Body Butter
Candy Cane Emulsified Body Butter
As soon as I settled on Candy Cane as a theme, I knew I wanted to try to make a lovely piped multi-colour body butter for it. And here it is! The ingredient list is fairly simple, the piping is fun (and easy once you've got the right gear!), and the final product is...
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!...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Chocolate Hazelnut Emulsified Body Butter
I'm sharing this decadent Chocolate Hazelnut Emulsified Body Butter formulation to celebrate World Nutella Day, which falls on February 5. It's definitely the sort of holiday I can get behind 🤤 This formulation is a Bee Better update to a 2014's Chocolate...
Frosted Cranberry Butter Balm
If you find you often like the idea of body butter more than the reality of it, I think you might just love this formulation. It's creamy and silky with a gorgeous dry-touch finish that's surprisingly powdery (in a good way!). You (and your giftees!) will be delighted...
Almond Oat Emulsified Body Butter
We're continuing our Almond Oat theme today with this perfect-for-autumn Almond Oat Emulsified Body Butter ❤️ Silky almond oil and rich shea butter star in the oil phase, with moisturizing and soothing oaty goodness from colloidal oatmeal and hydrolyzed...
Kombo Shea Butter Balm
Today's creation is an ultra-crunchy, five-ingredient Kombo Shea Butter Balm. I decided to call it a "butter balm" because it's got the skin feel of a body butter, but an in-the-tin feel that's much closer to that of a balm. It's a rich brown colour thanks to...
Oat Cardamom Chai Emulsified Body Butter
Today's Oat Cardamom Chai Emulsified Body Butter smells just like a warm, sweet chai latte and is a beautiful treat for your skin. Its thick, glossy loveliness is reminiscent of whipped body butter, but you'll find it's far lighter—a moisturizing mid-point between...
Macadamia Vanilla Emulsified Body Butter
This decadent Macadamia Vanilla Emulsified Body Butter is lovely; it is rich and indulgent without being heavy or greasy. It smells softly nutty with a warm vanilla base note, and it's scoopy and soft like a decadent custard. If you're anything like me, you'll...
Simple Creamy Almond Body Butter
This formulation is incredibly simple, with just three (or four) ingredients and an almond-y theme. 99.5% of this formulation is almond-derived ingredients; you don't have to keep to the almond theme if it doesn't appeal to you, but you might want to re-name your...
Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter
Today I'm sharing my first Bee Better 3.0 project; a soft and creamy Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter that's an evolution on a shea butter and aloe vera heavy formulation I first shared in 2014, and then revised in 2019. This updated 2021 version uses a new emulsifier...
Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars
Today's DIY is part of our ongoing Cocoa Coconut theme—we're melting up some stunning Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars that put silky cocoa butter and mouthwatering coconut oil on a pedestal so they can shine. You'll only need six or seven ingredients to make...
Autumn Spice Whipped Body Butter
This decadent Autumn Spice Whipped Body Butter is a Bee Better of a Whipped Pumpkin Spice Body Butter I shared back in 2016. This updated version features fully percentage-ified measurements, a safer scent blend, and a new whipping method. Starring lightweight mango...
Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter
If you love The Body Shop's body butters, you are going to love this Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter! Fragrant coconut oil and cocoa butter star, making up a full 40% of this formulation. This Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter has much of the richness of a...
Super Simple Whipped Shea Butter
Today's project is another back-to-basics post—we're making an all-natural Super Simple Whipped Shea Butter! You'll need just four basic ingredients to create this decadent body butter. It's not greasy, you don't need to heat anything up, and half of the ingredients...
Passionfruit Coconut Vegan Body Butter
If you've been dreaming of enveloping yourself in tropical scented wonderfulness, this beautiful all-natural Passionfruit Coconut Vegan Body Butter is for you. A base of beachy coconut oil and passionfruit oil is thickened with a combination of stearic acid and...
Chocolate Cherry Whipped Body Butter
Our indulgent Chocolate Cherry theme continues today with a decadent whipped body butter that could easily be mistaken for dessert! This soft, marshmallowy body butter stars fragrant cocoa butter, silky cherry kernel oil, and lightweight mango butter—and it's utterly...
Watermelon Mint Cuticle & Lip Butter
Today we're whipping up a rich and creamy Watermelon Mint Lip & Cuticle Butter, designed to help pamper and protect the delicate skin around our nails and mouths. The base is just three simple, all-natural ingredients that come together to create a rich butter...
Cranberry Orange Whipped Body Butter
Today's DIY is a whippy, lightweight, fast-absorbing Cranberry Orange Whipped Body Butter—and it's also our last cranberry orange DIY of the 2019 holiday making season! You'll only need four simple ingredients and some electric beaters to whip up this body butter....
White Chocolate Peppermint Body Butter Bars
Once I decided that White Chocolate Peppermint would be one of our holiday themes this year, I knew I'd have to do a White Chocolate Peppermint Body Butter Bar. Ever since my very first order of cocoa butter arrived at my dorm well before Humblebee & Me existed, I...
Rosé Whipped Body Butter
I am straight-up smitten with the whippy texture and skin feel of this Rosé Whipped Body Butter. It's fluffy and rich (like marshmallow fluff!) in the jar, but starts to melt quickly on skin contact. It glides across the skin lightly before absorbing in a flash,...
Cocoa Butter Shimmer Bars
Today we are making something deliciously simple and summery—some beautifully bronzed Cocoa Butter Shimmer Bars. The ingredients are fairly simple and reasonably customizable, meaning you can shimmer in any colour you please, and there’s a pretty good chance you have...
Pemberley Conditioning Body Butter
Brace yourself for this Pemberley Conditioning Body Butter, as it is divine. This is a continuation of the Pemberley series I kicked off in February with my Pemberley Hand Lotion, featuring the same stunning scent blend and general theme of luxury. As I was trying to...
Soothing Hand Butter
This rich, creamy Soothing Hand Butter is an absolute delight to massage into hands that could use a bit of pampering. It stars some ultra-creamy emollients and beautiful botanical-infused oils to create a stunning, sumptuous skin treat. I've used a slightly...
Mango Mango Body Butter
If you love mangoes, brace yourself—this new series will have your mouth watering and your skin feeling all kinds of mango-themed love. This creamy, dry-touch-finish body butter smells so much like mangoes (naturally!) that your mouth will start to water. The oil and...
Indigo Lagoon Balm
This rich blue balm is a DIY version of a very popular and very expensive shop-bought balm. This particular balm is known for its striking dark blue hue that comes from a hefty dose of expensive blue tansy essential oil. I've created a more budget friendly version you...
Sugar Plum Body Butter Bars
These silky, lightweight body butter bars are a wonderful accompaniment to our Sugar Plum series—and they’re quite versatile, too! You can present them in a tube or choose a mould you find suitable; you can make a few big ones or a bunch of wee ones. I’ve got a couple...
Sugar Plum Conditioning Body Butter
I'm having a hard time deciding if I can give this Sugar Plum Conditioning Body Butter away. I mean... it's just so nice. I really want to keep it for myself. I really should give it away. I am a one-woman skin care stuff factory and I am not due to need another body...
Lavender Patchouli Body Butter
I've been playing with lots of more complex DIYs lately, and I was itching to get back to something a bit simpler. Something made with wonderful plant-sourced oils and butters that are accented with essential oils. The sort of thing that isn't intimidating, and really...
Coconut Massage Butter
Massage lovers everywhere: prepare to fall in love. This silky, glide-y Coconut Massage Butter gives you eons of working time on the skin for a luxurious, satiny massage. It isn't oily or greasy, but you'll find your hands gliding over skin with a wonderful, soft...
Whipped Shea Citrus Body Butter
This marvelous body butter is many things I thought it couldn’t be. It is rich in skin-loving shea butter, but not at all greasy. It smells deliciously of citrus, but isn’t photosensitizing. It is lightweight and whippy (and stays that way!), but you don’t have to do...
Eucalyptus Mint Foot Butter
In theory, sandal season is on its way. I say "in theory" because right now the concept of spring seems more like a sad, mocking joke rather than the (supposedly) current season. It hasn't been warmer than -10°C at 7am for weeks. Our highs are 10–20°C colder than is...
Conditioning Earl Grey Body Butter
This Conditioning Earl Grey Body Butter ended up being one of those things that sounded like a good idea, and then turned out to be a great idea in practice. Don't you love it when that happens? In abstract, adding some conditioning, cationic goodness to a body butter...
Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter
If you've ever wanted to schmear yourself in spiced vanilla frosting and have it render your skin soft and glowy instead of sticky and covered in lint, I've got good news for you—Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter. Awww, yeah. This stunning butter smells divine and has...
Vanilla Spice Body Butter Bar
It has been far too long since I've made a body butter bar, and this year's Vanilla Spice theme was absolutely begging to be body-butter-barred. I also wanted to play a bit more with some silky, lightweight cetyl alcohol to create a luxxy body bar that was a bit...
Chamomile Winter Hand Butter
When I was a kid I had the most absurdly dry hands—the kind of dry that hurts. I can remember having hands so dry that lotion stung, and they'd crack and bleed. I think I was about twelve or thirteen when I realized I was sick of having sore lizard hands and it was in...
