I can’t believe that in all the posts I’ve shared here (upwards of 1000 now!), I’ve yet to share a foot cream! There’s a much-loved foot butter and a relaxing foot soak or two, but no foot cream—until today. This Eucalyptus Mint Foot Cream is a continuation of our Eucalyptus Mint theme, and when I was thinking about lotions to pair with this scent blend my mind went straight to feet. I wanted to make something rich and lovely for a bit of pampering self-care for your tootsies.
Our water phase has some lovely things in it; some peppermint hydrosol brings a lovely minty scent and light cooling sensation. We’ve got all kinds of humectant goodies; sodium lactate, panthenol, and vegetable glycerin. Sodium lactate is a very effective humectant, but I don’t tend to use it often as it doesn’t stand up well to washing (which my hands see a lot of), and too much can make skin sun-sensitive—neither of which are issues in a foot cream!
I chose Olivem1000 for our emulsifying wax as it creates the loveliest, thickest lotions—just the sort of decadence I want for my feet. To that we’ve added creamy, thickening stearic acid, rich shea butter, and silky rice bran oil. It’s a lovely blend, but there’s plenty of room for customization if you refer to the substitutions list at the end of the recipe.
Some eucalyptus radiata essential oil rounds the whole thing off, though if you don’t have radiata, globulus is also a lovely choice. I haven’t tried all the varieties, but I do know lemon eucalyptus smells far too much like bug spray for my tastes, so I wouldn’t choose that variety (erk).
The final lotion is rich and lovely, but lighter than you’d think so you don’t have to worry about leaving greasy footprints anywhere. I’m a big fan. Let’s go pamper your toes!
Eucalyptus Mint Foot Cream
Water phase
52g | 47.39% (+10%) distilled water
20g | 20% peppermint hydrosol
2g | 2% sodium lactate (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% hydrolyzed oat proteinOil phase
5g | 5% Olivem1000 (USA / Canada)
4g | 4% stearic acid (USA / Canada / UK)
5g | 5% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
9g | 9% rice bran oilCool down phase
0.115g | 0.12% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.50% Liquid Germall Plus (USA / Canada)
1g | 25 drops | 1% eucalyptus radiata essential oilPrepare 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 water phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Weigh the oil phase ingredients 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 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, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the lotion is thick and creamy.
When the lotion has cooled, stir in the cool down ingredients and transfer the lotion to a jar. I used one of these great screw-top 100mL plastic tubs from YellowBee—this lotion is too thick to put in a pump-top bottle. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to 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 recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe 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 recipe will make 100g.
- If you don’t have peppermint hydrosol, you can use more distilled water and add 6–10 drops of peppermint essential oil along with the eucalyptus essential oil
- You can use eucalyptus globulus essential oil instead of radiata. I haven’t tried all the different varieties of eucalyptus; I suspect many of them would work well, but I would avoid the lemon version as it smells strongly of bug spray.
- If you don’t have both vegetable glycerin and sodium lactate, just use 2g of whichever one you do have and replace the remaining 2g with extra water.
- If you don’t have panthenol you can replace it with distilled water
- You can replace the hydrolyzed oat protein with silk peptides or sea kelp bioferment
- You can use Polawax, Emulsifying Wax NF, or BTMS-50 in place of the Olivem 1000, though all of these will make for a less luscious final product
- Cetyl alcohol will work in place of stearic acid
- Mango butter or cupuacu butter will work well in place of shea butter
- You can use a different liquid oil in place of rice bran oil
If I still want the sweet scent of peppermint but would also like the extra cooliness of menthol, where would I add it in this recipe?
Enjoy your vacay! I’ve always wanted to visit Australia 🙂
I do find this recipe does have a nice chill to it as written, so you might try making it as-is first. Otherwise, try swapping out 0.5–1% rice bran oil for menthol crystals. The crystals will need to melt in the oil so you may want to add them at the end of the heated oil phase and stir to encourage dissolving before proceeding 🙂
Hello! Looks very interesting DIY for foot cream. I like how you also used mint as it is very soothing and calming. Perfect when you want to de-stress after a long day at work! 🙂
Thanks so much! The minty tingle is quite lovely 🙂
Love this foot cream! I am loving the texture of Olivem1000. I’ve also made the Eucalyptus Mint Foot Butter and love that as well. But this foot cream is perfect for this time of year – light and non-greasy.
Thanks for another winner, Marie!
Woo! Thanks so much, Kelly 😀
Hi! I feel a bit dumb asking this, but speaking of broad spectrum preservatives….
I want to use Liquid Germall plus, but there are so many sellers, and I don’t know what to do! I live in the U. S., and I’d prefer buying Liquid Germall Plus from a Pay-Pal system! Any help?
My suggestion would be to go through the suppliers listed on this page and find one that both sells LGP and uses PayPal. I’m not American, so I’d have to do the same thing to get you an answer as I don’t know any off the top of my head.
Hi Marie!
Olivem 1000 is a new ingredient for me, I bought it a while ago and I have not had time to play with it yet, so your recipe seems perfect to give it a try! The supplier from whom I bought Olivem 1000 (Les âmes fleurs, in Québec) suggests combining it (at 5%) with 2% olive wax (Oliwax= INCI: Hydrogenated Olive Oil and Olive Oil (Olea Europaea) (and) Olive Oil Unsaponifiables), for a rich and creamy, moisturizing and very stable emulsion. What do you think? Thanks 🙂
You certainly could incorporated some olive wax, but you definitely don’t have to. It will make the end product thicker. The stearic acid I’ve included in this formula plays the same role, so I wouldn’t bother including it in this formula, but if you are formulating from scratch it could be a fun thing to play with 🙂
YES,YES,YES!!! SO happy about this. I have been using shea butter for years and while I love the shine, I either leave greasy foot prints or have to tenderly walk around so I don’t slip on the floor. I added some Urea and colloidal oatmeal. This is so moisturizing even the next day. The texture is so fluffy and it glides on so smooth. My feet don’t slip out of my shoe and my skin is so much softer!
YAY! I am so glad you are loving it 😀 WAHOO! Thanks so much for DIYing with me and sharing your results 🙂
I really love this cream. I’ve incorporated it along with the Minty Foot Scrub into my pedicure routine. I really have a hard time with dry feet and callouses and was wondering if I could incorporate urea in addition to the other humectants. I was thinking about 5% in the cool down phase. I was reading the description and it doesn’t look like it will conflict with anything but I’m a bit concerned about it dissolving.
Excellent idea! You’d just need to remove that 5% from the water to make room for it and I think it should work beautifully. Enjoy!
Hi Marie, I really love your formulations and videos. I am so grateful!
Mainly for this recipe, a foot cream, how will be the adequate pH value?
As made, the pH of this formulation is fine for foot creams. Happy making!
hello
kindly share why you add water to oil when Olivem 1000 is o/w emulsifier.
many thanks
It sounds like you’ve read a common DIY myth; read this to clear it up 🙂