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.
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 and carnauba waxes, but less slip (and more hardening power) than psuedo-waxes like olive wax. I can definitely see it being really useful in lipsticks, balms, salves, and all kinds of other things you’d usually use some kind of wax in!
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 of shea/aloe butters for sale from DIY suppliers. I’d like to thank Rhonda for inspiring me to update this project—she shared some of the changes she’s made to it over the years in the comments section on the 2014 version and they sounded divine! I’ve adopted a couple of her improvements and added a few of mine as well.
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 meeting Bees all over the world!
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 solubilizer so we can incorporate peppermint essential oil for the scent instead. Both are simple and effective, so you can choose which one you want to make based on what you have on hand.
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 manner—we can use them to add lightweight viscosity to products so they aren’t too drooly or runny. So, why not make other hair gel things—like a gelled hair conditioner? A sort of conditioning hair serum in gel form? As you’ve probably guessed, that’s what we’re making today!
Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care is now available at booksellers all over the world!