Whipped Pumpkin Spice Body Butter
This decadent Whipped Pumpkin Spice Body Butter is pure autumnal perfection. It's soft and creamy, and smells deliciously of cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, and cloves. It sinks into the skin shockingly quickly for how thick and luscious it is, and the texture is utterly...
Mexican Chocolate Body Butter
Have you ever seen Chocolat, with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp? The lingering shots of luscious chocolate being tempered, stirred, and coaxed into the most divine creations are enough to send you off to your nearest chocolatier mid-movie for a box of indulgence....
Coco Mango Body Balm
This decadent coco mango body balm is downright lovely. It smells wonderfully of citrus, sinks into the skin shockingly fast, and leaves your skin hydrated and happy. It comes to us from a recipe request from Dita Bybee, who has fallen in love with One Love's Skin...
Cupuacu, Mint, and Monoi Body Butter
This decadent body butter combines the intoxicating tropical fragrance of Monoi de Tahiti oil with the wonderfully smooth texture and fantastic moisturizing properties of capuacu butter. Cupuacu butter is often praised for the almost silicone-like feel it leaves on...
Air Conditioning in a Tin
I love my Air Conditioning in a Bottle, but it's not hugely travel friendly. In a world of liquid carry on restrictions and fees for checking any bags, I thought it was high time I developed a solid version; Air Conditioning in a Tin. This glossy balm is thickened...
Hand & Body Washes
Foaming Shower Oil
I'm so excited about this formulation, and even more so by the possibilities it represents. I've had lots of questions about how to make products like L'Occitane's Almond Shower Oil and Glossier's Body Hero Daily Oil Wash, and the answer has always been a really...
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...
Candlelight Creamy Hand Wash
This silky, shimmery Candlelight Creamy Hand Wash is like a cozy hug for your hands every time you use it. As soon as I had decided on this year's holiday themes, I knew I needed to include a Candlelight themed creamy, shimmery, gentle hand wash as I positively power...
Aloe Mint Hand Wash
Today we're mixing up a sudsy and fresh Aloe Mint Hand Wash, made with peppermint essential oil and a lovely gentle surfactant blend. I'm loving the combination of crisp & cool peppermint essential oil, soothing aloe vera, and moisturizing vegetable glycerin as...
Super Simple Natural Foaming Hand Wash
Today I'm sharing a formulation for a Super Simple Natural Foaming Hand Wash. You'll need just five ingredients, and I've tried to be really conscientious of global ingredient availability so hopefully you can make this hand wash no matter where in the world you live....
Conditioning Valentine’s Hand Wash
Today we're getting sudsy and clean with a seasonably pink Conditioning Valentine's Hand Wash! I went through a lot of handwash in the beforetimes, and that has easily doubled or tripled in the last year. Lots of handwashing + dry weather is pretty hard on my hands,...
Ice Palace Body Wash
We're getting all kinds of sudsy today with a pearlescent and bubbly Ice Palace Body Wash! If you're generally a fan of creamy body washes, this one is just the thing—it kicks off heaps of fluffy bubbles, smells wonderfully refreshing, and looks a bit like a liquid...
Watermelon Mint Foaming Hand Wash
Our summery Watermelon Mint series continues today with a simple Watermelon Mint Foaming Hand Wash that pumps out thick clouds of the most decadent lather, making handwashing a treat. To keep things as easy as possible, I've used a pre-blended surfactant product so...
Lavender Aloe Exfoliating Body Wash
Today we're adding another awesome product to our suite of Lavender Aloe skincare goodies—a lovely Lavender Aloe Exfoliating Body Wash, made with an all-natural sulphate-free surfactant blend, fragrant lavender hydrosol, and soothing aloe vera juice. You don't need to...
Satsuma Shower Gel
I'm pretty excited to share this Satsuma Shower Gel with you guys—mostly for two reasons. Reason #1: I was utterly obsessed with The Body Shop's "satsuma" line as a kid, and I've had this gorgeous satsuma dupe fragrance oil for years, meaning to make satsuma-y things...
Hand Wash for Lots of Handwashing
While frequent, thorough hand washing has always been a very important part of personal hygiene practices, its importance has skyrocketed recently as COVID-19 spreads around the world. Proper handwashing works better than hand sanitizer, but you do need to do it...
Lavender Aloe Foaming Hand Wash
Today we're creating a lovely Lavender Aloe Foaming Hand Wash—a cheery purple liquid that transforms into mounds of rich, lavender-scented lather when you run it through a foamer top bottle. It comes together in a flash and is easy to scale up so you can always have...
Peppermint Foaming Hand Wash
Today we're re-stocking my handwash inventory with a fresh, zippy Peppermint Foaming Hand Wash. It's a fast, no-heat project, and I've provided two slightly different versions. One version uses peppermint hydrosol for our scent, while the other makes use of a...
Rosé Hand Wash
Today we're keeping up the Rosé theme with a shimmery, sudsy Rosé Hand Wash. This lovely bottle of bubbles also uses the Iselux Ultra Mild surfactant blend from Windy Point for ultra-easy making (we used it earlier this month to create a Sweetgrass Facial Cleanser as...
Mango Mango Foaming Hand Wash
This Mango Mango Foaming Hand Wash is all about the bubbles—rich cascades of mango-scented, orangey clouds of lather that make hand washing a treat. Nothing needs to be heated so you can just stir everything together and you're off to the races. I've already made over...
Soothing Foaming Hand Wash
Today we're continuing our "soothing" series with a super-simple Soothing Foaming Hand Wash. I wanted to be sure to include a hand wash in this series because our hands take a ton of abuse in the winter. Frequent hand washing is great for preventing the spread of the...
Christmas Tree Body Wash
This fragrant, bubbly body wash has quickly become an in-shower favourite for me. I love the consistency, I love the bubbles, and I love the crystal clarity of it if you choose a water soluble colourant. I’m calling it a body wash here, but it also makes a great hand...
Christmas Tree Foaming Hand Wash
If you've got guests coming to stay with you this holiday season I highly recommend whipping up a jumbo-sized batch of this hand wash so you can all have clean, holiday-scented hands in the midst of this busy season. Out of everything we're making for this holiday...
Citrus Burst Hand Wash
Today's a project is a simple, no-heat hand wash that I'm making 500g at a time these days because I can't seem to keep hand wash around for long. There are just six ingredients, and since nothing needs to be heated up it's a very easy weigh-mix-voila project—perfect...
Foaming Shaving Cream
One of my clearest memories from early adolescence was the discovery of shaving cream, and how utterly wonderful it was. A thin stream of colourful gel would transform into abundant, creamy lather for an utterly decadent shaving experience that usually smelled like...
Lemon Rose Foaming Hand Wash
It would seem I cannot get enough of all things rose and lemon these days. I'm ok with it 😄This foaming hand wash smells delicious, foams up into a wonderfully silky lather, doesn't use too many fancy ingredients, and requires no heating! You can just measure...
Lavender Spruce Shower Gel
This fun, bright shower gel emerged out of a series of experiments I did last summer when I got a bag of Sodium Coco Sulfate for the first time. I basically tried combining it with a variety of different liquid surfactants and transforming those blends into shower...
Aloe Rosemary Spruce Foaming Hand Wash
One of my favourite things about Humblebee & Me is hosting meet-ups; I usually have them when I travel, but I've also had a few here in Calgary, where I live. Renée came to my most recent one and we ended up chatting about foaming hand washes quite a lot—her kids...
Lavender Spruce Creamy Hand Wash
I find I'm quite delighted with hand washes recently, though for a rather odd reason: I use quite a lot of them, so I can make them frequently. This rapid make-test-make-more process means there's lots of room for trying new things and learning what happens when I use...
Eucalyptus Mint Hand Wash
To many people, February is the month of cinnamon hearts and boxes of chocolate, or perhaps feeling a bit sorry for oneself whilst watching a Nicholas Sparks' film and lamenting your single-dom. That's really just one day, though. In my experience, February is the...
Vanilla Spice Hand Wash
I'm a bit hooked on making hand washes these days. They're fun and easy, and something I'll likely end up using 10–20 times (or more!) in a day, depending on what that day looks like. So, unlike something like lip balm or lotion, which tends to take a while to use up,...
Pumpkin Spice Foaming Hand Wash
As I was making this I was definitely thinking "it's far too early for anything pumpkin spiced, isn't it?", but a quick glance at the calendar (and the weather forecast) set me right. Canadian Thanksgiving is next weekend (!), Starbucks has had their infamous latte...
Green Tea Foaming Hand Wash
I still remember the first time I tried a foaming hand wash; I was a kid (maybe 10?), and visiting some American relatives. They always seemed to get the groovy new tech things first (not to mention all the cool kinds of candy they got that we didn't! It took what...
Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash
If you like washing up enveloped in big poufs of fluffy lather, prepare to fall in love. Back when I published my Gentle Chamomile Facial Cleanser recipe, Laura asked about using it in a foamer bottle sans the thickener, and then reported back and said it worked like...
Lemon Rose Creamy Body Wash
This brand new Lemon Rose Creamy Body Wash has me seriously excited to take showers. It's been years since I used a body wash—my shower has been strictly soap since 2011, and I love soap... but I also love trying new things. I especially love trying new things that...
