When I was a girl my Grandmother often gifted me the fancy toiletries she’d acquired on her travels. Fancy miniature soaps from abroad, wrapped in neatly pleated tissue; tiny little bottles of exotically scented shampoos; even adorable little repair kits with neatly wound coils of thread in a dozen different colours. For most of my childhood I was never in want of a doll-sized bar of soap (though I hardly traveled enough to necessitate my stash of portable toiletries).
This powder is a DIY sort of tribute to one of the more exotic (to 8-year-old me) items she gave me—a perfumed after-bath powder with an Art Deco style illustration of a moon over an ocean printed on the cardboard shaker tube the entire thing came in. I’m certain I hoarded it more than I actually used it, and I’m also quite certain it was mostly talc and artificial fragrances (in hindsight, of course).
For some reason that fragrant tube of white dust came to mind a few months ago, and I’ve finally gotten around to whipping up a batch of my own. The powdery base is white kaolin clay and silky smooth arrowroot powder.
Into that soft base I’ve blended some chunks of cocoa butter, which pulverize nicely into a cocoa-y powder since cocoa butter is so brittle (pop yours in the freezer for a bit before blitzing if it tends to be softer where you live). The cocoa butter adds a lovely hint of chocolatey scent and a nice touch of moisture.
I’ve finished off the mix with a hint of silk and some aloe, both in powder form. Silk is a fantastic moisture manager, making it perfect for an after-bath powder. Aloe vera is a long time favourite for moisturizing and soothing the skin.
And last, but not least, a few essential oils to round things out. I’ve selected lavender and a touch of vanilla to compliment the cocoa butter and create a soft, luxurious scent.
The final powder is light and silky, and leaves the skin soft and scented temptingly of cocoa and lavender. Give it a try after your next bath—I think you’ll love it.
After Bath Silk Powder
¼ cup kaolin clay
¼ cup arrowroot powder
1 tsp silk peptides
1 smidgen aloe vera 200x concentrate powder (optional)~2 tsp cocoa butter
10 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops vanilla 10-fold essential oilStir the clay, arrowroot powder, silk, and aloe vera together in a bowl.
Transfer a few spoonfuls of the powder mixture into your DIY coffee grinder and add a few nuggets of cocoa butter. Blitz everything together until you have a fine, uniform powder. Transfer that mixture back into the bowl. Be sure to wear a dust mask or leave the grinder for at least 5–10 minutes after grinding to avoid inhaling the powder, which will really poof out of the grinder if the lid is removed immediately after grinding.
Spoon another few scoops of the powder into your DIY coffee grinder and add your essential oils. Blend until you have a uniform powder, and then mix it back into the rest of the powder.
Use a funnel to transfer the powder to a shaker-top bottle. To use, shake a bit onto your skin and lightly massage it in.
hi Marie, I love your blog and your recipes for natural cosmetic type products are super. I know you have mentioned it before but where do I get the silk peptides. I am in Canada also. Thank you.
Hi Cathy! They’re from NDA (link above in the big box) 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your posts! I look forward to them every week and had my nieces all around my dining table last week making their friends Christmas presents all from your recipes. They worked out beautifully. We worked until 11pm and not one of them wanted to stop lol. We are doing another Santa workshop this week. Love that our enthusiasm is rubbing off on a new generation of anti-toxic DIY beauty lovers! Thanks again x
Thank you so much for reading and DIYing with me! I’m so thrilled I was a part of your DIY family time 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make a silky powder for myself, I live in a high humidity, high heat area, especially in the summer, so this would be wonderful. 😀 This would also make a fantastic gift for my sisters as well.
Wonderful! Enjoy it 🙂
Hi Marie,
how big is your bottle/where did you get it?
It’s ~120mL and from Saffire Blue.
That sounds absolutely delicious. I’m currently obsessed with sewing, but after the first of the year, I’m going to switch gears and try my hand at some of your wonderful recipes. They will be perfect for my girls for Valentine’s Day.
Thanks, Sha! I can definitely relate to having loads of different hobbies and not enough time for all of them 🙂
Hi marie,
i want to try out this recipe however cocoa/coconut butter clogs my pores and i get pimples, but i loooooooove the smell of cocoa butter and coconut, Could you recommend a substitute for the cocoa butter?
Thanks
Hi Chloe! I’ve got an article on carrier oil swaps here 🙂
I made a similar powder, but my skin often reacts to cocoa butter… I thought shea would be too soft to whip in my coffee grinder, but I tried cupuacu, and it worked beautifully!! Just as an fyi, in case anyone else is looking for another butter that is brittle enough to work in powdered recipes 🙂
Thanks, Abby! Did you freeze the cupuacu first?
No, didn’t freeze it. Just used a few small chunks straight out of the of jar at room temperature, and added to powder in coffee grinder. I pulsed the coffee grinder rather than running it continuously (I hoped that would keep the mixture from warming up too much)… and it worked 🙂
Sweet, thanks!
Hi Marie
Really glad you have made a talc free ‘talc’
Slightly unsure about 2 things though
1. Do you use a dedicated coffee grinder? I only have the one and Im sure residue would be left in it, I dont think the inside is washable…..
2. You warn us to wear a dust mask but surely there would be a waft of the same materials when we use it. Which particular ingredient are we trying to avoid breathing in?
Thank you.
Hey Aisha! I definitely use a dedicated coffee grinder for DIY projects—that’s what I mean in the recipe when I say “your DIY coffee grinder” in the recipe. When it comes to inhaling powders, you basically don’t want to inhale anything insoluble & inorganic—those are the ones that can give you lung cancer over the long term. Things like clay, titanium dioxode, silica, and zinc oxide. There’s a really big difference between how airborne and easily inhaled these powders are just after they’ve been whipped up like mad in a coffee grinder and when they’ve been blended with oils and butters and are in “normal” use. Think about baking bread with flour versus throwing a handful of it at a high-powered fan 😛 Definitely don’t snort lines of eye shadow, but in normal, day-to-day use, these finished products are safe to use.
Hi, Marie
I am from Serbia and I follow your blog from very beginning. Your recipes are fabulous and I adore all, especially this one. Can I ask for permission to share this recipe on my blog? I want to translate it and to give a credit to you and your amazing work. If you agree, I would put a link to your blog. Thank you very much
Best wishes
Hey! I am usually not ok with my recipes being shared in their entirely on other websites, but since you will be translating I will make an exception if you’re still interested 🙂 Just please make sure it is very obvious that it is my recipe, and please encourage your readers to visit my website as well 🙂
Hello! Thanks for sharing! Where do you get the bottles from? I’ve search Amazon and can’t seem to find anything.
The place I bought these from no longer exists, and I can’t find them from any of my regular suppliers, either. A large spice jar like this will work, though!
Hello Marie,
I cannot seem to find my answer to a question I have.
In this silk powder, am I able to swap out the cocoa butter for something else as I’m allergic to it!
Thank you kindly
Laura
Hey Laura! In this case, I would use more of the starch or clay in place of the silk 🙂 Happy making!