DIY…Is it all it’s cracked up to be?

In the world of do-it-yourself, there’s home repair, tech gadgetry (see make.com for some pretty cool projects) and then there’s your skin.

I started dabbling in DIY skincare a few years ago. My introduction started innocently enough with homemade lipbalm…some recipes incredibly successful–a chocolate-mint balm that used real chocolate chips…yum–and a few not-so–picture a sluggish mess of shea and cocoa butters sitting on a layer of glyercin goo…ewwww.

After a short while, I graduated to essential oils and aromatherapy home-study (ahhhh, lavender oil, the cure-all). The result of a solid year or so of investigation? Not much, I’m afraid, but I do still use a homemade concoction including sweet orange oil to clean my bathroom and freshen my linens. Plus, I know exactly which little smelly bottle to reach for when the signs of a cold sore pop up.

About a year and half ago, I found a little website called Skin Actives Scientific. And my DIY hobby became an obsession.

Skin Actives–and other suppliers like it–offer individual active skin care ingredients. The same ones found in the best, most expensive and most effective skincare products available on the market today–along with a nice selection of ready-made products–at a fraction of the price. So you can literally make your own version of Creme de la Mer…or just about any other high-end skin care product you can think up…as long as you have the INCI ingredient list.

My own first DIY products–mostly face treatments–were hit and miss. And many of them–the misses, anyway–looked a like anything from a vegan’s kitchen project gone bad to, well, baby poop.

Since then–after a few skincare experiments gone awry–I’ve learned *some* restraint, had a lot of fun…and gotten much improved skin, too boot. I’m 37 1/2 years old, and my age is often guessed at least 10 years younger (even with my grey hairs showing!).

Over the next few months, I plan to post some of my successful recipes, along with some tips about what to do and not do when mixing your own skincare concoctions. I hope you enjoy the process as much as I have and that you save a few bucks. Who knows? We might just start a little DIY skincare revolution right here. Well, I can dream, can’t I?