I’ve had a few requests for a lotion similar to LUSH’s Vanishing Creme, so this is it. The idea is the creme will make your acne vanish, so with that in mind, I set out to make my very own Houdini Anti Acne Creme—something worthy of the great Houdini.
I took some cues from the Vanishing version for my water base—theirs includes an infusion of flaxseed, rose, honey, and witch hazel (among other things). I decided to add white willow bark and aloe to the mix to amp the acne blasting, soothing qualities of the lotion.
Theirs uses six different carrier oils; I decided to whittle the list down to grapeseed, jojoba, and evening primrose as the ingredients that appeared after that would have been used in such small quantities as to be of little to no effect.
For essential oils the original uses lavender, neroli, geranium, and benzoin. I liked the sounds of that, so that’s what I’ve done here (though with a 3% neroli dilution to save some money). You could also add some black pepper essential oil, or any of your other favourite acne-blasting essential oils instead, or in addition to, if you like.
The resulting lotion is a pale lavender colour (thanks to the rose petals, oddly enough) and smells lightly floral and quite lovely. It glides over the skin beautifully, and is fantastic as a straight-up face (and body) lotion, acne or not.
Houdini Anti Acne Creme
1 tsp white willow bark
1 tsp flax seed
1 tsp dried rose petals15g | 0.53oz aloe vera juice (not aloe gel!)
15g | 0.53oz witch hazel
2g | 0.07oz honey6g | 0.28oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)
10g | 0.35oz grapeseed oil
5g | 0.17oz jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz evening primrose oil4 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops 3% neroli essential oil dilution
2 drops geranium essential oil
2 blobs benzoin essential oilBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Measure the white willow bark, flax seed, and rose petals into a disposable fill-it-yourself tea bag or metal strainer. Place that into a heat resistant glass measuring cup and pour 100mL (3.3 fl oz) of just-boiled distilled water over top. Let that steep for twenty minutes. Once steeped, remove the herb mixture, pressing it to squeeze out as much water as possible, and discard the soggy herbs and seeds.
Weigh the the aloe vera juice, witch hazel, and honey in a heat resistant glass measuring cup, and then add enough of the herb infusion to make a total of 75g (2.65 oz). Gently warm the mixture, stirring to combine.
Combine the emulsifying wax with the grapeseed oil, jojoba oil (USA / Canada), and evening primrose oil in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
Once the oils have melted, add the aloe/witch hazel/honey/herb water mixture. Heat through to ensure everything is melted before removing the pan from the heat.
Whisk the mixture as it cools—it will thicken into a nice cream (the thickening may take a few days if you are using a different emulsifying wax than emulsimulse). Stir in the essential oils and your broad spectrum preservative. Transfer to a 120mL/4oz pump-top bottle or wide-mouthed jar. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this lotion contains lots of delicious things that bacteria like to eat, I recommend 1) definitely using a broad spectrum preservative; 2) using the higher end of the recommended usage amount of said preservative; 3) not scaling up the batch and using it relatively quickly. Preservatives aren’t infallible, especially with this much bacterial temptation.
Don’t have the oils called for in the recipe? Check this out.
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Perfect timing – one of my dearest friends has three teens and when I asked her what products I should attempt next she requested, “something for acne!” Will whip up a batch asap and report back:-) Thank you, again, for your generosity of time and knowledge!
Awesome! Be sure to check out this page, too, it’s loaded with anti-acne recipes (the Primrose Argan Serum is AMAAAAAZING!!!).
First time trying to make it for my teen daughter. A bit watery. For ratio more water than oily part plus not using solid butter at all.
Cream vs lotion? More lotion…..
I want to be sure I understand the purpose of the Anti-Acne Creme. It is not to “hide” acne but rather to prevent its occurrence? So this is something you would apply after cleansing your face, and just rub it in until complete absorbed?
Will definitely try this, just want to be sure of the application. Sorry for being so dense.
Thank You.
Hey Godfrey! This is definitely not a “hide” cream, just a help heal/help prevent cream 🙂 I usually use it after washing or just before applying foundation. You don’t need much, it glides around the skin really beautifully!
This is just the recipe for me!
