This homemade setting spray is non-toxic, cheap, and uses only a few natural ingredients!
Do you want your makeup to stay put all day but don’t have a good setting spray on hand? Or do you want to avoid your setting spray that’s full of toxic chemicals? This easy DIY makeup setting spray will keep your face looking fresh while nourishing your skin at the same time!
All it takes is a few ingredients you likely have around the house to make the best DIY makeup setting spray. And if you don’t have them, they’re just a quick grocery trip away! But how do we know that it works?
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Does DIY Setting Spray Work?
Of course! And I’ve got the pictures to prove it further down in this article. The best part is that I was able to successfully make my makeup stay in place with just a few natural ingredients, unlike most brands out there.
I usually don’t bother to make my own makeup, but this one is too easy not to try out. Plus, this homemade setting spray will actually moisturize your skin, unlike other setting sprays that will irritate it.
While there are some very successful makeup products that we all know and love, almost all of them pose major hazards to our health. What people don’t know is there are little to no guidelines on what companies can and cannot put in their products.
As a result, most companies put in whatever ingredients they want, so long as it achieves desired results. These common ingredients can be found in just about any makeup product, and it’s scary! They’ve all been linked to cancer spikes, organ disruption, and infertility.
Once you learn the truth about your favorite companies, it can be horrible to think of all the things you’re putting in your body! But don’t feel bad, because you didn’t know.
Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to your health. And you deserve to be an informed consumer!
For this reason I choose to make or buy products that are chemical-free and non-toxic. You can get your feet wet with chemical-free products with my Think Dirty App Review. Or educate yourself on a sneaky marketing tactic called greenwashing.
There’s something for everyone in the clean beauty community! You can go as crazy or as minimal as you want with your lifestyle.
If you buy products that are a better alternative even by a little bit, you’re saving your health. And if you’re able to make absolutely everything, then more power to you! I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, so I’m also a little bit jealous.
Can You Make Your Own Makeup Setting Spray?
You’re going to combine a total of four ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up and spray. That’s it!
And like I said earlier, this DIY makeup setting spray recipe is pulling all the stops, so you don’t have to add everything in this list to your own DIY setting spray.
Did you know that most skincare products are very easy to make with just a few ingredients? Check out my free checklist below to see what I’m talking about.
If you want to give DIY beauty a try, this checklist is a must! Every clean beauty guru has these things in their cabinet, and it saves a ton of money. You just have to buy a few bulk items that can last you years.
We’ll be using a few items from this checklist for this recipe. And that’s what I love about clean beauty. You just need a few versatile ingredients!
Think I’m crazy? You can even make your own makeup cleaning solution to make sure that your makeup brushes don’t leave behind any bacteria on your face and cause breakouts. But don’t worry, this setting spray can help with that too.
You can also try a DIY makeup setting spray with essential oils depending on what you want to do with your skin. If you want extra moisture and some relaxation for your skin, go with lavender. Or you can go with tea tree if you suffer from breakouts.
I can’t recommend REVIVE Essential Oils enough for all of my DIY skin care needs! Their oils are of the highest quality, with the best prices I’ve found! Plus, they have everything from singles to blends to roll-ons. Check out my review of REVIVE here to learn more.
And you can save 10% on your first order! Just use my code ESSENTIAL10 for 10% off your first order. Or 15% off if you buy $100 or more 🙂
What is the Main Ingredient in Makeup Setting Spray?
While there are a few base ingredients, you can use just one or two of these things if you’re in a pinch. But there is one ingredient I’d recommend you not skip out on.
Vegetable glycerin is used in natural beauty quite a bit because it nourishes your skin and keeps it moisturized. It also acts as a barrier for your skin, which makes it the main makeup-setting ingredient.
Rosewater is very similar, but it’s much more lightweight. Plus it smells amazing! I wouldn’t use it alone as a makeup setting spray, but it adds some great scent and evens out your skin tone.
Aloe vera gel is another great DIY setting spray component to keep your skin extra soothed and moisturized. Not to mention that aloe vera will help strengthen that barrier between your skin and the outside world.
Lastly, there’s witch hazel. It’s a great natural astringent, so it helps to keep any extra oils at bay without drying out your skin. It’s a great alternative to rubbing alcohol because it will definitely irritate your skin as it dries it out.
For this reason, I don’t recommend you try a DIY setting spray with alcohol. Especially if you have naturally dry skin to begin with.
