World Nutella day is the kind of holiday I can really get behind. I’ve loved Nutella since I was a kid, and I can still remember the first time I tried it—on a canoe trip with some of our Francophone family friends. Their kids were eating what looked like chocolate sandwiches, and understandably, my brother and I felt cheated as our sandwiches were definitely not filled with chocolate. That’s where the love affair began.
For years after that we ate toaster waffles with Nutella for breakfast every day, and I was a happy, happy child (for other reasons as well, of course). I eventually realized, in my later adolescence, that eating chocolate for breakfast every day was not a great idea from a nutritional standpoint, and Nutella was moved from breakfast food to occasional (and much beloved) treat.
I’ve frosted cakes with it, made it into cocoa, eaten it from a spoon, and attempted to swear off it forever (spoiler—that never works). It’s a perennial favorite of mine, and I thought it was high time to bring my love into the realm of body products. It’s an idea I remember tossing about years ago, but never executed for lack of hazelnut oil. Now that I’ve got hazelnut oil, there was nothing stopping me.
I decided to make a decadent chocolate hazelnut body lotion, with cocoa butter (USA / Canada), hazelnut oil, benzoin essential oil, and cocoa absolute. The cocoa butter (USA / Canada) contributes its amazing, intoxicating scent—be sure to use the real, raw, fragrant stuff. You can use the dark stuff if you’d like, it’s diluted enough that you won’t end up with accidental tanning cream. I used the white stuff as my white cocoa butter (USA / Canada) is more fragrant than my dark cocoa butter (USA / Canada).
Hazelnut oil pairs beautifully with the cocoa butter (USA / Canada). It is a light carrier oil, known to tighten and tone skin. It penetrates deep into the skin, and is said to stimulate the circulatory system. Sadly it doesn’t smell wonderfully of hazelnuts, but it does absorb quickly and beautifully in the skin, so I suppose we can forgive that one shortcoming. If you’re allergic to nuts, grapeseed and safflower oil are both good alternatives.
Benzoin essential oil contributes a nice, mellow vanilla scent, and can easily be swapped out for vanilla essential oil or absolute. The cocoa absolute serves to amp up the cocoa scent. Yum! The resulting lotion is fragrant, lightweight, and fast-absorbing. It also smells wonderfully of chocolate, and is a delightful tribute to the ever fantastic Nutella. Just don’t lick yourself 😉
Chocolate Hazelnut Body Lotion
14g | 0.5oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada) (the more fragrant the better!)
22g | 0.77oz hazelnut oil (if you have food grade oil that might be the better choice as it’ll have a nuttier smell)
14g | 0.5oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)146mL | 4.9 fl oz distilled water
4g | 0.14oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)1 blob/drop benzoin essential oil
2 drops cocoa absoluteBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Weigh the emulsifying wax, hazelnut oil, and cocoa butter (USA / Canada) into a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. While they melt, measure out the required amount of water and vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) into a small glass measuring cup. Warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds, stirring to combine.
Once the oils have melted, add the water mixture to the pan and heat through for at least three minutes to ensure everything is melted.
Remove the pan from the heat and whisk as the mixture cools, until you have a thick, creamy lotion. The thickening will take a few days if you are using a different emulsifying wax than emulsimulse/ritamulse, so don’t panic if yours doesn’t thicken up straight away!
Once the lotion is cool, whisk in the essential oils and preservative, and decant into a 240mL/8 oz pump-top bottle or jar.
To use, smooth over dry skin & enjoy!
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Sounds and looks lovely! I noticed that you didn’t use any preservatives or heated phases – how long this kind of lotion stays well?
If you store it in a pump-top bottle it should last about 3 months, though that will vary based on the condition of your ingredients, preparation, and storage. Watch for signs of spoilage like colour, texture, and scent change.
I’ve read that Benzoin is a strong sensitizer and should not be used on skin. Is this a small enough quantity that it’s safe?
yes, I’ve heard that too, I guess small amount is fine to be on a safe side.. we’ll see what Marie says 🙂
My supplier says it is only mildly sensitizing and should be avoided by people with sensitive skin, so I’m going with that, at least for this particular bottle from that particular supplier. I can’t speak for other sources, of course!
Thank you.
