Naturally.... beetroot blusher and cornstarch foundation

If you’re vegan or vegetarian or simply health-conscious and keen on keeping ingredients few and friendly, it’s no longer too difficult to find suitable skincare ranges, but finding decent make-up to match can prove more of a challenge.

You can end up spending a whole lot of time trying to track down a shop that sells a product you want, and buying online without testing a product first is risky business. This would make you wonder about throwing on an apron and whipping up a few yourself.

I’m not much of DIYer, but I decided to give homemade make-up a go to find out if it’s really worth the effort countless bloggers would have you believe. Spoiler alert: it’s not.

I decided to start with the basics: a foundation powder and blush.

Google 'DIY makeup' and you'll find several recipes for base powder, but they're all more or less the same. They tell you to start with a base of arrowroot or corn flour (aka corn starch). From there you add one or a combination of cocoa powder, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg, depending on your skin tone.

Some recipes suggest adding a few drops of essential oil – like olive, jojoba, almond, lavender – to make the powder more compact or to add a touch of fragrance.

This sounded promising. It calls for very few ingredients, most of which I already had in my kitchen cupboard, and you simply throw them all into a jar, mix and voila – a make-up staple that costs a fraction of its beauty counter equivalent.

I unscrewed the lid from the sizeable jar of arrowroot powder and stared at its contents. Two seconds after I had determined that this very fine, very loose, very pale white powder would make a right mess if spilled, I dropped it.

With my this-will-be-a-breeze enthusiasm slightly dashed and the vacuum shoved back into its closet, I carried on with adding pinch after pinch of the other ingredients. When it reached a pale shade of dirty peach, I grabbed a brush and applied it like mineral make-up.

The result? A firm and resounding ‘meh’. More of the powder seemed to disperse into the air than stick to my face, coverage was lighter than light and it appeared blotchy on my nose and forehead.

I tried this out again with corn flour, which I managed to spill into my shoe, and the results were just as underwhelming.

And adding an oil just turned it into a dark paste that looked more like Manuka honey than any kind of make-up. Maybe I’d have more luck with the blush.

The red in red lipsticks and blush tends to be carmine or ‘natural red 4’, a dye made from crushed cochineal insects. A vegan/veggie-friendly alternative for homemade cosmetics is beetroot.

You can make your own beetroot powder by dehydrating thinly sliced beets and crushing them up, or you can do what I did: pop down to your local healthfood store and pick up a bag of beetroot powder.

I poured some into a jar, swished my brush around, tapped off excess beet and brushed it onto my cheeks. I think this was even more disappointing than my previous experiments.

The powder didn’t really stick, it appeared uneven and felt grainy to touch.

And it went everywhere; my clothes and collarbone were covered with the stuff, and when I cleaned my ears the next day, the cotton bud turned pink.

Cinnamon and beetroot, or at least beetroot powder, simply aren’t meant for your face. The former can even irritate the skin.

If you do want vegan/vegetarian/ethical/natural cosmetics, it’s worth chancing an online purchase.

For a full range of great natural products, check out Lily Lolo (lilylolo.co.uk), Jane Iredale (janeiredale.com), Inika (inika.co.uk) and PHB Ethical Beauty (phbethicalbeauty.co.uk).

I haven’t tossed the apron out with that god-awful blush, I’ve simply hung it up for now. I’ve heard good things about homemade beetroot lip and cheek tint.

One for another day, when the beetroot powder has finally worked its way out of my ears. kharris@irishtimes.com