If you’ve been frustrated by heavy, melt-prone body butters, this is the formulation for you. In this post I’ll be teaching you how to make an easy 7-ingredient body butter that is lighter than traditional DIY body butters, won’t melt in hot weather, won’t seize up if it gets too cold, and won’t go grainy on you. It’s also cheaper to make!

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What is an emulsified body butter?

Emulsified body butters are thick, creamy, buttery emulsions. They’re typically richer than a lotion or cream; I’d say the oil phase is generally at least 25%, but this is really an “it depends” thing combined with personal preference. Emulsified body butters generally lean towards the solid end of the spectrum. They usually contain some sort of butter as part of the oil phase, but don’t have to. Some of them get most of their structure from fats and fatty thickeners, while others incorporate gelling ingredient to boost viscosity.

There’s no denying that some of what makes a thick, rich emulsion an “emulsified body butter” rather than a “cream” is marketing. If you’ve made something that feels rich and buttery you can call it a body butter; but if it makes more sense to call it a cream, go ahead and do that. Many distinctions in the world of skincare are just marketing—don’t get too hung up on this part.

How does an emulsified body butter differ from a ‘normal’ DIY body butter?

The key difference is right in the name; an emulsified body butter is emulsified (so it contains both oil and water), while your average DIY body butter is anhydrous (or water-free).

The vast majority of “body butters” you’ll find for sale from big companies like The Body Shop, Paula’s Choice, Weleda, Tatcha, and Bath & Body Works are emulsified products (make sure you look at the full ingredient list; the short lists of “key ingredients” never include the water!). I’m saying “emulsified body butter” throughout the post to differentiate from the more common DIY’ed versions that are anhydrous, but none of those companies call their products “emulsified body butters”; they just call them “body butter”.

Spring 2023: Want to learn more about formulating emulsions? Formula Botanica is currently offering a free formulation masterclass that will teach you how to make a botanical face cream; you can sign up here 🙂

What are the advantages of an emulsified body butter?

There are a few key advantages to an emulsified body butter (as opposed to an anhydrous one) that explains the popularity of this format.

Thanks to the water content, emulsified body butters are lighter than their anhydrous cousins, and they’re also usually cheaper to make.

The presence of water also means we can include water-soluble skincare goodies like soothing panthenol and moisturizing vegetable glycerin. Water itself is also hydrating, so an emulsified body butter can be hydrating and moisturizing (the definition of the term “hydating” is “cause to absorb water”, so it’s impossible for a product that doesn’t contain any water to be hydrating).

These are all great benefits, but I think the biggest advantage of an emulsified body butter over an anhydrous one is the thermal stability. Anhydrous body butters are very much at the mercy of ambient temperature. Because they’re designed to be soft and scoopy, that means they’re always just a few degrees away from being too hard (too cold) or too soft/liquid (too hot). Relatively minor temperature fluctuations cause dramatic texture differences, but they can also cause the body butter to go grainy. Bummer.

Learn more: Why is my body butter grainy?

Think about dairy butter; it’s too hard in the fridge, spreadable around 20°C, and liquid slightly above 30°C (mine will melt if I leave it on top of the dishwasher while it’s running!). Have you ever left melted butter on the counter to re-solidify, only to find it has sort of congealed into an uneven, lumpy mess? Yeah 😞 Body butters are much the same.

Emulsions are far more stable. While most body butters will liquify well below 40°C, I heated an emulsion up to 80°C and it didn’t change at all (you can see that happen in the partner video for this post!). So, if you’re shipping body butters around the world, or can’t be certain your customers won’t leave them in their car or near an air conditioning vent, emulsified body butters are a much better way to guarantee a good customer (or gift recipient) experience.

Formulation considerations for an emulsified body butter

Emulsified body butters have a lot of formulation overlap with other emulsions (lotions, hair conditioners, body milks, etc.), but the rich buttery-ness of an emulsified body butter does require a couple challenges & changes.