🙂
The source I buy mine from lists it as “a mild sensitizer [that] should be avoided if you have sensitive or allergy-prone skin.” The sources I’ve found that list it as a strong sensitizer seem to be talking about the absolute, which would be more potent than the essential oil. So yes, you should be fine 🙂
You, girl, are making so much stuff, lotions-potions-balms’n’butters, wonder where it all goes – it’s almost impossible to smash everything on yourself, right? 🙂
Thank you for the great yummy post, love your blog and read for a year already 🙂
Yes, haha, I definitely have a surplus of body goodies all over my house 😛 I try to be pretty good about not making too many different types of lotion at once, but my body butter collection is pretty much out of control. I suppose there are worse things 😛
I’m so excited to try this recipe! My sister loves Nutella, but it’s not the healthiest food, so she tries to moderate how much she eats. I can’t wait to surprise her with this body lotion, she will love it 🙂 Thanks for another great recipe!
What a fantastic gift for your sister 😀 Remind her not to lick herself 😉 Hahah!
Yummy!
🙂
Thks so much Marie, Awesome. I love these recipes I love Nutella. I can’t wait to try this one. Lately I have been experimenting with boot conditioners but bee bars will Bee one of Special Bee’s signature items. I use shea, cocoa, avocado and mango butters. Beeswax of course with lanolins, glycerins, and various oils of sorts. So much fun I am looking to specialized in Men’s products more so Men tolerable scents I should say chocolate macadamia is one of my favs. citrus bars are good too I was looking to do coffee bars also. I am looking forward to this recipe…………Thx PEACE : )
It sounds like you are having tons of fun with your concoctions 🙂 I’ve found men also like patchouli and mint as well.
In your post you say about the hazelnut oil that “Sadly, it doesn’t smell wonderfully like hazelnuts…”. If not then what provides that scent in the lotion? Or is it just a mild scent?
The cocoa butter contributes its amazing cocoa scent (as long as you don’t use the deodorized stuff, of course), and the essential oil/absolute do the rest. The end lotion doesn’t smell very nutty, but neither does Nutella (at least not the stuff I’m getting), so it works out quite well. You could add an artificial hazelnut scented fragrance oil if you really want a hazelnut scent, but I’d rather go all-natural 🙂
You didn’t find Hazelnut oil smelling nutty? I didn’t buy my hazelnut oil from Newdirections – I was impatient and picked it up from Whole Foods and that oil smells nutty. I guess the food grade version is different…
From what I’ve read, nuts for food grade oils are generally roasted before being pressed for oils. This results in stronger flavour for the food grade oil, but also damages some of the beneficial vitamins we want for skin applications. Sounds like this is what’s going on here, but it also sounds like your lotion will smell AMAZING!
How about half food grade hazelnut oil and half cosmetic grade hazelnut oil? That way you can reap the benefits of the oil and get the scent at the same time 🙂
Great idea!
Just finished making this, and all I can say is AWESOME! Found your website about a month ago after this post showed up on Pintrest. I pinned it and started following. Keep being amazing and posting such fabulous recipes.
I found this recipe easy to make and can’t wait to share it with my friends and family. It was so magical when I poured the water and glycerin in the mix and everything turned white and started to thicken. I was worried about the measurements when I started, but managed to make them work.
Thanks again for being amazing!
Awesome! I love hearing success stories, especially when it comes to lotion. Lotion used to be so mysterious, but not anymore 😀 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
Yum!! Just made this and it’s beautiful! Thank you for so many amazing recipes.
Awesome! Thanks for reading & DIYing with me 🙂
Hi!
I’ve been reading up on quite a few lotion recipes using emulsifiers. I’m planning on using an emulsifying wax – will that do the trick here?
Also, I was under the impression that the emulsifier will thicken it up for me and cut out the need for me to whisk like crazy (gosh, I hate that part so much). Have I been deceiving myself? 🙁
Hi Fatima! As long as your emusifying wax is a complete emulsifying wax, it should work perfectly here. Polawax, Emusifying Wax NF, and Emulsimulse are all examples of complete emulsifying waxes. Some e-waxes have to be paired with other emulsifiers to work, but are still called emulsifying wax, so if you aren’t sure, check with your supplier 🙂
And yes, the e-wax makes the emulsion pretty much foolproof. You’ll want to stir/whisk as it cools to ensure an even mixture, but you don’t need to be doing it consistently or obsessively by any means 🙂 Some e-waxes take a few days to thicken up (Polawax & Emusifying Wax NF), so if your lotion doesn’t thicken up straight away, don’t panic—just give it 3 days or so.
