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"  I have been asked the question &amp;quot;What three things would you take to a desert island?&amp;quot; a few times in my life- nearly always as part of an Ice Breaker work thing. I&amp;#039;ve never told the truth.  I&amp;#039;ve always aimed for the perfect trio- something that makes me sound both down to earth but also revealing of my deep and noble character. (A sack of potatoes, Dalai Lama&amp;#039;s Book of Wisdom etc.) In actual fact, if I were to be honest, for most of my life the answers would have been; mascara, another bottle of mascara, and a third bottle, just to be sure.  I got into mascara early- at the age of 12 I was using clear mascara as a way of adding zing to my long but anemically pale eyelashes. It was also a way of getting sent home from my strict school. Before long I had switched schools and graduated to the Big Guns- Maybelline&amp;#039;s Waterproof Volume Express. I would flagrantly cake it on everyday, layer upon previous day&amp;#039;s layer. My eyelashes were black as coal and thicker than twigs and I loved them that way. Somewhere along the way I became less reliant on it. (My top three desert island list now involves chocolate, coffee and a boxset of Modern Family.) I learnt to love my eyes with or without mascara. When I don&amp;#039;t wear it people tell me that I look &amp;quot;tired&amp;quot; (I know they really mean &amp;quot;awful&amp;quot;) but I still am okay rocking the pallid eyeball look.  I make a lot of health and beauty products from my kitchen but DIY mascara has always seemed extreme and daunting. Perhaps it is because eyes seem so fragile in their watery vestibules. Perhaps it is because if it goes wrong you are trapped at a party looking like you have been socked in the face by both Sooty and Sweep.  Whatever the reasons, I have now decided it is worth a crack. If eyes are delicate than we should be more aware of what we are smothering them in, shouldn&amp;#039;t we? And, being stuck at a party with panda eyes is nothing compared to being stuck on a desert island with the Dalai Lama&amp;#039;s Book of Wisdom and a sack of potatoes.   Homemade, natural mascara Google hooked me up with a few DIY recipes. I felt pretty confident about one involving activated charcoal, aloe vera (Hello, Vera!), coconut oil and bees wax. I use coconut oil for EVERYTHING so this seemed like a winner. However, after following all the instructions it began to separate and what I was left with was a waxy lump that stubbornly refused to stick to my lashes. I did a bit more of an internet search and found one that used a few different clays, which made me wonder about pulling out the bentonite clay I had in my cupboard. I had bought a little pot for a fiver because apparently it is good for all sorts of things. Turns out it makes an uncannily good base for mascara too. Here is what I ended up finding satisfactory:    Recipe: 3 teaspoons of hydrated bentonite clay (get a pot from a health shop and use it for all sorts) 9 capsules of active charcoal (buy in health shops, most commonly used for stomach upsets) 1 \u00BD teaspoons of plant-based glycerine (available from, you guessed it, health shops and a really good ingredient for homemade cosmetics) Mix it all up with a spoon, smooth it out with the back of the spoon, and put into your empty mascara container. (Via an icing piping tool or simply the corner of a plastic bag with a tiny whole cut into it.) Put it on your lashes. Don&amp;#039;t rub your eyes or cry or get caught in the rain.   Verdict: I like its thick consistency, if I&amp;#039;m going to bother to wear mascara I want to know about it. The glycerine helped it to stay smooth, although I didn&amp;#039;t quite get the chewy consistency of normal mascara.  It isn&amp;#039;t rub proof- mind you, neither is my very expensive eco brand of mascara. See the rub test pictures!  It does crumble off when picked, but I have worn it all day today and have managed not to touch my eyes and it is still looking FINE. Take a look at the photos to compare my homemade one on the left, with the expensive eco brand on the right.  Will I use this in the future? Once my very expensive tube of eco mascara runs out I will almost certainly start using this. However I might splash out on a brand new empty mascara container as my homemade toothbrush and ex-food colouring bottle was probably a step too cheapskate. I might also spend some time experimenting with a dash of beeswax to achieve the elusive tar-like texture that I love so.  If you want to know what your dabbing around your eyeballs and you want to save a few pence, I give DIY mascara a thumbs up! But I&amp;#039;ll survive without it on my island, thanks. Lucy hasn&amp;#039;t washed her hair in two and a half years! Read about her experience here... "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/beauty-hair/makeup/how-to/a29613/homemade-diy-mascara/>