I can’t quite remember who first introduced me to the idea of making my own DIY Egyptian Magic. It may have been Meredith, it could have been a reader. It seems my memory isn’t that great on this one. Anyhow, it was a great idea. As with many of the more natural products out there, I was floored by the cost, especially considering the ingredients, which are all pretty easy to get. So, in the midst of an extreme dry spell, I whipped up a batch of my own, and it’s fantastic.
There are only six ingredients in the original Egyptian Magic—olive oil, beeswax, honey, bee pollen, bee propolis, and royal jelly. I opted to eliminate royal jelly as I don’t have any. Royal jelly is rich in vitamins and minerals, and I’d happily add it in the future whenever I get around to purchasing some. In the meantime, the resulting balm is still perfectly lovely without it.
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The bulk of the balm is olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) that’s been thickened with beeswax. I chose to use a chamomile infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) for a calming and anti-inflammatory boost, but you can feel free to use plain olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) if that’s all you’ve got.
The special bits of the balm are the raw honey, bee pollen, and the bee propolis. I used raw local honey from a nearby Hutterite apiary. Raw honey hasn’t been heated and pasteurized, so its still full of beneficial enzymes, antioxidants, and vitamins. You don’t have to go very far to find somebody who swears by the stuff for everything from zits to burns to colds (and baking, of course).
Bee pollen is flat out loaded with vitamins. It’s high in proteins and amino acids, and said to help with skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema. It’s also a great dietary supplement.
Bee propolis is a complex resinous substance gathered by bees that basically resin and essential oils sourced from nearby plants and trees. They use this awesome substance for a wide variety of things, including sealing up small holes in the hive and preventing putrefaction. Studies have shown it has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties. To use raw propolis, which looks like dirt clods, you’ll need to turn it into a tincture using some clear grain alcohol. You can also buy it in ready to use tincture form.
The resulting Egyptian Magic balm is thick and creamy. It’s not at all sticky from the honey, and sinks in beautifully, leaving the skin soft and supple. It’s a great natural treatment for small cuts and blemishes, and it makes a tasty and effective lip balm. This recipe will fill a 30mL/1oz tin, making it perfect for carrying about (which is great, because you’ll want to have this awesome balm on hand all the time).
DIY Egyptian Magic
37g| 1.3oz chamomile infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) (or plain olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada))
10g | 0.35oz beeswax (USA / Canada)5g | 0.17oz raw honey
½ tsp ground bee pollen
40 drops bee propolis tincture (or make your own)Weigh the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and beeswax into together in a small saucepan and melt together over low heat, reserving a teaspoon or two of the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada).
Whisk the honey in a small bowl, slowly blending in the pollen, propolis, and reserved olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada). I found the extra moisture from the propolis tincture helped incorporate all the pollen. You’ll need to whisk very thoroughly to ensure the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) emulsifies into the honey.
Once the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and beeswax have melted, remove them from the heat and let cool, stirring, until you have an opaque, creamy substance. Transfer the honey mixture to the pot and vigorously whisk everything together. The reason we have to let the oils cool before adding them to the honey is so we don’t cook the honey, destroying the enzymes.
When the mixture is thoroughly mixed and emulsified, pour it into a small 30mL/1oz tin and chill in the fridge (I found this helped with any potential separation).
Use on skin, lips, blemishes, and small boo-boos. Enjoy your very own Egyptian Magic!
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Ah darn, I have everything on hand except bee propolis… Once I get my hands on some I’m going to make this.
I love picking up propolis at local farmer’s markets, so I’d definitely recommend checking yours 🙂 Local propolis is like a bee-created fingerprint of your area!
It’s times like these I’m glad I’m not a strict enough vegan to avoid bee products. This looks so lovely and useful! Is olive oil as the base for any specific function, or just for the sake of creating a closer approximation of the original product? I could use plain EVOO or the sweet almond oil that I infused with chamomile, calendula, lavender, and comfrey. Am I better off with the benefits of EVOO or the boost from the infused oil?
Same questions as sarah! following 😉
How much and when would I add in the royal jelly. What kind of olive oil, extra virgin cooking olive oil ok? How do I make Camomille infused oil? Could I just add Camomille EO’s?Where did you get the pollen from, ND or the bee keeper? I have found propolis at our local market from the actual bee keeper selling it. It’s a tincture but doesn’t state the ingredients? Would I be better off buying high strength manuka honey like +25? Please excuse my 1000 questions.I am super excited to make this balm for my girlfriends as Xmas presies. Thanks thanks thanks for sharing it.
H’okay, so:
Ok, I think that answers all your questions! Phew 😛 Enjoy your DIY Egyptian Magic!
Thanks so much Marie, I just made this delish cream. Can’t wait to try it out on a persistent impetigo sore 🙂
Awesome! How is it working? I remember having impetigo as a kid… uck!
Hi, not working out so good :-((( but nothing is working. Not even my super potent viral & bacterial killing DoTerra EO’s. Shame I can’t post a pic here, that would definitely scare everyone 🙂
Eeee 🙁 I remember being on pills and creams for ages when I had it, and not being able to go to school ’cause it was so contagious… which was actually kind of awesome because I felt fine otherwise, haha. But yeah… out of all the things I want to see photos of, random impetigo sores are seriously low on the list 😛
Yay for bees 🙂 The olive oil is just because that’s what is in the original, but you can use whichever carrier oil you like, really—I’d just stick to something in the average to fast absorption category. I’d probably go with the infused oil over plain olive oil.
Awesome, thanks! I have a snow day today, so I’m trying to make myself useful. Cleaning and DIYing have won the day! I was about to make this, but my infused oil has solidified from living in our unheated porch for a few days… strangely, the sweet almond oil I used did NOT solidify.
I’m so jealous of your snow day! My snow days just end up being “work from home” days, so while it’s better than going into the office in a blizzard, it’s still not as good as getting an unexpected day off.
As for the oils, apparently olive oil freezes/solidifies at 2°C, but sweet almond doesn’t freeze until -18°C. Cool!
Hi. Can you tell me how to infuse the oil with the herbs. I have no idea how to do it. Thanks.
Read this 🙂
Hi.
Wondering if you think this would help with stretch marks & whether this is safe for pregnant women?
Thank you in advance!
It could help with preventing stretch marks, but I’m not sure it would do much for fading pre-existing ones. I am not a doctor, but I don’t think anything here is unsafe for pregnant women. Double-check with your physician 🙂
“preventing purification” I’m wondering what this means re honey and propolis.
I think that was a typo or misspelling – what she probably meant was “putrifaction” or decomposition of organic matter. Good description of this in the Wikipedia discussion on propolis. Most honey products including propolis have preservative and disinfectant properties.
Yes, this is exactly what I meant, Janet. Thanks for clarifying!
I thought it might be, but I guess I never think of putrefaction and honey. 🙂
No wonder, it’s a kind of narsty concept to be paired with something so tasty!
Do you have a chapstick revipe using propolis and honey?