Marie in this lotion and the others, do you measure out the water by weight or do you use a measuring cup? I accidentally measured my water for this recipe in a measure cup and I think I have too much water.
I also used kokum butter and monoi oil instead
I usually do it by weight because I’ve already got the scale out & it’s easier to get it down to the mL/g with the digital scale than eyeballing it in a larger measuring cup. But hey, that’s the brilliant thing about the metric system and water—grams and millilitres are equal! Booyah.
Using different oils shouldn’t change the amount of water you can use in a recipe—that’s more effected by the amount of emulsifying wax. Also, an extra gram or two of water shouldn’t make the recipe fail.
So, I guess… why do you think you have too much water?
Love your work, greetings from Romania!!
Thanks, Carmen! Hi from Canada 🙂
Hi, Marie.
I’m new at this DIY Natural products. I’ve made some soaps and got totally hooked! Now, I’m really excited to try this body lotion recipe, but I find it hard to find some supplies here in Portugal, like the emulsifying wax (besides, as I said, I’m new at this). So, my question is: can I use bees wax for that purpose? Will it work?
Thanks in advance for your help, love your blog.
Hi Helena! Welcome 🙂 So, short answer is a big, definite no. I’ve covered this more in the FAQ 🙂
Please what can someone use in place of benzoin essential oil
Benzoin smells vanilla-like, so I’d recommend something else that has a vanilla scent 🙂
Have you tried Aromantic for hazelnut oil? According to the description, it has a very nutty scent. Saffire Blue According to reviews, it also has ‘a rich hazelnut smell with a chocolate background’ Sounds like Nutella to me! I want my lotion to look like Nutella, so I want to omit the white cocoa butter and use solely dark cocoa butter. Would adding 2 more drops cocoa absolute create the same chocolate scent if I used white cocoa butter or how many drops would you suggest? Also, I want my creme to be thicker like Nutella. Would I add more e-wax or omit water? If I omit water, how much should I omit? If I add more e-wax, how much should I add? Last question, would infusing the dark cocoa butter with cocoa power make it the same color like Nutella? Thank you so much!
I haven’t tried that oil. Honestly, you’ve got a TON of questions and variations in your question, and I have not tried everything. Why not try it yourself? You obviously know exactly what you want, and it would be much faster for you to try it yourself than to keep asking me about things I’m just hypothesizing about 🙂 You’ll also learn a lot more by doing it yourself 😉
Hi Marie, I know this is an old post but I just made this lotion and LOVE it!! I added about 6 drops of cocoa absolute because I wanted it really chocolaty and it is. I usually add vitamin e to my lotions so I swapped out 2 grams of hazelnut oil for 2 grams of vitamin e. The blob of benzoin weighs about .5 grams but I’m sure that will vary….. And I added .7 just because of who I am. 🙂 I usually add thickeners like stearic acid and cetyl alcohol. Your lotions don’t have that and I’m finding they are just as thick and creamy. I’m always looking for ways to simplify my recipes and keep the ingredients as natural as possible. I use a natural preservative and I know you don’t recommend them. I’ve had some problems but am determined to get it right. Currently I’m using leucidal sf complete that is supposed to be a broad spectrum preservative. I’ve had some mold growth so I add a small pinch of potassium sorbate and that seems to work. I share all my creations with my friends and co-workers and they love them
Hey Frann! I’m so glad you are loving this lotion 😀 It’s definitely one of the ones that makes me want to lick myself, haha 😉 Cocoa butter is so rich in stearic acid on its own that this recipe definitely doesn’t need any, and I find I rarely use stearic acid or cetyl alcohol. I’ve started playing with them, but they are far from required, especially when we’re DIYing for ourselves! Big companies wouldn’t want to rely on the stearic acid in cocoa butter for thickening as that would be expensive on the large scale, but it doesn’t matter to me when I’m making 100g at a time 🙂
I just made this and it is absolutely stunning, i added a drop or so of hazelnut fragrance oil as well as the cocoa absolute, and a bit of urea (im hooked on this ingredient now) and i have the most satisfying lotion! Thank you Marie for the lovely idea, for explaining the ingredients and what they do and the education!
Ooooh, stunning! That sounds utterly divine 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