I thought I’d do something a little different for Mother’s Day this year. Instead of sharing recipes your moms might like, I’m sharing a recipe I made with my mom, based on what she likes! My parents live on the coast, where it’s much more humid, so when my mom visits she often adopts a recent lotion creation of mine to combat Calgary’s legendary dryness. A few visits ago I didn’t have anything up for adoption (gasp!), so we worked together to develop something just for her. She loved it and ran out, so on this visit we made another (bigger) batch, and I thought I’d share it in honour of Mother’s Day!
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The first thing we did was figure out what Mom wanted in her lotion. Pumpable, non-greasy, hydrating, and good for dry, irritated skin were our top priorities. We also had a bit of an essential oil smelling session before settling on plain benzoin for the first batch, and then a creamsicle-y version (inspired by a wood polish I make that my parents love) for lotion 2.0.
Our water phase is amped up with some ingredients that are great for added hydration and soothing irritated skin. Aloe and panthenol (vitamin B5) are wonderful for unhappy skin, and glycerin and silk help keep skin soft and hydrated. We included more panthenol than I often do for an extra dose of skin soothing and humectant goodness since my mom likes to garden and work with her hands (resulting in lots of hand washing!).
The oil phase is a bit on the smaller side, making for a more pump/squeeze friendly lotion (we also decreased the amount of cetyl alcohol from the first batch to the second to help with getting it all out of the bottle). It’s a fairly simple oil phase, made a bit unique with the inclusion of some lanolin. Lanolin is the soft wax pressed from sheep’s wool, and it’s an amazing occlusive. It is very popular in things like nipple creams and eczema balms as it’s excellent for irritated skin. It’s also thick, sticky, and has a rather… distinctive… smell, so we kept it to 4%. I find the scent comes through a tiny bit in the end product, so if you aren’t fond of the smell, check out the substitutions listed at the end of the recipe.
Some calendula extract further amps up the soothing action as part of our cool-down phase. Our scent blend is orange and vanilla, from vanilla-like benzoin and sweet orange essential oil. One of my more exciting learnings from Formula Botanica has been that not all citrus essential oils are photosensitizing! Back when I first got started I read in a few places that citrus essential oils are photosensitizing and should never be used in leave-on skin care products. Any contact should be followed by at least 12 hours of no sun exposure, lest one end up with awful burns. After combining that reading with a DIY citrussy lotion that definitely left me burnt pronto, I’ve stayed away from them ever since. However, it turns out there’s a bit more room for play than I’d thought—exciting! Mandarin, sweet orange, tangelo, and tangerine essential oils are not photosensitizing, and the steam-distilled versions of lemon and lime essential oil are also skin safe.
To further add to that, there’s also room to include photosensitizing essential oils if maximum dermal limits are observed (thank you, Tisserand & Young!). Maximum dermal limits for essential oils vary greatly, and it’s something I’ve been working on learning more about for the last year or so (again—thank you, Tisserand & Young!). Some of the maximum limits for photosensitizing essential oils are quite low, to be sure, so if you don’t have an accurate scale and aren’t working in percentages it’s likely best to avoid them, but also good to know!
“Skin should not be exposed to sunlight or UV lamp irradiation for 12–18 hours, if any of the following are used at levels higher than those indicated. However, there is no risk of phototoxicity if the maximum levels are observed: angelica root (0.8%), bergamot (0.4%), cumin (0.4%), grapefruit (expressed) (4.0%), laurel leaf absolute 2.0%, lemon (expressed) (2.0%), lime (expressed) (0.7%), mandarin leaf (0.17%), orange (bitter, expressed) (1.25%), rue (0.15%), taget oil or absolute (0.01%).” – Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals (2nd Edition) by Robert Tisserand & Rodney Young
Anywho—citrussy revelation aside, this is a simple-to-make, rather decadent lotion. I find the lanolin can make ample applications of it feel a bit tacky directly after application, but my mum assured me it wasn’t something she’d noticed as she’d motored through the first bottle. I hope you enjoy this lotion as much as she does!