Enjoy! I look forward to hearing what you think 🙂
Wonderful! I love looking at product ingredients and thinking about recipes to make something similar! I will definitely be trying this one out! Have you thought of infusing the oils with the herbs too for this in order to get the oil soluble properties of the plants as well? I wonder how that might smell and feel. I already have a rose and chamomile infused oil of 6 weeks now, in grape seed I might use. Thanks so much for sharing!
That sounds awesome!! I have some chamomile calendula in grapeseed i made last year.
I went with a water infusion here because salicin, the compound we want out of the white willow bark, is water soluble, and I wanted the jelly-like texture you get from soaking flax in water, but you totally could do a double infusion with the oils if you wanted to! I’d be really interested to hear how it turns out if you try it 🙂
This looks great, thanks. If you wanted to make this in higher quantities what could you omit so it’s stable enough with Optiphen Plus. For my lotions I normally use stearic acid along with e wax and I also don’t use honey.
Well, you’d have to omit pretty much all the active ingredients, which would rather defeat the point :/ You’d probably have to drop the first 6 ingredients and just use plain water, and then you just have a lotion. So yeah… why bother? You just got rid of pretty much all the anti-acne stuff haha.
This looks so lovely. I’ve got some evening primrose oil arriving today, along with a lot of rose hip seed oil to make my own version of the evening primrose serum, but I do love a good grapeseed oil based cream. My skin loves grapeseed oil. It’s the base of my homemade cleansing balm. I know you have an article about it, but what preservative are you using these days?
These days I’m using Gluconolactone & Sodium Benzoate and Germall, depending on whatever’s closer when I’m making stuff haha. I won’t replace the Germall, but a little goes a long way, so I still have a tablespoon or so left.
Hi Marie, thanks for sharing. One question though: I was surprise not to see Tea tree oil in it, wouldn’t it be a good addition to boost acne-fighting properties?
You could certainly add some if you like, but I have not found tea tree oil to be the “be all and end oil” of acne fighting by any stretch of the imagination 🙂 There are plenty of EOs out there with comparable (or better) anti bacterial properties (which is really all TTO has on acne—it helps fight bacteria). The reviews on its effectiveness here are very mixed. It certainly is very popular, but I don’t love the way it smells (and this lotion smells great and works well without it!).
Is there anything that would be a good substitute for the evening primrose oil? I have a really sensitive and acute sense of smell, so it always smells like dead fish to me, even when mixed with essential oils. I just can’t deal with having it on or near my face.
Nothing that’s going to smell better, unfortunately. Borage oil is also rich in gamma linoleic acid, but smells far worse in my experience. EPO is an amazing anti-acne ingredient and if you struggle with acne it’s rather heartbreaking that you can’t stand it 🙁 It has totally revolutionized my skin (and I don’t say that lightly!). You can try Safflower Seed Oil, which is rich in linoleic acid, but contains no gamma linoleic acid.
Hey Marie!!! I made this awesome smelling concoction of yours… My daughter and I are in love with the scent… I used an emulsifying wax BUT I don’t think it was a COMPLETE, as my lotion is still liquidy. It seems to be separating and there is a thicker liquid on top of a thinner liquid. However, when I shake it up, it combines fine – still thin but moisturizes GREAT! So, I just ordered up COMPLETE emulsifying wax and am going to try your recipe again. Quite honestly, the smell of this reminds me of the very wealthy women in the high end department stores. Wow…so awesome! My daughter wants me to use this scent for her deodorant, shampoo and other items I make. Thanks for this recipe! You continue to amaze!!!
Hi Kimberly! May I ask what complete emulsifying wax you did get? I am in the US and also am a first timer with emulsion recipes so I would rather find the complete wax straight away! Thank you!
This article has a go-through of three complete e-waxes and how they work—I think you’ll find it quite helpful 🙂
I ordered polowax from a recommendation of a friend from ebay. My problem with emulsimulse is the shipping…argh. since my checkbook and i have been battling, i opted to ask for Marie’s ewax for my b-day. I did discover that blending and adding some silk, zinc and colloidal oatmeal really thickened it BUT kept it light and airy. I don’t recommend randomly adding ingredients to recipes, but I’ve used the 3 additions in another recipe and figured on winging it til the new ewax came. My daughter is just raving about this recipe. I have been using this recipe with the additions for 1 day (2 applications) and I’m happy with the result.
