6.08.2015

DIY Fails & Forget Its

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I've been making beauty DIYs since I was around 3 years old, creating various lotions and potions, thanks to growing up in my Grandmother's beauty salon. One of my first was inventing my own lipstick, by mixing different shades together, something I think we all have done at some point. And while I feature over 100 DIYs here on the blog, not all of them have been winners. Today I'm sharing a few fails I had as a kid and some that you can forget about seeing on the blog. It's all in good fun! Enjoy.

Fails--

  • White Out As Nail Polish--It looked like a disaster, but I say I was just ahead of the trend!

  • Hair Gel: When I was little, I remember learning the importance of aloe, especially when it came to sunburns. But it was so sticky, like hair gel. Lightbulb moment! My bangs looked a hot mess after rubbing cut open aloe plants on them. 

  • DIY Tan Enhancer: I grew up about 90 minutes from beaches in GA and FL, so I spent a lot of time there in the summer. I remember seeing commercials as a kid for Bain de Soleil, a self-tanner, and decided I could make one myself. What could possibly go wrong with Crisco, baby oil, vegetable oil, and perfume mixed together with tin foil to be used as a reflector? Let me put it to you this way: Crisco is used to fry chicken. Ouch! Now where's that aloe?

  • Face Powder: Speaking of frying things, I knew that you threw powder, like cornstarch on a grease fire to stop it and absorb the grease. As a kid I overheard a customer at my Grandmother's salon talking about her teen daughter's oily skin and was worried about it for a pageant. My Grandmother used to do hair and makeup for beauty pageants occasionally back in the day. Well, I since I was about 8 and just knew my skin would turn oily (never did) that got me to thinking that I could make my own powder using cornstarch and baby powder mixed together. I remember putting it in my little play compact and applying it to my face. I looked like I was in 1500s. All I needed was a powdered wig.

  • Skin Whitener: In third grade, it was pointed out to me that I had freckles. I desperately wanted to get rid of them (sometimes they still bother me and remind me of all of the sun damage). I had read Judy Blume's Freckle Juice a few years prior, and knew lemons didn't work to get rid of them. Instead, I applied white shoe polish to my face and left it on there to dry. Nothing (thankfully) ever happened.

  • Teeth Whitener: I was 4 years old when I "created" this. I saw a commercial for whitening toothpaste for smokers (this was the 80s) and had to make my own using Comet cleansing powder (used to clean stubborn dishes) to give to family members who smoked. I tested it on my 3 year old sister (unbeknownst to her and obviously a non-smoker) a few times and observed the results. She was totally onto me and thankfully never got sick from the chemicals.

  • DIY Clarisonic: When these hit the market, I thought it was a gimmick and decided to make my own. I took a face brush, attached it to a battery-powered toothbrush and tried it. Nope. Total fail.

Forget Its--

  • Bubble Bars: There are a lot of beauty products that I make and just don't share on here. Why not? Because I believe in keeping my tutorials as simple and as easy as possible. I totally keep lauryl sulfate on hand, but I'm guessing most don't.

  • Solid Brush Cleaner: This is another case of something I make that it is just easier and cheaper for others to buy. For example, I make a solid lip scrub, that is 2 ingredients only, and I get complaints that it's too much work. So yeah, I feel totally silly telling you that I make my own soap and solid brush cleansers (kind of like soap...you can read about my faves here).

  • Perm: When I was around 3 or 4, I decided my youngest sister needed a perm to make her straight hair curly. I had seen my Grandmother do it hundreds of times. You wet the hair, rolled it with perm rods and end papers, wrapped cotton around the crown of the head to protect the hairline, added a stinky concoction on top, and then wrapped the rolled hair in a plastic bag. Wait a few minutes and boom, a perm! 
    • I set up my salon under the table because I needed room and we were too little to sit at the dining room table unassisted. I wet my little sister's hair. I rolled it using pink sponge rollers. I invented my own perm lotion by mixing every hair product I could find and put it on her hair. The only thing missing was the plastic bag so I improvised by using a huge plastic trash bag. Only it wouldn't stay around her head, so I tied it around her neck. My sis was totally fine with this.
    • Needless to say, my parents thought I was trying to smother my sister and I got a whipping! BUT! My sister's straight hair eventually turned curly...just saying! ;)

What are your beauty fails?

