Chelsea has discovered the secret to making makeup you actually want to wear. 

I’ve always been interested in natural makeup, and makeup in general. With lots of colours and creativity to be had, what’s not to love?

Well, for a start, there’s finding a foundation that matches your skin tone. For me, it’s always an ordeal that involves a crowded shopping mall, unflattering neon lights, and a tiny circular mirror which is invariably too high up. Even when you think you’ve finally found the perfect shade to spend the rest of your face-life with, the seasons change and so does your skin tone. Extremely inconsiderate, and frankly quite hurtful.

It’s not like I’m asking for a lot. I just want makeup that’s affordable, cruelty-free and matches my face. And yet it’s amazing how little I’ve found that delivers on all three things.

The old recipes were disappointing

A few years ago I dabbled in making my own. I’ve been making my own natural skin care products for most of my adult life – it comes with the territory of being the daughter of Go Native’s founder, Elinor – but the idea of making makeup always intimidated me, like it was a big cosmetic company secret I wasn’t allowed in on.

Back then, the recipes were very rudimentary. They centred around arrowroot and clays, tinted with stuff from the food cupboard, like cocoa powder, cinnamon, and beetroot juice. Sure, maybe that’s how they did it in the old days, but did anyone really love smelling like meringue?

The resulting products failed to live up to the hype. The colours would fade, the powders would cake. I filed the idea of natural makeup in the “tried it, didn’t work”, section of my brain, and moved on.

The new recipes are incredible!

That’s until a few months ago, when I came across a book called Make it Up by Marie Rayma, of the excellent Humblebee & Me blog. It changed everything. I gathered all the supplies needed and went about experimenting with Marie’s recipes.

And….THEY’RE. SO. GREAT!

The coverage and staying-power of products is so impressive. I managed to make a foundation that matches my skin tone exactly and can tweak it as we move into winter.


Pictured: pressed powders, lipstick making, Chelsea's first handmade lipstick. 

I’ve had fun playing with colour and learning what all the ingredients do (most of which I’d never heard of). I’ve not worn any store-bought foundation since I made my first batch, and I’ve never had more lipstick colour options.

Now you can make your own natural makeup too!

Months of experimentation have led to this very exciting announcement…

We’re launching a “Makeup” section of Go Native!

We’ve taken time to source the very best ingredients, making sure they’re all palm oil-free, vegan and cruelty-free. We’ve got all the equipment you’ll need, plus Marie’s book Make It Up, which I highly, HIGHLY recommend. It’s what started all of this after all.

We’re not going to publish any of the recipes from her book online because they’re not ours to publish, but I will share my own basic recipes for foundation, eye shadow, and lipstick. I’m no Marie, however, so if you want to go all in, get the book, which has loads of variants and other products. Check out her website humblebeeandme.com while you’re at it.

What we’ve got:

• A makeup equipment starter kit including Make It Up (also available on its own) and all the equipment that you need to get started
• Pre-made base packs for foundation, eye shadow, and lipstick so you can experiment, play with pigment and tailor makeup to your needs. The first of which is our DIY lipstick pack which you can find HERE
• And of course we have all of the raw ingredients for sale too, so you can make it all from scratch. Which you can find HERE

I’m excited to be at the beginning of my cosmetics-making journey, and I’d love you to go on it with me.

If you have questions, just ask (chelsea@gonative.co.nz). If I don’t know the answers, I won’t lie and pretend I do, BUT I will try and find out so we can all learn together.


Follow us on instagram to watch our makeup journey unfold!