Polawax is lovely, but do be warned it takes a couple days to thicken up (so don’t panic when your lotion is super thin at first!). Also, another reason to be wary of adding things (I’m thinking specifically the oatmeal) to recipes like this is that they’re delicious bacteria food, so this lotion will spoil faster than when made as written (even with a preservative). Happy DIYing!
Oh no! For the life of me I can’t figure out why companies can market something as an emulsifying wax when that’s something it doesn’t do! I’m thrilled you’re loving the recipe and the scent blend, though 😀 Hopefully that new ewax arrives soon 😉
Yes, that is very irritating but since finding a loophole, it’s worked out. I have been going through your past recipes. I bought silk powder and peptide and got sidetracked with life, sigh-4 kids will do that to ya! My daughter is having a friend over tomorrow and we are whipping up make-up Marie-style! Thanks for everything. Looking forward to that book of your recipes! Hope that’s still a possibility!
That sounds like a really fun day! I hope your daughter and her friend love it 🙂 And I do have a book coming out! I signed a book deal back in October and my book will be out this fall! It’ll be almost entirely new content, and mostly about cosmetics. Follow me on social media for more updates!
Can’t wait for your book! I think I did follow you but I’m RARELY on any social media anymore. I check my email and then get wrapped up in my bloggers! God bless and noted about polowax. Thanks for everything you do, Marie!
Thanks, Kimberly! We’re definitely getting into manuscript crunch time now 😐
I found this on Ingredients to Die For.. the name is interesting haha. Its called NatureMulse
http://www.ingredientstodiefor.com/item.php?item_id=138
OH awesome! Thank you!!!
Is it normal for your face to breakout worse when you start using this. My acne is way worse now then what it was when I started using it. I’m on day 5 so far. Idk whether to stop using it or keep going.
It’s the same INCI as emulsimulse, so I’d bet it’s the same thing. Thanks!
Really?! This is one I will have to try right away then! I am still looking around at emulsifiers and haven’t purchased any yet. I will give this a go, thank you!
Have fun!
Hi Marie, this looks really nice but, if I may, in my studies of clinical aromatherapy I have learned some cautions about Benzoin when it comes to skincare. It’s a resin dissolved in a variety of synthetic solvents (so not really an essential oil). It is these solvents that increase the absorption of benzoin’s sensitizing agents. Traditionally it was reputed to have excellent skin healing benefits, however, more recently it has been identified as a strong skin sensitizer. Check it out on the IFRA’s website (look under Styrax) http://www.ifraor.org.
So, while we may get short term skin healing we may also get a permanent skin sensitization problem. It should especially never be used on sensitive or damaged skin or with heat (like a bath) which aids absorption. This cream looks really nice and there are plenty of essential oils that would be nice to add instead of benzoin (it smells so nice though!).
Thanks, Brenda! This link you included doesn’t seem to work :/ As with all things, though, doesn’t the dose make the poison (or sensitizer, in this case)? Even lavender essential oil can be a sensitizer if used in large enough amounts, right? This recipe contains less than 0.5% benzoin, and from my reading that should be safe since it’s an incredibly low dose. What do you think?
Hi Marie, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I have made this twice and both did not work. The first time it would not thicken, even when I use my immersion blender. The second time it whipped into a thin cream and the next day the water separated from the lotion. What am I doing wrong, any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Therese
Hey Therese—question #1 of troubleshooting; did you change anything? And #2: are you working in weights? #3; what emulsifying wax are you using?
Hi Marie, thanks for replying. I have a scale and I use emulsimulse.. The only thing different is that I have powered white willow bark and my aloe vera juice is cold from the fridge. Maybe my water mixture is too hot when mixing together, should it be cool?
I will keep trying with the hopes of getting it right.
Your water mixture should be warm/hot, including the aloe vera juice. If you are adding cold aloe vera juice, that’s probably what is breaking the emulsion—that is why you are supposed to warm it with the rest of the water part 🙂
Thanks Marie, I will try it again and let you know how it goes. : )
Happy making! 😀
Good morning! I couldn’t sleep so went looking for inspiration. I am planning on making something like this, but rather than a “tea” to use extracts in the liquid portion. I’ve used a few extracts in facial serums like nettle and burdock but would like to stretch out into green tea extract and bamboo.
