This decadent body lotion is just the thing for parched winter skin. It’s silky smooth and smells divine, and is loaded with skin healing goodies. I think you’ll love it.
The base of this lotion is oat milk. Anyone who’s ever had chicken pox and an oatmeal bath knows that oats are soothing, and they’re loaded with polysaccharides that become gelatinous in water (that’s where the slightly thickened consistency of oat milk comes from). Those polysaccharides help moisturize the skin. Oat milk is also anti-inflammatory and helps combat itchiness.
Avocado oil is a wonderful moisturizer. It’s a thick carrier oil that’s not well suited to straight-up application to the skin as it can be sticky, but it’s great as part of a lotion. It contains vitamins A, B1, B2, D, E, and beta carotene, and I find it to be quite luxurious.
The scent blend is an intriguing mixture of bright bergamot, smokey vetiver, spicy nutmeg, and deep dark patchouli. You’ll definitely notice the base notes of patchouli, but they’re so intriguingly accented with everything else that the final effect isn’t at all “hippie” like. I adore this blend, and I hope you will as well.
Avo Oat Milk Body Lotion
Water phase
2g | 0.07oz colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada)
143g | 5.04oz distilled water
4g | 0.14oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
1g | 0.03oz silk peptidesOil phase
14g | 0.5oz complete emulsifying wax (not beeswax!)
36g | 1.27oz avocado oilCool down phase
15 drops bergapetene-free bergamot essential oil
1 toothpick swirl vetiver essential oil
3 drops nutmeg essential oil
8 drops dark patchouli essential oil
1g | 0.03oz Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Weigh the water phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Weigh the oil phase into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat, and pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the lotion is thick and creamy.
Whisk in the essential oils and your preservative, and decant the mixture into two 120mL/4oz pump-top bottle.
A toothpick swirl means I just want you to dip the tip of a toothpick in your vetiver essential oil, and then swirl that into the lotion. That will be more than enough!
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Hello
I really look forward to receiving your twice-weekly emails with the link to your latest blog. For the past year, I’ve been enticed to make many of your recipes. Now I’m ready to plunge into making lip balm, cream and shampoo.
I’d like to shop for the staple ingredients in one order so I won’t have to keep re-ordering. Can you suggest to me what staple ingredients are required, specifically emulsifier and the most-natural preservative you suggest. I already have a collection of essential oils that I use to make cleaning products. Also, I am curious to know if this is what you do full time or do you work in another field? Thanks! Georgina Hunter, Ottawa, Ontario
Hi Georgia! Check out this article for starter shopping lists.
I work full time (and more) on top of running this blog, which is why it can take me a while to get back to people 🙂
I use oat milk to make a facial lotion. It is lovely but you REALLY need to use the preservative. Thanks for the great information, I love reading your posts.
That’s why I recommended it 🙂
Oooh oatmeal week on HBM! Lovin it 🙂 I’d ove to see an oatmeal inspired soap from you…I don’t have any recipe in mind just a suggestion
😀 I do have this one for now, with another one aging 😉
Hi,
I am thinking of trying this as i have all the ingredients at hand except silk peptides. Do you know if I can use hydrolysed silk powder instead?
Thanks! 🙂
Yup!
Hello! Just recently discovered your blog, love it! I am in Airdrie so we are practically neighbours! I also make lotions and other body products as a hobby. I’m just wondering where you get the inspiration for your scent blends? I have tons of EO’s and would love a great resource for blending.
Hi Jen! It’s always awesome to meet another Albertan online 🙂 My scent blend inspirations come from a lot of places… foods, classic combos re-imagined, things I see in shops. I’m afraid I don’t have a resource to point you towards, I just observe and play 🙂
This only lasts one month even with the broad spectrum preservative?
It’s really hard for me to give shelf life estimates as there are so many variables (cleanliness of materials, storage, etc.). I have found lotions made with oat milk spoil faster than usual, but you may find yours lasts longer than a month.
Hi Marie, how does one figure out how many ounces this recipe makes, to calculate the % amount of preservative to add? Thanks!
