DIY Zodiac Candles

I'm convinced this was the fastest week in history. I had this big list of things to accomplish and pretty much threw it out the window, preferring to relax instead. I tried to stay inside, away from the sticky heat and occasional rain that hasn't really brought relief (but it has brought me tiny tomatoes that are growing--a miracle for this wanna be gardener). I decided to make my space as comfy as possible, and burned some candles instead. Speaking of candles, allow me to introduce my DIY ZODIAC CANDLES.

The idea for these started out as a need for a gift for a friend. She's one of those that has everything, and just happens to be a candle fanatic like I am. I began to research her sign, the scents that would go well with that sign, and it snowballed from there. SHE LOVED IT! It was such a hit, I've made them for many others, using different designs for the label and even trying out different scent and color combos. These take no time at all to make and are just a little something extra special.



You'll need:

wax
essential oil(s)
wick
glass container
label (printer and ink for label)

To make:

If you're reading this, I'm guessing you aren't a professional candle maker. This is the quick and easy version, y'all.

Glue the wick to the bottom of the glass candle container.

Take an old candle or candle wax and melt.

Carefully pour into the glass container.

Add a few drops of essential oil just for your zodiac sign (I used the list here) and stir.

Hold the wick in place by wrapping it around a pencil placed horizontally on top of the candle container. Use tape to hold it in place if needed and allow to cool completely. Trim wick.

Use sticker paper (I used clear) or labels to make your own design.

I've made these all sorts of ways--the possibilities are endless--but for this I wanted a minimalist design and white candles. I'm a Libra, so I chose vanilla, almond, and oak moss for mine.

What's your sign?

Does it describe you?

PS: Want to buy one instead? I'm selling these for $10 each. Email me!

DIY Faux Marble Coasters and Bowls

Hey y'all! It's been a while since I've had a DIY on here, so I thought I'd share one that takes 5 minutes to make and would look great at home: diy faux marble coasters and bowls!

You'll need--

polymer clay (I used white, black, and grey, but choose whatever colors you'd like...I've done this with neon colors too)

paint pen or nail polish

Mod Podge

Oven

Circle for tracing

Knife

Line up your clay colors. I broke the white into 4 pieces. I placed two white, one grey, one black, two white, and one grey next to each other. Then I twisted them together, like a snake, as pictured above. Keep twisting and rolling until you start to see a marble effect. The more you twist, the lighter the color of the marble will be.

Roll out into a sort of circle shape. Try to keep it even on all sides. Place your pattern (I used a coaster, haha) on top of the rolled out clay and cut around it with a knife. Remove the excess and reuse it desired. Bake according to package directions. Once cooled, seal with Mod Podge.

Add an extra touch to the edges with a metallic paint pen. I've also used nail polish for this too. You can also paint onto the clay--like try half marble, half painted. I've made these lots of times for others so many different ways!

Here's the finished piece! I was able to get two coasters from the amount of clay shown in the first pic. I used circles here for the demo since they are super easy, but I've made these in hexagons and squares, too.

I've also made bowls. I simply followed the same steps (I used more grey and black) and traced around a bowl as my pattern. I placed the clay inside of the bowl (I have also placed the bowl upside down and the clay on top). Then I placed the oven-safe bowl and clay inside the oven and followed directions to bake. I wouldn't use these for food, but they make great decor pieces. I also didn't mind the rawness of the edges.

Are you a fan of marble?

Extra Elle:

Still hanging in there--please be patient as I am slowly, slowly getting caught up on blogs and emails. I am feeling better!

DIY Lancome Blush La Rose (4 Methods)

Hey y'all! I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day. My social media was just flooded with love--it was a nice change from the usual negativity I see lately.

I loved seeing all of the roses, and speaking of roses, remember a few weeks ago when I shared my review of the Lancome La Rose Blush? See the original post here. I talked about making my own and a few of you suggested that I do it, so welcome to today's post!

Since the original Lancome La Rose is $60 and sold out in most places, I had to make a comparable diy version. And it is SO easy.

You'll need--

artificial rose
blush, shadow, or highlight
round box
optional: pink paint for box, rose gold marker for edge
glue gun
brush
rubbing alcohol

Choose your rose. I wanted one that closely resembled the original Lancome rose in color. Make sure the rose is clean and free from dust. I used a blast from a keyboard air cleaner for mine.

Remove stem and all leaves.

TIP: Make sure the rose fits in the small box.

