's some Biotin ($6.85 for 1 g), great for skin/hair/nails.  Let's put that in some Vitamin E ($12.75 for 1 oz) and Castor Oil ($3.95 for 4 oz).  Short and sweet.


I hope this series has inspired you to try your own hand at DIY, or if nothing else, to look a little more critically at what companies are trying to sell you.  A Vitamin C serum that only lasts 3 months tops should not cost $150.  A cream whose only notable ingredient in any significant quality being some sea kelp should not cost $100.  A 1 oz facial oil blend shouldn't start at $100.  We deserve better, and we can accomplish that by DIY or we can accomplish that by forcing companies to change.