Salves & Natural Healing
Creamy Autumn Grounding Salve
Today we're creating something simple—an aromatic, creamy salve with an intoxicating essential oil blend designed to ground and calm. It's a great DIY for beginners, with a relatively short ingredient list of simple, plant-based ingredients. I'm loving both applying...
Calendula Sunshine Salve
Today we're making a simple salve starring calendula, with a supporting cast of sea buckthorn and lavender. It's easy to make, and the end result is a lovely warm yellow salve with a gentle, calming scent. If your nose is sore from too much blowing, or perhaps your...
Soothing Cedarwood Ointment
This soft, creamy ointment features an intoxicating blend of essential oils designed to soothe skin and nerves. It was inspired by a for-purchase essential oil powered ointment I spotted on Pinterest and after perusing the ingredients I quickly figured I could whip up...
Manuka Kawakawa Salve
In December 2017 I visited beautiful New Zealand, and it was an absolute dream come true. Wonderful weather, breathtaking scenery, and everyone I met was downright lovely. On my last day I visited Melissa and Emmett at Pure Nature in Auckland, and I so wish I could've...
Plantain Chamomile Ointment
Plantain (Plantago major—not the banana-like fruit!) is one of my favourite herbs, but not for the reasons you might think. I like it because I see it everywhere, growing in alleys and public parks, and I just think it's a fun thing to see something so useful thriving...
Silky Chamomile and Shea Salve
On the face of it, this salve sounds simple. Chamomile, shea, some carnauba wax. Meh. Nothing fancy, right? But... oh. Oh my. It's so much more than you'd think from looking at the ingredient list. Smokey raw shea butter and silky, nutty macadamia nut oil are infused...
Puppy-Sporin Salve for Scrapes & Scratches
These days it's not hard to identify me as a new puppy owner—my scratch and bite covered hands and forearms give me away pretty quickly (well, I've either got a puppy or a passion for naked arm wresting with rose bushes). I've heard puppy teeth described as staples,...
Intoxicating Rose Salve
I am not sure I can adequately describe how utterly incredible this silky smooth, soft intoxicating rose salve smells, but I will try. It's rose-like, yes, but it's more than that. Deep and sweet, but not cloying... more of a rich sweetness. There's also something...
Protective Pooch Paw Wax
If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I love dogs. I am that person who will always ask if I can pet a puppy I see at the park, and I've fallen in love with many the puppy in an instant. I also do a bit of dog walking here in Calgary, and if a pooch has longer...
Bill’s Lavender Salve
Back in 2014, Bill wrote to me with a recipe request for a lavender salve he'd been really enjoying using. He described it as "terrific stuff, with a texture just slightly lighter than Vaseline, a quite pungent lavender aroma, and yellow in colour (like lemongrass...
Herb Infused Belly Bar
Another year, more babies. The wife of one of my co-workers is due to have their first baby in the first quarter of 2016, so I thought I'd make her an herb infused belly bar to ward of itchy belly and stretch marks. It's wonderfully easy to make and just the thing for...
Fireplace in a Tin
First I made Air Conditioning in a Bottle, and then Air Conditioning in a Tin, and now I’m making Fireplace in a Tin. Frankly, I can’t believe it’s taken so long as I am far more likely to require heating than cooling up here in Canada. Let’s not delay things any...
Lady Cramp Salve
This lady cramp salve is for those days when your uterus is staging an in-body uprising. If you are not the proud owner of a uterus, perhaps you'd like to bake a cake or something instead of making this salve—of you could make a batch for your favourite uterus owner....
Calm Balm
This balm was inspired by a recipe request from Phoebe, who loves Badger Sleep Balm. I liked the idea, but decided to head off in the "calming" direction instead of the "sleepy" direction. The resulting calm balm is addictively fragrant, with a complex,...
Scar Salve
This scar salve is designed to help your scars heal up, and it's loaded with healing ingredients. The oil base features healing rock stars like pure Vitamin E, vitamin rich rosehip oil, and andiroba, tamanu, and emu oil—all traditional healers in their countries of...
Air Conditioning in a Tin
I love my Air Conditioning in a Bottle, but it's not hugely travel friendly. In a world of liquid carry on restrictions and fees for checking any bags, I thought it was high time I developed a solid version; Air Conditioning in a Tin. This glossy balm is thickened...
Healing Bee Propolis Cream
Bee propolis is a really amazing substance. In its raw form it looks like clods of dirt, and smells something like the air just before it rains. Made from essential oils, resins, saps, and the odd bit of dry grass, it is a powerful antibacterial and antiseptic healing...
Healing Herbal Hemp & Shea Lotion
This herb spiked lotion features some of my favourite eczema fighting ingredients, making it perfect for the onset of winter. Instead of using plain water in this lotion, I’ve made an herbal infusion. With soothing marshmallow root and chamomile, and healing calendula...
Simple Bandits Salve
Bandits oil is a fantastic all-purpose essential oil blend to have around. It's a powerful anti-bacterial/anti-viral/anti-fungal/anti-everything, it smells great, and it's really quite inexpensive to whip up a thieving little bottle of your own. This simple bandits...
Cool & Clear Eucalyptus Balm
This silky smooth balm smells clear and fresh, and leaves skin feeling lightly cooled and refreshed as well as gently moisturized. It comes together quickly and easily, and it's vegan to boot. Want to watch this project instead of read it? Watch Now Eucalyptus...
Ice in a Tube
This idea came to me in yoga class. I'd already cycled 25km that day and was now lying on my mat, awaiting the start of a butt-kicking yoga class, and I was still a bit sore from previous athletic-type shenanigans. All of these things came together to make ice in a...
Barefoot Balm
I think one of my favourite things about summer is ditching shoes and going barefoot. As a kid I'd frequently return home with totally blackened feet that grew tough and leathery over the summer months. Now, sadly, I don't have months-long summer vacations, which...
Soothing Sunburn Cream
You only need to look at me for about half a second to know that I burn easily. I ate lunch outside the other day for about half an hour and ended up with a bright red chest, and while I was in Costa Rica my shoulders did a very convincing impression of a moulting...
Chili Oil Tiger Balm
Before I left for Costa Rica with dreams of surfing real waves dancing in my imagination, I made a big jar of chili oil tiger balm. I was pretty sure I'd need it, and I was right. Surfing is hard work, especially when you yank your body out of winter semi-hibernation...
Bandits Oil
Frankly, I'm a bit surprised I don't already have a recipe for, err, "Bandits" oil up here (apparently the more common name is trademarked and the owners aren't shy about threatening bloggers with legal action, which is just charming... hence the different name), and...
Baby Bum Balm
When I posted my diaper creme recipe, Melissa commented to tell me about her recipe, which was basically a herbal salve loaded with , and the idea stuck. So, when a coworker's wife had a squishy little baby girl, I thought it was time to whip up...
Red Tiger Balm Pocket Roller
This fantastic little roller has all the punch of Tiger Balm, but without the greasy carrier oils or the smelly, tingling post-application hands. It's easy to apply at your desk at work (depending on where on your body you need it, I suppose...), and since it has an...
Hemp, Oat, & Shea Eczema Body Butter Bar
This vibrant green Hemp, Oat, & Shea Eczema Body Butter Bar is loaded with eczema conquering goodies. It gets its smokey green scent from the ingredients, so fragrance-sensitive users need not worry. It's also wonderfully easy to apply thanks to the wonderful...
Bee Propolis Tincture
Bee propolis is a wonderful ingredient for your DIY body products, especially when you want to encourage healing. Unfortunately, raw bee propolis looks like clods of dirt, and as such is rather difficult to add to things as is. So, before you can easily add it to...
DIY Mediterranean Wonderbalm
Back in September Carlee got in touch with a request—"Mediterranean Olive Almond & Sage Wonderbalm". I'd never heard of it before. Apparently Boots, the British chemist, makes it. Carlee described it as a deep treatment for dry lips, elbows, and hands, and...
Calendula & Shea Nose Salve
Just as cold and flu season ends, allergy season begins. Great. Thanks, world. Yet another reason to move to a tropical island. In the meantime, though, I suppose I shall have to make do with half of the seasons involving the sniffles at some time or another. I'm...
Essential Oil Headache Eraser
Headaches suck. I tried to think of some fun, interesting interlude to present as an introduction to this recipe, but that is pretty much the gist of my thoughts on headaches. They’ll ruin a good day or a good mood in a heartbeat, with little concern for what you need...
Palm Balm for Rock Climbers & Boo-boos
If you're a rock climber, by now you're well into your spring training regime (though if you live up here in Canada you probably aren't heading out to the mountains quite yet—brr!). And, unless you've been pretty diligent in the climbing gym all winter long, you're...
Quick & Easy Decongestion Oil (Homemade Liquid Vick’s)
I got a cold last month, and I've got another one right now. Ick. Gross. I hate colds. For me, my #1 symptom is a stuffy nose, and the sniffling drives me mad. During the day I have plenty of defences (tissues, nasal rinses, and decongestants), but overnight, well,...
Eczema Salve
When it comes to the vast majority of my DIY endeavors (especially the ones that are supposed to solve some sort of ailment), I'm my one and only guinea pig. That's hardly surprising, I suppose, as I am both cheap and very accessible! Sometimes my friends and family...