Choose your color. I have an eyeshadow from Maybelline in Seashell that is pretty much a dupe. But for those not into highlight, you can choose an eyeshadow or blush.

TIP: If using blush/shadow, make sure the shade matches the rose in color as well.

METHOD 1: Just dip the clean rose into a blush/highlight/shadow and swirl around to coat the top. Just to apply to face, use a brush.

METHOD 2: Add a little rubbing alcohol or makeup setting spray (not the dewy kind) to a small bowl and scrape into it your shade. You should have more color than alcohol.  Mix well. I used the blush for this demonstration because it photographed better.

Using a small brush, paint the top of the rose petals with your mixture and allow to dry. I used a different rose for this one, since it was blush, so you could tell the difference.

Paint box pink if desired. The rim on the original Lancome is rose gold, so you can use a paint marker for the edge to mimic it.

Hot glue the rose to the bottom of the box. Use a brush to apply product to face. Keep the lid on when not in use.

METHOD 3: Pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle. Spray the rose gently and then brush pigment on top. Allow to dry.

METHOD 4: Mix makeup setting spray with the pigment and spray on rose.

Other things I tried but didn't like as much: vegetable glycerin with color (too heavy/greasy), coconut oil with pigment (too thick, no matter how I did it), painting just individual petals (like those in the background of my pics) and rubbing them on my face (kinda silly, but a good idea for travel but there's paper blush/highlight already).

I'm wearing the blush and the highlight. It is very natural-looking on the skin.

I found Maybelline Seashell to be a pretty good dupe. On the first finger is the Lancome and on my middle finger is the Maybelline.

And here they are side by side, with the Lancome on the bottom. Pretty similar!

What do you think of this DIY?

SEE ALSO: Beauty DIYs with roses (use those leftover roses from Valentine's Day)

PS: I was on PopSugar today--read it here.

DIY Donut Bath Bombs With Sprinkles

I wanted to share a cute idea that makes me think of Valentine's Day, but it's adorable anytime of year. And y'all already know I love to make DIY beauty that looks like food. Get ready to get all pinked up with these adorable DIY Donut Bath Bombs (With Sprinkles and More):

Ingredients:

• bath bomb mold (I got mine at Hobby Lobby
• 1 c baking soda
• 1/2 c cornstarch
• 1/2 c citric acid (online, canning section, health food stores)
• 2 tsp water
• pink soap colorant or food coloring (I used neon food gel)
• favorite essential oil + 4 tsp coconut oil or oil of choice (optional)
• for decoration: candy sprinkles and meringue recipe

Instructions:

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, mix the water and coloring (and oils if doing that). 

Very carefully add a few drops at a time of the colored water to the dry ingredients and mix. Be patient with this step because the mix will begin to bubble if you add too much at a time. It should look as pictured above. 

Allow to dry for an hour. Package or display. These keep for around a year.

FOR SPRINKLES:

Place candy sprinkles in bottom of donut mold. Then add the mixture on top. Allow to dry.

OTHER IDEAS:

I used this recipe for the meringue and placed it on top of the mixture. I then baked it. But for this, I didn't bake it so I could add the sprinkles.

How cute are these?
Do you make Valentine's Day crafts?

More DIYs with SPRINKLES:

• diy Birthday Cake Sugar Scrub
• DIY Sprinkles candle (with surprise inside)
• Donut Sprinkle Nails
• 20 Valentine's Day DIY ideas

DIY Halloween Bath Bomb (With Surprise Inside and Bonus DIY!)

Halloween is almost here, so I thought I'd share a last-minute DIY! If you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, you got a sneak peek! I came up with this idea as one for kids but it can be made for anyone (aka ME). I promise y'all these don't take long at all to make. And the best part: there's a surprise inside! Here's how to make DIY Halloween Bath Bombs:

You'll need--

• bath bomb mold (I used a plastic ornament)
• 1 c baking soda
• 1/2 c cornstarch
• 1/2 c citric acid (online, canning section, health food stores)
• 2 tsp water
• neon orange (or red + yellow) soap colorant or food coloring
• plastic toy (I used a spider ring)
• optional: candy sprinkles
• optional: essential oil + 4 tsp coconut oil or oil of choice--I leave out fragrance for kids

You'll do--

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, mix the water and coloring (and oils if doing that). 

Very carefully add a few drops at a time of the colored water to the dry ingredients and mix. Be patient with this step because the mix will begin to bubble if you add too much at a time. It should look  as pictured above.

