This creamy Almond Oat Soap came with a rather baffling (and completely unexpected!) mystery! When I sliced it after leaving it to saponify for a day I was delighted to find it was a completely different colour than I expected. Not just a bit darker or lighter (or grey-er, as can happen with saponification), but a totally different colour! One of my awesome patrons solved the mystery—keep reading to find out what happened, and why!
This formulation is incredibly simple, with just three (or four) ingredients and an almond-y theme. 99.5% of this formulation is almond-derived ingredients; you don’t have to keep to the almond theme if it doesn’t appeal to you, but you might want to re-name your creation if you start switching things up! This Simple Creamy Almond Body Butter has a really lovely, rich, creamy consistency, but it doesn’t use any creamy butters like shea butter or mango butter. It’s really easy to make, and can easily serve as a base for all kinds of further experiments and customizations so you can create something uniquely yours!
This rich Creamy Almond Lip Balm has a gorgeous ointment-gel consistency, and it’s an evolution of the Almond & Olive Creamy Lip Balm I shared last autumn. A combination of a pseudo wax and a true wax gives us an end product that’s a bit reminiscent of petrolatum (or Vaseline), minus the petrolatum, and I think that’s pretty neat!
There was really no way I could do a Cocoa Coconut theme and not do a lip balm. Cocoa Coconut practically begs to be lip-balm-ized! Since we’re in the midst of ultra-dry wintery weather right now, I opted to make this a Cocoa Coconut Sticky Lip Balm because when it is super dry and my lips are chapped and angry, sticky lip balm is what works. Its thick, tacky consistency means it stays on your lips, trapping in moisture and giving the delicate skin there a chance to heal. While I love a slippy, glossy lip balm, they just don’t offer the same level of winter protection as a sticky lip balm. If you suffer from extra dry lips in the winter, I highly recommend giving this DIY a try!
One of the things I absolutely have to make every year as part of my holiday DIYing is bath bombs—my mom loves them, so I need to make sure she’s set for the following year 😊 This year’s holiday bath bombs are Ice Palace themed, with a fizzy surprise in the centre and an abstract shimmery topping. They pair beautifully with the Ice Palace Soap from last month and the body wash from last week, too ❤️ Let’s dive in!
Today’s DIY is part of our ongoing Cocoa Coconut theme—we’re melting up some stunning Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars that put silky cocoa butter and mouthwatering coconut oil on a pedestal so they can shine. You’ll only need six or seven ingredients to make these Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars, and they’re really easy to scale up for big-batch gift making. 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!