Fake Makeup for Christmas

Gabby wanted makeup for Christmas. It was on her Christmas List for Santa and everything. But you are CRAZY if you think I'm giving my 5yr old makeup!

 Enter Pinterest :)

I found some ideas of using old makeup containers and filling them with nail polish to make them fun. Well, we have a lot of nail polish! So I asked on facebook if any of my local friends had any old makeup containers they would be willing to donate, and I was FLOORED by the response. THANK YOU, you know who you are :D

I realized I wanted more variety of color, so I headed to good ol' Dollarama to get some more cheap nail polish. I found a box of 6 for $3 - 50cents/color, I figured that was pretty decent. I also hit up the local Sally's Beauty supply for some Nail polish thinner to make it all go even further. That also helped with a lot of my older bottles that were almost empty or drying out. 

I ended up with quite a few empty bottles of nail polish. So while I watched a movie after the girls were in bed, I rolled the bottles with the lids off so that a little bit of color would evenly coat the sides of the bottle and dry that way, so the bottles would LOOK full, but actually be empty. I soaked the brushes in nail polish remover and washed them by hand with dish soap. Fake Nail Polish. :D

There were lots of little cases and bags that got donated. My girls love intricate things like this - little zippers, little containers, lots of LITTLE things to look at and play with. Keeps 'em busy :)

As I was doing this, I was nearing the end of a tube of Mascara. So I emptied it out and let it dry.

Or so I thought :) It turns out, Mascara tubes are crazy difficult to clean. Every time the girls came upstairs, they had black smudges all around their eyes. So I told them that "The Elves" hadn't done a very good job (this was Gabby's Santa gift) and that I would finish. It took about 2 more weeks of me adding soapy water and shaking the tube vigorously and rinsing before black stopped coming out. But, this is one of her favorite parts.

Lots of work, but come Christmas morning, Gabby's reaction was totally worth it. Such an excited little girl. And there was a ton of "makeup" to play with, which made sharing easy.

Did I mention this really cool fancy-looking mirror that I found at Dollarama for $3? I LOVE Dollarama. This added the extra sparkle. It's totally plastic instead of metal (I think the mirror is still glass) but because Gabby knows it is Glass, she is extra careful with it. And it isn't heavy.