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 1000 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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New Recipes
Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub
Today we're getting our Pemberley-themed pamper on with this lightweight sugar-studded emulsified Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub. A creamy, self-emulsifying base is heavily dosed with granulated sugar for a sparkly, fragrant bath treat. The beautiful Pemberley scent...
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10 Recipes to Make with Cetyl Alcohol
If you're on the fence about investing in some cetyl alcohol I'm hoping this post can help convince you to pick up a couple ounces of the stuff. I first started working with cetyl alcohol in early 2017 and it has quickly become something I'll never want to be without....
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Sweetgrass Gel Moisturizer
This silky, softly-scented gel moisturizer has become a fast favourite in my skin care routine. It’s beautifully light and packed with things my skin loves. It is focussed on lightweight hydration, making it the perfect thing to sandwich between skin cleansers and...
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Mango Mango Bath Bombs
Today we're making some fizzy orange globes of bath time happiness—Mango Mango Bath Bombs! I feel like this mango theme lends itself especially well to bath things because I love bright, happy, colourful bath things. The bombs themselves are bright orange, and then...
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Rosé Hand Wash
Today we're keeping up the Rosé theme with a shimmery, sudsy Rosé Hand Wash. This lovely bottle of bubbles also uses the Iselux Ultra Mild surfactant blend from Windy Point for ultra-easy making (we used it earlier this month to create a Sweetgrass Facial Cleanser as...
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Pemberley Soap
If we're going to be making Jane Austen inspired things, we obviously have to make a soap. I feel very confident that Pemberley would have the loveliest of soaps in all of the (presumably numerous) washing and bathing facilities. I also feel more confident than is...
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Sweetgrass Facial Cleanser
I'm loving this simple, glossy, honey-and-sunshine scented facial cleanser right now. It uses a new product that Windy Point has recently started carrying—a surfactant blend called Iselux Ultra Mild. Pre-blended surfactant products makes creating foamy/lathery things...
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Mango Mango Cleansing Oil
I am so in love with this simple, vibrantly orange cleansing oil. It smells wonderful, works beautifully, and is so dang easy to make that it feels a bit like cheating. Compared to my other cleansing oils I think you'll find this one lighter, perhaps a bit more satiny...
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A Quick Guide to Soy Wax & Liquid Oil Ratios
Today we’re doing another “Quick Guide” experiment, this time featuring soy wax. We’ll be looking at how this vegetable-derived wax behaves when combined with olive oil in different ratios. I've often read that it can be a good vegan 1:1 alternative/swap for beeswax,...
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Pemberley Hand Lotion
I'm really excited to share this formula with you guys—this Pemberley Hand Lotion was my Formula Botanica final project, and I received a mark of 100% for it! The project was to create a product for a specific customer. I designed this gorgeous hand lotion for...
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Soothing Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum
Today's recipe is kicking off a new soothing skin care series that is perfectly timed for the driest, darkest, and often coldest part of the winter here in Calgary. The formulas in this series star a beautiful selection of wonderful, effective ingredients that have...
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Formulating and DIYing with Spreadsheets
Today I want to talk about something that really isn’t all that sexy or exciting, but it is super useful—using spreadsheets for your DIYing and formulating! Even if you don't formulate I'd recommend stepping away from online recipe calculators in favour of...
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Sugar Plum Cleansing Conditioner
This Sugar Plum Cleansing Conditioner is a wonderful continuation to the fun I've been having making cleansing conditioners over the last few months. My aim with this one was to create something lighter that could work better for anyone with hair that can be easily...
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Sugar Plum Conditioning Body Butter
I'm having a hard time deciding if I can give this Sugar Plum Conditioning Body Butter away. I mean... it's just so nice. I really want to keep it for myself. I really should give it away. I am a one-woman skin care stuff factory and I am not due to need another body...
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Rose Witch Hazel Facial Toner
This sweetly fragrant, refreshing facial toner has become a fast favourite of mine. It smells deliciously of roses, features several soothing and lightly hydrating ingredients, and leaves my skin feeling revived and gently cleansed. It's also crazy easy to make (no...
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Oil Cleansing Gel
When I was in Montreal last year I visited Coop Coco, a local DIY supplier, and poked around, looking for things I didn’t have that would fit in my suitcase. I ended up picking up a bottle of Sucragel, a cold-process emulsifier I’d never worked with before, brought it...
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Creamy Stick Lip Tints
When it comes to makeup I actually wear on a regular basis I find I tend towards subtle, easy-to-apply stuff (read: stuff that goes on easily and lightly enough that it disguises my amateurish makeup application skills). These lip tints were born of my initial...
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Coconut Massage Butter
Massage lovers everywhere: prepare to fall in love. This silky, glide-y Coconut Massage Butter gives you eons of working time on the skin for a luxurious, satiny massage. It isn't oily or greasy, but you'll find your hands gliding over skin with a wonderful, soft...
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