I knew it was possible to make a cake mascara without soap, but never had a reason to try until this spring. It’s beautiful here in Sydney, now on the first day of summer. The Jacarandas are in full purple canopy, and the air smells of jasmine. I don’t know which beautiful flowering tree to blame for my sneezing, watery eyes. The soap in my cake mascara was stinging me when I’d rub my itchy eyes. Even though I have been using the soap based mascara formula for years without issue, I had to stop wearing it.
Anyway…I’m smiling again, because I made a waste free mascara without soap that works great.
I used very similar ingredients to my last cake mascara formulation, minus the soap, I’ll credit my years of tinkering with all sorts of personal care formulas for helping me develop a sense of what would work. I’m not saying there isn’t yet a better way, just that this worked for me.
How to make soap-free cake mascara
Here’s what I used to make a soap-free zero waste cake mascara:
- 3g charcoal powder
- 3g bentonite clay
- 1g beeswax
- 1g shea butter
- 1g vitamin e oil
I measured each ingredient one by one in the same jar I used to melt the ingredients, then tared after adding each ingredient.
The method is the same process as in the older soap-based cake mascara recipe:
- put everything in a heat proof glass container.
- place the jar it in a saucepan of simmering water to melt, stir to combine once melted.
- Pour into a clean shallow mould or old makeup container and it’ll set within a minute.
I used an old MAC bronzer case, which I like for the width and the mirror. It’s easy to rub the wand into the cake. I apply to lashes by wetting the mascara wand then rubbing the brush into the cake to moisten. I use more water for this formula than my soap based recipe.
This mascara has lighter, dryer texture on the lashes than the soap based version and because there’s no soap in it I can shimmy the brush closer to my eyelid for a thicker overall look. Once on, it doesn’t move around. At the end of the day, it comes off with my usual few drops of oil.
I’ll use up the rest of my soap based mascara when allergy season has passed, but this is a great alternative and recipe I’ll probably use from here out. I had all of the ingredients on hand already, but if I didn’t, there are now shops in Sydney where you can find them for refill and buy only what you need.