Welcome to Humblebee & Me!
I’m Marie—the “me” in Humblebee & Me. I love to make things—cosmetics, soaps, lotions, lip balms, and most of all… messes. I’m on a journey to ditch shop bought body products and cosmetics and swap them for homemade, high quality, natural alternatives. I post new recipes twice a week (every Monday and Thursday), and I’ve already got over 850 recipes up here for you to look at, plus an FAQ and an Encyclopedia. I’d love it if you DIYed with me!
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Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash
If you like washing up enveloped in big poufs of fluffy lather, prepare to fall in love. Back when I published my Gentle Chamomile Facial Cleanser recipe, Laura asked about using it in a foamer bottle sans the thickener, and then reported back and said it worked like...
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Green Tea Face Cream
Rich in antioxidants and all kinds of fresh and citrussy, this face cream is rather brilliant for summer. It’s got a thick, almost balm-like consistency, but it spreads over the skin beautifully in a thin, fast-absorbing layer that you wouldn’t typically...
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Seaside Emulsified Salt Scrub
I’ve shared a couple emulsified sugar scrubs lately, and in the comments of one of them, Penny asked about salt. Something about her skin loving salt in scrubs, and how perhaps I should try it. Hmmm. Once I started thinking about salt, that quickly led to sea...
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A Quick Guide to Cetyl Alcohol & Liquid Oil Ratios
Cetyl alcohol is pretty unassuming. Give it a cursory glance and it looks like white dust—teensy little moderately glossy blobs and specks of nothing all too exciting. Cetyl alcohol is a saturated fatty alcohol derived from coconuts, with a melting point of 49°C...
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Yogurt Oat Face Mask
A couple months ago I made a pretty awesome discovery—yogurt + my face. It’s not so much the yogurt as the probiotics that live in it; millions of little happy bacteria, living some sort of pastoral life in my fermented milk product. Well, that’s how I...
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Why Homemade Sunscreen is Never a Good Idea
Back in 2012 I published a short post on DIY sunscreen, the gist of which was “don’t make it, you can’t know if it works.” That post continues to get a lot of traffic and quite a few comments, many of which aim to convince me that DIY sunscreen is (or can be) a good...
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Peppermint Lavender Linen Spray
I’ve been doing lots of fancier DIYs lately, so I decided to step it back with a simple DIY for freshening up linens, sheets, and rooms—just in time for spring. A simple, fresh blend of peppermint and lavender essential oils are diluted in water to create a...
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Cleansing Mud Mousse
Have you ever stumbled across a for-sale skin care project that was so simple, yet so expensive, that it made you downright mad? That was my initial reaction to the product that inspired this DIY. $70 for mostly clay, some salt, some inexpensive herbs, and some spices...
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Mint Julep Cleansing Oil
This creamy Mint Julep Cleansing Oil came about as a bit of an accident. I had “Julep oil cleanser” on my to-do list as a recipe request, and without referring back to the original request, I got all excited about an oil cleanser that smelled like a mint...
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Soothing Oat Bath and Body Oil
This soothing oat bath and body oil was born from a recipe request from Claudia, who loves Aveeno’s Skin Relief Shower and Bath Oil. She said that it was fantastic for dry winter skin and even helped with her son’s eczema. Taking a look at the ingredients,...
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Orange Abyssinian Overnight Balm
This juicy, honey-hued Orange Abyssinian Overnight Balm is utterly lovely. It has an almost unbelievable dry finish, leaving skin hydrated, but not greasy. It smells of pure, juicy oranges with the slightest hint of sweet, floral Tahitian gardenias. It’s smooth...
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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Lotion
To me, macadamia nuts will forever evoke memories of Hawaii. I was last there with my family when I was seventeen, and I remember picking up a bag of some chocolate covered macadamia nuts in the airport on our way home. Those nuggets of chocolatey goodness were...
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Vegan Citrus Lip Butter
Ever since I made my Chocolate Lip Butter I’ve been completely smitten with it, so naturally I want more of it in all kinds of different variations. I’ve been wishing for a citrussy lip treat for ages, but since citrus essential oils are photosensitizing,...
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Rose Gold Facial Serum
Last week I was watching a makeup tutorial with Adele’s makeup artist, Michael Ashton, and as he was prepping his beautiful model’s skin, he used two products that really intrigued me. One was a fancy-sounding French facial serum; Decleor’s...
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Luxury Facial Serum
The amount of money some shop-bought natural skincare products sell for never ceases to amaze me. You’d think I’d be used to seeing price tags north of $150 for a few tablespoons of something, but I’m not. I’m perpetually astonished to find a...
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Chocolate Lip Butter
Out of all the things I’ve made that I have to frequently remind myself not to eat, this Chocolate Lip Butter is pretty high up that list. It smells downright delicious, and leaves my lips oh-so wonderfully soft and hydrated. And did I mention that it smells...
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Pomegranate Primrose Summer Facial Serum
My new Pomegranate Primrose Summer Facial Serum is a fantastic way to lighten up your skin care routine for warmer days (I’m calling it my PrimPom Serum for short, ha!). It is silky and light, absorbing into your skin quickly and leaving it beautifully hydrated,...
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Two-in-One Creamy Hair Conditioner
Ever since I started publishing creamy hair conditioner recipes a few months ago, readers have been asking about the possibility of including some vinegar in the water part of the emulsion to create a two-in-one conditioner that eliminates the need for a separate...
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I Wrote a Book!
Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care, By Marie Rayma, creator of HumblebeeandMe.com will be published December 2016 by Running Press.