Extra Elle:
  • Spent the entire weekend washing everything to see if it helped with allergies. I even bought a new vacuum and then felt gross after seeing what all it picked up. I had just vacuumed the day before! Charlie still woke up at 4am this morning sneezing.
  • I saw the movie SPY this weekend. It was HILARIOUS! How was your weekend?

63 comments:

  1. Oh I totally did the white out as nail polish when I was younger thing too! That and highlighters or magic markers lol! The things you do when you're younger...

    <3, Pamela
    Sequins & Sea Breezes

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  2. Oh my gosh the DIY clairsonic - I would have paid to see you use that!! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  3. Your DIY Clarisonic kind of just made my day haha! Something I would have totally tried at one point if I would have heard about it while in college or something like that!!
    www.amemoryofus.com

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  4. oh my gosh Elle these are hilarious! and also terrifying, thank goodness you didn't accidentally poison yourself (or your sister haha). and ouch, Crisco!!! that would have hurt for sure.
    good to hear about Spy - KC wants to see it because he likes that Jason guy and because it's rated R and I was worried it wouldn't really be my kind of jam. Totally seeing it now!

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  5. haha...
    when i was little i decided to give myself bangs.. disaster doesn't even begin to describe how awful it was.
    I also once tried to exfoliate with a wash cloth and scrubbed so hard i bled.. i didn't realize the stain on the towel was blood.. i thought it was all the gunk so scrubbed a little harder... not good :(

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  6. Oh my goodness Elle... I just laughed outloud at work...are you and your sister still friends... ? LOL

    My youngest thought she would help me out by cleaning the TV screen with vegetable spray oil... that was fun to clean up... we laugh about it regularly... she was just trying to be helpful xox ♡

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  7. I totally use to paint my nails with white-out, like all the time. lol.

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  8. I love this post! That story about giving your sister a perm is too funny. My friends and I also used White Out to paint our nails back in elementary school.

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  9. LMAO at your attempt with DIY Clarisonic, Elle! What a great post, I chuckled all the way!

    Shireen | Reflection of Sanity

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  10. Cute post, Elle! We all learn from our biggest blunders!

    Christie
    The Closet by Christie

    www.theclosetbychristie.com

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  11. going to check out the brush cleaners now!

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  12. I think worst of them all is finally believing that Nairs strips can actually work on removing hair. Never again - still remember that horrible sticky residue I spent TWO days removing (and my poor sore skin as a result) and the fact that the hair stayed on and the realisation that it had parabens etc. I am sure there were more, I just blocked them from my memory. :D

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  13. I love that you will try to make anything!!! I certainly painted my nails with white out back in the day. I also tried to make my own hair lightener in middle school using lemon juice and who knows what else??

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  14. These are all way too funny Elle, love that you've been playing with what you love since forever :)

    xx 365Hangers

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  15. Oh man, the Crisco would be painful! The Comet one being used as a teeth whitener?! It is a wonder you both made it out alive. Haha!

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  16. I loved this post! Oh my goodness, shoe polish to the face and also, your 3 year old-sister as a guinea pig :) I have a friend who is into organic products, but really suuuuper organic, to the point that she said she would prepare her own powder. Yes, she used cornstarch and said " add some color with cocoa". She did use it, liked it and went out that way. My judgement was that if she was happy, fair enough, but it was just like you said "get the 1500's wig" :) Ah, for allergies I hear that a room "moisturizer" helps!
    DenisesPlanet.com

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  17. DIY Clarisonic... that's hilarious!!!
    I want to see Spy so bad - I adore Melissa McCarthy

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  18. Some of these made me laugh like the DIY teeth whitening with comet...EEK! I def remember the white out as nail polish beauty fail...not cute.

