How to Create Eyeshadow Out of Flower Pollen

Now that Spring has arrived inspiration is in full bloom! While doing a little Spring cleaning around my house I noticed that a few of my Easter Lily flowers were dying. Instead of throwing the whole plant away I decided to cut the stems off of all the withered flowers. Observing each flower bloom I noticed that the flower's pollen had remained intact and managed to stain the white petals surrounding it. The pollen powder resembled that of loose makeup pigment, so I thought to myself..."I wonder if I could actually use this or turn it into a sort of all natural eyeshadow? How cool would that be?" I stopped everything I was doing and let my inspiration grab a hold of me. I was determined to make it work! 

Using what I call "intuitive random thinking" I experimented using 4 different base primers in order to measure adherence, longevity and vibrancy: 1. Water, 2. Vasoline, 3. almond milk and 4. foundation primer (See images below for reference).

According to my study, water or Vasoline seemed to have the best results when mixed with the yellow pollen. For those of you who prefer a matte-finish, water is the best and only option. Using water as a base to hydrate the skin first picked up the most vibrancy of yellow pigment. It was also the longest lasting wearable option (lasting about 4 hrs) and adhered to my skin similar to that of normal eye shadow. Vasoline managed to create a unique dewy finish, but like all the other primer alternatives fell short when it came to vibrancy and longevity.

If you are allergic to pollen of any kind I wouldn't advise you trying this experiment on yourself. Also, results may vary per person seeing as though I did this experiment indoors in a cool and controlled enviorment. Had I added a little exercise or florida humidity to the mix, whose to say if I'd even have pollen eyeshadow at all after the first hour.

Overall, the concept is pretty cool for Spring and it's an inexpensive, all natural alternative to regular eye makeup. My 5 year old daughter loves rummaging through my makeup box and experimenting, so getting her involved in creating flower pollen eyeshadow is a better means to not having my makeup messed up. Also, the fun part about this is that you can also use any flower pollen you want to create this look. Pollen comes in all sorts of colors from yellow to black, so try it for yourself and see what results you end up with. Find your inspiration and share it with the world!

Here are the steps to creating this unique and all natural flower pollen eyeshadow look: 

STEP 1: Wash face or eye area of any oils and pat dry
STEP 2: Moisten your eyelids with a few dabs of water
STEP 3: With dry fingers pinch off some flower pollen and dab all over eye lid generously (add more pollen for better vibrancy).
STEP 4: Gently rub pollen pigment all over eyelid Step 5: Add little more water on your finger and smoothe out the excess powder around the eyelid


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