Today we’re creating a Rich Lavender Shower Cleansing Cream—a luxuriously creamy body wash that still kicks off some lovely bubbles. It’s part lotion, part body wash, and all-around lovely. I’ve scented it with lavender essential oil, but you could easily customize the scent to something you love. Let’s dive in!
Over the years I have received a lot of requests for a Sol de Janeiro Brazillian Bum Bum Cream DIY. I found a 2018 request from Nichole and a 2020 request from Leslie in my records, and I’m pretty darn sure there have been others that have been lost in the shuffle of email accounts and computers over the years. This DIY version doesn’t strive to be a straight dupe, but it does smell the same (yum!) and is very much in the spirit of the store-bought product. I hope you like it!
Last year I positively devoured Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher Mystery series. Set in Melbourne in the late 1920s, the novels star the glamourous and clever Miss Phryne Fisher, who solves all kinds of mysteries in style. I first discovered Phyrne in the TV show based on the books (I streamed it on Amazon Prime a few years ago), and after a 1920’s Gatsby-themed event I was set to attend last spring was cancelled, I rekindled my relationship with the Honourable Miss Fisher in book form. That rekindling is what inspired this formulation for Phryne’s Milk of Roses 🌹
Today’s formulation was inspired by Glossier’s “Body Hero Dry-Touch Oil Mist”—I saw it on their website and loved the idea of an oil mist, remembering reading on Lotion Crafter that fractionated coconut oil is “light enough to spray through a pump sprayer”. That got the formulation wheels in my brain turning 😊 There are almost no overlapping ingredients between this formulation and the Glossier product, save for the fractionated coconut oil (or caprylic/capric triglycerides) and the tocopherol, so it’s definitely more “inspired by” than “duping”, but I love it. It’s an ultra-light, softly fragrant oil that mists beautifully over the skin. Massage it in after towelling dry post-shower or bath, and you’ll be rewarded with soft, moisturized, lightly perfumed skin without any greasiness. Perfection!
Happy new year, and happy 2021! I decided to kick off this new year with an evolution of the formulation that kicked off 2020—my much-loved Moisturizing Repair Cream (please read that post, too—there’s lots of good background information in it!). This lotion-y evolution features Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate as the emulsifier instead of Glyceryl Stearate SE or Polawax, creating a lighter, more glossy finished product that is more lotion than cream but still has all the gorgeous richness of the cream version. I am loving it to bits, and I hope you will too!
Today we’re re-visiting this summer’s Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion to learn how to adapt formulations to use the emulsifier Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate instead of emulsifying waxes like Polawax, Emulsifying Wax NF, Olivem 1000, BTMS-50, or Ritamulse SCG. I’ll also be showing you what happens when you swap them one-for-one and walking you through why you’ll want to make two changes to your formulations rather than just one. It’s all pretty simple, and will help you better understand why Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate is so unique and awesome ❤️ Let’s dive in!
Make it Up: The Essential Guide to DIY Makeup and Skin Care is now available at booksellers all over the world!