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The first change you’ll need to make is to use less emulsifying wax. A ratio of 1 part emulsifying wax to every 4–5 parts oil is a good rule of thumb for a lotion, but if you apply this ratio to a formulation with quite a large oil phase it’ll be really waxy and draggy. So, to keep things softer and lighter, I recommend a 1:7ish ratio—I’ve had success with 1:10 and even 1:15, depending on the emulsifier.

Another challenge introduced by large oil phase emulsions is slip & glide; they can get skiddy/grippy/kinda not nice to rub in. I counter this two ways (well, three if you count the lower emulsifier ratio).

The first: I tend to lean towards cetyl alcohol as a thickener. Richer thickeners like cetearyl alcohol and C10-18 Triglycerides (Butter Pearls) definitely can work—it really depends on the formulation—but I preferred cetyl for this formulation.

The second: ensure you’ve got a blend of liquid oils/emollients and butters. I’ve found an oil phase made entirely of butters creates a final emulsion with a rather odd rub-in; it’s hard to describe, but it sort of feels like it ‘breaks’ when you rub it in.

Annnnnd one last thing on the making front: because emulsified body butters are so thick, blending can be tricky. If you don’t blend ’em enough they can be lumpy… but if you blend them too much you can blend in lots of air and create something that feels spongey and can collapse a few days after packaging. How much of a challenge this is depends a lot on the formulation. Formulations with smaller oil phases (generally less than 30%, but it depends!) aren’t typically too challenging, but the larger the oil phase—and the more thickeners you’ve got—the more challenging this can get.

So, to keep things smooth I recommend doing things this way:

• After combining the heated phases, blend for about 30 seconds and then switch to hand stirring. The emulsion will be really thin at this point, and that’s ok.
• Stir constantly—and calmly—until you start to notice some clumps come up on your spatula.
• Grab your immersion blender again and give the emulsion four or five quick bursts. That’s it. Do not pump the blender up and down, and make sure it is fully submerged in the emulsion. These extra blasts will blend in the clumpy bits, but too much blending here will absolutely incorporate air, so blend as little as possible.
• As soon as you’ve done that you’ll notice the emulsion thickens up a lot. Now you can set it aside and weigh out your cool down phase into a small dish.

Read more: Why are there air bubbles in my lotion?

How can I start customizing this formulation?

You can have so much fun customizing this formulation! Here are a few ideas:

• Try a different liquid carrier oil, or a blend of liquid carrier oils—just keep it adding up to 19%
• Try a different butter (or blend), just keep it totalling 5%
• Try a different fatty thickener (or blend), just keep it totalling 6%
• Play with the entire composition of the oil phase—mix up amounts of everything, aiming for a total of 30%.
• Try introducing water-soluble skincare goodies like Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Hyaluronic Acid, Allantoin, and botanical extracts. Read this post for more information on how to do that.
• Try different emulsifying waxes.

Spring 2023: Want to learn more about formulating emulsions? Formula Botanica is currently offering a free formulation masterclass that will teach you how to make a botanical face cream; you can sign up here 🙂

Where to buy the ingredients

In the spirit of “easy”, YellowBee has put together a kit of the ingredients you’ll need to make this emulsified body butter! For about $41CAD ($30USD) you can get enough ingredients to make 1kg (2.2lbs) of emulsified body butter, and you’ll have ingredients leftover to make other things. There’s two versions of the kit—one without packaging, and one that comes with the same frosted screw-top jars I’ve used. (This isn’t sponsored or an affiliate thing; I just asked YellowBee if they’d be able to put a kit together and they did ❤️)

Relevant links & further reading

• Distilled water in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Liquid Germall™ Plus in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Emulsifying Wax NF in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Jojoba Oil in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Shea Butter in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Cetyl Alcohol in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Liquid Germall™ Plus in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Immersion blender in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Hot Plate in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Watch glass in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Jar/Icing Spatulas in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• How long will ______ last? What is its shelf life? in the Humblebee & Me FAQ
• Can I use a different preservative than the one you’ve used? in the Humblebee & Me FAQ
• More on emulsion/lotion formulation:
  • How to naturally scent lotions with essential oils and natural fragrance oils
  • How to gently scent lotions with natural ingredients (+2 free formulas!)
  • How to make your lotions thicker
  • How to make your lotion richer
  • How to make your lotion lighter
  • How to add actives and other ingredients to your lotions
  • Why are there air bubbles in my lotion?

