So I decided to start with creating Color Grinds. This involves the blending of various powdered colorants to make various mineral makeup products. I needed to make some more of our Persephone Mineral Lipsticks today, and also more of the color grind, so I decided to take a few photographs along the way.
I ALWAYS start with a clean sanitized work space. I go through insane amounts of 91% isopropyl alcohol, LOL! I sanitize my table along with all my equipment (measuring spoons, my electric grinder, etc). Then I start measuring out all the different colorants that go into this particular formula. I use a very accurate mini scale that measures out to the 0.00 grams. Each powder is measured into a disposable plastic souffle cup.
The Persephone Color Grind uses three different shades of black (each has a different finish, and adds its own little 'oomph' to the formula). Then a shimmery red to warm things up a little (otherwise it was practically identical to our Hades formula). Those 4 colorants are all ground together thoroughly (roughly 3-5 minutes). Then the sparkly red glitter is added in, and given just a quick swirl in the blender to mix it thoroughly, but not grind down the glitter, which would cause it to lose its sparkle.
This is what the final color grind looks like:
(we took our gloves off to take pictures so we would get colorant all over our camera!) It's a gorgeous dark color. Mostly black, with a little bit of warm red, and red glitter sprinkled through it.
The color grind is then mixed in with our Lipstick ingredients (we make up big batches, then separate it off into smaller batches) once it's warm. Again, carefully measured so each batch is consistent!
My dad made me these awesome filling trays to hold my lipstick tubes so I would stop knocking over the tubes and spill them everywhere! I fill each of these tediously with a plastic pipette. Luckily, I find it calming (it's kind of like meditation time for me, lol!), so I don't mind sitting there and filling lipstick and lip balm tubes for hours at a time!
Each color and shade that we offer, whether it is a lipstick, eye shadow, blush, etc, has a unique color grind that we create. And the actual grinding process (mixing in a powered blender) is CRUCIAL to the final product. Simply shaking the colorants together isn't enough. Trying to do so results in inconsistent mixing, colors streaking in the final product, and weakened color payoff. While some colorants (typically glitters) need to avoid being ground. As you can see in the photos above, we added the glitter at the very end, AFTER the rest of the colorants had been thoroughly ground together.
As a quick demonstration to show you the EXTREME difference that grinding can make, I took pictures last week while I was making up a fresh batch of our Hades Mineral Eye Shadow. If you aren't familiar with our Hades Eye Shadow, it is PITCH BLACK. But the various black colorants are blended with white base ingredients.
If I just shake the ingredients together, I get this:
It's gray. And while it's still a pretty color, it's NOT the shade it's supposed to be.
After grinding for 5 minutes, this is what it looks like, and this is what it's SUPPOSED to look like.
Hades Mineral Eye Shadow
Hades Mineral Eye ShadowIt's PITCH BLACK. Even the flash is lightening it up a little bit! By sending it through the grinder, the TRUE final color comes out. It's thoroughly blended, and as a result, you will have no weird streaking when you put it on, it will have stronger and better color payoff, and it will simply function better overall (because the base ingredients are blended so well with the colorant powders).
It takes more time, it definitely requires more clean up (I often spend an hour cleaning out the blenders at the end of the day.... I have 3 of them [and want at least 2 more!], so I can get more done in a session without having to stop for cleaning!), but the result is products that are consistent, and function the way they are supposed to function.
I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the scenes with me!!! If ever there is something you'd like to watch, let me know!
Lindsay Goodwin
Body Language Skin Essentials
..... Speak Louder than Words
http://blsoaps.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BLSoaps
1 comment:
Thank you for this peek at your process Lindsay, and I can confirm how awesome pitch black and amazing the Hades colour is, it's the black I kept looking for in my HS years but never found! ;)
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