Go glitz or go home with Heavy Hitter Glitter

This homemade glitter eyeliner packs a punch!

Who doesn’t love glitter? From Pride to Carnival, from glitzy New Years’ soirées to glam rock, from make-up for your wee Halloween princess to the concert look that’s sure to turn heads… You can sparkle no matter what your age! That’s why we decided to add some glitz to our DIY make-up kit with Heavy Hitter Glitter, a homemade glitter gel eyeliner. 

You’ll soon note that we played around A LOT with colours in making this glitter eyeliner. We provide formulas for no fewer than 13 different shades, of various colours and intensities! Our sincere apologies to anyone who’s a little superstitious, but we couldn’t bear to drop a single one of them. But with this glittery rainbow of options, we’re sure you’ll find at least one you’ll like! And because our glitter is biodegradable, you can shine on while respecting the planet.

Add some sparkle to your eyes with Heavy Hitter Glitter, a quick and easy glitter eyeliner recipe!

How to make glitter eyeliner

Before you begin

• As we mentioned above, we came up with a lot of shades for this glitter eyeliner recipe—13 to be exact. We’ve come up with formulas for every taste.
  • The eyeliners containing just glitter provide the least coverage. They’ll give you lovely lines of glitter. You can apply them alone or on top of a monochrome eyeliner, to add sparkle to your regular make-up. 
  • The eyeliners that contain both glitter and mica add the most sparkle.
  • Those containing oxide, activated charcoal, or ultramarine provide the most coverage.
• In this recipe, we use mini measuring spoons. Each quantity listed in all caps (DASH, SMIDGEN, etc.), corresponds with one of the measurements listed on the mini measuring spoon set. Take care as these are very small quantities: to obtain the correct amounts, you need to level the measurements. Just fill the measuring spoon, then slide the back of a knife over the spoon to remove the excess.

 

Ingredients

• 2 DROPs guar gum
• 5 TADs demineralized water
• 1 DROP GeoGard Ultra
• 2 SMIDGENs gum Arabic
• 1 PINCH vegetable glycerin
• Colourant (Refer to the list of formulas below, each of which makes enough to fill two eyeliner tubes.)

Blue

1. Summer Sky—glitter only

• 7 DASHes Summer Sky biodegradable glitter

2. Summer Sky—glitter and mica

• 6 DASHes Summer Sky biodegradable glitter
• 3 SMIDGENs ultramarine blue

Pink

1. Pink-tastic—glitter only

• 7 DASHes Pink-tastic biodegradable glitter

2. Pink-tastic—glitter and oxides

• 6 DASHes Pink-tastic biodegradable glitter
• 2 DROPs light red oxide
• 1 SMIDGEN plus 1 DROP titanium dioxide

3. Pink-tastic—glitter and mica

• 5 DASHes Pink-tastic biodegradable glitter
• 1 SMIDGEN bordeaux mica

Gold

1. Golden Halo—glitter only

• 6 DASHes Golden Halo biodegradable glitter

2. Golden Halo—glitter and mica

• 4 DASHes Golden Halo biodegradable glitter
• 1 SMIDGEN brushed copper mica

Silver

1. Silver Fairy Dust—glitter only

• 6 DASHes Silver Fairy Dust biodegradable glitter 

2. Silver Fairy Dust—glitter with a black base

• 5 DASHes Silver Fairy Dust biodegradable glitter
• 10 SMIDGENs activated charcoal

3. Silver Fairy Dust—glitter and mica

• 5 DASHes Silver Fairy Dust biodegradable glitter
• 3 SMIDGENs patina silver mica

Bronze

1. Bronze Sparkle—glitter only

• 6 DASHes Bronze Sparkle biodegradable glitter

2. Bronze Sparkle—glitter and mica

• 5 DASHes Bronze Sparkle biodegradable glitter
• 2 SMIDGENs brushed copper mica

3. Bronze Sparkle—glitter and oxide

• 5 DASHes Bronze Sparkle biodegradable glitter
• 3 SMIDGENs brown oxide

Tools

• Dispensing syringe
• Two ramekins
• Two eyeliner tubes with applicator
• Mini measuring spoon set (for quantities given as SMIDGEN, DASH, etc.)
• A saucepan
• A few spoons
• Pair of scissors
• Mini-mixer with frothing attachment (the small wheel)

Good to know!

• You can replace the demineralized water with a hydrosol. It won’t change the appearance or texture of the product, but the hydrosol will impart a slight scent.
• The gums cannot be replaced. They give the eyeliner the right texture as well as its staying power. The guar gum forms a gel, while the gum Arabic helps evenly disperse the colourants.
• GeoGard Ultra is the preservative in this recipe.
• The vegetable glycerin serves to pre-disperse the gum Arabic, yielding a lovely, fluid, and homogeneous gel without any clumps. Careful: glycerin is very viscous, so it will stick to the mini measuring spoon a bit. Take care to get all the glycerin off the mini measuring spoon—we used a teaspoon and a gloved finger to scrape it out—so that your eyeliner turns out right. 
• This recipe asks you to cut off the end off of the dispensing syringe. This is to make it easier to fill the eyeliner tubes; otherwise, the glitter will likely block the tip of the syringe.
• Each eyeliner tube has a little black insert that fits into the top of the tube. This insert usually serves to wipe the excess off of the applicator brush when you pull it out of the tube, ensuring you get the right amount of product. Normally, you would set this black insert back into the top of the tube after filling it with your homemade eyeliner. However, for this glitter eyeliner, we advise against using the insert, as it will pull the glitter off the applicator brush.

Steps to follow

1. Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
2. Put the GeoGard Ultra and 3 TADs of demineralized water into the first ramekin. Mix to dissolve the GeoGard Ultra. If it doesn’t fully dissolve, gently heat the ramekin in a pot containing a little water.
3. Place the guar gum in the second ramekin. Add 2 TADs of demineralized water. Mix with a teaspoon to disperse the gum.
4. Place the gum Arabic and the vegetable glycerin in a second teaspoon. Disperse the gum in the glycerin using a third teaspoon.
5. Add the contents of the first ramekin to the second ramekin. Mix with a spoon.
6. Add the contents of the spoon containing the gum Arabic and glycerin mixture. Mix using the spoon or the mini-mixer until the base is homogeneous.
7. Add the colourants for your desired shade to the ramekin, then mix well with the spoon until homogeneous.
8. Remove the black insert from each eyeliner tube, using the tip of a pair of scissors to pop it out if necessary.
9. Remove the white plunger from the dispensing syringe and cut the tip of the syringe on the diagonal with a pair of scissors. Put the plunger back into the syringe, push it all the way in, then draw in a little bit of air by pulling up the plunger, about 5 mm.
10. Place the diagonally cut tip of the syringe into the contents of the ramekin, fill the syringe, then dispense into the eyeliner tubes.

Use and conservation

Shake your homemade eyeliner well before each use and be sure to always screw the cap on fully when you’re done. This gel eyeliner may dry out if the cap is not fully closed.

When made in optimal sanitary conditions, it will keep for three months. Store away from heat and direct light.