Easy Emulsified Body Butter

Heated water phase
50.3g | 50.3% distilled water
15g | 15% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)

Heated oil phase
4g | 4% Emulsifying Wax NF (USA / Canada / AU)
19g | 19% apricot kernel oil (USA / Canada)
5g | 5% refined shea butter (USA / Canada)
6g | 6% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)

Cool down phase
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
0.2g | 0.2% Natural Lychee Pineapple Fragrance Oil (optional; read substitutions list below)

Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.

Weigh the heated water phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or glass beaker. Weigh the entire lot (measuring cup + ingredients) and note that weight for use later. Weigh the heated oil phase into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.

After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat and weigh the water phase. Add enough hot distilled water to the heated water phase to bring the weight back up to what it was before heating, and then pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.

Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute before switching to hand stirring. The emulsion will be really thin at this point, and that’s ok.

Stir constantly—and calmly—until you start to notice some clumps come up on your spatula.

Grab your immersion blender again and give the emulsion four or five quick bursts. That’s it. Do not pump the blender up and down, and make sure it is fully submerged in the emulsion.

As soon as you’ve done that you’ll notice the emulsion thickens up a lot. Now you can set it aside and weigh out your cool down phase into a small dish.

Because cool down ingredients are typically present at very low amounts you’ll need to use an accurate scale—preferably one accurate to 0.01g—to weigh these ingredients. As these more accurate scales tend to have fairly low (100–200g) maximum weights you won’t be able to put the entire batch of lotion on that scale without blowing it out. So—grab a smaller dish, and weigh the cool down ingredients into that, using the more accurate scale.

Once the outside of the glass measuring cup is just warm to the touch (40°C or cooler, if you have a thermometer) we’re ready to incorporate the cool down phase. Add a blob or two of the emulsion to the dish containing the cool down phase. Stir to thoroughly incorporate, and then stir all of that back into the master batch of emulsified body butter. Doing it this way minimizes the amount of cool down ingredients lost to the secondary container.

Once the cool down phase has been incorporated, all that’s left to do is package it up! You’ll want to use some sort of tub or wide-mouthed jar for this; it’s far too thick for a pump top bottle or tube. I used a 100mL (3.3fl oz) frosted screw-top plastic jar from YellowBee.

Use as you’d use any body cream or body butter. Enjoy!

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this emulsified body butter contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. With good manufacturing practice and proper preservation, this formulation should last at least a year. Even with a preservative, this project may eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the formulation, you will get a different final product than I did.

• As I’ve provided this formulation in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams, this formulation will make 100g.
• To learn more about the ingredients used in this formulation, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
• If you’d like a less substantial-feeling product, feel free to reduce the glycerin to 5–10%, adjusting the water accordingly.
• You could try using Propanediol 1,3 instead of glycerin.
• I wouldn’t swap all 15% of the glycerin for Sodium Lactate as this will introduce a lot of electrolytes to the formulation and will also raise the pH. If you want to include sodium lactate instead of glycerin I’d probably use 5% sodium lactate and 10% more distilled water.
• Ritamulse SCG (Emulsimulse, ECOMulse), BTMS-50, or Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate will work instead of Emulsifying Wax NF. You might need to add another 1% of cetyl alcohol if you use Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate. BTMS-25 and Olivem 1000 should also work, though I haven’t tested them as extensively at lower usage rates.
• You can substitute another light-to-midweight oil like sweet almond, grapeseed, Jojoba Oil, or sunflower seed instead of the apricot kernel oil. I recommend sticking to liquid oils, but the formulation won’t break if you try something else—it just might feel different.
• You can use a different butter like Mango Butter, Cupuacu Butter, or Cocoa Butter.
• I do not recommend swapping out the cetyl alcohol in this formulation.
• If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this FAQ and this chart.
• You can use a different fragrance oil.
• If you’d prefer an unscented final product simply replace the fragrance oil with more distilled water.
• If you’d like to incorporate an essential oil, please read this.