Beauty is no stranger to the “make-your-own” movement, an extension of “Do It Yourself” (DIY) culture.

The Maker Faire is a “family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulnessthat is hosted annually in cities across the world. People throughout the tri-state area made their way to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York in 2013 to see and participate in the DIY festivities, according to The Verge, an online news source covering technology, science, art, and culture.

The Verge reported that maker culture is about empowerment; makers value skill over money, building over buying, and creation over consumption.

DIY ideas range from creating a desk out of two small bookshelves and a table top, using Washi tape to colorfully decorate a dorm room, setting up a backyard movie theater using a large cardboard box, duct tape and a Fresnel lens, to something as simple as designing your own T-Shirt. DIY is mostly a hands on experience that extends into many facets life including beauty.

There are a ton of DIY beauty blogs online that allow people to show off their handmade soap and body scrubs, sea salt sprays, lotions, facial masks and creams, hair shampoo, deodorant, and lip balms, among many other beauty products.

“My entire do-it-yourself obsession started with lip balm,” said Megan Reardon, a Seattle, Washington based blogger who gives readers a tutorial on how to make their own on her blog “Not Martha.”

Reardon used a lip balm recipe from Majestic Mountain Sage, a cosmetic and soap supply store which provides other recipes.

“There are so many kinds of lip balm out there, but it can be hard to find just the right one,” said Kristen Appenbrink, a contributor for Brit+Co, the leading digital community for creative living and doing. “What’s the solution? Make your own, of course! It’s surprisingly simple to whip up a batch of lip balm or tinted gloss that’s perfectly customized to your…taste.”

Appenbrink presented different varieties of the lip moisturizer in “13 Deliciously Simple DIY Lip Balms.”  Some include coconut rose, coconut and tea tree oil, peppermint, hemp and honey, and mint chocolate. People use lip pots, empty Altoid containers, and even bottle caps to use as containers.

Many individuals create their own beauty products for a variety of reasons; to be creative, to know what kind of ingredients are going into the cosmetics they are using or experience making their own products.

Creating DIY beauty lip balm or lotion could be a fun project or a business start-up opportunity for students during the summer.