This thick and luxurious candy cane body lotion makes a lovely Christmas gift. It leaves the skin soft and slightly peppermint scented, and if you’re looking for a bit of an extra festive hint, you can add a touch of mica for some holiday shimmer.
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All lotions are an emulsion of an oil part and a water part. The oil part of this lotion is some raw, deliciously chocolatey-scented cocoa butter (USA / Canada) and some virgin coconut oil. The two pair to create a well rounded chocolatey scent that is downright decadent.
The water part is mostly water, with some added goodies. Vegetable glycerin and honey are great humectants that help draw moisture to the skin and keep in soft. Silk and allantoin (USA / Canada) help soothe and heal the skin, and really give the lotion some staying power when it comes to keeping your skin soft and happy.
I’ve chosen peppermint and benzoin for the essential oils. Benzoin gives a lovely, deep vanilla note, and when paired with classic peppermint you can’t help but think of candy canes.
And as a final, optional, add-in you can add a touch of silver mica for a hint of snowy shimmer. I’ve also worked in some fun candy cane stripes, but that’s definitely optional, too. This lotion is thick and creamy, and I think you’ll love it.
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Candy Cane Body Lotion
7g | 0.24oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)
8g | 0.28oz virgin coconut oil
10g | 0.35oz raw cocoa butter (USA / Canada)70g | 2.36 fl oz distilled water
2g | 0.07oz raw honey
3g | 0.1oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
¼ tsp silk peptides
¼ tsp allantoin (USA / Canada)~¼ tsp silver mica (optional)
10 drops peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)
2 “blobs” benzoin essential oil½ tsp rosehip extract powder, beetroot extract powder, or a nip (1/64 tsp) red iron oxide or carmine powder (optional)
Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Weigh out the emulsifying wax, coconut oil, and cocoa butter (USA / Canada) in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
Usually any emulsifying wax will do, but if you want to layer your colours like I’ve done, you’ll either need to use emulsimulse/ritamulse as it thickens up immediately, OR use an immersion blender (rather than hand whisking) with Emulsifying Wax NF or Polawax (both of which require a few days to thicken up to full lotion texture without the use of an immersion blender).
While the oils are melting, combine the water, honey, vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), silk, and allantoin (USA / Canada) in a small glass measuring cup and gently warm.
Once the oils have melted, add the water mixture. Heat through to ensure everything is melted before removing the pan from the heat. Whisk the mixture as it cools (or blend with an immersion blender if using e-wax NF or polawax)—it will thicken into a nice white cream (even with an immersion blender, the thickening will take 20–30 minutes if you’re using e-wax NF or polawax). Whisk in the essential oils and preservative, and divide the lotion between two bowls.
Blend your red colourant of choice (rosehip powder, beetroot powder, red iron oxide, or carmine) into one half of the lotion. Now you’ve got one white half and one pinkish/red half.
Pop a funnel on a clear 120mL/4oz pump-top bottle and alternate between the red and white lotions, creating a layered effect. Be gentle with the bottle and the funnel to keep clear layers—if you rap the bottle on the counter the lotion can jump and mix, so I don’t recommend it.
Plant-based colourants like rosehip or beetroot powder will oxidize and loose their colour and turn mostly brown within about 8 weeks—choose the red iron oxide for a longer lasting colour punch.
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Can’t wait to try this looks great!
I don’t have allantoin. You have to buy 20kg here :(.
Can I leave this out?
Thanks
Yes, you can 🙂 20kg is a LOT!
Hah, that was my question also! If we leave the allantoin out, she would add more silk peptides??
Hi Nancy! Silk and allantoin do rather different things, so I wouldn’t bother adding more silk, but you could if you wanted to 🙂
What role do the silk and the allantoin play in the lotion?
Silk is an awesome moisture manager (it helps keep the skin hydrated), and both help the skin heal 🙂
Thank you for all your lovely recipes! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Enjoy! Thanks for reading 🙂
Hello Marie!
I absolutely LOVE your website and have made several of your recipes. I can’t wait to make this! This lotion will make fabulous Christmas gifts! My only question is how do you get benzoin out of the bottle?? I have yet to get a drop out, even with a warm and hot bath.
Thank you for all the hard work you do in formulating
recipes and getting them out to your adoring public!
Hi Belinda! Benzoin can be a tricky, goopy one. The first thing you’ll want to do is pry out the dropper top and toss it—you’ll never need it. After that a hot water bath will allow you to pour out “blobs” of benzoin for your projects 🙂 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
Hi Marie,
I love the pump bottle. Where can I buy it?
It’s from New Directions Aromatics—link in the big box above the comments 🙂
Just in time! I’ll be up for a new batch of lotion soon and i actually have all this so i may try something a bit different with the mint. 🙂 that sounds super yummy to go with the chill and snow.
Awesome! What great timing 🙂 I’ve been using it all day and my hands smell fantastic 😉
Very fun! Your blog is the best.
Thanks! 😀
I think I love you, Marie. This is perfect. I don’t know about the gift thing though. LOL But for me– OMG, yes. Okay, I admit, I have friends who love peppermint who would adore the lotion too, so they might get some, but me first. I just got my silk peptides and I’ve been itching to use them. *rubs hands* Yes, my pretty…I see some fun uses ahead.
