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.

How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme

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.

How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme

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.

How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme

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.

How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme

Houdini Anti Acne Creme

1 tsp white willow bark
1 tsp flax seed
1 tsp dried rose petals

15g | 0.53oz aloe vera juice (not aloe gel!)
15g | 0.53oz witch hazel
2g | 0.07oz honey

6g | 0.28oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying waxnot beeswax!)
10g | 0.35oz grapeseed oil
5g | 0.17oz jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz evening primrose oil

4 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops 3% neroli essential oil dilution
2 drops geranium essential oil
2 blobs benzoin essential oil

Broad 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!

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How to Make Houdini Anti Acne Creme

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