Gah, autocorrect! That’s supposed to say “putrefaction”. Thanks for catching it, I’ve fixed it in the blog 🙂
not that it’s a nasty concept, just that honey doesn’t go bad, and propolis is why, so I didn’t expect something as “extreme” as putrefaction vs say “mold” or some other hint of “goes a bit off”
Fun fact—propolis isn’t actually why honey doesn’t spoil as they’re separate things. The main reason honey doesn’t spoil is also why things like maple syrup and corn syrup don’t spol—they are mostly sugar. And sugar, being hygroscopic, creates a low moisture environment that bacteria cannot easily live in. It’s also acidic. Propolis, on the other hand, is a substance used within the hive for housekeeping, mostly. Where the putrefaction prevention comes in is for things like mummification (like if a mouse crawls into the hive & dies and cannot be removed because of its size—the bees will mummify it in propolis so it doesn’t putrefy/rot inside the hive).
how to turn grams into teaspoons, cups,… I have s found varying answers. Please help – just point me in the right direction as I want to try many of your recipes.
I’ve found this site
http://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/weighttovolume.php
does an okay job but I’d rather use weights instead of volumes as they can be more accurate in general.(especially when talking about flour, brown sugar and oils)
To convert weight into volume you need to know the density of the item and for things like oil the density changes based on the temperature of the oil and for flour and sugar the density changes based on how tightly you pack the containers.
If you want to try many of Marie’s recipes as you say I’d invest in a scale.
For this recipe I’d try 40-45 ML of oil, 2 teaspoons of beeswax and about 1/2 tablespoon honey.
I got these volumes by weighing out each item and then transferring them into volume measuring containers.
Thanks Mark! Exactly what I was going to say 🙂 And thanks for doing the measurement conversions, I’m sure it will be much appreciated by those without a scale.
Could you give weights for the beeswax and pollen too please?
I provided the weight of beeswax in the original recipe (10g), but the amount of bee pollen is so small (1/2 t) that it won’t register on a scale.
My apologies. I overlooked that fact. My first batch has been a real hit with my wife. She has sun damage on her lips and this is the first thing in 15 years to give her enough relief she doesn’t pick at the peeling.
We are organic gardeners and beekeeper’s so I was pleased I could use our own products to bring a solution to her problem.
No worries 🙂 I’m thrilled to hear your awesome DIY is working for your wife, and I am so jealous of your bees! I collect honey & beeswax when I travel, and my collection is getting a bit out of hand 😛
Hi Mona! Mark has given you a great answer here, but I just want to second his recommendation of buying a scale. They’re generally pretty inexpensive ($15–$30 for a decent one) and they are so, so useful. Less dishes, more accurate, and very versatile (also necessary if you want to make soap). You’ll find you get more consistent results when working in weights as well, since the amount of space ingredients like beeswax and coconut butter take up is greatly influenced by the shapes and sizes of the bits you’re measuring out. Here’s one on Amazon for $13.
I love the artisan spirit of this recipe, and I really love all the bee product. I love adding honey to my chapstick. It adds a lovely smell and taste, but I never seem to get it emulsified. The majority of my honey is left at the bottom of the pot and discarded. Also, it sometimes separates in my tubes. Any ideas on why my honey doesn’t emulsify? I buy raw and organic.
Heather, I’m having the same problem. Would love if anyone has tips on this!
My first guess is the temperature of the mixture & how much/at what temp. you’re beating the mixture together (detailed in reply to Heather). Could that be it for you?
Weird question maybe, but are you SURE it’s honey? There’s been a lot of stories lately of fraudulent products on the shelves, and how some are little more than sugar syrup, which would probably act quite differently (to my thinking anyhow). Just a guess, and you do say it’s raw and organic, and I don’t know how much the fraud issues are a problem, or if you know where it’s from and this isn’t a possibility.
This is a really good point, Dawn, and definitely worth checking into no matter what you’re using your honey for. This would definitely explain lack of emulsion as honey has natural emulsifying properties, but plain old sugar doesn’t.
Yes, I think the temperature is the issue, you described exactly what was happening. Thanks!
Awesome, happy to help 🙂 Let me know if it works for you the next time you give it a go.
Thanks, Heather! I’m a big fan of bee products as well 🙂 My first guess on why your honey isn’t emulsifying is how much you’re beating the mixture together, and at what temperature. I’ve found that I have to let the mixture cool to room temperature, or pretty close to it, before I can beat the honey into the oils—before that cooling point I’m just stirring a pot of liquid oils with beads of honey skittering around in it. I’ve never been able to pour the mixture into tubes at the emulsified temperature/consistency, sadly, as it’s always too thick by then. Could that be it?
Thanks Marie,
I’m pretty sure that’s it. I didn’t realize I needed to mix honey at room temperature. I purchased the honey from a reputable whole foods store in the Ozarks, so I doubt it’s the honey. How do you add honey into your tubes, or do you just opt for lip balm tins when using honey?
Glad to help 🙂 A bit of room temperature whisking should have you sorted in no time.
When I put honey in my lip balms I always opt for tins—mostly because the resulting lip balm is generally too soft for tubes, but also because it’s far too hard to get it into a tube when it’s already mostly solid.
Marie,
I’m really enjoying your site! Thank you for all of these fabulous recipes!
I have recently found royal jelly extract on this site: http://www.ingredientstodiefor.com/item/Royal_Jelly_Extract/783
Thanks Michelle! I noticed Amazon has it as well, so I guess it’s not that hard to find after all 😛
I love Amazon! You do have to be careful about the product descriptions though. I have received items that were not what I thought i was buying, like 3% essential oil dilutions that were labeled as 100%, etc. I was recently peeved enough to write a bad review, which I have never done before!
Damn 🙁 Liars suck. At least you can help bring ’em down with a bad review. I really do envy American Amazon, though—Canadian Amazon is pretty weak in comparison. We just got Amazon grocery at the beginning of November!
Hi Marie, my question is;
My 4 year old grandson suffers from eczema on his hands, the doctor says it’s due to autoimmune problem. My grandson says it hurts after washing his hands. Is there any crème recipe that could help or retard it? Thank you, TEE
Tee and Marie,
I hope I’m not stepping on any toes here but Marie made this post in Feb…
http://www.humblebeeandme.com/eczema-salve/
which you may not consider a creme but you might consider anyway.
I’ve heard good things about neem and hemp oils as well as juicing vegetables to make drinks. If you decide to use neem…beware that it is fairly strong and you will want to dilute it by mixing with other oils / butters.
Not at all, thanks for helping out, Mark 🙂 This is exactly the post I recommend whenever eczema comes up. I’ve never tried neem oil, but I’ve recently added hemp oil to my collection & I’m eager to try it out.
Hi Tee! The post Mark linked to is always my go-to for eczema. I gave some to my dad, and he loves the stuff so much he went out and bought himself a kilo of shea butter so he never has to be without it. I’d also give this recipe a go, as many users of the original product say it is great for eczema. I’m also working on a few more eczema creams and butters, so stay tuned 🙂
This looks great! I have been meaning to make something with bee propolis. I already use manuka honey in balms for my baba’s as they suffer terribly with eczema. After antibiotics and antibiotic creams hadn’t cleared a persistent skin infection, I used manuka honey and it cleared in two days!! To Burtee, I actually would try this recipe! My children have an auto immune disorder. I agree hemp oil is good. Personally I would recommend to be careful of essential oils. And would say maybe try aloe Vera can be really soothing.