Just add up the weights of all the ingredients (keeping in mind that 1mL water = 1g)!
Hi there,
I am new to this blog and I must say that I find it clever and very welcoming.
I am also new to homemade cosmetics and I was wondering why using emulsimulse? Can Stearic Acid and Cetyl alcohol do the same results?
Enjoy your day,
David
Hi David! I chat more about different e-waxes here. The two fatty acids you mentioned both have emulsifying properties, but neither are complete emulsifiers.
Hi! I have never made lotion before so I am not familiar with preservatives. But I want to try. I found one on Saffire Blue called Germall Plus, do you think that would be a good one?
Thanks!
Germall Plus is definitely an effective broad spectrum preservative, but I encourage you to do your research on safety and possible side effects on Skin Deep 🙂
I realize I’m a little late to the party, but the preservative you mentioned won’t take me to that page. Can anyone tell me what preservative is good to use please!
I’ve got an FAQ on this 🙂
Hi, love ur blog. I just recently subscribed. I’ve only been playing around with lotion making over the past year or so. Recently a friend asked me to make her a baby lotion. This recipe is a good start but do u have any ideas or info u could share? I’d appreciate it! Thanks!
Hey Maggie! It’s generally recommended that you don’t use essential oils on babies, so that would probably be the first change you’d want to make to any lotion. I’d also recommend making one that doesn’t contain too much bacteria food (this one does—the oat milk) and using a good, broad-spectrum preservative to ensure you’re exposing that baby to as little bacteria as possible since their wee immune systems aren’t as good as ours.
HI I have a question about making lotion with coconut oil. I have been making lotions, soaps, soap for awhile and lately the 100% CO products are the most popular by far. So I’m putting together a line of all CO products but I can’t get the lotion right to save my life. And I do mean lotion-not body butter. The consistency is never right. So I’m wondering is it impossible to do all coconut oil? Or am I missing a magic ingredient? I’m using a simple recipe consisting of CO, water (which I’ll probably trade out once I get my ratios figured out), polawax, S. acid, glycerin- I think that’s it. And everytime it just has an odd texture. Please help. It’s gonna cost me a million bucks figuring this out! Thanks!
Hey Magie! I’ve made 100% coconut oil lotions before and generally found them to be lovely, if not very light in comparison to lotions made with heavier oils. What do you mean by “not right”/”odd texture”? I can’t offer much help if you’re just generically unhappy with a completely non-specific recipe.
Hi Marie,
Can you substitute liquid silk for silk peptides? I read your blog post about it being interchangeable (for most recipes) with silk peptides and silk powder but you say that liquid silk is only good for water based products and not oil based. Since this recipe has avocado oil does that mean I can’t sub the liquid silk? Thank you.
You can! As long as the product has some water in it, you can make that swap 🙂
your recipe included a reference to a preservative you were using -Because of the oat milk in this recipe, it’ll spoil within a week or so without a broad spectrum preservative, so you really should use one. I’m using this one right now. Follow the usage rates suggested by the manufacturer of the precise preservative you choose- but the link is broken. Can you fill me in?.
Ah, that’s a pretty old remark—this FAQ article is much more comprehensive and should get you sorted!
Hi Marie – Thanks for all the great information you share so freely! Wasn’t sure where to put my question, so I chose this lotion recipe. I’m new to DIY skincare, and have made 4-5 lotions with different oils, water to oil ratios, etc. I loved the feel of Burt’s Bees Milk & Honey body lotion and my skin responded well to it, so I wanted to make a lotion with a similar feel & results. The second ingredient is decyl cocoate & I can find very little information on it. Do you know what this is or what I can use that is similar? The ingredient list begins water, decyl cocoate, glycerin, sunflower seed oil, beeswax, fragrance . . . So I’m guessing the decyl cocoate is a significant % of the formula (wouldn’t glycerin be 5% or less?) There are 30+ ingredients, but I don’t intend to try to include them all — just want the basic feel & then I’ll play with additives to find what my skin loves. Thanks!