Have you ever worked with extracts in your brews?
Not many of them, no—there aren’t a lot of them available in Canada, but I do hear about them from US readers and they do sound fun!
Hello Marie!
I want to make this face cream for my friend, and wonder what do you think about adding some black seed (nigella) oil in smaller quantity, swapping half of the grapeseed oil for black seed oil? I’ve been told by few fb friends that it helped tremendously with their acne problems and scars, just by applying it on the problematic areas. And black seed mask. This mask contains only black seeds so it must be just ground black seed with (or maybe without) the oil. And I love black seed sprinkled on pita bread, the aroma reminds me of my childhood!
Anyway I love your web site and recipes, so inspiring, I’ve made quite a few, often with some moderations as I love experimenting!
Congratulations on your book, and thanks for all the amazing recipes you share!
Greetings from Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Hey Selma! You definitely can play with some liquid oil for liquid oil swaps—just be sure to take notes so you can re-create your successes and learn from any potential failures 🙂 Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me!
My teenage step son is in town this weekend. I helping him clear up his skin. I used your recipe but tweaked it with some substitutions so he wouldn’t smell like a girl.
Wonderful! I hope he enjoys the cream and has good results 🙂
Hello! I am curious about the white willow bark used in the recipe. Can I supstitute the dry bark for extract? And if so, how would the extract amount to vs. 1 tsp. of willow bark?
Thank you :$
I’d probably use half, but that is, at best, an educated guess 😛
Hey Marie! Another great recipe! I decided to make this for a friend of mine, and used juniper berry, tea tree, rose geranium, and lemongrass oils for the scent (I’ve heard those are good for the skin). I also added a tsp of calendula petals with the other herbs that soak in the boiled water. I’ll let you know how it works!
Ooooh, beautiful! I hope your friend loves it 😀 Do be sure to tell them to keep an eye out for spoilage as there is lots of tasty bug food in this recipe. Enjoy!
Hi Marie,
just wondering if there is anything i could use to substitute the honey? or if i can just leave it out and increase other ingredients to make up for it?
I don’t use any animal products whatsoever and wondering if i could get the same effects or close to it either without the honey or perhaps with a honey substitute like bee free honee which is made from apples?
Thanks!
Vegetable glycerine would be a good alternative 🙂
Dear Marie, this blend came out Amazing! I watched many of your how-to videos, bought the olivem 1000 emulsifier and the liquid germall plus, followed the recipe to a T for every ingredient,but substituted the evening primrose oil with 2g Argan oil and 2g Rosehip oil to still equal the 4grams. It smells amazing with a luxurious and rich texture that’s light and whippy at the same time. So yummy looking, my teen daughter said she was tempted to eat it! Lol.The scent is light and floral like a bouquet of roses, i think coming from the rose petals that steeped with the willow bark and flax seeds. I used all the essential oils listed, but substituted the neroli with the “Zit Fighter” synergy blend from Plant Therapy to give it an extra boost in combating acne.I love how it came out and even took numerous pictures of the cream to show friends and family.I’m so proud of the end product as it came out just like your videos, all thanks to you! I cant thank you enough for all your diy creativity,guidelines, and recipes, for it has certainly broadened my knowledge base, skills, and courage on creating homemade creams and lotions. Cant wait to try the Silken Rose Green Tea Lotion and the Snowflake Lotion next!
Hi it does work with olivem 1000 ?
That’s awesome as I have it at home. Thank You.
Will try to make it.
Cheers
I believe it should, though I have not tried it 🙂
Yay! I am so thrilled to hear this came out so beautifully for you 😀 I hope you love using it over the coming weeks, too! Thanks so much for reading, watching, sharing, and DIYing with me—I really appreciate it!
Hello Marie and thank you so much for your blog and your amazing book which I love! I wanted to make this recipe tomorrow but realized that I only had willow bark extract, not the actual herb. Is there a way to use that instead??
Thanks so much for reading! You can definitely use the extract instead; include it at 1–2% in the water phase, removing the same amount of water to keep the batch size the same 🙂
Hi I made it today and I accidentally grabbed the wrong jug with only herbs infused water. I had a jug ready with aloe Vera juice, witch hazel, honey, and herbs infused water. But grabbed the wrong one ha.