Thanks, Sarah! I bet this would be fantastic with manuka honey as well, and your babies will probably love it 🙂 I should really splurge on some manuka honey one of these days…
This site is where I got my raw bee propolis from, they also have royal jelly but a little out of my budget.
http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/buy-royal-jelly.html
I made a bee propolis extract using the alcohol extraction method of 1:10 – great post below, I used Everclear grain alcohol I had my sister pick up from me when she went to Buffalo.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e14.htm
Nice! I, too, am having a hard time justifying a purchase of royal jelly (I found it on Amazon after writing this post) as it seems like handling & storage is vital to the potency of the final product, and in a situation where it’s being shipped to me, that’s just impossible to control. I’d hate to pay $20+ for something just to have it rendered useless by the time it gets to my door.
I have a post of bee propolis tincture coming up as well—did yours leave a CRAZY sticky coating? Mine was ridiculously sticky & hard to clean off the glass I soaked the alcohol & propolis in. Then again, I did make a much stronger tincture, so perhaps that was the problem.
Hi Marie!
I had no issue with the tincture – I followed the directions on the link I provided, I did quite a bit of reading. Even with the 10% dilution (1:10), the propolis smell is quite strong. I suffer from eczema on my legs and I’ve pretty much tried EVERYTHING – from Chinese herbal medicine (oh gosh so gross and expensive!) to Reishi mushroom pills to all kinds of concoctions – to be honest – I think it was a reaction to a lotion bar I made that I put tamanu oil in – anyway, I made a bee propolis salve (I did oil extraction method) and that one was quite sticky – and smelly 🙂
How interesting. I think mine is about 1:2 (maybe even 1:1 after evaporation while I was straining out the solids), so I’ll just need one drop 😛 I really love the smell of raw propolis, though the stuff I’ve bought as a tincture smells rather funny. The smell of the raw clods reminds me of rain and summer time 🙂 That doesn’t come through overly well with the alcohol in the mix, though. Pity.
Just picked a few things up at the Beehive in Kensington the other day. The owner says that he believes that he is going to have some Royal Jelly on the 18th:) I did not think to ask the cost though:(
Oooh, fantastic! I’ve been meaning to head down to Kensington for a while now as I need more of the amazing balsamic vinegar from Oliv, so I’ll be sure to check then. Maybe I’ll run into you 😛
Honey is hydrophilic, it contains water and will eventually seep out of the balm unless it is emulsified. I have never had any luck making lip balm in tubes with honey as one of the ingredients. The honey always separates and sinks to the bottom and eventually seeps out of the tubes. I have made honey ointment which are poured into pots/tins – I’ve whisked the honey in using a hand mixer when the oils/butters have cooled. Don’t add too much honey, stick to the recipe. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a sticky goo 🙂
I was surprised to learn that honey is a natural emulsifier—I always thought I was just getting lucky when it wasn’t separating, so I went and did some research, and lo & behold, I’m not that lucky 😛 But yes, you do have to get it to that emulsion stage, or separate it will. And yes, I have definitely over done it with the honey before (some = good, more = better, right?) and ended up sticking to stuff all day long 😛 Derp! I should do some experiments on the maximum amount of honey you can incorporate into oils before the emulsion breaks—that would be good to know. Though I imagine it’s quite a while after the balm is far too sticky to use 😛
Marie, have you thought any more about conducting your honey emulsion experiments? It’d be SO interesting to find out those magic maximum recipe amounts! <3
Hi Amber! It’s on my list… bit it is a very long list these days. Phew!
I’ve had the same experience as Annie so far, and have tried to emulsify honey, pollen, propolis & royal jelly into salves as well as emulsified products with no avail. I was really hoping to master this to make a product for Xmas but no luck yet!
The room temperature blending is really key here—what temperature are you trying to emulsify at?
Hi Marie,
I just made this, too soon to tell how it turned out. I’m not sure what to expect. Mine seems darker than your creamy yellow balm in the pictures. I’m wondering if I used too much porpolis. I bought a tincture at the health food store, the label says it is 50% super strength… A serving size is 15 drops, each serving has 250 mg propolis extract. What do you think? Would I still use 40 drops?
Thank You!
Hi Dru, mine is also darker but that might just be that the colors have come out lighter in Marie’s pictures 😉 mines a darker mustard/light olive color.
I think mine ended up looking a wee bit light as well because the wooden table was so dark.
Darker shouldn’t be a problem, given all the potential variations here—different olive oil, darker or lighter beeswax, darker propolis, darker pollen. Gotta love the variations in natural ingredients, eh?
My propolis doesn’t have a strength listed, but it does list a serving as 15–20 drops, so I’d say 40 drops of your tincture is still a good idea.
Let me know how you like it once it’s set up 🙂
I hope no one has asked this yet…but do I have to keep it in the refrigerator to keep it from separating or just initially. I have read a little about Egyptian Magic and I’m looking forward to an all-purpose cream.
Just initially—you’re good to keep it in your purse or whatever after that 🙂
I am loving your site. Everytime I make something, I usually share it with someone and wanted to know about shelf life. Do I need to add any stabilizers. I know some things just naturally are. Thanks!
Hi Darah! This is actually a pretty common question, so I’ve just added it to my FAQ, just for you 🙂
Hey there,
i want to try this out im having a hard time finding the bee porpolis. i did a general search and it seemed expensive. which % should i use and where do i get it? is there a substitute or can i keep it out of the recipe all together?
thanks for posting this!
You can get propolis at http://www.iherb.com too.
Thanks, Sarah 🙂
I got mine in the raw form from the farmers market, and then turned it into a tincture at home. A little does go a long way—I bought a 100ml bottle here back in 2011 and it’s still not empty 🙂 Unfortunately neither than or my homemade version have a percentage on them, so I can’t really comment on that, though I’d say stronger is better, especially since you can use less. I would recommend investing in a bottle, it’s a wonderful natural healer, and very useful in all kinds of concoctions 🙂 You can always leave things out, but you will probably notice that this doesn’t aid healing as well as it would with it.
You can get Royal Jelly from http://www.iherb.com
Thanks, Sarah 🙂
Hello there,
I just made this recipe. Its really really nice. the only thing is that the polen adds a sandy texture to the cream. Any ideas how to fix it? Cheers, A.
Hi Alma! Because pollen is water soluble, you’ll want to be sure to let it fully dissolve in the honey/propolis mixture before blending that into the oils. If that didn’t happen, you can try blending the final product with some electric beaters 🙂 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
It turns out that I didn’t allow it enough time to dissolve. I got the pollen from my beekeeper and it comes in the form of little pellets (2-3 mm size) apparently I need to let it sit in water for a few hours before it will dissolve. Too late for this batch //even thought it can be saved but I am too lazy to cause a mess in the kitchen for it// Now I know for future use. Cheers, A.
Ah yes, that’d do it 🙂 I have some pollen like that as well, and you’ll definitely want to grind it into a fine powder before trying to dissolve it in anything. At least you know you can get your balm nice & smooth in the future now 🙂
Hi there! I don’t have access to propolis (I am very broke, so all of my DIY beauty/hygiene products I make from what I can get with food stamps). I *do* have raw local honey, and bee pollen – would it be okay if I substituted the propolis tincture with some witch hazel extract (the stuff that’s 14% alcohol)?
I know it won’t have the same awesome effects as the propolis, but I figured it may help to dissolve the pollen. Would this mess up this salve? Should I use drinking alcohol instead? Do you have any recommendations for “extras” to add in the absence of propolis?
Thank you!