😀
I don’t have benzoin EO, can I sub vanilla infused oil or vanilla extract? As for silk and allantoin, can I leave them out?
I’d recommend vanilla infused oil over vanilla extract, which is better for taste than smell. Yes, you can leave out the allantoin and silk, but the lotion won’t be as soothing.
Marie,
You are so wonderful to share all these fab Holiday recipes. I love this one and will be giving it out with your Blizzard soap!
I’m a beginner in your realm and also want to thank you for such easy to follow instructions.
Your fan and follower,
Bobbie
Thanks so much, Bobbie 🙂 Have fun DIYing for the holidays and thanks for reading!
Could i substitute comfrey root powder for the allantoin? I’m guessing it might change the color up a bit, but would it have a similar effect?
Also, i’m having some challenges finding silk peptide powder… do you have any suggestions? I don’t think i need enough supplies to meet NDAs $100 min order but i can’t find it anywhere else…
Hi Ina! You can, but I would really be sure to add a preservative if you do as adding herbs always shortens the shelf life of a lotion. I’d try about 3x the amount of comfrey.
Saffire Blue sells silk without the $100 minimum, or you can just leave it out until you get some 🙂
Hey Marie, I have been looking for an alternative to water in some recipes so that the shelve life is longer. “Hydrosol” comes up as a good replacement. Would you use it and if so in what measurement (1 for 1) for this recipe?
Hi Jess! “Hydrosol” is going to be a lot like tea… basically, 99.9% water. You can use it as a 1:1 replacement for water, but it isn’t going to increase your shelf life at all 🙂
Thank you for this lovely recipe! I whipped up a couple for the kids’ teacher gifts and one for myself….now the ladies I work with want some too 🙂
Awesome! I’m so glad it’s a hit 🙂
Hey Marie,
I just made this today as my first lotion attempt. I left out the allantoin and silk peptides because I haven’t added them to my potions cabinet yet, but I used optiphen plus as a preservative. It made my lotion curdle 🙁 I read that it’s common with this family of preservatives, but after popping it in the fridge to bring its temperature much lower, it stabilized and looks much better than before. So not a complete fail :p
I love the combination of smells here! It’s like candy canes dipped in cocoa. Well done! I can’t wait to try a few of your other lotion recipes and hope I can figure a few tricks out with optiphen to make for a better experience.
Laura
Oh no! I’ll have to keep that in mind for optiphen plus—I’ve never worked with it and I’m definitely not likely to now! Remember, you can always leave out the preservatives. I’ve found making things in small batches (~100mL) and keeping them in pump top bottles gives me quite a good shelf life.
I’m so thrilled you love the lotion, though. Welcome to the world of homemade lotions, it’s wonderful here 😉
If I add a preservative, will this help keep the beet root powder pink longer? I bought some before reading about it turning brown 🙁
Hi Michelle! A preservative won’t help, but an antioxidant like vitamin E might 🙂 It’s worth a try!
Thanks, how much Vitamin E, do you think?
I’d aim for about 2% 🙂
Just a report! Made this lotion, it’s too thick to go through my lotion bottles, moving it into jars today and calling it body butter!
Beautiful! As a technical point, though, it’s still lotion ’cause it’s got a bunch of water in it 😉 It’s just a super thick, luxurious one!
Thiiiiiiiiiis did not go well for me tonight. I quadrupled your recipe, with the intention of giving out tiny 1 oz layered jars as presents. Everything was fine. Great lotion. I used red oxide. I was trying so hard to do it right and proceed in an orderly fashion, but I didn’t read far enough along to see the word ‘nip’. I was supposed to put in 1 teaspoon of red oxide but even that seemed like a lot, so I just put in 1/4 teaspoon. AAAAAAAAH! http://imgur.com/AraPoRn
I’m going to make an 8x batch tomorrow night and try to blend it and salvage it. Otherwise, do you think I could re-melt it and add beeswax to make a lipstick? I really messed up :$
It was kind of hysterical when we realized what we had done, though!
Oh no! A nip is 1/64th of a teaspoon, so you wanted 1/16th of a teaspoon of oxide—tops. Oops :/ To get to the 1/16th tsp amount you’d need to do a 12x batch to blend with your 4x batch… but that’s A LOT of lotion. I don’t think there’s any way you could use that much up before it spoils without adding preservatives.
And no, please don’t add a bunch of beeswax. In my experience that’s a great way to waste a lot of beeswax. Plus, a tube of lipstick generally needs ~1/2 tsp of oxide per 5g tube, so you’re nowhere near lipstick levels of pigment 🙂
Hmm. I have both liquid and powder soy lecithin – could I add that as a preservative? my friend and I were making a big batch to give to people, and we were giving 400 grams out and splitting the rest between us, which means about 800 grams each – we can also give a few 4 oz jars away in order to reduce the amount that we have to go through individually.
