The Easiest Way To Make Custom Nail Polish Shades

If you're feeling a little crafty andhappen to be obsessed with manicures, I have the perfect weekend activity for you: A two ingredient DIY nail polish. It's a crazy simple (I swear) way to make yourself a custom shade and recycle old makeup you were about to toss anyway!

I've been doing a lot of traveling recently, and I found that the result of all the movement my makeup bag has been subject to was a few of my eyeshadow and blush palettes being shattered. I'm sure you've experienced it, too. Once you've used almost all of your favorite shade of eyeshadow or blush — you know, with the circle in the middle revealing the silver bottom of the compartment it's in — it's easy for bits to break off, and then it's quite hard to actually use the product as it's intended.

But isn't it a shame to have to throw out that otherwise perfectly good powdered shade? Well, you don't have to anymore; I've found an awesome second use for it. Chances are you really liked that color, so now you can transfer the shade that used to be reserved for your face onto your nails and resurrect that powder you were about to bury for good.

It's easy, fun, and only took me about an hour! Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

What you need: Clear nail polish, old powder eye shadow or blush, tweezers, plastic wrap, wet wipes, nail polish remover.

I bought a cheap clear nail polish, but you may already have some in your nail supplies. As you can see, the particular eye shadow compact I chose was completely ruined, which actually made the whole process a lot easier. You'll be using the tweezers to actually make the magic happen, and the plastic wrap is a great idea for easy clean-up as you're working with a very fine, light-weight substance that has the tendency to get everywhere! You'll need the wet wipes for wiping, of course, and a bit of nail polish remover poured into the container's lid will come in handy for the nail polish brush.

Step 2: Break Up Your Makeup

Using the tweezers, crush the broken bits until all you have is loose powder. My compact had been so shaken up, this step was basically already done for me. This will make mixing with the clear nail polish much easier.

Step 3: Take Care Of The Nail Polish Brush

Depending on how long the entire process takes you, your nail polish brush might dry out, and then you won't be able to actually use the polish you're making. Pour a bit of nail polish remover into the lid of the container and let your brush hang out in there to keep it moist while you continue the project.

Step 4: Put The Powder In

Using the tweezers, pick up some powder and gently dump into the bottle of clear nail polish. Tapping against the top of the bottle with your tweezers will release the powder, but much of it will fall in on its own. Don't worry if powder gets all over the ledge of the opening (and everywhere else!) — you'll wipe it off later.

You'll notice the powder will lay on top of the polish at first, but it will make its way to the bottom soon.

Step 5: Repeat Until You're Satisfied With The Shade

Continue to fill the bottle with the powder until the color is rich enough for your liking. You should see a big blob forming within the bottle that will fall to the bottom.

Step 6: Close Bottle And Shake It Up

Wipe off all the excess powder from the bottle using your wet wipe. Return the nail polish brush to the bottle and twist until closed. Lastly, shake up the bottle as shown in the video above. Tada! You've just made your own nail color.

Step 7: Paint Nails

Enjoy your new nail color, and marvel at the cool, new shade you did yourself! Now if you happen to buy the same eyeshadow or blush again, then you'll be able to perfectly match your makeup and nails. I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Images: Christie Drozdowski; tutorialvidsfromchristie/Instagram