Hi Miyu! I wouldn’t bother with witch hazel here—just let the propolis dissolve in the honey (you may want to add a touch of water as well, depending on how thick your honey is). You could also add a bit of extra bee pollen, or perhaps some essential oils that are recommended for healing and antibacterial properties like lavender or tea tree. Good luck and thanks for reading!
Hi Marie…just a follow up comment. A friend of mine’s, who also is a beekeeper, wife burned her hand badly when taking a pot off the stove. She tried several solutions including her husbands honey and then some propolis and other salves with no reduction in the pain or swelling. She could not go to work. When he told me about her burn I gave him some of my first batch of DIY Eqyptian Magic with no royal jelly in the recipe…PRESTO…her pain and swelling went away after one application and was able to return to work. Now she has told all her friends and I had to make up a second batch; this time with the royal jelly.
Thanks for a great recipe for those nasty skin injuries. Guess the Egyptians knew how to leverage their beekeeping skills into practical healing solutions!!
Ooooh, this is such an awesome story! I love it 😀 You must be so thrilled to be a legend within your circle of friends now as well 😉
I am not going for legend…just hoping folks don’t think me too weird making creams and lotions. But you, my friend, are becoming one!! Your ears should be burning.
Anyway here is another story that just came in this morning. I gave a small container of my new mix (with Royal Jelly) to a vising reflexologist whose daughter is suffering badly from Eczema. Here was her review this morning:
“My daughter loves it and says it really helps! She put it on Tuesday afternoon and at night she took a shower, when she came down she was: look, it helps already!!! We put it on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and yesterday it was good enough that she didn’t need to use the cream!
Powerful magic stuff!! :))
and the compliment goes to you Marie for developing the formula!! 🙂
Well, I’m blushing over here 🙂 I’m so thrilled your tweaked formula working wonders!
Hello Marie,
I love your recipes. I’ve made quite a few for myself and as gifts. I wanted to share with you my experience with this DIY Egyptian Magic. I’ve had rosacea for almost 30 years, so believe me when I say I’ve tried a lot of products! But the combination of this balm and your White Willow bark toner are MAGIC.
I’ve been using honey with royal jelly to wash my face and hair for a few years now and my facial flushing was getting better. One evening I was out of honey so I reached for the DIY Egyptian Magic, massaged some into my face, and rinsed with tepid water. Oh, what’s this? My skin was soft, soft, soft. And soothed. And moisturized.
For the last 2 months I’ve been using the balm as a facial cleanser before bed and the toner in the morning, and my complexion is clear and calm. I have tears as I’m writing this to you because our face is so front and centre, people see it.; I can’t hide mine unless I wear a burqa I suppose. I’ve had people stop me to tell me with alarm that my face is “so red”. It was humiliating and intrusive and a blow to my self esteem. The only comments (if any) I get now are, “your face is glowing, what are you using?” I direct them to your fantastic website.
Thank you Marie – your generosity and creativity is very much appreciated. I’d give you the biggest hug if I could.
Hi Sabine! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful story 🙂 I love getting feedback like this, and hearing that my recipes have helped improve the lives of my readers. That’s a big part of why I do what I do, so it’s really rewarding to hear that it’s working!
If you’re in Canada we just might be able to make that hug happen 😉
I made this about a month or so ago and have been loving it! It recently started feeling slightly gritty. I don’t want to heat it up blend it again and kill the great benefits of the honey! Any tips?
Hmm, that’s rather odd. Does the grit dissolve on the skin?
love your blog! i’m looking forward to making this recipe right now~
Awesome! Have fun with it 🙂
I came across your site on Facebook and I’m really enjoying it. You have a lot of interesting info on here. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Kathryn!
Hi! Thank you for sharing, I definitely will try making this and is currently searching for the needed ingredients, I am from a Scandinavian country and the ingredients were not easy to find, I have to order it online. Just have a question about the propolis, what I found is in powder form, but you have it in tincture, do you know how I can make it into a tincture or can i just mix the powder propolis together with the other ingredient? If I find a Royal Jelly, how much can I add? Also if I want a bigger batch, can I just double your recipe? Thank you so much for taking the time to read my 100 questions ^_^ i will be waiting for your reply ^_^
Hi Jill! Here’s an entry on how to make your own propolis tincture, and I’d probably add 1/2–1 tsp of royal jelly to this recipe. You can double it if you like 🙂
dar Mary, I’ve made the Egyptian Magic for my hands which have been so dry and covered with cuts during this pandemic, taking care of all the household chores while having my family at home 24/7 since March 2020. This cream is truly magic. I love this stuff and I am never buying any store stuff for my hands ever again.
just one question though. I incorporated royal jelly in my recipe but I wasn’t sure at what temperature was ok to add it. I read this article and didn’t find that information, and since my royal jelly jar says that it should be kept under refrigeration, I don’t know if I destroyed its properties. My mix was about 100ºF when I added it. I appreciate your comments.
Stay healthy and God bless.
*sorry: Marie
So I have read all the comments and my question is I have “super enriched honey”, it contains bee pollen, bee propolis and royal jelly in it. So I am wondering how could you incorporate this honey into this recipe? And how much, so on and so forth?
It is made by Y.S. Eco Bee Farms, 1 tsp contains 500 mg bee pollen, 15 mg bee propolis extract, and 30 mg fresh royal jelly, I don’t know if that helps but I thought I would include the info on the label.
I would love to make this since I suffer from dry skin all over and I have been making all sorts of balms and such and nothing seems to knock out my dry skin.
By the way, love, love and love some more your blog! I would love to make everything you talk about most of the products are a little out of my range of price.
Also, do you have anything else you would recommend I could make to help with my dry skin, especially in the winter time? Ha, sorry for so many questions I’m just excited! Thanks again, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! What a cool sounding honey 🙂 I’d start with using the same amount of honey that I’ve called for here—I find this balm is already teetering on the edge of being a bit sticky from the added honey, so I’d be cautious about adding more. Enjoy and thanks for reading!
For dry skin—drink LOADS of water, have homemade lotion everywhere (this one is great), and try argan oil for your face 🙂
I’ve made a few batches now bit I’m still getting that sticky, tacky feeling. I’ve waited to add the honey to the beeswax mix unull the mix was cool enough and I’ve tried using less wax ot less honey thinking that might help. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
Make sure you are raw honey, because much of available store honey is cut with corn/sugar syrup which will alter the recipe and may well render the final product less potent. Buy honey from a Beekeeper you know, if at all possible.
Yeah, it’s local raw honey that I get from a guy who sells it at the farmers market.
Hmm,
Should be ok then! I am sure Marie will have some other input.
🙂
Definitely good advice!
At this point you may not be doing anything wrong—you might just be more sensitive to the stickies than I am. I’d try halving the amount of honey you use and seeing what you think 🙂
Hi there! I cannot seem to emulsify the honey and the olive oil, I’ve tried with a high speed blender as well and the honey still separates.. Help! 🙂
Thank you so much for your time!
Hi Jaya! Are you blending until the mixture is basically at room temperature? Nothing will happen, emulsion-wise, while the oils are still totally liquid.
Funny thing about this recipe…
I’ve been using Egyptian Magic (EM) for almost 20 years. I introduced my husband to it several years ago, and it’s the only thing that has ever healed his extensive eczema. Now our toddler has eczema, so I found this recipe and decided to make it for them. We were paying $50 a jar for the store-bought EM and I made if for less than half of that cost.
