DIY - Keeping it Simple!

It’s the holidays, you are drunk on Pinterest DIY beauty posts, you’ve never made anything before but you will not be discouraged. You are PUMPED about getting your DIY on! You have visions of your friends and family glowing with holiday bliss, shedding tears of happiness upon receiving your latest creation. Oh, the happiness and merriment you will bring to their lives!

(insert the sound of a record scratch)

Let’s pull it back, just a little. A little bit more. Okay, there you are, back to reality with the rest of us. There is nothing better than DIY skin care and DIY bath and body products. I love it! I love it so much I founded a company dedicated to teaching people on how to make their own products. And as alluring many DIY recipes may be, as a beginner it is best to keep it simple.

And with that said here are my thoughts.

KISS- Keep it Simple Sister! Keeping DIY simple means keeping it simple across the board. Keep your recipe simple. Keep your ingredients simple. Keep your packaging simple. Keep your financial investment simple.

Keep your recipe simple. Here at SSB I follow a simple rule, if I can’t formulate a professional and effective product using five ingredients or less, I’m doing something wrong. When choosing a recipe you want to look for recipes that have a short ingredient list. Another great tip is to make a dry product, like milk bath, scented salts, scented sugars, scented bath powders and bath teas. This will help with keeping your packaging simple.

Keep your ingredients simple. Avoid having to order ingredients from online stores (Amazon doesn’t count). Find recipes that use ingredients you have at home or are available at your local grocery store.

Keep your packaging simple. Every time someone mentions packaging my mind floods with images of decorated mason jars and mini burlap bags. Which is great if you like that country flair, but that’s not my style, not even a little bit. Options? Colored bags work great for dry products like milk baths and salts and they can be “decorated” with a hand-written note using a gold or silver metallic sharpie, custom stamp or labels. Foils or tissue paper with a little bit of ribbon works great for small bath bombs. Deli containers work really well for scrubs with oil, body butters, salves, thick lotions and creams.

Keep your financial investment simple. I know it’s the holidays, but this is not the time to buy $50 carrier oils, $200 essential oils and spend a ton of money on ridiculous packaging. You can create some really great products and spend an average $5 or less per person.

It really is that simple. Stay focused, have a plan and stick with it. And if this is your first time going DIY, I would like to welcome you on behalf of the entire DIY beauty community! We love it and we hope you do too. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or contact us via Facebook or Instagram.

Hugs and KISS(es)!

That’s all I got. For now.