In the bottom of each mold, place your Halloween sprinkles. These dissolve in the water, so no worries for using them in the tub. Leave out this step if desired. I forget this every time, but the dang sprinkles go every where when pouring.

Begin pressing the mixture into the mold. Add the plastic spider and then keep adding on top. Repeat on the other mold, sans spider.

Allow to dry for about 30 minutes and then place the molds together to make a ball. I place the mold on top of a cup or something similar so the mold won't fall over. After another 30 minutes, remove from the mold. Unless I'm in a time crunch, I'll just leave them overnight.

Place in a tub (demonstrated here in a cauldron bowl) and let them dissolve. Don't forget to tell the recipient there's a treat inside! This makes two big bath bombs.

BONUS! DIY Pumpkin Spice Bath Bombs!

-Follow the ingredients and directions above except add a pinch of pumpkin pie spice to the mix and leave out the sprinkles. I got the pumpkin mold at Walmart, but there are more online and in craft stores. I used red and yellow soap colorant for these. I was able to get almost a dozen of these.

Some reminders:

• These keep around 6-8 months (some I've kept up to a year, and they were fine).
• If giving this to a child make sure they are 3 or older, since there is a toy inside and that this isn't edible. Make sure the recipient (and parents) know there is a toy inside. I've never had any issues, but you can never be too careful.

Do you enjoy bath bombs?

What are you or kids going to be for Halloween?

Extra Elle:

Went home this past weekend to celebrate my birthday part 2! I got to take 2 nieces and 2 nephews to the pumpkin patch. They had so much fun playing (and the line was crazy long) that we never actually made it to the hayride for the pumpkins!

Check out more Pumpkin DIY ideas here.

DIY Pumpkin Spice Highlighter

Y'all guess what? I'm back with another pumpkin-themed DIY! I'm an October baby, and my family/friends have given me pumpkins as presents over the years, so I've amassed a collection. And I love them. 

In fact, a couple of months ago, one of my friends was poking fun of how I have pumpkin everything. "I bet you have pumpkin makeup!" she teased. Well, in fact I do. Ahem: Burt's Bees pumpkin spice lip balm, PSL sugar scrub, PSL body butter, pumpkin masks, and now a pumpkin spice highlighter. 



I've been making my own highlighters/blushes/shadows/bronzers for years using broken shadows and pigments (here's a tutorial from a few years ago) but never did specific shapes until last year when I saw the pizza highlighter on Facebook. I immediately made cupcakes, ice cream cones, and other things inspired by it. Since those diys were so popular over the summer, I decided to wait until fall to post and am sharing my pumpkin spice highlighter. This is so much cuter in person--it is not photographing as shimmery as it is. And these are SO easy and fast to make!

Ingredients--

• empty compact (you can buy these wholesale or reuse an empty, clean one)
• pigments (look online) or shadows/highlighters/bronzers/blushes
• rubbing alcohol
• stirring and/or scooping object
• tissue or paper towel
• optional: lip or eye pencil

Directions--

Y'all, I can't draw, so I prefer to use an eye pencil to sketch out my design. Think of the shape of your compact and space. I used a round one here, but I have used square and rectangle as well.

In a small bowl, scoop out your first pigment color. While you can use whatever colors you'd like, I kept mine to more wearable highlight colors (y'all, I made a rainbow highlighter and looked ridiculous, but you do you). 

Add in a little of rubbing alcohol and mix. I find that eye shadows are a little lumpier than pigments, since eye shadows come pressed as opposed to loose pigments, but both work the same in the end. If it turns to liquid, add more pigment/shadow. You want a gloppy sort of mix as pictured above.

Scoop your mix into your container and repeat steps with other colors. I did a few of these, so some I did two colors and a couple I did 3 (background, pumpkin, stem). 

Once you have your design, place a tissue or paper towel on top and press to blot away excess alcohol. This will help press those lumps you might have had in your mix. I chose tissue since mine didn't have a pattern, but do what you like. The more you use the highlighter, the more the pattern will disappear anyway. 

Allow to dry for an hour (or longer) and then it's ready. I used 3 colors for some of these and two shades for others. You can use a sharp object to carve out lines, but those fade with use. I used flash here to show the sparkle a bit more.

Here are swatches of the highlighter! You can wear them together or separately. Below is with flash to really show off the sparkle.

With flash

And that's it! Do you use highlighters?

Extra Elle:

-Went diy-crazy this weekend--spray painting a candle holder, I made clay marble bowls, and a flameless fire pit. I also started my monthly makeup clean out.