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 formulas 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
Cranberry Orange Christmas Soap
Today we’re kicking off the 2019 holiday making season with our first Christmas soap and the launching of our first 2019 Christmas theme—Cranberry Orange! This theme will be starring ingredients like juicy-smelling cranberry seed oil, cranberry seeds, orange essential...
Calendula Rose Foaming Cleansing Powder
Today we're creating an herb-and-clay-based powder-to-foam facial cleanser. It's a pretty simple concept, and easy to customize and tweak based on what you have on hand. It's been quite a while since I shared a cleansing powder—it seems I really liked them in...
Chocolate Rhassoul Shampoo Bars
I've been working on these chocolatey, clay-spiked shampoo bars since early March, and I'm super excited to finally share them with you today! They've got a stunning, creamy lather that leaves your hair feeling fabulous, and I'm making them with my beautiful new...
Rosé Soap
Today we're making a type of soap I haven't made before—cold processed soap with wine! As a continuation of our rosé series, I'm using rosé wine as part of the water for this soap, complementing it with a fresh rose fragrance oil and some gold and pink whorls. Want to...
A Quick Guide to Sunflower Wax and Liquid Oil Ratios
Today we're getting to know sunflower wax (Helianthus Annuus Seed Wax), a vegan wax made from the winterization of sunflower seed oil. It's a potent thickener and hardener with an interesting dry/astringent skin feel. I find it to have a creamier feel than candelilla...
Rich Shealoe Butter Cream
This decadent Rich Shealoe Butter Cream is the first project I'm tackling in my Bee Better series; it's an update of the Homemade Shealoe Butter Cream I shared back in February 2014. The idea was to create my own shealoe butter type product, inspired by the plethora...
Humblebee & Me is 8!
Oh my goodness, Humblebee & Me is eight! My little blog is a third-grader, and if it takes after me, it'll be learning and forgetting long division (for the first time, at least) this year. This last year has been full of making things, learning things, and...
Peppermint Foaming Hand Wash
Today we're re-stocking my handwash inventory with a fresh, zippy Peppermint Foaming Hand Wash. It's a fast, no-heat project, and I've provided two slightly different versions. One version uses peppermint hydrosol for our scent, while the other makes use of a...
Sweetgrass Conditioning Hair Gel Serum
I've been having lots of fun with gel-type things recently, and that got me to thinking about hair gels. That led to me wondering why hair gels are almost always focussed on hold. Gels are a great format for delivering mostly hydrous ingredients in an easily steerable...
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My Most Popular Posts
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...