This sweetly scented Christmas Tree Hand & Body Lotion is just the thing for dry winter skin. It has a wonderful rich consistency, but is surprisingly light. It’s packed with humectants and soothing ingredients to help tame dry, itchy skin, leaving it soft and hydrated. You can easily make a single bottle for yourself, or scale up the recipe and spoil all your friends and family!
Today’s recipe comes from a recipe request from Felipe; he was looking for an “aftershave balm that is easily absorbed on the skin and helps the skin recover after the shave”. He also included a link to a product he liked, and a quick look at the ingredients showed that the product was a lotion, despite being called a balm. Knowing we’d be making an emulsion I was free to choose all kinds of water-soluble skin goodies to help soothe, refresh, and moisturize the skin. Fun!
One of the first products I ever really wanted to dupe was a lavender scented hand lotion from L’Occitane. The scent was the first thing that drew me in—a soft, powdery lavender with hints of citrus and vanilla. It was also a wonderfully light lotion, but still hydrating. It’s hard to describe the type of lightness; the best descriptor I can think of is skim milk, oddly enough. It was light and perhaps a touch translucent, and managed to be fresh and hydrating all in a wonderful, skin-softening package. I created a version of this lotion back in 2014, but I recently dug up the original tube from L’Occitane while moving, and polished it off. That reminded me of how lovely it was, and I decided I ought to take another stab at it.
I thought I’d do something a little different for Mother’s Day this year. Instead of sharing recipes your moms might like, I’m sharing a recipe I made with my mom, based on what she likes! My parents live on the coast, where it’s much more humid, so when my mom visits she often adopts a recent lotion creation of mine to combat Calgary’s legendary dryness. A few visits ago I didn’t have anything up for adoption (gasp!), so we worked together to develop something just for her. She loved it and ran out, so on this visit we made another (bigger) batch, and I thought I’d share it in honour of Mother’s Day!
This soft, sweet Sleepy Time Lavender Benzoin Lotion has become a fast favourite of mine. I look forward to smoothing it down my arms and legs before tucking into bed and drifting off with sweet vanilla-frosted lavender floating around me. I also find the oats in the lotion really help soothe my dry winter hands—between dog pets and cold prevention they sure get a lot of washing these days. So, between pre-bedtime and daytime use I’ve been carting my wee tub of lavender lotion around the house with me so it’s available for all my assorted dry skin/sleepy time needs. High praise indeed!
I can’t believe that in all the posts I’ve shared here (upwards of 1000 now!), I’ve yet to share a foot cream! There’s a much-loved foot butter and a relaxing foot soak or two, but no foot cream—until today. This Eucalyptus Mint Foot Cream is a continuation of our Eucalyptus Mint theme, and when I was thinking about lotions to pair with this scent blend my mind went straight to feet. I wanted to make something rich and lovely for a bit of pampering self-care for your tootsies.