Hot Tiger Balm Massage Bar
I made this Hot Tiger Balm Massage Bar just before my first ski trip in two years. Pathetic, I know. I live at the foot of the Canadian Rockies and I work in the outdoor industry, and yet it's been two years since I've hit the slopes. Anyhow, I knew I would suffer for...
36 Hour Burn & Blister Salve
You know you have a DIY problem when you get a blister and your first thought is how to develop some sort of homemade something or other for it to help it heal/give you something to blog about. At least I didn't give myself the blister on purpose... that really would...
Sleepy Time Pillow Spray
I love dropping a bit of lavender essential oil on my pillows at night before I go to sleep, but in drop form you end up with small drops of highly concentrated scent, which manages to be both simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming, depending on where your...
Soothing Sunburn Lotion
It's getting to be summer! And I have a sunburn! Which I doubt my skin appreciates, but I enjoy how I got it (sitting on a beautiful outdoor patio having thin-crust pizza with a friend). Anyhow, now that it's summer (knock on wood), it's time to make up a batch of my...
Homemade White Tiger Balm
A few weeks ago I went to my acupuncturist (she’s wonderful!), and afterward so gave me some White Tiger Balm for my legs and neck. I’d never tried it before, but it was love at first try. Awesome stuff. All cooling and delightful. The only un-delightful part was the...
Hand & Body Lotion
Easy Non-Greasy Hand Lotion
Hand lotion is a skincare staple; heck, even my dad uses it! But, if your handmade lotions are anything like the ones I made when I was a new maker, you’ve probably noticed that your DIY versions are really different from products sold by big brands like Cerave,...
20 Quick & Easy Ways to Customize Lotion Formulations
So, you’ve finally made your very first lotion. Exciting stuff! If you're anything like me, you're now dreaming up all the different ways you'd love to customize the formulation. Could it be thicker? Can you add some colour? What about some scent? However, as a new...
Strawberry Body Yogurt
You’ve almost certainly heard of the rather dairy-product-sounding "body butter"; but what about the equally dairy-ish body yogurt? Think of body yogurt as body butter’s ultra-light cousin: a fast-absorbing and super-slippy body moisturizer that is low on rich oils...
Luxury brand formulation secrets for expensive-feeling lotions
Even though I make most of the skincare products I use, I still enjoy perusing the skincare departments at Sephora and airport duty-free shops—paying extra attention to the luxury brands. I sample, sniff, and examine ingredient lists like a lotion detective. If a...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Winter Solstice Facial Cleansing Cream
This silky, slippy, honey and rose scented Winter Solstice Cleansing Cream is a positively divine way to gently cleanse your skin at the darkest, coldest time of year (if you're in the southern hemisphere you might prefer this summer solstice themed formulation!)....
Candlelight Body Cream
A theme centred around rich, indulgent, glowy goodness definitely needs a rich body cream, and this one fits the bill beautifully. Not only does it moisturize, hydrate, and soothe, but it also contains an all-natural active to help even out skin tone and reduce dark...
Super Simple All Natural Lotion: Follow-Up Q&A
Welcome to the Q&A follow-up post for my Super Simple Natural Lotion formulation! Today I'm tackling some of the questions I got about this formulation that were not answered in the original blog post or video. Can you add goat milk powder? How about using a...
Super Simple Natural Lotion
If you've been wanting to make an all-natural lotion but haven't been sure where to start—start here! You'll need just six ingredients to make this Super Simple Natural Lotion. It's a lightweight, pumpable, moisturizing lotion that makes a great hand and body lotion....
Rich Mocha Hand & Body Lotion
If you adore the combination of sweet, rich cocoa and intoxicating coffee, this Rich Mocha Body Lotion will be right up your alley ☕️ It stars gorgeous unrefined cocoa butter and espresso-coloured, ultra-fragrant coffee oil—you'll be tempted to taste it,...
Summer Solstice Body Milk
If you've been looking for an ultra-light, low-viscosity, super-hydrating summer moisturizer, I think this satiny Summer Solstice Body Milk might just be it. It smells softly of sunshine on a meadow in July; drizzle it over dry skin and massage it in for feather-light...
Almond Oat Natural Body Lotion
Today's formulation is for a lightweight, silky, slippy, all-natural Almond Oat Natural Body Lotion! It smells softly of almonds and oats, is hydrating and moisturizing but not at all greasy, and if you make it as written you don't need to adjust the pH (hooray!). The...
Macadamia Vanilla Emulsified Body Butter
This decadent Macadamia Vanilla Emulsified Body Butter is lovely; it is rich and indulgent without being heavy or greasy. It smells softly nutty with a warm vanilla base note, and it's scoopy and soft like a decadent custard. If you're anything like me, you'll...
Radiant Berry Hand & Body Cream
Today's formulation stars three utterly lovely carrier oils to create a richly moisturizing Radiant Berry Hand & Body Cream. It smells fresh, tart, and juicy, and includes a few of my favourite moisturizing ingredients to leave your skin happy and hydrated. This...
Sourdough Body Cream
Today we're whipping up something fun and different—a Sourdough Body Cream. I had a blast developing and testing this DIY! This is a great way to start using fun and beneficial fermented ingredients in your DIY skincare in an easy, accessible way. Want to watch this...
Happy Hemp Hand Cream
Today we're blending up a product I've had a lot of requests for! I'm calling this pale green lotion Happy Hemp Hand Cream, and it was inspired by The Body Shop's Hemp Hand Protector. My version is a bit lighter and more slippy, but it still includes many of the same...
Strawberry Kiwi Body Yogurt
Today we're whipping up an ultra-light, super-slippy, richly moisturizing Strawberry Kiwi Body Yogurt. I've had a ton of requests for a body yogurt formulation, and I had lots of fun working on this DIY. The scent comes from a juicy strawberry distillate, and the kiwi...
Honey Bee Mine Body Lotion
Brr! This week has been frigid; as I type this, it's -37°C with wind chill outside. It's the first proper cold snap we've had this winter. Along with that cold, it's also very dry. I currently have four (4!) humidifiers running in my home, and they barely make a dent...
Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter
Today I'm sharing my first Bee Better 3.0 project; a soft and creamy Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter that's an evolution on a shea butter and aloe vera heavy formulation I first shared in 2014, and then revised in 2019. This updated 2021 version uses a new emulsifier...
Sun Bum Body Cream
Over the years I have received a lot of requests for a Sol de Janeiro Brazillian Bum Bum Cream DIY. I found a 2018 request from Nichole and a 2020 request from Leslie in my records, and I'm pretty darn sure there have been others that have been lost in the shuffle of...
Phryne’s Milk of Roses
Last year I positively devoured Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Mystery series. Set in Melbourne in the late 1920s, the novels star the glamourous and clever Miss Phryne Fisher, who solves all kinds of mysteries in style. I first discovered Phyrne in the TV show based...
Moisturizing Repair Lotion
Happy new year, and happy 2021! I decided to kick off this new year with an evolution of the formulation that kicked off 2020—my much-loved Moisturizing Repair Cream (please read that post, too—there's lots of good background information in it!). This lotion-y...
Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion with Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate
Today we're re-visiting this summer's Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion to learn how to adapt formulations to use the emulsifier Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate instead of emulsifying waxes like Polawax, Emulsifying Wax NF, Olivem 1000, BTMS-50, or Ritamulse...
Ice Palace Body Glow Lotion
We're continuing our Ice Palace theme today with this lovely Ice Palace Body Glow Lotion! This one is really neat in the skin feel/consistency department. In regards to viscosity and absorption speed, it's more like a mid-weight lotion—but the richness is closer to...
Hemp & Shea Hand and Body Lotion
This silky Hemp & Shea Hand and Body Lotion is another Bee Better project, riffing on and updating the Healing Herbal Hemp & Shea Lotion I shared back in October 2014. This version keeps many of the same ingredients and very much riffs on the same themes of...
Nourishing Hand Rescue Lotion
This gorgeous Nourishing Hand Rescue Lotion is another "riff" project—taking inspiration from April's much-loved Intense Hand Rescue Cream with the aim of creating something similar, but lighter and more pump-top/squeeze tube friendly. I positively adore April's...
Passionfruit Coconut Conditioning Body Lotion + Hair Conditioner
Today's DIY is a beautiful Passionfruit Coconut Conditioning Body Lotion. This rich emulsion is not only a great hand and body lotion, but it also makes a fantastic hair conditioner! Depending on your hair (and how much you use), it can be anything from a hair mask to...
Summer Glow Body Lotion
Today's DIY is another Bee Better project—an update of the Summer Shimmer Body Lotion I shared back in 2015 (over five years ago!). This lotion is lightweight and packs a serious shimmery punch to leave you glowing like a summer sunset. You can easily customize the...
Oat & Shea Hand Lotion
If your hands are anything like mine, they're feeling the effects of multiple months of a whole lot of hand sanitizer use and intensive hand washing sessions. This lightweight hand lotion focusses on some great moisturizing and soothing ingredients to help breathe...
Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion
Today we're going back to the basics with a Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion. I pared down the ingredients as much as I could, so this lotion just features five (5!) inexpensive ingredients that can be easily modified to suit what you have, or what you prefer. If...
Intense Hand Rescue Cream
This decadent Intense Hand Rescue Cream became an instant favourite of mine while it was still warm in the beaker. It's thick and rich, with a very luxurious skin feel and stunning slip. It's also loaded with all kinds of great-for-skin goodies like colloidal oatmeal,...
Watermelon Mint Hand & Body Lotion
This powder-pink Watermelon Mint Hand & Body Lotion is a bit of a departure from the heavier designed-for-winter lotions I've shared lately (I might be dreaming about warmer weather!). It's lightweight, with gorgeous slip and fast dry-down, and it's pump-bottle...
Lavender Aloe Lotion
We're continuing our Lavender Aloe theme today with a dusty purple lotion with a gorgeous powdery finish. It smells softly of lavender and quickly vanishes into your skin, leaving it feeling richly moisturized with no greasiness. Featuring soothing aloe vera juice,...
Little E’s Lemon Shea Hand Lotion
Today's lotion is one I created at the request of some friends. Their daughter (Little E) had painfully dry, cracked hands through the winter, and she really didn't like to use lotion as most of it stung and hurt. That really resonated with me as that's what my hands...
Moisturizing Repair Cream
Welcome to our first formulation of 2020—a beautiful Moisturizing Repair Cream! I am so excited about this rich, nourishing hand cream. It's positively perfect for this time of year, helping protect skin against the winter dry and cold. Our two power ingredients are...
White Chocolate Peppermint Foot Cream
Mint and foot cream = a fabulous match. Mint and chocolate = also fabulous. Mint + chocolate + foot cream = amazingness! Decadent, refreshing, tingly, tootsie-treating goodness, all bundled up in a rich and silky White Chocolate Peppermint Foot Cream. This one has a...
Creamy Autumn Grounding Lotion
Last month I shared a Creamy Autumn Grounding Salve, starring an intoxicating blend of essential oils—patchouli, lavender, benzoin, and ylang-ylang. I'd intended for the salve to be a one-off, but after sniffing away at it for a few weeks I knew I needed to use that...
Rich Shealoe Butter Cream
This decadent Rich Shealoe Butter Cream is the first project I'm tackling in my Bee Better series; it's an update of the Homemade Shealoe Butter Cream I shared back in February 2014. The idea was to create my own shealoe butter type product, inspired by the plethora...
Rosé Moisturizing Body Cream
If you love body-butter-esque creams, this one is for you. This Rosé Moisturizing Body Cream has a consistency that makes me want to dollop it on a big slice of pie, or perhaps eat it out of an artisanal waffle cone. It smells fantastic and is loaded with ingredients...
Sweetgrass Hand Lotion
Today we're whipping up a softly scented Sweetgrass Hand Lotion as a continuation of our sweetgrass series. In keeping with the theme, this creamy lotion is entirely scented by stunning sweetgrass hydrosol, which reminds me of sunshine on dry prairie grass and honey,...
Mango Mango Body Lotion
Today we are continuing my quest to MANGO ALL THE THINGS with this juicy Mango Mango Body Lotion. It's a pretty simple lotion, designed to showcase mango love without too many fancy ingredients. It's lightweight and moisturizing, bright orange, and smells like beaches...
Massage & Body Oil
Dry Summer Body Oil
Body oils sounds like they should be the perfect, easy, DIY. Take some oil, put it on your body, and you’re done. Right? Unfortunately, if you've tried it you'll know that approach can leave you feeling pretty darn oily. Why do commercial body oils leave your glowing...
Summer Glow Body Oil
Today I'm sharing a Bee-Bettering of one of my most popular formulations on YouTube; my Luminous Summer Body Oil. The original formulation is almost exactly four years old, published on July 6, 2017 (!). I'd made shimmer oils before the 2017 version; the general...
Argan Plum Body Oil
This simple, all-natural Argan Plum Body Oil features two of my favourite carrier oils and some stunning antioxidants for an ultra-lovely skin treat that you can make in just a few minutes. You don't need any heat—just measure, stir, package, and you're done! I...
Passionfruit Velvet Dry Oil Mist
Today's formulation was inspired by Glossier's "Body Hero Dry-Touch Oil Mist"—I saw it on their website and loved the idea of an oil mist, remembering reading on Lotion Crafter that fractionated coconut oil is "light enough to spray through a pump sprayer". That got...
Watermelon Mint Summer Body Oil
We're continuing our Watermelon Mint series today with a silky, fruity, easy-to-make Watermelon Mint Summer Body Oil. This lovely oil leaves your skin soft and glowing without feeling greasy or heavy. It's got a fresh, subtle scent, and can be made in mere minutes....
Cinnamon Cocoa Massage Bars
I had a lot of fun creating these deceptively simple Cinnamon Cocoa Massage Bars. They're silky smooth, cocoa and cinnamon-scented body butter bars that liquify readily on the skin, transforming into massage oil. Inspired by a LUSH product, I had a lot of fun...
Cranberry Orange Body Oil
Today we're mixing up a simple, fragrant Cranberry Orange Body Oil that I devised to give beautiful cranberry seed oil a chance to shine. Since it's a new-to-me ingredient, I wanted to get to know it in a simpler formulation. I've used it neat on the skin, and that's...
Rosé Shimmer Body Oil
This Rosé Shimmer Body Oil is many fantastic things. Thing #1: it is ultra silky and lightweight, absorbing into the skin in a flash leaving a beautiful dry-touch finish. Thing #2: it smells downright amazeballs. Thing #3: summery shimmer! Thing #4: it's crazy easy to...
Mango Mango Massage Butter
This beautiful Mango Mango Massage Butter is a combination of a few things that are on my mind these days. Thing #1: I'd really like it to be warm outside, and the smell of mangoes helps transport me to beaches and last year's trip to Australia. Thing #2: I really...
Sugar Plum Body Oil
This is our second Sugar Plum recipe for holidays 2018 making, and it makes for a delightful gift (or, you know... keep it for yourself!). It's easy to make, can be dressed up with a pretty bottle, and feels really quite expensive and posh. The recipe is easy to...
Coconut Massage Butter
Massage lovers everywhere: prepare to fall in love. This silky, glide-y Coconut Massage Butter gives you eons of working time on the skin for a luxurious, satiny massage. It isn't oily or greasy, but you'll find your hands gliding over skin with a wonderful, soft...
Satin Massage Oil
When giving a massage you want an oil that adds slip for an extended period of time, but isn’t unpleasantly greasy. It’s also nice if it’s easily malleable in the hands (I’ve seen pure coconut oil used for this purpose, but never liked how you have to scoop a hunk of...
Luminous Summer Body Oil
I'm pretty excited about this lovely Luminous Summer Body Oil—it's got some pretty neat stuff going for it. While one certainly can make (and I definitely have) a super-simple body oil by simply combining mica and oil, I wanted to make an extra lovely body oil. I...
Soothing Oat Bath and Body Oil
This soothing oat bath and body oil was born from a recipe request from Claudia, who loves Aveeno's Skin Relief Shower and Bath Oil. She said that it was fantastic for dry winter skin and even helped with her son's eczema. Taking a look at the ingredients, first first...
How to Make Romantic Massage Oil
I don't think you need me to tell you that this time of years is at least a little nuts. Between holiday shopping, work commitments, visiting family, and winter weather complicating the simple act of leaving the house (for me, at least), this time of year tends to...
Healing Herb Infused Massage Oil
If you're looking for a quick win DIY project this week, this is it. It comes together in a flash, requires a bit of steeping time, and then you're the proud owner of a bottle of healing, herb-spiked massage oil. The oil base is a blend of gentle [sv...
Lavender & Labdanum Body Oil
One of the first things I discovered when I started drifting towards the natural/DIY side of things was body oil. Well, technically it was a massage oil that my parents had received as a slightly-too-hippy-scented housewarming gift, so I made off with it. But it was...
Shimmery Body Oil
This lightly shimmery body oil is perfect for heading out on New Years Eve. With just a hint of glimmer, you can shimmer and shine in the New Year (without being mistaken for a Show Girl). It also helps soothe parched skin, which is always great at this time of year....
Peppermint Massage Bars
Every autumn I, along with the rest of my city (or so it seems), haul my arse back to yoga classes. It's not that I don't enjoy yoga enough to do it in the summer, it's just that there are so many things to do when the days are long and warm. Anyhow, my inevitable...
Peppermint Massage Truffles
These cute little massage peppermint massage truffles are perfect for sore muscles, minor burns, or just cooling yourself down a bit before going to sleep on a hot night. They look good enough to eat (please don't, though), and their cute wee size makes them great...
Hot Tiger Balm Massage Bar
I made this Hot Tiger Balm Massage Bar just before my first ski trip in two years. Pathetic, I know. I live at the foot of the Canadian Rockies and I work in the outdoor industry, and yet it's been two years since I've hit the slopes. Anyhow, I knew I would suffer for...
Perfect Massage Oil
Massage oil makes things that are great (back rubs) better. Which is barely possible, and yet, it's true. I've played with a few combinations of different oils, but this is the best I've stumbled across. It's a mix of and [sv...