When I made my first batch, I researched the kind olive oil that I wanted to use. I settled on the Domenica Fiore brand, which I didn’t know at the time was pretty much the best olive oil to be had anywhere. I was just concerned about using real olive oil so that I was using the best quality ingredients on my son. I infused my olive oil with local calendula harvested just weeks before I bought it. And I added real yarrow and German chamomile EOs that I researched extensively before buying. I even sourced local, fresh propolis, bought straight from the beekeeper’s hands and made my own propolis tincture. I bought my beeswax and pollen from the same beekeeper as well. The honey I used was harvested just a few miles away from my house. My hope was to make the most healing and potent EM using my modified version of your recipe.
My husband tried it. It made his eczema burn and itch like mad. I didn’t dare try it on my son, as I was worried his tender, young skin would react badly as well. So now I use it as my nightly moisturizer and my skin looks fantastic.
I made a second batch, using the same base ingredients as called for in your recipe. But I left out the extras, like the calendula and the EOs.
My husband *still* reacted to it. It also badly inflamed my son’s eczema.
So you know what I think? I think there’s not a thing wrong with your recipe. I suspect that the ingredients called for in the original Egyptian Magic aren’t actually legit. And I suspect it’s the olive oil. What with almost every single olive oil available in North America (and beyond) not being real olive oil, I wonder if the olive oil in the original EM isn’t actually olive oil at all. My husband never reacted badly to the original EM. But he did to both batches I made. I suspect it’s the olive oil because my husband is allergic to pretty much every fruit that grows on trees, and olives are a tree fruit.
So your recipe is awesome, and I love it to bits. But now I’m a bit suspicious of the EM we used to buy in the stores…
Hi Nicole,
Excuse my interruption; I am a beekeeper, organic, 16 years. Just trying to help, not be critical.
Pollen is often collected in the spring and early summer, by beekeepers but can be collected anytime. The pollen will be a different type depending which flower/plant is in bloom at the time it is collected. Pollen often is very concentrated for people and can cause an allergic reaction depending which flower/plant the bees visited. While there is no way anyone can help you diagnose your husband and child’s reaction to the EM, I would look more at the Pollen more than Olive Oil.
While I say that I am an organic beekeeper, I can’t say where my bees fly to collect their pollen and nectar, but if they visit a pesticide laden plant– that pesticide will show up in the pollen, wax and honey. Also there are still many beekeepers who use chemicals to treat mites and other critters which attack our bees… this too gets into the bee by-products. So before you blame the Olive Oil, think of the bee ingredients. I have had no bad reaction from my EM used with similar blemishes. Maybe I am lucky?
My only issue with my blend is the separation of the ingredients.
My thought (since I am not the expert here) is to try to substitute other bee by-products in your mix to see if that can help you isolate the allergic reaction to your blend.
All best wishes…
Hi Jess:
Thanks for your thoughts. What you’re suggesting is possible – that the problem might be the pollen. But there’s pollen in the original EM too, so then I’d question why my husband and son have never reacted to the pollen in that product.
I really have to wonder if the concentration of the more costly ingredients in the original EM – like the pollen and propolis – aren’t really that significant and maybe EM is really just beexwax and some mystery oil. After all, that real olive oil is extensively adulterated does bring up a valid question of whether or not the olive oil any of us use or consume is actually real in any degree.
My issues aside, I do think this is a great recipe and none of my concerns actually have anything to do with Marie’s original creation. I think it makes for a fabulous moisturizer if you happen to have skin as woefully dry as mine. It works even better applied right on to wet skin, as the oils seal in the moisture from the water. Luckily, this cream doesn’t clog my pores at all, even though I don’t wash my face in the mornings (if I did, I’d strip away any precious moisture I have left…)
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you’re right about the concentration of the expensive ingredients being suspiciously low. You can buy powdered, processed bee pollen from China that I imagine is rather stale and not nearly as potent as the local stuff you’ve sourced.
Thanks so much for chiming in, Jess!
Hi Nicole! What an interesting dilemma. You did exactly what I would have, though I can’t help but suspect the bee ingredients instead of the olive oil. There’s just so much possible variation in bee products, and pollen is such a common allergen.
Have you tried shea butter for eczema? It’s worked wonders for my dad, and readers have said it’s been brilliant for their babies.
Hi Nicole,
I think your husband and son might be allergic to chamomile. Even though this herb is fantastic for most people, it is a well-known allergen to atopic people. Actually, I’m allergic to it myself, even though I always enjoyed drinking chamomile tea 🙁 I am on a diet as we speak, and hope to see positive effects on my eczema soon. Well, I’m off, gonna make some o’ that bee cream.
All the best from Holland,
Judith.
Thanks, Judith!
What was your specific recipe? What product with honey, bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly did you order?
Nicole,
What I meant to say is that not all pollen, propolis or honey is the same, it all depends on where and what the bees feed on. What goes down well for one, may be a problem for another. My honey and other by-products are surely different than the ingredients you used; not better or worse, just different!
Don’t leave out anything if you want all the healing properties of this mix. I even add Royal Jelly to my mix to maximize the healing properties of the mix.
Good luck with whatever you do, and at least you are finding a use for the EM.
Best,
Jess
🙂
So I made a LOT of this – i didn’t quite expect to make so much but I ended up with 30 little tins!
My problem is I reacted to it too! I put some on my lips as lip balm and my lips started itching right away and was swollen for a whole week, I had to get some medicated lip gel at the pharmacy. It was awful.
I can only say that it HAS to be the bee pollen, I also got my bee pollen from a local farmer – I made my own tincture of bee propolis from awhile ago and used it so I know it wasn’t that. I did put the salve onto my kids lips and they were fine, I think i reacted because I have sensitive skin, I suffer from contact dermatitis 🙁
If I ever try this again, I would leave out the bee pollen for sure.
Oh no! Do you have seasonal allergies? That would potentially explain it.
Hi!
I made two batches of this in the last week, trying to get it right. The first time I used a 70% propolis tincture I bought that was super sticky–like molasses-and in the finished product, it balls up on my hands as I rub them together. This time I used propolis capsules, which blended better. But both times, my batches turned out a deep brown color! How did you get yours to stay white? It seems to me that the propolis is so dark, the end result could never be white.
Well, actually now that I’ve tried it, the second batch isn’t much better. The propolis still balls up in sticky blackish shreds all over my hands. I really don’t care about the color of the finished product (just curious as to why it was dark!) but I do care about the non-incorporated propolis. I mixed it as well as I thought I possibly could…what do you think could be the problem?
Hmm. I’d try diluting your tincture with extra alcohol, it sounds like it might be too thick to emulsify properly. It should incorporate completely without any dots or droplets.
Hello! It sounds like my propolis is just lighter than yours, which isn’t too surprising—bee products can vary a lot depending on where they were produced.
Are you certain your propolis emulsified? Is the tincture alcohol based? It may need to be diluted more if you say it’s like molasses—mine is distinctly liquid (which could also explain the lighter colour).