Hi Ali—neither of those things are preservatives, so no 😛 Be sure to keep the stuff you haven’t started yet in the fridge and use pump top bottles to extend the shelf life 🙂
Hi Marie! I love your website, it’s a great inspiration for me! I try to make lotion for the first time and wondering if I can leave out the vegetable glycerin or replace it? Do I have to increase the amount of other ingredients if I leave it out? Do you have a percentage of butters, oils, water, wax that should be use when making lotion?
Melinda
Hi Melinda! You can leave the vegetable glycerin out and just replace it with an equal volume of water 🙂
Hi there, I made this lovely looking lotion recipe, but left out the allantoin and silk as I didn’t have them. I didn’t use emulsimulse, but used a british version which does work immediately as well, rather than having to leave it for days to thicken up.
The lotion emulsified just fine and went nice and thick as it cooled down, however, when I try to rub it into my skin, it seems as though it separates again and I get a watery film and then almost solid cocoa butter underneath that I have to rub really hard to absorb! Do you know what I might have done wrong??
Thanks!
Hi Caz! That’s very odd indeed. The only think I can think of straight away is that perhaps not everything was fully melted together when combined? Other than that, the only variable is the emulsifying wax you use. Do you know what its INCI is?
MARIE! HI! AGAIN! (hehe…)
Can I use hydrosol instead of water in this recipe? In fact, can I use hyrdosol in any lotion, or soap, recipe instead of water? Thanks!
Hello! You can, though I wouldn’t bother with soap—the scent is unlikely to carry through, so you’ll likely end up feeling like you’ve wasted your hydrosol.
Thank so much, Marie! One of my favorite online stores is having a 30% off sale on hydrosols, and I’m itching to get me some to try on YOUR recipes. Hehe! Cheers!
Woo! Enjoy 😉
I’m hooked on an amazing body cream that I have to order. After paying shipping to send this luscious, minty concoction from Texas to Alabama the price almost doubles. This recipe sounds like it might solve this for me. I’m so excited to give it a try!
Awesome! I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you 🙂
I finally ran out of the body lotion I had bought, so I made this recipe this morning. I think it will be an excellent replacement for the purchased one. I will confess to adding 1/2 teaspoon of kaolin clay, just because I live in a very humid environment and I love clay. It’s another great recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 I like how light this lotion is—makes it great for the summer, even with it’s Christmassy scent!
The peppermint seems to cool the skin so I think it’s perfect for this weather we’re having in Alabama. I am going to reduce the clay I added to 1/4 t. It thickened up to the point it wouldn’t pump out. Or I might just put it in a squeeze bottle.
Nice 🙂 The clay doesn’t hugely effect the thickening—try swapping out a few grams of the cocoa butter for a liquid oil for a thinner final product.
Thanks for the tip! You sharing your knowledge so freely is a blessing.
🙂
Hi Marie,
Would you please make a lotion (and other type of products) with goat’s milk?
Or let us know how we can incorporate goat’s milk (in powder form) in your recipes?
I’ll keep it in mind 🙂
Hi Marie,
I’ve been meaning to ask you this for.ever.
Every time you mention using Benzoin you follow it with “thick blobs”. I’ve only ever known benzoin as a pourable oil. Is that the form you’re using? Do you order your favorite one from New Directions or Saffire? I’m filling my cart at Saffire and hoping that one suffices..?
Thank you!!
Diana
I got mine from New Directions. It’s liquid, but barely. If I pop it in a hot water bath I can pour it relatively easily, but if it’s room temperature, it comes out in resinous blobs. It sounds like the one from Saffire Blue is the same kind I use 🙂
Can I use a touch of pink or red clay to color the lotion? looking for a natural color option.
Have you checked out the video I just did for this recipe? It goes over 4 different pigment options. A highly pigmented Australian clay would probably work, but won’t give a very bright hue (it’ll be comparable to the iron oxide in the video).
If I used this as inspiration for a body butter (which does not contain water) would I still have the same issue with the beetroot powder changing colour?
Nope, you’d have an entirely different problem! Check out this article for photos and an explanation.
Thanks for the info!! So glad I asked before trying it!!!!
No worries! 😉
This butter has been a lifesaver for my cracked and chapped hands this winter! I subbed aloe juice for the water and left out the pigments. I was also light-handed with the EOs as I usually find scents overwhelming after a while. In this case I think it’s gone the other way and I just might be addicted!
Thanks so much for sharing all your wonderful recipes, Marie!
I’m so glad! I’m hooked on this one this winter, though sadly it does not smell like candy haha 😛
What would you suggest for a person to try as your personal favorite recipe? While I am greatful that you offer so many types of recipes, I am overwhelmed with finding what would be a good all around recipe to try. I am also looking for something I could sub out eo’s and fo’s and would have a pretty nice shelf life (noting that has a preservative preference as well). Could you suggest what recipe you would pick if you could only pick one? Runners up are okay too!! 🙂 TIA
Oooh goodness… uh. There’s almost 1000 posts up here, so I definitely get you feeling overwhelmed, but it’s pretty hard for me to choose favourites of any kind, let alone an all-time favourite! What category of recipe are you looking for? Lotion? Lip balm? Body butter? Soap?