It is still amazing too with just herbs infused water.
I have done it your way too and it’s little less greasy then my accident batch.
I have included black willow bark extract and nettle extract in the final process. Both are great and beautiful lol
Cheers Mariska from Australia
How interesting! I wouldn’t have expected those changes to impact the greasy feel noticeably, but I suppose witch hazel is astringent so that’s probably it 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing and happy making!
This sounds so lovely! Quick question: if I substituted the rose petals for lavender and the white willow bark for thyme, it would still work out, right?
Thanks so much!
The emulsion and what not will still work; I can’t speak for the performance, but I suspect it would still be ok 🙂
Hello Marie,
This sounds perfect to give to my son who started getting some acne. This would be the first recipe from you that I am going to try so I started gathering the ingredients from Aroma Zone (a store in France). What can I use to replace Benzoin essential oil, please cos it costs 15€/1ML…yes, 1ML! Can I incorporate L-ascorbic acid and Niacinamide in this? If so, how much and when do I add them? Or is there a recipe of yours in body lotion, face cream, serum, night cream or day cream where I can incorporate L-ascorbic acid and Niacinamide? Thank you for all you do! I am so excited and scared at the same time! lol…ok, off to buy the jewelry scale now. Eerrr…where did you buy your scale and spatulas? I can find many different scales which measure from 0.01g – 500 g. or 0.1 g – 3000g. Which precision is your scale? However, for the life of me, I can’t find your awesome spatulas! 🙁
Howdy Jacq!
Please check out Gracefruit for your benzoin. As for adding L-ascorbic acid, I have been experimenting for almost a decade and I work with some crazy ingredients, but Vitamin C in any form… I wouldn’t suggest it. It oxidises much too fast and wrecks havoc on your final products ph over time. As for your niacinamide (click the link!!!!), it one awesome ingredient. You’d add it in the amount you are looking for into the liquid phase of your product.
As for the spatula, I beleive Marie buys them from norpro. If you are planning on making cosmetics, then I would suggest the more accurate scale. But if you are making just some lotions and soap stuff? the 0.1g scale will do you just fine! And if you are like me? You’ve got both!
Happy making!
Barb
Hello,
I made this recipe the first time…came out great.
But then made half of the recipe, and it does not combine together.
I used olivem 1000, and I added panthenol to the liquid phase. What am I doing wrong?
That is strange! Are you working in weights?
I used Polawax in this recipe and noted that you said it will be thin at first and take a few days to thicken. Any tips/tricks on making it thicken faster?
If you use a high-shear blender it’ll thicken right up 🙂
Hi. Is the flax seed whole or ground? Thanks
I used whole.
Thanks. Did you use golden or brown?
I used brown (you can see if you look at the photos), but it really doesn’t matter.
Hello! On your post for the Silk Aloe Body Wash, you said this:
You could use a powdered aloe vera concentrate instead of aloe vera juice. If yours is 100x concentrated I’d recommend using 30.39% distilled water and 0.1% aloe vera concentrate.
That is the only recipe I saw with this note about the concentrate, so I’m wondering if it’s specific to that recipe or if I can always make this substitution? I bought waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much 100x powder for aloe lavender soap, haha.
Hey Mary! Have you read the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) entry on aloe? It contains instructions on making a stock from the concentrated powder, and then you can always use that as aloe juice in any formulation that calls for aloe juice. That’s what I do 🙂 Happy making!
Ughhhhh I’m so sorry–I definitely looked at the entry for aloe and must have completely missed that. Thanks for taking the time to answer. 🙂
Hi Marie,
Your products always have wonderfully creative names.
Houdini Cream!
Where do you keep getting it …?
Great!
Thank you so much, Greet! I took inspiration from the “vanishing” name of the Lush product this is based on and thought about vanishing acts > magicians > famous magicians > Houdini!
Hi Marie,
Do you have this recipe with percentages? Not sure how much preservative to add at 1%
I don’t, but I have instructions on how to convert it yourself here 🙂
Hi Marie, love your website and your youtube channel!
I haven’t been able to find white willow bark in my country. I can however find white willow bark extract liquid, that is water soluble. If I use this instead, how much should I use and that will be reduced from the total steeped water that I add, correct?