Hi there! I love coming here for inspiration, and this recipe is coming up on my list of things to try. I also love that you’re in Canada too! Makes me worry less about where to find the ingredients you use, because if you can get them, I can likely get them too. It can be a bit of a headache trying to source exactly what I want and need. :]
And speaking of sources, I took a peek at well.ca for royal jelly, and they have it. Expensive, but they have it. I go there for many things I can’t get here in town, or have to travel for. It’s just one handy place to know about! (And if you’ve never ordered before, you can Google coupons for well.ca first time customers, or poke me for mine. 😀 )
Hi Julie! It’s always lovely to meet a fellow Canuck 🙂 I must admit I often head over to Well.ca, fill up a shopping cart, and then click away without ordering 😛 I always seem to convince myself that I don’t need any royal jelly/my vitamins are cheaper at Costco haha.
Hi, thank you for this tutorial! I decided to kick my old acne acids and chemicals to the curb and try something gentle. But the real Egyptian magic is crazy expensive. I would have to be out of my mind to pay that for so little. I live in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t even find the beeswax; thank goodness for the Internet.
Mine turned out a totally different colour though; it is yellow. I ordered natural unbleached beeswax which is brown, and raw unfiltered honey which is very thick and not clear. The honey also had bees pollen, propolis, and royal jelly already added. It was expensive, but the jar is HUGE. Then I trippled your recipe. I found mine is very waxy, so next time I will follow your recipe with more olive oil.
After 1 week of using this at night, my face and lips feel amazing. My skin is so smooth, the pores of my cheeks feel smooth, and The rest of my pores are clearing out. It works good on my hands, but my dermatitis seems moisturizer too, so I don’t think I can lose my corticosteroid creams yet.
I hope this helps with your other readers, and thanks again!
PS: I made some for my daughters eczema. It works good, but she said it burned the raw areas, so I will make her some more with no honey.
You might also consider this for eczema—I’ve heard great things from my readers and my family with it!
Hi Jess! I’m so thrilled you’re loving this 🙂 Mine is fairly yellow, but there’s definitely room for lots of variation in colour depending on the beeswax and honey used—and there are infinite varieties of each! For a reference on changing the amount of wax you use, check out this article. Thanks so much for DIYing with me!
Marie, You can find Royal Jelly on the internet and also in Asian grocery stores. I have found it in the same place you usually find viles of Ginseng. I am definitely going to try this DIY project. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thanks, Lisa! I’ll be sure to look next time I’m at the Asian grocer 🙂
I adore your recipe and will definitely try it…I have been looking for a good Honey facial cream I can make myself.
I would certainly check out and just google Royal Jelly, and pick some up. Royal Jelly contains an amazing amount of nourishment for the skin and tightens down into the deep layers of the skin.
You could probably pick some inexpensive royal jelly up http://www.gnc.com/Y-S-ORGANIC-BEE-FARMS-Royal-Jelly/product.jsp?productId=2134325
Thank you so much for such a cool recipe.
Satiah
Thanks, Satiah! With my recipes I’m always trying to strike a balance between using awesome ingredients and making for a formula that’s not too expensive to make. That’s why I’ve left royal jelly out of this recipe.
Hello again! Sorry to keep pestering you, but I really do reference your blog so very often! I’ve finally collected my desired ingredients to make this project (all-local beeswax, propolis tincture, honey and pollen! I’m lucky to live in a “bee state”!), and I’m very excited to get started as this is one of the “recipes” I’ve been most anxious to try! I plan to add some zinc oxide to a portion of this recipe to make a nourishing sunblock for daily wear. 🙂
A couple of questions/ponderings I was hoping you could chime in on (please excuse the novella below, and sorry for including multiple links):
I see people have some issues with incorporating honey – I’ve also had that issue with previous “lotion/salve” attempts. This time I will be making sure to blend the heck out of it to room temp, but I was wondering… I just picked up a big bottle of “liquid” (seems very lipid-like to me) soy lecithin, hearing that it can help in emulsifying the honey in. With your experience in making moisturizers, how much would you recommend I add to this mixture to facilitate emulsification if one wished to do so? (I’m using this link as a reference for using lecithin, also because I do happen to have sodium lactate I was already looking at this lip balm recipe: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-do-some-people-manage-to-get-water.html).
I’m hoping that a small amount of “liquid” lecithin included in a product made mostly of oils and wax would not need preserving – I live in a warm, humid climate (rainforest, yay), so I’m very conscious of the need for preservatives when applicable – I just haven’t gotten the funds to order a paraben/sensitivity-free preservative yet, so I’m still attempting to keep my products free of the need for preservatives just yet – this link says something about reducing the amount of lecithin, honey (and a few other things a lot of people in the diy-natural-skincare world tend to use a lot) to just 1% of a formula, as well as using a preservative – I think they are a bit on the cautious side: http://www.humblebeeandme.com/preservatives/ . (I do make sure to disinfect all equipment/containers, and don’t dip into jars of product with my fingers AT ALL)
Last but not least, my MAIN question: I would like to also include shea butter to help with my eczema/acne scarring issues – how much would I add to this recipe? Do I need to lessen the amount of any other ingredients to do so? It’s my first time using shea, and I know it’s not in the original formula, but I REALLY want to get the benefits of the allantoin content into my “Egyptian Magic”!
Thank you again, so much, for your lovely blog and your patience (and sorry about the long comment)!
Hi Nixie!
For the honey/lecithin: I really have not experimented with SL that much, it’s still a pretty new ingredient to me. I’d try incorporating it at half the amount of the honey and seeing how that goes. It won’t harm the balm at all, it’s also a conditioning ingredient so you could just add it to balms for that if you wanted to. In my experience, you should be ok to go preservative free if the only water soluble ingredient you’re adding is honey, as honey is quite shelf stable on its own. You may want to add some vitamin E to your formula to help ward off rancidity, though, which can set in faster in warmer climates.
If you want to use shea butter you’ll need to drop out some of the olive oil, using a 1:1 weight swap. You’ll likely want to drop some of the beeswax as well, as shea butter is obviously harder than olive oil.
Thanks for reading and DIYing with me 🙂
Do you think I could add the bee products to a lotion base and leave out the olive oil?
You could, it would be a lot like decorating a store bought cake though 🙂
Hi Marie,
Just wanna say that even though using this on my lips is not a good idea for me, using it for burns is absolutely magical! I have burnt myself a few times and putting this on, takes away the pain, prevents the blistering effect of burns, heals it nicely, quickly, painlessly and hardly any scarring left behind. LOVE IT! I said I wouldn’t make anymore but I’m actually out of the 30 little tins i made that decided to make another batch, for Christmas gift giving 🙂
I love success stories like this one! I’m sorry that you seem to burn yourself so frequently, though—30 tins is a lot! Ha 😛 Enjoy batch #2!
I don’t know if I measured right but mine came out slightly sticky, and a tad bit oily at the same time when applied to skin. I found an awesome way to “mix” it. I had to double the ingredients in order to do it, but it worked great. I used my mini food processor. I think it is a 2 cup. As long as you have just enough mixture to cover both blades it does the work for you. I paid $5.00(usd) for it. Very useful!
Hi Jen! I do find that mine seems a bit tacky on application, but that goes away really quickly. You can always decrease the amount of honey in it, but there’s so little already that I didn’t want to do that 🙂
I love the mini food processor idea! I have one that I grabbed at Value Village and it’s also great for making bath bombs.
Hi Marie!