DIY Homemade Massage Bars
These homemade massage bars are great. They come together in an instant, mold wonderfully into any shape you need, and melt right at body temperature. The beeswax and smell wonderful, and they do a great job of moisturizing your skin and...
Body Scrubs
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...
Sea Glass Salt Scrub
Today we're stirring up a lovely Sea Glass Salt Scrub, made with a sparkling blend of salts and a beautiful fragrance. It's a brilliant and beautiful body scrub, and you can easily customize it to use whatever salts you have on hand. You don't need any heat, either,...
Cinnamon Sugar Dry Foaming Body Scrub
Today we're mixing up a fragrant, perfect-for-autumn Cinnamon Sugar Dry Foaming Body Scrub. Starring sugar, rhassoul clay, and a gentle surfactant for all kinds of gorgeous bubbles, this 7-ingredient scrub makes a great gift and a great excuse to take a hot bath...
Calendula + Clay Soft Foaming Body Scrub
If you've been looking for a way to mix up your bath routine, I think you might just love this Calendula + Clay Soft Foaming Body Scrub. It's a dry, sudsy body scrub that works beautifully on a loofah or between your hands—just work it up with a bit of water and...
Passionfruit Coconut Body Scrub
Over the last couple months, emulsified scrubs of all types have become a big favourite of mine. I've always like them, but now I don't want to take a bath without one! A good scrub leaves my skin all kinds of soft and moisturized—I usually don't need lotion-ing...
Watermelon Mint Whipped Sugar Scrub
Today we're whipping up a bit of cherry pink summery fun! This perky pink sugar scrub smells wonderfully of juicy watermelon and fresh peppermint. A creamy base self-emulsifies with your bathwater, turning into lotion as you scrub away dead skin with the sugar in the...
Cranberry Orange Whipped Sugar Scrub
’Tis the season for sugar scrubs—in my opinion, at least. With colder temperatures, any excuse to spend time in a hot bath is very welcome! This cheery orange scrub smells all kinds of tangy-citrussy-fruity, and delivers a fabulous dose of exfoliation in a base that...
Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub
Today we're getting our Pemberley-themed pamper on with this lightweight sugar-studded emulsified Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub. A creamy, self-emulsifying base is heavily dosed with granulated sugar for a sparkly, fragrant bath treat. The beautiful Pemberley scent...
Mango Mango Whipped Sugar Scrub
Today we're making a fluffy pot of oh-so-happy mango scented whippy bath time fun in the form of an emulsified Mango Mango Whipped Sugar Scrub. This soft scrub is packed with sparkly, scrubby sugar, decadent mango scent, and skin-loving goodness. It comes together...
Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub
Today's DIY is a super-fun Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub. It's a creamy white base speckled with green and gold VitaBurst beads. It smells like a Christmas tree and is a super fun way to pamper yourself (and your giftees!) come bath time. You can customize...
Whipped Minty Foot Scrub
I really like going barefoot during the summer. My bathtub and typically clean floors really wish I wouldn’t. There’s something about dirty feet that just end up being a whole different level of dirty. You’ll give them what feels like a fairly dedicated sudsing with a...
Snowflake Emulsified Scrub Nuggets
This snowflake theme has images of pearly white things and glitter dancing in my brain, so sugar scrub nuggets—with lovely bits of sparkly sugar—were an absolute must. These adorable little nuggets are brilliant for gifting—pop 'em in a cute cellophane bag with a nice...
Pumpkin Spice Scrub Nuggets
These creamy, sugar-studded little nuggets of pumpkin-spicy goodness are like a hybrid between a mini scrub bar and a bath melt. They self-emulsify with your bath or shower water on your skin as you use them, turning into a creamy, mouth-watering scrub that buffs away...
Summer Margarita Emulsified Scrub
I've got margaritas on the brain these days, and oddly enough, it's not because I'm drinking them. It's because of Jimmy Buffett. Most people are pretty surprised to hear that Jimmy Buffett is one of my all-time favourite musical artists. Now, before you revise your...
Seaside Emulsified Salt Scrub
I've shared a couple emulsified sugar scrubs lately, and in the comments of one of them, Penny asked about salt. Something about her skin loving salt in scrubs, and how perhaps I should try it. Hmmm. Once I started thinking about salt, that quickly led to sea salt......
Green Tea Coconut Emulsified Sugar Scrub
Today's Green Tea Coconut Emulsified Sugar Scrub recipe is a request from Regina, who found a lovely (and pricey!) bright green body scrub that was spiked with matcha green tea and peppermint essential oil. I loved the idea of something green and fresh for spring—a...
Whipped Lemon Poppyseed Emulsified Sugar Scrub
This bright and juicy Whipped Lemon Poppyseed Emulsified Sugar Scrub is a new bath time favourite of mine. In addition to leaving my skin wonderfully soft, hydrated, and exfoliated, it also leaves me craving pound cake, and I definitely don't think that's a bad thing....
Chocolate Sugar Scrub Nuggets
The first thing I should get out of the way in regards to these Chocolate Sugar Scrub Nuggets is this: please don't eat them. You will be sorely tempted, and I'm guessing they probably don't taste all that bad. After all, they are mostly cocoa butter and sugar, and...
Coconut Rose Sugar Scrub
Summertime means heat, exposed limbs, lots of sunscreen, and lots of sun—a recipe that can leave skin feeling a bit clogged and parched. Fortunately that's nothing a quick sugar scrub can't fix, and this one is definitely up to the task. A handful of rose petals, some...
Creamy Shea Exfoliating Scrub
This lovely creamy shea exfoliating scrub was born of a recipe request from Carmen, who wrote "I was wondering if you can create a creamy body/face scrub like the ones you buy in supermarket. If you can have a base of but make it creamy, as a...
Tingly Eucalyptus Peppermint Foot Scrub
It's nearing the end of July, and if you love running about barefoot in the summer as much as I do, your feet probably need a bit of TLC. Lucky for your feet (and mine), this awesome scrub is just the thing. This scrub gets its scrubby goodness from a bunch of salt,...
Honey Ginger Sugar Scrub
This sweet little sugar scrub comes together in just a few pre-bath minutes and leaves your skin soft and smooth. The scrub gets its exfoliating punch from a blend of white and brown sugars, which have the added benefit of being water soluble (so they're easily washed...
Warming Spiced Sugar Scrub
The discovery of true gingerbread for me was really very exciting, and also rather late in life, all things considered. Given that I’d been eating gingerbread around Christmas for most of my life, it wasn’t until I was nearly 20 that I discovered good, dark, spicy...
Seaweed Scrub Foot Mask
If your feet are feeling a touch tough after a summer of cavorting about in sandals (or less), this seaside scented foot scrub is just the thing. If you’re in a hurry you can scrub and go, or you can apply it as a mask for a bit of an at-home pedicure. Gritty rhassoul...
Peppermint & Cocoa Sugar Body Scrub
Last week I was feeling a bit dry and dull. Despite all my best efforts at keeping myself hydrated inside and out, I needed to do some exfoliating, and this Girl Guide cookie scented sugar scrub did the trick. Two types of sugar and some salt form the scrubby base of...
Bath & Shower Stuff
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,...
Frosted Cranberry Bath Bombs
Bath bombs are an every year "must make" for me as I have several lovely people (mostly my mom) on my giftee list that adore bath bombs. Once I settled on this year's themes, I knew the bath bombs would have to be Frosted Cranberry themed because they could actually...
Wedding Cake Bath Bombs
These sparkly, fizzy bath treats were inspired by a best friend's wedding cake ❤️ She asked for bath bombs as part of her wedding gift, and I thought making some that "matched" her wedding cake would be fun 😄 The resulting bath bombs aren't a...
Gentle Oatmeal Almond Body Wash Bar
Today we're smooshing up a Gentle Oatmeal Almond Body Wash Bar, featuring a generous amount of colloidal oatmeal and a beautiful, gentle surfactant blend. While I did design this with a body wash in mind, you can also use it as a facial cleansing bar and shampoo. It's...
French Spa Bath Salts
With everything that's been going on in the world for the last year, it's been quite a while since I've been to a proper spa, but these DIY French Spa Bath Salts make for a fantastic at-home spa experience. They smell just like a proper, luxurious spa and transform...
Birthday Suit Solid Body Wash
This formulation is a really fun and interesting one; it's a solid, self-preserving body wash that I'm calling Birthday Suit Solid Body Wash. You can customize the colour and the scent, and play with different moulds for all kinds of fun! It's also easy to make—mix,...
Rich Lavender Shower Cleansing Cream
Today we're creating a Rich Lavender Shower Cleansing Cream—a luxuriously creamy body wash that still kicks off some lovely bubbles. It's part lotion, part body wash, and all-around lovely. I've scented it with lavender essential oil, but you could easily customize...
Ice Palace Fizzing Shimmering Bath Dust
This Ice Palace Fizzing Shimmering Bath Dust has all the fizzy fun of a bath bomb, combined with the ease and indulgence of bath salts. There's no moulding or pressing—just massage everything together, leave the mixture out to dry for a day or two, and you've got...