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  19. These are so cute. I think all of us "made potions" growing up. I know I used to melt all my Lip Smackers and freeze them back together in different colors. I'm sure the melting process disrupted a lot of products used to make it chap stick like. They never made it passed a few days without turning to mush. (;

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  20. I laughed out loud at some of these!!! You're not only beautiful, but funny! Cannot wait to see SPY!! Hope your week is off to a great start!!

    livingoncloudandreanine.blogspot.com

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  21. Freckle Juice! I forgot about that book!

    You are too funny with your beauty experiments! Must have been fun in your house when you were little :)

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  22. Haha! These stories are so funny! I love how inventive you were and that you knew you wanted to do this at such a young age.
    Side note about Charlie:: I know I'm out of the loop, but have you changed his food? My mom has a toy poodle and he developed a corn allergy that was making him sneeze a lot and they had to find a food without corn. It cleared up all his issues.

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  23. LOL! These are hilarious. I especially loved that you put white shoe polish on your face. Hahaha! I hope you figure out something for the little guys allergies. No fun!

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  24. Haha totally tried lemon juice on my hair (made it orange-ish), my mom tried to give me a perm (yes, that was also a fail for me) and I'm still a little tempted to paint white-out on my nails if I spy a bottle at work ;)

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  25. Oh my goodness the tale of your sister's "perm" made me laugh!! And your tan enhancer...ouch!! Thanks for sharing these Elle, what a fun read!

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  26. Ah, I tried White Out as nail polish, too. What a disaster! The DIY Clarisonic is hilarious :)

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  27. Lol with the crisco. I remember those days of baking in the sun with oil. Oh if we only knew then what we know now right?

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  28. oh my god shoe polish...those days were priceless!

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  29. i have used white out for polish, lol!

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  30. Am soo glad I wasn't your long suffering sis lol! But on the plus side your family taught you loads about cosmetics!

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  31. Oh my goodness, white out nail polish, me to me too!

    xx Kelly
    Sparkles and Shoes

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  32. FOFL!!!! This is fabulous. Thanks for the laugh on a long hot day.

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  33. I think it's clear you've been into beauty since a young age! I hope your allergies let up soon. I get so frustrated when I clean my apartment and look at how nasty the floor is after I just cleaned it the day before!

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  34. I loved reading through these! I didn't make any beauty products as a kid, but I remember trying to make potpourri and sell it to the neighbors! I couldn't figure out how to make it smell nice!

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  35. These are hysterical - the DIY Clarisonic is a fantastic idea, and the freckle-remover is definitely something I would have done as a kid!

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  36. Hahaha at the DIY Clarisonic! I think a lot of folks tried White Out as nail polish. Mostly due to boredom during school though, lol.

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  37. Some of those ideas are pretty hysterical. I can't believe I didn't really come up with any DIYs other then things to do with paper for decor.
    http://emilymaiko.blogspot.com/

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  38. Ha. I remember the days of putting white out on my nails. I can't believe I thought that was ok!

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  39. Awesome post, Elle! The DIY Clarisonic is my favorite! =D

    NEW POST on http://whattostyle.blogspot.com/

    xoxo,
    Jessica

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  40. My DIY fail was using Elmer glue to make a mask. Then let it dry and rip it off to clean out pores. Lol I also have done the cisco tanning disaster. I feel your pain!!! Haha

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  41. Hahaha! I loved reading this - it's amazing how a simple DIY can get totally out of control {or just go plain wrong}!

    I wanted to make my own colored lip gloss once, so I broke my mom's new pink blush into dust, dumped it into an entire brand new jar of Vaseline, and mixed. Needless to say, my mother wasn't thrilled with it. :P

    xx

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  42. I loved reading all of these, it reminded me of all my fails when I was younger too! I think my biggest one was using peroxide to try and highlight my hair

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  43. LOL love this! I totally did the "white out nail polish" too and my mom got upset at me every time because she knew it was going to be a disaster to take off. My friend and I also played "beauty parlor" and cut each other's hair when we were 5 or 6. I chopped off all her bangs, and she chopped off a chunk on the side of my head. Needless to say we were never allowed to do that again :-P

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  44. That perm story....priceless:D

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  45. You were such a beauty chemist as a child! I love that you tried to make your own self-tanner! Fail or not, that's some serious beauty ambition. :)

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  46. When you said white out as a nail polish, I couldn't stop laughing. OMG I remember those days when some girls would do that. I almost did it, but my mom took it and hid it from me lol. Thanks for the trip down memory lane girl.

