DIY Play Makeup

Getting dressed and ready for the day takes entirely too long in my house for having only one child. Drew insists on wearing only dresses, which makes me sad for her amazing skinny jeans that sit folded in her dresser. She also lines up every single one of my eyeshadows or blushes for me to put on her before she feels ready for the day. I pretend to load her face with makeup until she looks at herself satisfied in the mirror.

For Valentine's Day this year I put together a little makeup bag of her own so that we can both do our makeup at the same time. It has been a big hit. I was initially going to buy her a little plastic set probably of the Disney princess variety, which she would have loved too. But this little DIY version was much cheaper and I don't think she has realized yet that it is not actually real makeup, since it looks just like mine.



All you need to do is go through your makeup bag and pull out everything that is empty or you don't wear or use anymore. I found a lot in mine, like brushes that I never use, old Bare Minerals containers, and even an empty tube of mascara (more on this one later). I did not have any empty eyeshadows or ones that I wanted to give up, so I went to the dollar store and loaded up on some eyeshadows there.

For the eyeshadows, blushes, compacts, or powders, it is so simple. I just popped out the little metal trays of eyeshadow out of their plastic containers, then I cleaned everything (including the brushes) with hot, soapy water. Lastly I cut pieces of felt that fit into the containers and hot glued them in. Total cost was five dollars for the eyeshadows I bought.



Make sure you cover the blemishes on your chin...



And very important, don't forget the nose...



Sure, why not some purple eyeshadow on your neck too... That looks nice...



The mascara was definitely the trickiest, but is her favorite part. It is part of my makeup bag that she has never got to play with and now she has her very own. Of course I tried to think of how I could give her her own tube of mascara without worrying that she will poke her eye out. So I took my old empty mascara and took it apart. I pulled out the wand from the twisty tube lid and from the bottom container I took out the plastic piece that sits inside and wipes off the excess goop when you pull out the wand. This piece just sits right in the top and came out pretty easy. Things will start to get messy here, even if the mascara is old and empty.

Next, I actually dropped both tube and lid into boiling water. Warning: Do not use a pot that you will want to cook food in in the future! I have a glass pot I bought one year at a thrift store only for crafting and easter egg stuff. I let the tube boil for a few minutes and with tongs swished it all around in the water. Mascara gets nasty here. It will come out liquid, but cover the sides and everything with a film of black. It cleaned out of the pot, I just wouldn't want to boil spaghetti in it later or anything. When I pulled the tube out of the water, I wiped it down clean and used Q-tips to clean out the inside a little better. I did not get the inside of the tube completely clean like I wanted. Although boiling it must have hardened the formula and not a single bit of blackness has come out of it again.

Lastly, I hot glued a feather into the lid. She loves this part. She can pretend to put on mascara just like I do and I don't have to worry about her losing an eye.



I really love my little girly girl who always wants to look pretty. And her beautiful little face that I hope will never grow up to put actual real makeup on.