DIY Fails & Forget Its

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I've been making beauty DIYs since I was around 3 years old, creating various lotions and potions, thanks to growing up in my Grandmother's beauty salon. One of my first was inventing my own lipstick, by mixing different shades together, something I think we all have done at some point. And while I feature over 100 DIYs here on the blog, not all of them have been winners. Today I'm sharing a few fails I had as a kid and some that you can forget about seeing on the blog. It's all in good fun! Enjoy.

Fails--

• White Out As Nail Polish--It looked like a disaster, but I say I was just ahead of the trend!

• Hair Gel: When I was little, I remember learning the importance of aloe, especially when it came to sunburns. But it was so sticky, like hair gel. Lightbulb moment! My bangs looked a hot mess after rubbing cut open aloe plants on them. 

• DIY Tan Enhancer: I grew up about 90 minutes from beaches in GA and FL, so I spent a lot of time there in the summer. I remember seeing commercials as a kid for Bain de Soleil, a self-tanner, and decided I could make one myself. What could possibly go wrong with Crisco, baby oil, vegetable oil, and perfume mixed together with tin foil to be used as a reflector? Let me put it to you this way: Crisco is used to fry chicken. Ouch! Now where's that aloe?

• Face Powder: Speaking of frying things, I knew that you threw powder, like cornstarch on a grease fire to stop it and absorb the grease. As a kid I overheard a customer at my Grandmother's salon talking about her teen daughter's oily skin and was worried about it for a pageant. My Grandmother used to do hair and makeup for beauty pageants occasionally back in the day. Well, I since I was about 8 and just knew my skin would turn oily (never did) that got me to thinking that I could make my own powder using cornstarch and baby powder mixed together. I remember putting it in my little play compact and applying it to my face. I looked like I was in 1500s. All I needed was a powdered wig.

• Skin Whitener: In third grade, it was pointed out to me that I had freckles. I desperately wanted to get rid of them (sometimes they still bother me and remind me of all of the sun damage). I had read Judy Blume's Freckle Juice a few years prior, and knew lemons didn't work to get rid of them. Instead, I applied white shoe polish to my face and left it on there to dry. Nothing (thankfully) ever happened.

• Teeth Whitener: I was 4 years old when I "created" this. I saw a commercial for whitening toothpaste for smokers (this was the 80s) and had to make my own using Comet cleansing powder (used to clean stubborn dishes) to give to family members who smoked. I tested it on my 3 year old sister (unbeknownst to her and obviously a non-smoker) a few times and observed the results. She was totally onto me and thankfully never got sick from the chemicals.

• DIY Clarisonic: When these hit the market, I thought it was a gimmick and decided to make my own. I took a face brush, attached it to a battery-powered toothbrush and tried it. Nope. Total fail.

Forget Its--

• Bubble Bars: There are a lot of beauty products that I make and just don't share on here. Why not? Because I believe in keeping my tutorials as simple and as easy as possible. I totally keep lauryl sulfate on hand, but I'm guessing most don't.

• Solid Brush Cleaner: This is another case of something I make that it is just easier and cheaper for others to buy. For example, I make a solid lip scrub, that is 2 ingredients only, and I get complaints that it's too much work. So yeah, I feel totally silly telling you that I make my own soap and solid brush cleansers (kind of like soap...you can read about my faves here).

• Perm: When I was around 3 or 4, I decided my youngest sister needed a perm to make her straight hair curly. I had seen my Grandmother do it hundreds of times. You wet the hair, rolled it with perm rods and end papers, wrapped cotton around the crown of the head to protect the hairline, added a stinky concoction on top, and then wrapped the rolled hair in a plastic bag. Wait a few minutes and boom, a perm! 
• I set up my salon under the table because I needed room and we were too little to sit at the dining room table unassisted. I wet my little sister's hair. I rolled it using pink sponge rollers. I invented my own perm lotion by mixing every hair product I could find and put it on her hair. The only thing missing was the plastic bag so I improvised by using a huge plastic trash bag. Only it wouldn't stay around her head, so I tied it around her neck. My sis was totally fine with this.
• Needless to say, my parents thought I was trying to smother my sister and I got a whipping! BUT! My sister's straight hair eventually turned curly...just saying! ;)

What are your beauty fails?

Extra Elle:

• Spent the entire weekend washing everything to see if it helped with allergies. I even bought a new vacuum and then felt gross after seeing what all it picked up. I had just vacuumed the day before! Charlie still woke up at 4am this morning sneezing.
• I saw the movie SPY this weekend. It was HILARIOUS! How was your weekend?