Ice Palace Bath Bombs
One of the things I absolutely have to make every year as part of my holiday DIYing is bath bombs—my mom loves them, so I need to make sure she's set for the following year 😊 This year's holiday bath bombs are Ice Palace themed, with a fizzy surprise in the...
Popping Cocoa Coconut Bath Salts
These beautiful and fun Popping Cocoa Coconut Bath Salts are the latest addition to this year's Cocoa Coconut Holiday 2020 theme! And yes—they do pop! They pop and fizz and crackle like an indulgent magic trick when added to your bathwater. In addition to the popping...
Silk Aloe Body Wash
This DIY came from an old ideas notebook I started back in 2014 or so—on a trip to Costa Rica, I believe (there are a lot of doodles of geckos and notes about surfing and passionfruit and goodness... to be back there now!). This little notebook is filled with all...
Bubbly Bath Dough
I had a heck of a time trying to name this fun DIY! Generally speaking, it's a sort of play-dough for the bath or shower that can be sculpted into whatever your heart desires, used as a body wash, and/or crumbled under a running tap to create all kinds of bubbles....
Lavender Oat Foaming Bath Salts
It's finally getting warm again here in Calgary, and that means I recently went on my first run of the season. That also means I am very, very sore. And that means it's time for (more) baths! These lovely Lavender Oat Foaming Bath Salts contain tons of...
Chocolate Ganache Fizzing Bath Biscuits
We're doing a bit of calorie-free "baking" today with some downright delicious Chocolate Ganache Fizzing Bath Biscuits! These fun, fizzy bath treats were inspired by a request from Bethany + some LUSH products I've been ogling for a while. When I first started work on...
Foaming Aromatherapy Bath Concentrate
Today's DIY is ultra-simple; I designed it to be a safe and easy way to add essential oils to baths with some added bubbles. Putting essential oils in baths is really common, but can be problematic if not done properly. Essential oils are oil-soluble, so without some...
Argan Rose In-Shower Body Conditioner
Today we're revisiting a project I first shared in May 2014—a rich body lotion inspired by a popular LUSH product—as part of my Bee Better work. This six-years-later update features a new emulsifier, fully percentage-ified amounts, clearer instructions, and a hefty...
Argan Rose Valentine Bath Bombs
Happy almost-Valentine's-Day! We're celebrating this year with some seasonal bath bombs, featuring some shimmery mica painting and lovely pink fizzing. They smell beautifully of rose and lemon, in keeping with the shampoo bars I shared last week, but you could...
Winter Solstice Bath Bombs
Today we're creating some striking bath bombs to celebrate the winter solstice (technically the solstice was the night of the 21st, but here in Calgary the 23rd is only 8 seconds longer than the 21st, so I think we can still call it solstice season!). A cool, purpley...
Mango Mango Bath Bombs
Today we're making some fizzy orange globes of bath time happiness—Mango Mango Bath Bombs! I feel like this mango theme lends itself especially well to bath things because I love bright, happy, colourful bath things. The bombs themselves are bright orange, and then...
Christmas Tree Bath Bombs
Today we're making some fun, colourful Christmas Tree Bath Bombs! I took some decoration inspiration from the top of the Christmas Tree Soap bars pre-swirling, and had a lot of fun playing with mica splatters and scatters after molding up all the bath bombs. The base...
Candy Corn Bath Bombs
These pretty tri-coloured bath bombs are a fizzy, bath-friendly tribute to the rather ubiquitous candy corn. If you're not familiar with candy corn, it's a triangular candy with a white tip, orange center, and yellow bottom. And, to state what might be a controversial...
Foaming Coconut Bath Milk
Last year I made some bath bombs that contained both milk powder and a surfactant, and while I loved them, I found that any large amount of milk powder negatively impacted the structural integrity of the bath bombs. I wanted more milk, dangit, but the bath bomb format...
Oatmeal & Milk After Shower Oil
This lightweight oil is post-shower (or bath) perfection. It perfectly melds with your soft, damp skin to lock in moisture and leave your skin feeling velvety, conditioned, and downright pampered. Soothing colloidal oats and rich coconut milk play starring roles, with...
Five Alive Citrus Bath Parfait
I will happily admit that I motored through my Unicorn Bath Parfait very quickly—the luscious, silky bubbles and bath water was far too lovely to pass up if there was still some parfait in the jar! So, when Ivan from YellowBee dropped by with some very cool screw-top...
Fizzy Unicorn Bath Parfait
If you've been out in the world lately you'll know that unicorns are de rigueur. From onesies to lattes to inspirational posters to holographic eyeshadow palettes, you can unicorn-ify every aspect of your life. I even found unicorn printed toilet paper for anyone who...
Vinolia Lemon Rose Bath Bombs
Every year from April 10–15 I observe what I call Titanic Week; the anniversary of the maiden voyage and sinking of the RMS Titanic. It's not much of an event, but it is a thing I remember, and have every year since I was about 11. In honour of Titanic Week 2018 I...
Lavender Spruce Bath Bombs
In the last several months I've gone from bath bomb hoarder to a multiple-bath-bomb-per-bath-user due to my self-made bath bomb boom (say that ten times fast!). I've been having so much fun whipping up all kinds of different bath bombs, playing with my recipe as well...
Milky Tea Bath Bombs
I've always loved Robbie Burns day, so when January 25 fell on a Thursday this year I knew I wanted to make something Scottish inspired. I've been loving bath bombs lately, so that's where I started. As far as themes go, haggis seemed... unappealing... as did Chicken...
Snowflake Bath Bombs
I am so in love with these Snowflake Bath Bombs that I just might not give any of them away. The fizz away enthusiastically, releasing a rich, creamy lather and leaving bathwater feeling cushiony and rich and incredibly lovely. On the night of our first big snowfall...
Pumpkin Spice Bath Bombs
It's been entirely too long since I've made bath bombs, and with the return of cooler temperatures I couldn't think of anything more appropriate than a lovely batch of glitter-sprinkled Pumpkin Spice Bath Bombs. A chilly night, a big mug of tea, a bit of tub-side...
London Fog Bath Salts
I'm feeling really tired and overwhelmed these days. I don't know if it's because it's winter or what, but I feel like I'm running around like mad, barely managing to keep on top of my to-do list. It feels like everything is piling up and all I want to do is turn off...
Winter Wonderland Bath Bombs
These pretty blue nuggets of fizzy, pine-scented goodness are the perfect accompaniment to a hot bath on a cold winter day. They'll tumble in the bath water, fizzing away and releasing a fresh, wintery scent blend of pine, fir, and vanilla along with skin-softening...
Relaxing Lavender Bath Milk Concentrate
A few weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram, and happened to notice a post from Lisa Eldridge (she's probably my favourite makeup artist, she's incredible!). She shared a shot of this lavender bath milk, along with "So happy to get my mitts on this divine milky,...
Thin Mints Bath Melts
As the snow arrives (sadly I'm not kidding, it snowed here all last weekend!), hot baths quickly become one of my favourite ways to warm up and wind down. A good pumpkin ale, some Scrubs on my iPad, and I'm a happy lady. If that bath smells like cookies and leaves my...
Soothing Oat Bath and Body Oil
This soothing oat bath and body oil was born from a recipe request from Claudia, who loves Aveeno's Skin Relief Shower and Bath Oil. She said that it was fantastic for dry winter skin and even helped with her son's eczema. Taking a look at the ingredients, first first...
Creamy Lavender Meadow Bath Melts
Love a hydrating, relaxing bath? These Creamy Lavender Meadow Bath Melts are about to become your favourite thing. These little nuggets of cocoa-shea goodness quickly melt into your hot bath, leaving your with a lavender scented tub of water to soak away your worries...
Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh Bath Bombs
I think these sparkly bath bombs make a pretty cool holiday gift. Scented with ancient frankincense and myrrh essential oils, and sparkled up with some eye catching gold mica, these bath bombs would be right at home in a manger (though moreso in a bath). Bath bombs...
Cocoa Butter Bath Milk
If you love a hot bath on a cool night, this bath milk powder is just the thing. Skin softening, moisturizing, and lightly cocoa-scented, it makes a lovely gift and a lovely thing to have in your bathroom for those days where you're ready for a hot bath and bed by...
English Garden Bath Oil
I may watch too much Downton Abbey, but I feel like this is the sort of bath oil Lady Mary would use. Fragrant, gentle, and luxurious, it smells like an English garden in the summer, and makes for a lovely break from dark winter days. The base of the bath oil is a...
After Bath Silk Powder
When I was a girl my Grandmother often gifted me the fancy toiletries she’d acquired on her travels. Fancy miniature soaps from abroad, wrapped in neatly pleated tissue; tiny little bottles of exotically scented shampoos; even adorable little repair kits with neatly...
Christmas Spice Bath Bombs
These holiday scented bath bombs are just perfect for a hot bath on a cold, dark night. They also make perfect stocking stuffers as they come together in a jiffy and still look super impressive to the uninitiated 😉 I no longer recommend making this as it no longer...
Coconut Mango Bath Bombs
These wonderfully tropical bath bombs transform your bathwater into a mango & coconut scented hot pot of aloe vera and coconut milk goodness, laced with loads of beneficial goodies like vitamin A, C and beta carotine from the mango powder. It's like an at-home...