DIY Makeup Setting Spray
This DIY makeup setting spray uses only a few natural ingredients. Plus, it's super cheap and easy to make!
Materials
Instructions
1. Use the funnel to combine all ingredients in your spray bottle.
2. When you're ready to use, just give it a good shake and spray! Keep your eyes closed and don't open them for a minute or so until the spray completely dries.
3. Feel free to put on a few more layers if you really don't want your makeup to budge. Once everything is dry, you’re good to go!
Notes
You don't have to use all of these ingredients to make a great DIY setting spray! I would use the vegetable glycerin and witch hazel as a base and add ingredients from there if you want to keep it simple.
It Takes Several Ingredients to Make a Great DIY Makeup Setting Spray
In all honesty, you could do a DIY makeup setting spray with just one or two of these ingredients, but I want to make sure that it gets the job done!
One common mistake people new to clean beauty make is they assume that one natural ingredient will be just as effective as their chemical-laden beauty product. But when that idea flops, the idea of switching to clean beauty loses some of its credibility.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of products that you can make from using just one or two ingredients, but others…not so much. If you want to get the same kind of results given to you from products that were sabotaging your health, you’ve got to think outside the box.
It’s always best to put all the power of several ingredients together to create one powerful natural product. Except with essential oils. Those are already too potent to be used on their own. And you should always exercise essential oil safety! But in cases like this, it’s sometimes best to simply pull out all the stops as long as they’re diluted.
Let’s Test Out this Makeup Setting Spray!
I didn’t just want to make this post without giving this DIY makeup setting spray the ultimate test! And that test just happened to be my winter ballet performance.
On recital days, I would dance for about 4 hours including prep and stage time. I obviously don’t wear makeup for the prep time, but I am dripping when it comes to stage time! You can take a look at all the natural makeup products I use for performances if you’re curious.
So this test is the equivalent of me wearing a full face of makeup while doing hot yoga. Or, you know, whatever makes a person incredibly hot and sweaty for a couple of hours.
This full face of makeup is usually on for a good three to four hours, depending on how I’m feeling after the performance. I’m usually too tired to take it off right after I finish.
The Before
Here’s my unfiltered face without makeup, gasp! Not too sure why I was making this face.
And here’s all of my makeup applied and ready to go! It’s weird how much makeup can change a person.
The Results
I quickly misted my DIY makeup setting spray after I finished applying my stage makeup and went about the rest of my performance. This involved leading warm-ups for the whole school, so I really had to be on my A-game for the younger dancers.
My warmup involved a typical ballet class with added cardio, stretching, and ab work. I was definitely dripping by the end of it!
Then came the calm before the storm, where I waited to go onstage. I usually like to watch from the wings while keeping myself warm with some light stretching. You can check out my daily stretching routine to get more flexible.
After warm-ups, four dances, curtain call, and lots of excitement, here’s the end result!
The differences I want to mention here are that my friend put blush on me right before we went on, so that’s why my cheeks are red. And my face is much more tan than before, partially due to lighting and my foundation getting darker as my skin gets warmer.
This picture reminds me that I should always blend my foundation into my neck. Despite my rookie makeup errors, everything stayed put!
There was no smudging, dripping, caking, nothing. I was very pleased I didn’t have to borrow anyone’s extreme-strength makeup setting spray.
My friends even complimented me on the way it smelled when I sprayed it, and now they want bottles of their own! I asked people what they thought of my makeup afterward, and they were very impressed with how well it stayed during the performance.
Can You Use Water as Setting Spray?
Nope, unless you want all that hard work you did on your makeup to smudge and slide off. Seriously, using water for setting spray will do absolutely nothing for your skin or your makeup’s ability to stay perfectly on your face all day long.
The purpose of this homemade setting spray is to create a barrier between your skin and the outside world. Water will absorb slightly into your skin, but the majority of it will evaporate away.
That’s why you need ingredients like glycerin and aloe vera gel!
Final Thoughts on This DIY Makeup Setting Spray!
If this DIY makeup setting spray can make it through my recital, then it can get you through your day! I certainly don’t wear this much makeup, hence the rookie mistakes with application.
But now I have yet another simple DIY that I can rely on when I need industrial strength performance. This proves that you can switch to clean beauty and not compromise your products and what you love!
It just takes some learning and adjusting. Then you’ll be ready to start switching out your old hazardous products with new ones that will actually help your health, instead of hindering it.
Have you tried DIY makeup setting spray? Let me know in the comments below!