I just came across Egyptian Magic and couldn’t believe the price tag! I also didn’t like the comedogenic aspects of some of the ingredients (read: olive oil and beeswax) so I am using your recipe as a base and tweaking it a little. I’m planning on using hemp seed oil as a substitute for olive oil and candelilla wax as a sub for beeswax. I’m not sure how well it will work out, but I’ll post an update in a week or two with my results! Thanks for the recipe, and cheers!
Hi Patience! If you haven’t read them already already, I think you’ll find this and this useful 🙂
Thanks for those, Marie! They are very helpful. Now that I’ve seen the post about the oil, I’m considering Argan oil instead. Do you think a 1:6 ratio of argan/candelilla would work? I was looking for something a little more on the fast-absorbing side, so I’m not too bothered if it doesn’t “stick around.”
How do you think these ingredients will mix with the bee products?
Try it and see what you think! You can always add more wax if it’s too thin, so start with less, not more (especially if you’re working with argan oil—the wax is much cheaper to use more of). Get the wax ratios right before you add the bee products, they should incorporate perfectly fine.
Hi Marie,
Thanks for the recipe. I plan on pairing this with a cold process soap that has a lot of these ingredients in it and can’t wait to try them out. Also if you haven’t found Royal Jelly yet there is a company called “From Nature With Love” and they sell Royal Jelly powder that’s not to expensive.
Thanks, Katie! I’ve since grabbed a royal jelly extract from Saffire Blue that I’m looking forward to playing with 🙂
Why is my cream light brownish in color unlike yours (yellowish)? Just wondering?
I’m guessing your honey, beeswax, or propolis was significantly darker than mine 🙂
Love your recipes and will try Egyptian Magic today. Do you have any knowledge or opinion on polysorbate 40 as an emulsifier in home made facial and skin creams. I bought mine at The Apothecary in inglewood. I don’t want to use anything harmful and wonder if this is ok. I’ve done a little research online and it seems to be an accepted product. I want to avoid all petroleum based product and could not tell its origins from the information I’ve found so far. Thanks so much for your knowledge and inspiration.
Hey Sally! From my understanding, Polysorbate 40 isn’t a complete emulsifier, so you’d need to pair it with some other co-emulsifiers to make lotions and creams, but I can’t really help with what those might be. You’d need an HLB calculator, but if you’re new to this I’d recommend just getting a complete emulsifying wax to save yourself the fuss 🙂
Have you discovered Skin Deep yet? It’s a great resource. From my reading the polysorbates are derived from fatty acids like palm oil.
Thnks so much for your response. I’ll check out your reference. I live in yyc too!! I enjoy your posts. Hugs ☺️
I was so excited to try this! I even used a saffron infused olive oil I had. However, it was sticky on application and even seemed to stay tacky on my hand even after I left it on for quite awhile. I also had trouble with the bee pollen. I ground mine in a coffee/spice grinder and it was still noticeably gritty in my final product. Not sure what I did wrong. 🙁
Hey Aimee! Thanks to the inclusion of honey this balm will be sticky if you apply lots and lots of it all at once, but I’ve found smaller applications of it feel lovely when massaged into the skin. You definitely don’t want to add extra honey, though. Did you find the pollen dissolved in the propolis/honey mixture before you incorporated it? Did you do everything by weight or change anything?
Hi! No, I didn’t change anything. I used an online calculator to convert the measurements into ones I understood. I mixed the pollen in really well, but it didn’t dissolve. I only tested a small amount on my hand and it was pretty sticky. Like make-my-skin-crawl, had to quickly wash it off, sticky. 🙁
What do you mean by “measurements you understood”? I ask because I provided both grams and ounces, and unless you were scaling up to fractions of a pound or kilo, then I’m guessing you converted into volume measurements like tablespoons? If so, that’ll be your problem. There’s no way to reliably convert weight measurements to volume measurements since everything has different densities, and volume measurements are really inaccurate for solid things like beeswax.
Hello Marie
I am in Nigeria and want a raw Royal jelly in paste form or powder form also the propolis tincture n pollen in d grain from
Please kindly refer me to an online store that sales and will ship to Nigeria baby usps, Dhl or fedex ..
Thank you in advance.
Stella
Hey Stella! Check out my list of places to buy ingredients; I’m afraid none of them are in Nigeria, but hopefully you can find somebody that will ship 🙂
Without reading all comments, I’m wondering if a Chamomile or Calendula tincture could be used instead? Thanks much, was wanting to use what I have on hand.
Hey Lisa! What’s the solubility of those tinctures? If they are oil soluble they should work, though it wouldn’t be a 1:1 swap—probably just a bit of the tincture and mostly olive oil.
Hi Marie, I LOVE your blog! By the way how long can a diy egyptian magic cream? I heard honey can last forever. But does it work as a preservative for the other ingredients though?
Thank you!
Hey Andrea, thanks for reading! Check out the articles in the “Preservatives” section of the FAQ for answers to your questions 🙂
Hi Marie. For the Bee Proplis Tincture I noticed at a local vendor here that they sell a 30% tincture, which peaked my interested. I looked online as well and have seen even higher percentages. Would the 30% tincture be acceptable? Yolanda
Hey Yolanda! That’ll work 🙂 You could use a few extra drops if you wanted to, since it’s one of the weaker ones, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much—mine is homemade so I have no idea how strong it is haha.
Hi Marie, I just made this, which is wonderful… I did not have the pollen or propolis tincture, I used Manuka honey UMF 15+. This honey was sent from NewZealand from my niece, it is used by native NewZealanders for its healing qualities. I used the honey as you stated in your recipe. Will this still be as effective without the polen or propolis.
Hey Therese! I’m glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 It will obviously lose some of the healing benefits and vitamin/mineral content if you’re dropping two of the ingredients, there’s really no way around that. It should still be lovely and hydrating, though!
I’d love to see an Egyptian Magic soap bar! I love honey and the like and use it for as much stuff as I can, I just can’t figure out how to properly turn it into soap…
I have a liquid soap! Still working on getting over my earlier soaping with honey + beeswax failures 😛
Because the honey is a sugar and attracts moisture (and hungry things) should we add a touch of preservative to prevent gross stuff from having a feast?
Hmm. Well, I still have my original from when I shared this recipe, and nearly three years later it’s showing no signs of spoilage. I do, however, live somewhere very dry, so there’s not a lot of moisture in the air for it to pick up, and I keep it sealed in its tin 99.9% of the time. If you live somewhere very humid you might consider it, but I really haven’t found it to be necessary.
What would you do to add royal jelly to the mix?
I’d probably whisk it in with the honey/propolis bit, but since I’ve never worked with it that’s just my best guess 😛
Good morning!
I wanted to make the Egyptian Magic recipe but I am also able to get some royal jelly so I was wondering if you have a recipe or can think of a good amount to incorporate to create a good blend!
Thanks!
I’m afraid I’ve never worked with royal jelly so I can’t offer much in the way of advice other than mind the solubility and start small 🙂
I just made this (sans royal jelly) and while I regret not blending the pollen to bits beforehand (my balm is quite exfoliating now) I LOVE the results. Perfect for my lips and I anticipate it will be a treat to have around to help out with my dry winter skin! I can’t wait to try the cleansing balm version of this (with e-wax instead of soap)
Yay! And thanks for sharing photos on Instagram 🙂
Hi Marie,
I’ve made this a few times and I always seem to have an odd issue with it. The balm is smooth and lovely in the tin but when I use it doesn’t absorb or melt like the original EM. It tends to pill when I spread it, like eraser shavings! It’s so odd, I’ve tried switching oils – olive to coconut, I’ve tried addin stearyl olivate, reduced the beeswax and still I have this issue. I do use powdered royal jelly at the same amount as the pollen, but I make sure that all bee products are properly dissolved before adding to the oil phase. Do you think you can help me? I’m so sad about this. I love the original EM and use it for everything.
