Making Substitutions

Don’t have the oil or butter called for in the recipe? Here’s a guide on how to choose a good alternative from what you do have.

What's with the waxes?

Beeswax, carnauba wax, candelila wax, bayberry wax—how are they different? Can you use one instead of another?

Help, I made a mess!

My best tips for cleaning up your DIY messes 🙂

The key to smooth body butters

The key to smooth body butters

Grainy, mealy, uneven body butters are the bane of any formulator’s existence. You’re dreaming of something silky smooth and divine, but instead your body butter feels like its full of sand... or perhaps you were promised a solid bar, but got oily slop instead. Bleh!...

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Easy Emulsified Body Butter

Easy Emulsified Body Butter

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...

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Lavender Oat Dream Cream

Lavender Oat Dream Cream

Today we are diving deep into the archives to Bee Better a project I published almost exactly nine (!!) years ago. This formulation began life as a Lush dupe(ish), and while the 2014 version wasn't bad, I've learned a lot since then. Today's updated version is softer...

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Lighter Whipped Shea Butter

Lighter Whipped Shea Butter

In this post I'm sharing two lighter whipped shea butter formulations—Lavender Calendula and Coffee—and I'm sharing the easiest formulation strategy for creating lighter, less greasy body butters. Let's go! Want to watch this project instead of read it? Watch Now The...

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Green Tea Conditioning Hair & Body Butter

Green Tea Conditioning Hair & Body Butter

Today's formulation is a soft, creamy butter that works beautifully for haircare and skincare. Depending on how you use it, it can be a super-concentrated leave-in hair conditioner, a hair serum, a regular-strength leave-in hair conditioner, or a body butter. It's...

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Perfectly Pillowy Whipped Shea Butter

Perfectly Pillowy Whipped Shea Butter

I'm pretty excited about this simple yet perfectly pillowy whipped shea butter! This two-ingredient formulation came about as part of my work on last spring's Why is my body butter not whipping? video. I needed lots of b-roll of different body butters being...

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Rich Herbal Body Cream

Rich Herbal Body Cream

Today we're blending up a rich, botanically blessed body cream that is perfect for cold, dry winter days. I developed this formulation with the help of my readers; t's creamy, scoopable, skin-soothing, and positively decadent. Enjoy! Want to watch this project instead...

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Hot Chocolate Body Butter Bars

Hot Chocolate Body Butter Bars

Body butter bars—also called lotion bars—are a great beginner-friendly DIY. Today I’m going to share a chocolate-y body butter bar formulation that employs two of my top strategies for making expensive-feeling body butter bars that will impress your friends and make...

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Rich Foaming Hand Wash

Rich Foaming Hand Wash

Today's formulation sets out to dupe the rich, luxurious lather and decadent, lingering scent of the very popular Bath & Body Works foaming hand soaps, but using ingredients we can get relatively easy. I had a ton of fun with this formulation, and documented the...

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Christmas Spice Soft Foaming Sugar Scrub

Christmas Spice Soft Foaming Sugar Scrub

If you've been looking for a soft, scoopy, foaming sugar scrub that won't get too hard or melt into an oily mess... I've got good news for you 😄 This Christmas Spice Soft Foaming Sugar Scrub has a really fun, cake-batter-like gooey consistency. It's perfectly...

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Hot Chocolate Natural Body Butter

Hot Chocolate Natural Body Butter

Today we're kicking off our holiday 2022 making with a silky, decadent Hot Chocolate Natural Body Butter 🍫 This formulation is part of our first theme—Hot Chocolate! This is a bit of a "Bee Better" of a theme I very briefly touched on back in 2013. It was just...

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How to make your lotion lighter

How to make your lotion lighter

If you dream of fluid body milks, ultra-light emulsions, and fast-absorbing lotions, this post is for you. Today I'll be teaching you how to make thinner, lighter emulsions—I'm sharing three different strategies that you can mix and match to create the fast-absorbing...

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How to make your lotion richer

How to make your lotion richer

I struggled with what to title this post. I will be teaching you how to make your lotions richer and thicker, but the formulation skill behind that richness & thickness boosting is so much more than that! I will go as far as to say if you don't know how to do...

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How to make your lotions thicker

How to make your lotions thicker

If you want to make thicker lotions and creams, you've come to the right place! In this post I'll be teaching you three different (easy!) strategies for thickening and adding body to your natural lotions. You can use these strategies alone or combine them–it's up to...

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Easy Natural Lotion for Beginners

Easy Natural Lotion for Beginners

If you've been wanting to dive into making your very own easy natural lotion, start here! This post is the first in a series on how to create your very own lotions. Today I'll teach you how to make a basic lotion, and in upcoming posts I'll teach you how to customize...

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Raspberry Mint Body Custard

Raspberry Mint Body Custard

If you're looking for a glossy, slippy, richly hydrating body lotion sort of thing for summer, I think this pretty pink Raspberry Mint Body Custard might just be it. This formulation is unlike emulsion I've ever made, with a consistency that puts me in mind of rich...

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4 tips to make your body butters feel expensive

4 tips to make your body butters feel expensive

If you're looking to make your body butters stand out—make them feel more expensive, lighter, and lovelier—here are four of my top tips to do just that! These tips can be used for all kinds of body butter formulations—whipped body butters, body balms, body butter...

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Raspberry Mint No-Melt Summer Body Butter

Raspberry Mint No-Melt Summer Body Butter

This silky, indulgent Raspberry Mint No-Melt Summer Body Butter has all the luxurious loveliness you want in a body butter, but it's much lighter—making it perfect for summer skincare! It is an emulsified body butter, so it's not only faster absorbing than anhydrous...

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Soft Oat Hand Lotion

Soft Oat Hand Lotion

This pillowy, silky hand lotion has earned a much-coveted spot on my bedside table. I positively adore how it makes my skin feel; it is richly moisturizing without being greasy, and has a luxurious, powdery finish. I thought a wonderful hand lotion formulation was...

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Whipped Cupuaçu Passionfruit Body Butter

Whipped Cupuaçu Passionfruit Body Butter

It's been positively ages since I made a whipped body butter—since late 2020! This one was inspired by some gifted ingredients from Lavida Oils; their cupuaçu butter is utterly lovely and has re-ignited my long-standing love for this uniquely lovely butter. Cupuaçu...

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Raspberry Lavender Soothing Body Milk

Raspberry Lavender Soothing Body Milk

This Raspberry Lavender Soothing Body Milk is a lightweight, drizzle-able, all-natural body milk made with a new-to-me palm-free emulsifier. It's a gorgeous way to moisturize and soothe summer skin without feeling weighed down or greasy. Let's dive in! Want to watch...

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Green & Gold Body Butter Bars

Green & Gold Body Butter Bars

These charming Green & Gold Body Butter Bars star two anti-inflammatory plant oils and one of my favourite soft butters for a beautiful skin-nourishing treat with a silky, non-greasy skin feel. You can make these bars as stand-alone things or package them in...

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Black Currant & Roses Natural Body Wash

Black Currant & Roses Natural Body Wash

This wine-coloured Black Currant & Roses Natural Body Wash has a gorgeous runny honey-like consistency thanks to a gentle self-thickening surfactant blend—no gums or Crothix required! I'm in love with the fresh, juicy scent and plentiful bubbles of this body wash,...

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