    Kia / The House of KTS
    www.houseofkts.com

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  47. These fails are hilarious and put a smile on my face for the day! I remember painting my nails with whiteout when I was younger too! What a disaster! The teeth whitener story is probably my favorite!

    Jill
    Doused In Pink

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  48. This post made me laugh so much! I used to paint my nails with white out when I was in school. Now whenever I use white nail polish I feel like a kid again.

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  49. This is hilarious! I would have loved to see you all with aloe hair and powdered face!

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  50. Hahaha, this post is everything, love it. xD
    New outfit is online...

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  51. Oh, I adore this post! The recollection you shared of your sister's perm reminds me of the time my three (much-younger-than-me) little sisters cut each others' bangs entirely off. There's still a photo of the three of them (sans bangs) hanging prominently in my parents' home. LOL! T.

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  52. This is too funny, Elle! I love all of your DIYs. Glad Spy was good. Melissa McCarthy is hilarious!

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  53. Hahaha too cute! :) My list of beauty fails seems never-ending. Some of the worst would have to be the time I dumped an entire bottle of Sun In and then Peroxide in my hair to turn it lighter brown. It worked, but it killed my hair. Oh then there was the time I decided to give myself bangs. I have pictures somewhere. It ain't pretty!

    My weekend was pretty great! Spent a lot of time with the family at the lake. Hope yours was just as great! :)

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  54. I nearly started to cry when I read about the Comet cleanser incident. I've totally done stuff like that with harsh chemicals. Like you said, thankfully nothing happened.

    Connie | Sponsored by Coffee | Bloglovin’

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  55. Ha! Elle! What a great and hilarious post! Oh my gosh, didn't we all try White Out "nail polish" at some point? The baby powder and cornstarch and you looking straight out of the 1500s cracked me up! Your poor sister! The "perm" and smoker's toothpaste! I'm crying! :D I've had a few Pinterest DIY fails in my time. One suggested mixing baking soda with lemon juice as a facial exfoliant. As soon as I applied it, my skin started burning like hot fire! ABORT MISSION AND DELETE PIN! Maybe I should've reported it as "abuse"? ;) Luckily I've had zero DIY fails since I've found you! My skin thanks you.

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  56. It sounds like you were really creative as a kid! I didn't try nearly as many things that you did. it is so funny and great that your sister was a willing model for your beauty experiments!

    xoxo,
    little luxury list formerly Chic 'n Cheap Living

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  57. I love this post! You had me laughing!
    Melanie @ meandmr.com

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  58. i think all teens who did their nails used the white out, some still do.

    I got a kick out of you thinking oils would help you tan. I hope you didn't burn too bad. I was horrible to my skin. I never ever used sunscreen until a couple years ago when we went to a festival and got burnt bad in the first 2 hours and spent the rest of the weekend miserable with heat stroke. There was no shelter so we had to be really hot so we were covered not to burn more.

    Those creative juices are great though.

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  59. I used White Out on my nails too! I can still smell it to this day... Haha! Someone must have pointed out my freckles in junior high because I was so embarrassed of them, I wore long sleeves every day of 7th grade. I also remember trying to use enough fake tanner to cover them that summer. Um, no. Haha!

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  60. The perm story had me laughing hard haha I would have flipped if I was your mom! lol Although, I did the same kinds of things at that age too ;)

    xo, mikéla / simplydavelyn.com

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  61. Hope your allergies get better girlie! You've been such a beauty guru from a young age I love it! haha these stories are crazy!

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  62. lol loved this post, you are so hilarious! perhaps you should have been a product developer...

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  63. Oh my gosh! this post has me cracking up! Your poor sister!! Seems like she got the brunt of a lot of your DIY's. The Clarisonic has to be my favorite, though!

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