Rose Spice Bath Bombs
I can't believe it's been so long since I made bath bombs. Shame on me. When I was about 12, bath bombs were the height of pampering and luxury in my pre-adolescent world. I might get one or two for Christmas and a birthday, and I would horde them for months until I...
Rose & Lavender Bath Oil
Bath oil conjures up images of claw-footed cast iron tubs, silken bathrobes, and cavernous candle-lit bathrooms in my mind. I am not lucky enough to have any of these things, but I can have bath oil (and candles, I suppose), and most of the time my imagination fills...
Milky Chai Bath Salts
It used to be that a milk bath was quite the luxury—said to soften the skin and otherwise spoil you (and the milk, I suppose). They seem to have somewhat fallen out of fashion (or memory), but I’d like to bring them back. I’ve decided to update them with some...
Winter Bath Salts
I'm a firm believer that baths are one of the best things you can do with your clothes off (wink wink, nudge nudge). They make everything better, warm you up, and send you away feeling all soporific and lovely. Like a massage, but not quite as good, though much...
A Gingery Detox Bath
After about two and a half weeks of enduring of a terrible cough I caught at work, I was driven to try pretty much anything to get rid of it. So I tried a detox bath. I'm a fan of baths in general, so it seemed like a good idea anyways. I googled a wide variety of...
DIY Bath Pebbles
These little whatsits are cute and fun. Lovely little nuggets of skin-softening goodness that smell pretty, too. First off, you'll need a batch of Homemade Bath Salts. Don't worry, they're very easy to make. Next up, we take a cue from bath bomb making.You'll need a...
Make Your Own Bath Salts
I've been taking a lot of hot baths these days, and increasing their awesomeness with homemade bath salts. They're wonderfully easy to make, they smell great, and the skin softening capacities are awesome. Basically, you just mix together , sea...
The Anarchist’s Bathtime Cookbook: Homemade Bathbombs
Out of all the natural body products that are disgustingly overpriced, bath bombs are pretty much the worst. My mother got me hooked on them long before my allowance could actually cover or justify a $5 one-time fizzy bath treat, so I hoarded them like they were made...
Body Mists & Sprays
Sweetgrass After Sun Body Mist
With summer in full swing (Happy August long weekend!) a refreshing and simple Sweetgrass After Sun Body Mist sounded like just the thing to add to my skincare arsenal. This lovely mist works to hydrate and soothe skin after sun exposure, or whenever you're feeling...
Eucalyptus Mint Body Mist
My Australia countdown is in full swing (I leave in three weeks!), so even though it's definitely still winter here I've got images of sandy beaches and steamy rainforests dancing around in my head pretty much all the time. Talking with my friends down there has me...
Hydrating Summer Facial and Body Mist
I'm on a huge hydration kick these days. Well, not so much a kick as a lifestyle change. I'm making hydration a serious priority, and my skin is so much happier for it. While staying hydrated in Calgary is always a challenge, summer is a different kind of challenge:...
Hydrating Rose Water Everything Spray
The idea for this Hydrating Rose Water Everything Spray came from watching a makeup tutorial on YouTube. Wayne Goss was chatting about how using a rose water/glycerin mist in combination with powdered mineral makeup let him wear loads of it and still have it look...
Anti-Acne Body Spray
With summer right around the corner, we're entering the season of sweat. And, with sweat I find a body acne can follow. Delightful, no? I shan't horrify you with any details. Anyhow, this spray is designed to combat acne on the body (and the face), and it smells...
Aloe & Silk Body Spray
This lightweight spray is perfect for those days after you've overdosed on the sunshine and have a UV hangover (also known as a sunburn). It's mostly aloe vera juice, amped up with some other goodies like healing essential oils and bee pollen. It comes together...
Hydrating Body Mist
After decades of winters with dry skin, I’ve started to think “if I’m going to be dry, I might as well make it interesting.” That’s where this hydrating body mist comes in. It’s perfect for spritzing yourself with right after you get out of the shower—it’ll impart...
Heat Wave Peppermint Spray (Air Conditioning in a Bottle)
This spray is absolutely brilliant in the heat. It is literally air conditioning in a bottle. Before you go cracking jokes about how Canadians don't know anything about heat, let me say that it was 40°C (104°F) the day I made and tested this spray, and while that...
Foot Recipes
White Chocolate Peppermint Foot Cream
Mint and foot cream = a fabulous match. Mint and chocolate = also fabulous. Mint + chocolate + foot cream = amazingness! Decadent, refreshing, tingly, tootsie-treating goodness, all bundled up in a rich and silky White Chocolate Peppermint Foot Cream. This one has a...
Whipped Minty Foot Scrub
I really like going barefoot during the summer. My bathtub and typically clean floors really wish I wouldn’t. There’s something about dirty feet that just end up being a whole different level of dirty. You’ll give them what feels like a fairly dedicated sudsing with a...
Eucalyptus Mint Foot Butter
In theory, sandal season is on its way. I say "in theory" because right now the concept of spring seems more like a sad, mocking joke rather than the (supposedly) current season. It hasn't been warmer than -10°C at 7am for weeks. Our highs are 10–20°C colder than is...
Eucalyptus Mint Foot Cream
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...
Dead Sea Foot Soak
Whenever I go to yoga I become re-acquainted with the state of my feet. A few forward folds and some yogi gripping and I'm thinking I need to whip up a DIY pedicure—stat. Then I leave class and completely forget. But I finally remembered! This wonderfully fresh...
Tingly Eucalyptus Peppermint Foot Scrub
It's nearing the end of July, and if you love running about barefoot in the summer as much as I do, your feet probably need a bit of TLC. Lucky for your feet (and mine), this awesome scrub is just the thing. This scrub gets its scrubby goodness from a bunch of salt,...
Orange & Tea Tree Foot Soak
I was in yoga class the other day, looking at my bare feet while hanging out in butterfly pose, and I was bit appalled by what I saw. Dry, flaky scaly bits were peeling away from my heels and the balls of my feet, and it was pretty gross, so I decided to do something...
Rocky Mountain Foot Butter
Kristin wrote me with the most lovely sounding recipe request—she was looking for a “rich, tingly foot butter that smells like a pine tree”. Mmmm. As a lover of all things forest scented, I absolutely had to make this awesome (and as of yet hypothetical) rocky...
Seaweed Scrub Foot Mask
If your feet are feeling a touch tough after a summer of cavorting about in sandals (or less), this seaside scented foot scrub is just the thing. If you’re in a hurry you can scrub and go, or you can apply it as a mask for a bit of an at-home pedicure. Gritty rhassoul...
Barefoot Balm
I think one of my favourite things about summer is ditching shoes and going barefoot. As a kid I'd frequently return home with totally blackened feet that grew tough and leathery over the summer months. Now, sadly, I don't have months-long summer vacations, which...
Tingly Peppermint Foot Mask
I love to walk in the summer, especially in a new town, or when I have friends in town, which makes Calgary seem all shiny and new again. Haley came to visit me this summer, and oh, how we walked. On one particular Sunday we traipsed all throughout Inglewood, sifting...
Copycat Lush Foot Mask
I found this foot mask on the Lush website last summer. I was just as confused as you probably are right now. A mask... for feet? Wha? Anyhow, I was clearly intrigued enough to jot down the list of familiar-sounding ingredients and stuff it away somewhere. I just...
Perfume Recipes
Steamer Trunk Solid Perfume
This fantastic Steamer Trunk Solid Perfume conjures up memories of going through old trunks and boxes, looking for an old blanket, perhaps, or a dress your grandmother once wore. There's a deep, rich scent of old wood and decades-old perfume from the carefully folded...
June Solstice Perfume
This lovely amber perfume is delightfully complex with warm, sweet base notes and exotic, woodsy top notes. I'm really enjoying it as a bit of scent-sory (haha) sunshine in the midst of this rainy spring. The first thing you'll smell is a hit of sharp cedar blended...
Secret Garden: A Perfume
This lovely, summery perfume is an uplifting blend of floral and fruity, with a soft, sweet base. It has the sweetness of a well-tended garden on a hot summer day, and an exotic undercurrent that I find both exciting and intriguing. Something about this blend makes me...
Crickets & Fireflies Perfume
Happy New Year! I've decided to kick 2015 off with this complex and intoxicating perfume that I'm rather infatuated with. It's dry and warm, with a tangy mid note and high notes of sweet citrus and bright coniferous trees. It also matures beautifully on the...
Cedar & Palmarosa Solid Perfume
I've had some requests for more scent blends for solid perfume, so here we go. This simple blend has notes of citrus and tea, with a soft woodiness from the cedar, and a bright spicy sparkle from the cardamom. Like all solid perfumes, it comes together in a flash, and...
Beguiling Embrace: A Perfume
It’s a bit sad (if not predictable)—after I moved over to all homemade, natural body products, my modest collection of perfumes (all three of them) lost the majority of their appeal to me. They’re just so strong and artificial smelling, which is rather sad as I liked...
Solid Lavender Lemon Perfume
At the cottage this summer my Aunt Karla presented me with a small tin of solid lavender lemon perfume. She’s a bit of a lavender junkie, and who can blame her? It's relaxing and just wonderful. The ingredients for the perfume were quite simple—basically just [sv...
