I decided to experiment with making DIY natural eye makeup remover out of pure necessity. I was just about to run out of the name brand natural-ish eye makeup remover and thought the $20 price tag attached to it could be better invested in buying some Castile soap, which I could use to make many other homemade products in the future.
Actually, I only invest $13 in the castile soap, that is in a 32 ounce size. I found that Dr. Wood’s Castile Soap works just as nicely as the Dr. Bronner’s brand, and it costs about the same price for twice the amount of soap.
DIY Natural Eye Makeup Remover
Ingredients:
- 1 T solid coconut oil
- 1 tsp. unscented baby Castile soap
- 3/4 very hot water
- 4 drop lavender essential oil (optional)
- 40 cotton pads
- storage container
Directions:
- Place cotton pads in your storage container.
- Melt coconut oil.
- Mix essential oil in to coconut oil, if desired.
- Mix soap into oil mixture.
- Mix soap and oil mixture into the hot water, stirring carefully.
- Immediately, pour the mixture on top of the cotton pads. Don’t allow the mixture to start to separate before pouring.
Use as needed to remove eye makeup.
You’ll want to keep the lid on these when storing them so they don’t dry out.
I know our readers at Northern Cheapskate like to know just how much money it saves them, so I did a little math using the ingredients I used (not including the essential oil).
You can buy eye makeup remover at the Dollar Tree for a 30-pack for $1, obviously, but there were so many ingredients listed I had never heard of I wasn’t interested in trying them.
Instead I bought an 80-pack of cotton pads (only used half), and a 3-pack of small (12-oz size) storage containers (only used one that will get reused over and over) and 7-cents of Dr. Woods Castile soap and 18-cents of coconut oil (from Aldi’s).
If you are adding that up, it cost me $1.09 to make 40 eye makeup remover pads, which is .027-cents per pad including the purchase of a container (compared to .033-cents per pad for the 30 pack), but when you reuse that container or start out with a container you already own (a jam jar might work nicely), you bring it down to 75-cents for 40 pads or .018-cents per pad which is now close to half the price per makeup remover pads than what you can buy at the Dollar Tree. These DIY eye makeup remover pads work great and you know exactly what ingredients are in the pads!
I have seen ideas where people used thick paper towels that they cut up in to squares instead of the cotton swab pads to help cut the cost even further. This might be something I try in the future, but I think I am pretty happy with what I came up to use here.
If you are debating on purchasing essential oils to use in this recipe, here are some other posts about things you can make that use essential oils:
- DIY Glycerin Soap
- 5 DIY Natural Health and Beauty Products Using Essential Oils
- DIY Green Tea and Sweet Orange Sugar Scrub
- Green Up Your At-Home Mani-Pedi
- Homemade Natural Insect Repellent
Note: This post contains affiliate links that help support this blog at no additional cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy for more info.
Melissa Rohlfs says
September 20, 2016 at 11:31 amGreat post! I can wait to try this. I’m very particular about my hair and skin products and they tend to be expensive . I was scraping out the dredges of fave scalp-soothing balm. It calms and nourishes my itchy scalp and moisturizes my dry hair. Rather than recycle the bottle, I decided to make my own with ingredients I had on hand. Some olive oil + tree oil. I’ve been using it for week now.My scalp and hair look great. Added bonus is no overpowering fragrances, which always irritate my hubby and kiddo.
Jessica says
September 21, 2016 at 10:47 amI have yet to try making my own shampoo. I only shampoo once a week as it is because it is so drying on my naturally curly hair, but this would be good to tr. I have read about using shampoos with tea tree oil in it for kids to ward off lice that goes through the schools. Yuck. Anyways, lice are not supposed to like tea tree oil. I am all for trying out homemade natural products!
Vyjay says
September 20, 2016 at 11:56 pmMost times natural ingredients are more cost effective and also less harmful to the skin. This is because of the absence of chemicals..
Jessica says
September 21, 2016 at 11:32 amAnd this one takes hardly anytime to make too, certainly shorter than running to a store to buy it.
Julie says
September 21, 2016 at 5:02 pmI think I might try this without the essential oil as I don’t have any but I have the other ingredients and I think it would work just fine without it. I like the idea of making my own beauty products.
Jessica says
September 22, 2016 at 10:27 amI am sure it will work just fine. The main things is having the soap on coconut oil to get the makeup to remove easily.
Clara says
September 21, 2016 at 7:36 pmThis is a great recipe for eye makeup remover. I’m using Dr. Wood’s African soap right now and I love it.
Jessica says
September 22, 2016 at 10:26 amWhat do you use the African soap for? Just as regular soap?
Rose Ann Sales says
September 22, 2016 at 1:56 amWow, I never thought I can do it myself. I am so excited to make my own makeup remover!
Jessica Shallow-Miller says
September 22, 2016 at 10:41 amDefinitely give it a try
pamela ap says
September 26, 2017 at 3:12 pmA recent skin issue prompted me to look for a quality facial cleanser with only natural ingredients (no chemicals). I went with the Made from Earth Green Tea Cleanser because it removes makeup (including eye) without irritating my eyes. My face is clean and smooth, no taunt feeling. As stated, only a small amount of cleanser is required. The scent is fresh, spa like botanical.