Hmm. It’s been a while since I’ve made this so I don’t have any on hand to see if mine does the same. I would probably look to the powdered ingredients as the culprit, especially since you’re using more powdery ingredients than I do. Perhaps try the lotion instead?
I made this last night and put it on some sun burns I recently acquired and when I woke up the next morning they were gone. Honey is still used in hospitals as a wound care product. I seem to recall the wound nurse recommending honey for calluses. so I am going to see what this does for my dried cracked heals.
That’s awesome! This stuff is pretty rad (and I love how it tastes nice as a lip balm, too) 🙂
I have no experience in choosing Egyptian Milk, there are many different types. I live in Nigeria and want to buy it online https://jiji.ng/252-egyptian-milk . Can you give me some advices and main things in buing and using Egyptian Milk, thanks!
I have no experience buying it either, sorry! I don’t even know what it’s for.
Dear Marie.
Your recipe to mix the Egypian magic cream are impressive.
Can you inform me how mach to use Rroyal jelly in the mixing?
Thanks
Ilan
I’m afraid I haven’t worked with it; I’d recommend finding an oil-soluble royal jelly cosmetic grade extract and incorporating it at the amount recommended by the manufacturer 🙂
Hi Marie, I was wondering if this propolis is good enough for the recipe. It’s the only one I could find at Sprouts. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000I0LG82#Ask
From reading the description and Q&As it sounds like this product contains very little propolis, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Can I skip the bee proplis and honey? Unless I can use an emulsifier instead of beeswax.
You can, but remember this project calls for just 5 ingredients—dropping two of them will constitute a significant change in the end product 🙂
Hello Marie.
After keeping the cream in the fridge, for about 20 minutes, where should I store it? Cool and dark place? Room temperature? Or it stays in the fridge.
Regards,
Gregory
Somewhere cool and dry is best, but you don’t need to keep it in the fridge—just don’t keep it in your car in the summer!
Hi Marie,
Does this recipe need a preservative? And if I use only honey (no bee pollen, royal jelly and bee propolis), does it then need a broad spectrum preservative?
Thank you! 🙂
In my experience, no—that’s why it doesn’t have one 😉 The water in the honey is “locked up” by all the sugar in the honey. I’ve had jars of this for upwards of a year that have been a-ok!
Hi!
For some reason my cream is very sticky once applied. I even made a second batch using less honey but I still feel a sticky residue. How can I fix this?
Both beeswax and honey will contribute stickiness to varying degrees, so this product is never going to be completely not sticky. You could eliminate the honey completely and that will likely fix the issue enough. Otherwise, I always use very small amounts of product over large area. I hope that helps!
I’ve just made my first batch and it’s setting in the fridge.
I have scales that go up in increments of 20g so it was a little difficult to get the measurements spot on.
I tried a little on my hand. It’s a little sticky but I don’t think I did too badly for my first attempt.
Woo! If your scale is only accurate to 20g I would really recommend getting a more accurate one; SmartWeigh has some accurate to 0.1g for about $15USD on Amazon 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
I made this recipe last month and it is wonderful! It feels like many a high-quality treatment balm I purchased in the past and I now use it for pretty much everything. I also made some for my mum and she loves it. Great recipe!! Thank you for sharing!
Fantastic! I’m so glad you’re loving it—thanks for DIYing with me 😀
Does the propolis *have* to be in tincture form, can I just use regular propolis powder?
Unless the powder is oil soluble (it won’t be if it’s straight from the beehive) you’ll end up with undissolved powder throughout your product; it’s up to you if you think that’ll be nice on the skin 🙂
Thank you! I ended up buying a product with propolis extract and honey mix, so I hope that will work, without having to do the tincture. I am excited to do this face cream based on your recipe, thank you so much!
Fingers crossed & happy making!
I just made this with the 1/2 teaspoon of royal jelly and it came out sooo creamy and nice! Thank you so much for this recipe and for your answers in the comments! I let the oil cool quite a bit and had no problems with separation or stickiness. I’m not a DIYer normally, but it’s been nearly impossible to find a moisturizer without coconut oils, silicones, or other things my difficult skin hates. I used Manuka honey and high-linoleic safflower oil, I think this is going to be perfect for me. Thank you again!
Hooray! I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying this 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
I adore this formula! One of the first DIY pictures I ever shared. I definitevly prefer making this instead of buying it. Small amount of calendula CO2 was spot on. My dad likes it for surgical scars and says it feels occlusive than vaseline and it stays better on skin. Incorporating pollen (the stuff I had is stubborn even after grinding and pre-hydrating it in liquid and stirring following your video tutorial) felt however challenging so I ended up making pollen tincture in whiskey or grain alcohol and even trying pollen infused oil (sounds weird, I know but not completely useless). They now work as base for my own beeswax butters high in buckwheat honey (recipe of whiskey carrot butter below). I’m super glad I watched your video – now I know how to incorporate honey in balm. xx
2,5 g pollen whiskey tincture or 1,25 g tincture + 1,25 g whiskey if tincture is more concentrated
5 g unrefined beeswax
18,5 g carrot infused sunflower oil
7,5 (-10 g) buckwheat honey (depending on how thick texture of balm looks like. It is a lot of honey I add it very slowly blending costantly. I also pre-blend honey with tincture. I’ve found raw materials like beeswax vary a lot in terms of texture so consider useing less honey. This should be more than 2*30 ml in volume as I stir/ whip it a lot. Stability – mine is doing great after 12 months in room temp 20-25°c.
Hello
I have the royal jelly if I want to add it to the recipe could you tell me the percentage should I add?
I add 3%
I’ve been doing a lot of research on preserving products that contain honey. Being that it is water soluble, it needs to be emulsified in the other anhydrous ingredients, and that’s where the alcohol in the tincture comes in correct? But honey also contains water, and if emulsified into other ingredients, even some with anti bacterial and anti microbial properties, would it not still need a preservative like phenonip? Or would the alcohol (94.5 proof) be enough to be self preserving? if so, would it need to be at a certain percentage to preserve the entire batch and not just the tincture and honey blend? I’m so confused when it comes to honey. I want to use it in balms, and I don’t know how to do so without adding a preservative. P.S. I also just re watched all of your what you can’t put into products and preservative myths videos LOL
In my experience with this formulation, it is stable for years. This is likely due to the water activity lowering properties of all the sugar in the honey. There’s a lot of “maybe, try it and see, in theory, X should work but in reality… you don’t know until you try it” in preservation. I recommend reading through this post and the further resources to learn more. Happy making!
Hi Marie!
Sorry, weird question: How do you fit over 52 grams of product in a 30 gram container?
Thanks!
Hmm… I probably didn’t. This is over 10 years old so I don’t remember, but it does seem unlikely!
Is it possible to edit the recipe to show how much royal jelly you would include?
What is the percentage of the propolis?