Articles & Experiments

The key to smooth body butters

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!...

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I tried 10 different ways to naturally color lotion.

I tried 10 different ways to naturally color lotion.

I'm often asked about different ways to naturally colour lotions, so I conducted a fifteen-week experiment testing out ten different natural colourants to see what worked, and what didn't. Why 'lotions' specifically? Formulations that contain water—like lotions—are a...

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How to make your lotion lighter

How to make your lotion lighter

If you dream of fluid body milks, ultra-light emulsions, and fast-absorbing lotions, this post is for you. Today I'll be teaching you how to make thinner, lighter emulsions—I'm sharing three different strategies that you can mix and match to create the fast-absorbing...

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How to make your lotion richer

How to make your lotion richer

I struggled with what to title this post. I will be teaching you how to make your lotions richer and thicker, but the formulation skill behind that richness & thickness boosting is so much more than that! I will go as far as to say if you don't know how to do...

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How to make your lotions thicker

How to make your lotions thicker

If you want to make thicker lotions and creams, you've come to the right place! In this post I'll be teaching you three different (easy!) strategies for thickening and adding body to your natural lotions. You can use these strategies alone or combine them–it's up to...

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4 tips to make your body butters feel expensive

4 tips to make your body butters feel expensive

If you're looking to make your body butters stand out—make them feel more expensive, lighter, and lovelier—here are four of my top tips to do just that! These tips can be used for all kinds of body butter formulations—whipped body butters, body balms, body butter...

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Why is my body butter not whipping?

Why is my body butter not whipping?

Have you ever whipped up an utterly decadent body butter, only to find it transformed into a hard, crumbly brick when left overnight? Or perhaps you were whipping up a gorgeous blend of butters that suddenly collapsed into soft gloppy mess? Whipped body butters are...

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Stop Believing These 6 Lotion Myths

Stop Believing These 6 Lotion Myths

Today we are debunking six lotion making myths that I have heard a lot in the decade-plus I've been emulsifying on the interwebs. I hope you have a bit of fun with this post, learn some things, and feel emboldened to go out and break some rules! Want to watch this...

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5 ingredients that will make your formulations smell awful

5 ingredients that will make your formulations smell awful

Today we are having a bit of fun with some famously stinky ingredients 😂  Whether or not you find the smell of an ingredient to be pleasant or unpleasant (or worth a bit of unpleasant-ness for its otherwise awesome-ness) is a highly personal thing, so please...

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Ten pieces of equipment for new formulators: Part 2

Ten pieces of equipment for new formulators: Part 2

It's time for part two of Ten Pieces of Equipment for New Formulators ❤️ If you're looking for part one, you can find it here. You might not need everything in part two straight away, but I think you'll probably want to have most of these items within...

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Ten pieces of equipment for new formulators: Part 1

Ten pieces of equipment for new formulators: Part 1

As a new formulator, buying ingredients is probably the most exciting type of shopping (there are so many new and promising ingredients!)—but don't overlook your equipment shopping list! After all, you'll need some tools to turn your new ingredients into all kinds of...

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8 mistakes most new formulators make

8 mistakes most new formulators make

Humblebee & Me's tenth birthday was last week, and it's got me thinking about all the things I've learned about making and formulating since I started making things over a decade ago. Today I thought I'd look at eight of the most common mistakes beginners...

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Ten DIY Ingredients for Beginner Formulators: Part 2

Ten DIY Ingredients for Beginner Formulators: Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of Ten DIY Ingredients for Beginner Formulators! In part 1 we covered five anhydrous ingredients that will allow you to create all kinds of awesome anhydrous products—balms, whipped body butters, lip balm, and more. Today we're adding five more...

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Ten DIY Ingredients for Beginner Formulators: Part 1

Ten DIY Ingredients for Beginner Formulators: Part 1

There are literally thousands of cosmetic ingredients for sale, so it's no wonder that shopping for ingredients can be an overwhelming experience for new formulators! Between the sheer number of ingredients and the often fantastical claims made about them, it can be...

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Why is my body butter greasy?

Why is my body butter greasy?

If you adore body butters but prefer lighter, non-greasy formulations, then this is the post for you! Today I'm sharing my top formulation strategies to create lightweight anhydrous body butters. Let's dive in! Want to watch this project instead of reading it? Watch...

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Why is my body butter melting?

Why is my body butter melting?

It's July and it's lovely and warm here, so I thought I'd tackle a topic I get a lot of questions about—body butters and the wonky things they can do in high temperatures. It's crazy disappointing to make a lovely, soft, creamy body butter and have it transform into a...

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Why is my body butter grainy?

Why is my body butter grainy?

In the wide world of "body butters behaving badly", I think graininess is the challenge I get the most questions about and have personally encountered the most throughout my formulating journey. It's such a bummer to create a beautiful body butter and find it's gone...

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Let’s Talk About Hyaluronic Acid

Let’s Talk About Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid and I began our relationship over a year ago, with The Ordinary's Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 serum, and that relationship has since grown into quite the love story. HA is one of those ingredients I'd heard all sorts of lovely things about, but last year...

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Bentonite Clay and DIY Beauty

Bentonite Clay and DIY Beauty

Today I'm really excited to share with you an interview on clays (specifically bentonite) with Ian Hutcheon, Professor Emeritus in Geochemistry at the University of Calgary. Bentonite clay has quite a bit of lore surrounding it in the DIY world. It's not at all...

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How to Scale Any Recipe

How to Scale Any Recipe

Recipe scaling is something I get a reasonable amount of questions about, so I thought I'd write out a how-to on how to scale any recipe so you can confidently make lots (or very little) of the things you love. I've also created a downloadable spreadsheet that you can...

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