I’ve already written about my super easy, incredibly cheap eye make-up remover. It certainly lives up to its name. Ever since I got my hands on some emulsifying wax, however, I’ve wanted to try something else. Something lotion-y and creamy and lovely. This definitely fits the bill.
I usually use beeswax and a pinch of borax to make my lotion, with a 50/50 mix of water and oils. And this works out really well for lotion I use on my hands and legs, but I have no intention of getting borax (however little) near my eyes. Especially considering my general oafishness, which almost guarantees it will get into my eyes at some point in time.
Emulsifying wax is derived from palm oil, which I don’t love, but I don’t use it often, and it’s better than getting borax in my eyes. One of the major bonuses of E-wax is that it can handle a 75/25 mixture of water to oils, meaning your lotion is more easily absorbed. You only need about 5% E-wax in a recipe, and after using beeswax (USA / Canada) and borax, it feels like cheating, because everything just comes together in an instant. It’s like magic!
I settled on aloe vera juice with a touch of vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) for my water part, with a mixture of grapeseed oil, Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada), jojoba oil (USA / Canada), and coconut oil for the fats. No essential oils for this one, of course.
Deluxe Homemade Eye Make-up Remover
72g | 2.54oz aloe vera juice (you can also use distilled water)
3g | 0.1oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)10g | 0.33oz grapeseed oil
4g | 0.14oz jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
1g | 0.03oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz complete emulsifying wax
5g | 0.17oz virgin coconut oilHeat the aloe vera juice and vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) in a small saucepan over low heat until the glycerin melts.
Heat the oils in another saucepan over low heat until the emulsifying wax melts.
Pour the heated aloe vera mixture into the melted oil mixture and heat everything through. Once the entire mixture is the same liquid and the same temperature, whisk it together. The mixture will combine into a white liquid that will thicken as it cools.
Once everything is mixed together, decant into small bottles.
To use, squirt a little onto a cotton pad. Spread it around the pad, and then gently wipe of your eye make-up. Works like a charm! Just don’t use too much.
Hello – i love all your DIYs. but how do you measure out grams in liquid and in solid measurements? My measuring spoons are all imperial measures and metric.
Michele—Grams are a metric unit of weight, not volume, so anything with a weight (… anything, really) can be measured in grams. I love it because all I have to do is put my bowl or pot on the scale, pour until I have the right number of grams, hit the “tare” button, and continue with the next ingredient. This means no washing (except for the bowl I’m measuring into)!
Hey Marie,
Great recipe !!!! I would like to add also an essential oil ? Which do you think is suitable for eye area ?
Hi Georgia—I don’t think you should add essential oils to something you’re going to be rubbing into your eyes area, and is quite likely to get into your eyes. That’s why I didn’t include any in the recipe. Not everything needs to smell nice 🙂
Hi! I love your website and your recipes…thank you very much for sharing!
When you say aloe vera juice, is it natural or store-bought?
I have aloe vera in my garden and could make the juice myself, but do not know how…
Thanks,
Irene
The aloe vera juice is a pure aloe vera juice that’s from NDA. I have worked with stuff I’ve processed straight from the plant, but it has almost no shelf life compared to this stuff (it moulds in a few days). I’d save the aloe plant for applying directly to the skin and use the juice here 🙂
Thanks!
🙂
Marie – when I whisk together the oils with the glycerin and distilled water (I didn’t have aloe vera juice), it doesn’t get creamy, kind of lumpy-ish. Is this fine?
You didn’t mention the emulsifying wax… are you using that? That’s the magic ingredient that makes things creamy 🙂
Marie — I used all ingredients in recipe, just subbed the distilled water for the aloe juice. It is definitely clumpy. I have aloe on my shopping list for a few of your other recipes, I’ll try that next time.
Thanks
I went back and re-read the instructions for this recipe and NO WONDER. I told you to let everything cool before combining! OF COURSE it was lumpy. Yikes—so sorry about this! I think this was one of my very first recipes using emulsifying wax and my previous lotion recipe/emulsion method did require letting everything cool before combining, but ewax is a bit different. I think you should just be able to gently heat your lumpy eye makeup remover to melt everything together, and then whisk—that should fix it 🙂 And I’ve fixed the instructions in the recipe as well—thank you so much for bringing this to my attention 🙂
I’m so glad it’s not something I did! Thanks for re-reading and fixing the recipe and letting me know. I’ll try reheating the remover and whisking again and hopefully it’s creamier. I am definitely getting the aloe juice and will use that the next time I make it. 😀
Let me know! I hope it can be saved 🙂
Hi Marie,
This is my favourite eye make-up remover recipe hands-down. It does the job efficiently, doesn’t bother my eyes and there’s no oily residue like some of the recipes I’ve tried from other sites.
Thanks so much!!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it 😀 Happy making 😀
I’ve made this a couple of times with quite different results. Both times I’ve used BTMS-50 to emulsify and water instead of aloe vera juice but I substituted for the grapeseed oil. The first time I used sweet almond oil and it didn’t fully emulsify, it looked fine when bottled but over time it separated. I just shook it before use and it worked fine. The second time I used safflower oil and that make a thick lotion, which I spooned into a silicone bottle. No separation at all and it also works well but it’s difficult to deliver a small amount. I’m not really sure which kind of consistency is expected???
Hey! Given this recipe has a 25% oil phase it’ll be a pretty thick cream/lotion. For more stable emulsions I’d recommend following the instructions in this video 🙂