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 some added moisture without much added work. Plus, it kind of has the effect of turning your January bathroom into a bit of a tropical spa, and if a tropical spa is the end destination, I will happily bridge any gaps with my imagination.
I’ve chosen to scent this body mist with bright, citrusy and floral scents. Though, to prevent sunburns (more of a gesture at this time of year than a necessity, haha), I’ve used Litsea Cubeba essential oil instead of a citrus essential oil. It has a wonderfully lemony scent, but none of the photo-sensitivity problems. It’s also really cheap—$5/100mL!
I keep mine in the bathroom, and give myself a full head-to-toe spritzing after toweling off from a bath or shower. It’s so quick and easy that I usually remember to do it, meaning I don’t find myself with a fiercely itchy back halfway through a meeting at work.
Hydrating Body Mist
7g | 0.25oz grapeseed oil
3 drops litsea cubeba essential oil
2 drops rose absoluteEqual volume solubilizer (optional, though you will need to shake a lot without it)
1 tsp silk peptides
2g | 0.07oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
Aloe vera juice to make 100mL (3.3 fl oz) (not aloe vera gel!)Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Measure out the grapeseed and essential oils into an empty 100mL (3.3oz) spray bottle. Top with the solubilizer (if you’re using it) and swirl to combine.
Add about 30mL of the aloe vera juice, cap, and shake to mix (it’s easier to get everything to mix when you have some shaking room). Add the rest of the aloe vera, the silk, glycerin, and your preservative, and give it a light shake to combine everything.
Spritz bare skin with the spray to remind yourself of summer and hydrate parched winter epidermis.
Hi! Love the blog! How much solublizer do you have to use when you do mix water and essential oils? What solublizer do you use- there are so many I’m confused!
You need to use an equal amount to the volume of oils (carrier oil + EOs) that you use. I generally eyeball this, it doesn’t need to be rocket science 😛 I’ll ofter err on the side of a wee bit more solubilizer than oils. I initially went for equal weight, but equal volume works much better. As for which one, it’s INCI is Polysorbate-20.
Sounds like a great recipe!
Thanks, Anna—let me know if you give it a go 🙂
I love how simple your recipes are! Another item I can’t wait to try from this awesome blog!
Thanks so much, Sophia! 🙂
Hi Marie,
I love your idea’s! They’re great, but..is there a conversion table to convert amounts from metric to U.S. system. I’m confused on the metric system, math was never my strong suit. 🙁
Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent and finds 🙂
Hi Cindi! I’ve written 2 blogs about using the metric system, here and here (spoiler: it has almost nothing to do with math, and what math the metric system does use is a thousand times easier than the Imperial system). They’re intro guides, so they should help. Otherwise, just google something like “10g in oz” and google will bring up an awesome little converter.
Hi Marie,
Amazing how much you know….
Could you tell me if you have a blog or information on the shelf life of your body recipes once made?
Thanks alot!
Hi Dean! Thanks for reading 🙂 I don’t have a blog on spoilage & shelf life, but it’s definitely on the list. The general gist of it is that things that are 100% oils (lip balm, body butter, etc.) last for a very long time. Once you introduce water, however, things start to go downhill. I have sprays similar to this one that have lasted for nearly a year now, which I mostly attribute to them being in spray bottles, so there isn’t a lot of bacteria getting into the product. I’ve definitely noticed that lotions in pump top bottles last a lot longer than lotions in open pots (which you dip your fingers into).
There’s obviously a lot of variables when it comes to spoilage—the state of your ingredients, the cleanliness of your process, the storage conditions, etc. If you watch for the telltale signs of spoilage (mould, change of scent, change of colour, change of consistency), and don’t treat your products like they’re invincible, you won’t go too far wrong.
My husband asked me this morning if I could make him a spray on moisturiser to help combat ‘prickly heat’ which he gets all the time. So naturally I turned to your blog for ideas and like usual you’ve come through!
I modified this recipe to make an itchy skin begone version [hopefully]. Swapped the grapeseed oil for calendula infused olive oil and neem oil, the EO for clove, lavender and lemon EOs which are all good for itchy skin.
Now just have to wait for hubby to get the itchies to try it!
What a fantastic mod, Ravyk! It sounds just lovely, and your husband is lucky to have you and your apothecary on his side 😉
Where did you purchase the glass frosted bottle??
It’s from New Directions Aromatics (link in the big box above the comments) 🙂
I need to replan here – polysorbate 20 pretty much knocks out the anibacterial properties of phenoxylethanol. Eek! I also don’t have aloe water but just powder. Can I make that up with just boiled water? Distilled water is not easy to get at a reasonable price in the UK. Thanks a lot!
Do you mean Phenoxyethanol? From my reading, it’s just really not a very good preservative at all, so if you are going to replan anything, it should probably be the preservative rather than the emulsifier :/
You can definitely mix up your own aloe juice from the powder with boiling water—I do it all the time 🙂
This body mist is awesome! I did not have Aloe Vera Juice on hand so used Gel and instead of Rose Absolute I used Rose Blend. It came out on a bit thicker side as I kind of needed to spread it over the body which is probably due to gel being used but it’s still great and smells divine. Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Yay! I would encourage you not to use aloe vera gel as an ingredient in the future, though—that’s sort of like using baked bread in a recipe that calls for flour 🙂 Enjoy your aloe/rose goo! 😛
Ya, the final product is really like a goo and I am definitely getting the juice for the next batch and other recipes requiring juice. Just was so excited to make this recipe that did not care much about gel being used instead….Hey, it still works great..:-)
I know that feeling! 😛
I missed on your recipe at point you when add the glycerin and silk peptides… im assuming you add that to the aloe juice?
Good catch! I’ve edited the instructions to include them 🙂
Made this, love it. Added some rose water and used litsea cubeba and petit grain as well. Ended up with 9 grams of polysorbate… is that too much? I’m aware u recommend adding the poly 20 by volume but I couldn’t figure out the right amount to add. Either way it smells great and I knocked one more off my “humblebee and me to do projects” list. Sweet!
Yay! I’m sure 9g isn’t too much at all, especially with 7g of oil in here. You can also try poly 80 if you have it in the future, for similar products—I’ve since learned it is better at emulsifying carrier oils than poly 20 is, so it would probably be a better choice here 🙂 Thanks for reading and happy making!
I don’t have polysorbate on hand but would like to try this. Should I wait or can I use guar gum and turkey red oil like you did in your hair milk?
Please don’t 🙁 The GG will give you a face blast, which is seriously unpleasant, and TRO is is heavy and can be irritating, so it’s hardly something I’d want airborne by my eyes and nostrils. Olivem300 is truly the best option!
Alright, I’ll place an order. Thanks!!
Are the silk peptides what keep the scent lasting longer on your skin? I don’t have silk peptides. Is there something I can replace it with to help the scent to last longer on your skin? Thank you
No; you can learn more about silk (including what it does in formulations) in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) 🙂
Hi! I’m interested in trying this. Would it be better to use Olivem 300 or Polysorbate 80? I want it to have more of a liquid consistency. Thank you!
Hmm, this is a pretty old formulation—I’d steer you towards something like this instead 🙂 It’s a much better formulation!