Creating homemade cosmetics is a science which requires precision and accuracy. Although, many beauty product recipes call for ingredients in volume-based measurements, like cups and spoons, which is not always accurate. Instead of using measuring cups, you should be using a digital scale, which is much more accurate. It’s best to get a corded scale, as some of the battery-powered scales lead to inaccurate measurements. Also, it’s important to clean and calibrate your scale regularly so you can continue creating consistent products.
Key Takeaways:
Measuring cups are not always precise, so it may be best to use a digital scale for homemade cosmetic creations.
Calibrating digital scales regularly is important since the power supply can sometimes affect the reading.
Corded scales tend to be more accurate than battery scales, but tend to be less portable.
“If you get a new measuring cup or share the formula, for instance, the result may not be as favorable or consistent.”
One key to spectacular photographs is lighting. It doesn’t matter how great the camera, without proper lighting, the photo will turn out poorly. It’s important to understand the color temperature of the lighting, warmer colors tend to have an orange tint, while cooler colors showcase a blue tint. By learning your camera’s settings, you can maintain a proper white balance and create vibrantly colored photographs. To obtain light, you can obtain light boxes, utilize natural light, or even rent out a photography studio.
Key Takeaways:
No matter the camera quality, if the lighting is poor, the resulting picture will surely be poor.
Learning to tweak your camera’s white balance is essential to capturing bright and vibrant colors.
Natural light may be ideal for photography, but it’s limited, so it’s best for photographers to master the use of artificial light as well.
“Your camera is sensing how much light it is getting from the image and how much light is being reflected back into the camera.”
You may think that there is no sense in making your own soap. You can simply go to the drug store and having many different soaps to choose from right then and there. You probably also think that it has to be complicated or everybody would be making their own soaps and there wouldn’t be so many available at the store. This is false, however, because making soap is not as complicated as you think. It is a simple chemical reaction with lye, oils, and fragrances, and that’s about it.
Key Takeaways:
The four methods of home soap-making are cold process, hot process, melt and pour, and re-batching.
Melt and pour utilizes pre-made soap “base” to which you add fragrance and color.
Cold process is making soap from scratch, but requires working with lye.
“Soap is the result of a basic chemical reaction between fats or oils and lye. That’s it.”
Making soap is an age old process. Don’t be concerned about using lye in your soap, the reaction that takes place is for making the soap become soap and won’t have any reaction when using it on your skin. Be careful when mixing lye in your soap mixture, you will want to balance it out really well, if you do then you shouldn’t have a problem. Clay and charcoal soaps will not leave a reside and are excellent for cleansing the skin, especially on those with acne.
Key Takeaways:
Clay and charcoal are perfect for oily skin and do not leave residue.
A slow cooker, digital scale and stick blender are tools used in home soap-making.
Lye is used as a reagent in soap-making, but is caustic and needs to be handled carefully.
“Hot process creates a faster soap, and cold process often creates a smoother soap, though I’ve found both work great on my skin.”