New Formulas
Free formulas to create your own skin care, hair care, and more!
Easy Formulas
New to making? Start here!
New Formulas
Free formulas to create your own skin care, hair care, and more!
Easy Formulas
New to making? Start here!
Free Formulations
The Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
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New Posts & Formulations
Easy Niacinamide Serums for Beginners
Niacinamide—also known as Vitamin B3—is a potent, effective, and popular active ingredient with amazing brightening and barrier-boosting skincare benefits. But, it can be a bit intimidating to work with. So, if you’ve been wanting to start formulating with niacinamide...
How long do you have to age a shampoo bar?
If you’ve ever made a shampoo bar, you’ll know the last step is a rather ambiguous “age the bars” for what can sound like a rather random length of time. I decided I needed to know how long shampoo bars actually need to age before they’re ready to use. I also wanted...
Gentle Low-Lather Face Cleanser
If you’re looking for an ultra-gentle, super inexpensive facial cleanser for any skin type—this is it! You can make a kilo of this cleanser for about $10USD, and all of the ingredients are super versatile, inexpensive, and easy to get 😄 Want to watch this...
3 Butters You Shouldn’t Ignore (and one you might want to)
If you're anything like me, when you first got started in the wonderful world of DIY, shea butter and cocoa butter were two of the first ingredients you purchased. They're fabulous, versatile butters, and I used (and continue to use!) them in all sorts of...
I tried 6 different emulsifying waxes. Here’s what happened.
I'm often ask if I can use a different emulsifying wax than the one I used in a formulation. So, I decided to put six common emulsifiers to the test, using my Easy Emulsified Body Butter formulation (which uses Emulsifying Wax NF) as the sample formulation. Which...
The key to smooth body butters
Grainy, mealy, uneven body butters are the bane of any formulator’s existence. You’re dreaming of something silky smooth and divine, but instead your body butter feels like its full of sand... or perhaps you were promised a solid bar, but got oily slop instead. Bleh!...
Luxury brand formulation secrets for expensive-feeling lotions
Even though I make most of the skincare products I use, I still enjoy perusing the skincare departments at Sephora and airport duty-free shops—paying extra attention to the luxury brands. I sample, sniff, and examine ingredient lists like a lotion detective. If a...
Easy Emulsified Body Butter
If you've been frustrated by heavy, melt-prone body butters, this is the formulation for you. In this post I'll be teaching you how to make an easy 7-ingredient body butter that is lighter than traditional DIY body butters, won't melt in hot weather, won't seize up if...
Lavender Oat Dream Cream
Today we are diving deep into the archives to Bee Better a project I published almost exactly nine (!!) years ago. This formulation began life as a Lush dupe(ish), and while the 2014 version wasn't bad, I've learned a lot since then. Today's updated version is softer...