Have you ever thought about making your own skin care products from scratch? Before you think that it requires an advanced scientific degree and a laboratory – think again. With just your kitchen and the right ingredients you could be able to create your own organic, natural and vegan products in the comfort of your home, at affordable prices too.

Conny Oberrauter, founder of The Cosmetics Chef, says there are many pros to making your own products. She shares four things you may not have known about making your own skincare.

You control the efficacy

“There are so many pros to making your own products, but for me, one of the best things about it is that I could add the right number of actives to make the product really work. Cosmetics can be little miracles in a bottle,” she says.

You know exactly what your product contains

“Many beauty brands will make claims about ingredients to stand out on the shelf; however, the reality is that there are actually minute amounts of the active ingredients (the ingredients that are added to actively treat a specific concern such as vitamin C) in the product. When you read ‘enriched with…’ on a product, this usually means there’s only a tiny droplet of that active ingredient in it. It’s no wonder then that the product doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.”

It’s easier on your pocket

“Active ingredients are expensive and the reason for brands adding as little as possible in them is to keep the costs down. When you make your own though, you can add as much as you like.

“Plus, you buy ingredients at cost, without extra margins, profit and marketing expenses big brands need to weigh in and add onto their prices.”

Preservers are vital to keeping your product safe

“They make your product safe and prolong its shelf life, so you’re not going to get funny diseases from your product or things grown on it. “Especially when we make natural products, you are giving so much food for the different micro organisms, it’s a paradise for them, so the preserver is really key, you only need a little bit of it and it is totally safe.”

For easy to make recipes, see The Cosmetics Chef