Hey Lynelle! It looks like the decyl cocoate is the emulsifier in this blend, but many emulsifiers double as emollients as well as emulsifiers, especially ones derived from coconuts, as this one appears to be. I’m guessing this lotion is pretty runny? There’s not much in there (other than the beeswax, which is sticky in concentrations high enough to thicken a lotion) to thicken it up. I’d guess the water phase is close to 80%, if not more. That’s my best quasi-educated guess, at least!
Hello Marie,
I made two batches of the Avo Oat Milk Body Lotion one with emulsifying wax NF and the other with olivem 1000. The one with the NF wax turned out very white while the Olivem 1000 turned out pastey looking, very dull but thickened up much faster. But my main question is exactly how much Oat milk do I add? Your recipe is a little confusing. 4.9 fl oz oat milk .14 oz veg glycerin and .5 t silk peptides. If I were to make my own Oat Milk I would boil 5.9 fl oz with 1 T oats. Strain and weigh out 5.15 oz of the milk and set aside.
So do I add the 4.9 fl oz or the 5.15 oz of oat milk? Thanks
The difference in ounces here is because fluid ounces and weight ounces are different, and that is silly. 146g and 146mL of the water are the same amount, but that’s not the case for ounces and fluid ounces. Volume: 146mL = 4.9 fl oz, Weight: 146g = 5.15oz. So, 4.9 fl oz water = 5.15oz water. (I find it to be very dumb that the names are so similar but the measurements so different, but that’s the Imperial system for you lol)
Lotion crafter makes a hydrolized oats that is in a liquid form that would make a good substitute for the oat milk here as it will preserve better.
You’re 100% right about the shelf life—I wouldn’t do DIY oat milk again—but hydrolyzed oats don’t have the starchy things that we get from (and love) in oat milk. A better alternative would be ~1% colloidal oatmeal, which I recently did in a new recipe and really loved! 1% is well within the recommended usage for colloidal oats in lotions.
Hello,
According to some cosmetic chemists oats are one of those ingredients that are veryy difficult to preserve even using preservatives. What is your opinion about it, please? I got some Oat Silk and supplier recommends adding it to lotions, creams, etc. But I am quite worried about those preserving issues. Obviously, I contacted the supplier asking about it but no repl yet.
Kind regards
Ella
They’re 100% correct; I’d recommend using 1% colloidal oats in this recipe rather than creating a homemade oat milk. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect this 🙂 This recipe is 3 years old, I’ve learned a lot since then!
Hi Marie. Many of your recipes include fragrances and I’d like to ask if you use any of them for benefits other than their scent – I ask as I’m allergic to many fragrances, including organic ones. I exclude them, adding the equivalent in other oils, but I don’t know if I’m missing out on any benefits from the original recipes.
P.S. I’m new to cosmetic making and I love your book which is my go to reference for all beauty products.
Honestly, this is a huge “it depends” and you’ll need to read each individual recipe and the pre-amble to find out. If the recipe makes a big deal of about the EOs as part of the function then you can assume they are there for function. If I just say “smells pretty!”, then it’s just for scent LOL. Best of luck and thanks so much for buying my book!
Well I’m really glad I asked the question. Up to now I haven’t come across any recipes that have used EOs for function so I could have been very disappointed with the end product if I’d skipped the EOs assuming it was only get a nice scent. I’m happy to take your advice and I’ll read all the text closely. Thanks for a very prompt response.
No worries, happy making!
I absolutely adore Avocado oil and ive often used it alone as a full body moisturizer when ive run out of lotion.
If you can look past the strong nutty aroma you will find that avocado oil isn’t sticky or greasy at all – and yet its thick, luxurious and deeply nourishing on the skin.
I also use it combined with Camellia seed oil, Jojoba oil and Macadamia nut oil as a facial oil.
Fantastic stuff!
Lovely! I should definitely get back into working with avocado oil—there are just so many oils and I have so little skin, comparatively LOL! Thanks for sharing and happy making!
Hi Marie, is it possible to use Gluconolactone & Sodium Benzoate in this formula to be able to market it as “organic”? If so, how do I go about it and what amount should I use for this lotion?