I’ve had several requests for a gel-cream this year, and I’m excited to share this Cranberry Orange themed one with you today! This cold-processed cranberry orange facial gel cream is focussed on hydration and barrier support, helping our skin be its best self through dry and dark winter days. It is silky and lightweight, leaving skin soft and glowing, and smells softly of tangy fruit and citrus zest. It’s really simple to make, too!
This beautiful cream-coloured White Chocolate Peppermint Shampoo Bar delivers oodles of bubbles and a wonderful minty-chocolate scent in one elegant package (so to speak—shampoo bars are packaging-free!). I’ve called it a shampoo bar, but it also makes a beautiful body wash bar, helping reduce the number of products (and plastic bottles) in your shower. This is easily the simplest shampoo bar formulation I’ve shared so far, too!
Deep red cranberries lend themselves beautifully to a Christmassy tinted lip balm, so it’s no surprise that this lip balm hit my to-do list as soon as I knew one of our holiday themes would be cranberry orange. Today’s silky tinted lip balm gives the lips just enough colour that you don’t have to apply it while looking in a mirror (watch the video to see it in action!), and the semi-sheer red hue is universally flattering. The making part is super easy so you can easily whip up a batch in no time—these beauties make great stocking stuffers (try tying a tube to a candy cane!) and are sure to be a fast favourite among anyone lucky enough to receive a tube 😄
Once I decided that White Chocolate Peppermint would be one of our holiday themes this year, I knew I’d have to do a White Chocolate Peppermint Body Butter Bar. Ever since my very first order of cocoa butter arrived at my dorm well before Humblebee & Me existed, I have loved rubbing cocoa butter on my skin. For these body butter bars, I’m pairing cocoa butter with some extra silky, fast-absorbing ingredients to create something special and highly giftable.
’Tis the season for sugar scrubs—in my opinion, at least. With colder temperatures, any excuse to spend time in a hot bath is very welcome! This cheery orange scrub smells all kinds of tangy-citrussy-fruity, and delivers a fabulous dose of exfoliation in a base that transforms into a silky lotion when massaged into wet skin. It makes a brilliant gift and is our third Cranberry Orange project for the holiday 2019 making season.
Today we’re getting better acquainted with ozokerite wax—a very hard mineral wax similar to ceresine wax. Historically “ozokerite [is/was] a naturally occurring fossil wax found near soft shale“, but today what we call “ozokerite wax” is made from petroleum waxes like microcrystalline wax and paraffin. Unlike most waxes we work with, ozokerite wax is a pretty varied product because it is manufactured from blends of petroleum wax, and those blends can vary. A search of UL Prospector turns up quite a few results for products that have a fairly large range of melting points (as low as 54°C/130°F and as high as 101.7°C/215°F!). The different waxes have trade names like “Ozokerite 2095” and “EU Ozokerite 167/175”, but the INCIs for all of these waxes is plain ol’ “ozokerite”, leaving room for general confusion as all the ozokerite I’ve seen for sale to home crafters is just listed as “ozokerite”. The wax I’m using today is from TKB Trading. I haven’t had an opportunity to try ozokerite from any other suppliers.
Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care is now available at booksellers all over the world!