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Mom’s Creamsicle Hand and Body Lotion
Water phase
52g | 52% Distilled water
2g | 2% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
1g | 1% hydrolyzed silk (USA / Canada)
20g | 20% aloe vera juice
3g | 3% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)Oil phase
4g | 4% Polawax (USA / Canada))
1.5g | 1.5% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
10g | 10% safflower oil
4g | 4% lanolinCool down phase
1g | 1% calendula extract
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
0.1g | 0.1% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.5% benzoin resinoid
0.4g | 0.4% sweet orange essential oilFor the water phase; I used 80g of water. This is the result of adding up the distilled water (52g) and the aloe juice (20g), and then adding 10% (72 x 1.1 = 79.2, and then rounding up). I do this to compensate for water lost to evaporation during heat & hold (the added 10% is typically just included in my recipes without note). If you want to be more precise, weigh the entire water phase measuring cup + contents after adding all the ingredients, note that weight and then add just-boiled distilled water after heat-and-hold to get back to that weight. I tried it both ways for this recipe and didn’t notice a difference in the end products.
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Weigh the water phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Weigh the oil phase ingredients into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat, and pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the lotion is thick and creamy.
Transfer a few tablespoons of the lotion to a smaller container, and weigh the cool down ingredients into that container. Stir to combine, and then transfer the lot of it back into the rest of the lotion. Stir to combine.
Once the lotion is completely cool, pour it into a 120mL/4oz plastic pump-top bottle. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 100g.
- If you don’t have panthenol you can replace it with distilled water
- If you don’t have hydrolyzed silk you can use hydrolyzed oat protein or sea kelp bioferment instead, or just replace it with more distilled water
- You can use more water or a hydrosol in place of the aloe vera juice
- I used Polawax as my complete emulsifying wax, but BTMS-50 and Emulsifying Wax NF should also work
- Feel free to use a different oil your skin loves in place of the safflower oill. I’d recommend sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower seed as good alternatives.
- You can use shea butter, mango butter, or cupuacu butter instead of the lanolin
- You can replace the cetyl alcohol with more safflower oil or lanolin, though both of those swaps will make for a thinner end product
- You can use a different liquid botanical extract in place of the calendula extract
Hi Marie! This lotion sounds great for the summer. I think that is 20% Aloe Vera juice in the percentage version, isn’t it? Otherwise the math doesn’t add up…
A while ago I was looking at Formula Botanica courses, what do you think of the material so far?
Thank you for all your great posts! Have a great day!
Oh yes, oops! Looks like a 0 got deleted by accident 🙂 I’ve been enjoying the course so far; I’m not yet done, but when I am I’ll post an entire review on it!
Happy Mother’s Day to both of you 🙂
Thanks, Cheryl!
How much Eo would I use if I left out the benzoin?
Don’t alter any of the other amounts, just replace the benzoin with more liquid oil 🙂
Hi Marie
I love your recipes !! In this one, can I use emulsimulse instead of Polawax?
You should be able to 🙂
What a great news about the sun safe citrus EO! It is such a game changer, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to try this recipe
Isn’t it?! I was SO thrilled! CITRUS ALL THE THINGS!
So… enquiring minds really want to know. How did your mama enjoy making her own lotion? I saw the first photo and thought, that’s not Marie! I know! Regarding essential oils. Wrapping my head around that was weird as anything. Also the dermal limits for a lot of essential oils was shocking too. I mean we are all told from the very beginning not to put citrus on the skin for fear of burning… I wonder where that came from? That all citrus can cause burning.
I’ve never used lanolin at 4% before. I’ll have to give this recipe a try in the winter!
I think she really enjoyed it! She was surprised at all the different densities; she’d be weighing something out (like silk) and couldn’t believe how much was required, and then we’d get to glycerin and whoops, that stuff is sure dense in comparison 😛
I was so surprised by rose! And people (including aromatherapists) are still sending me super alarmed messages and comments about the EOs despite my quotes from Tisserand so it’s definitely still a very widespread “thing”.
where can I purchased the spatulas that you use in your diy makings? can’t find them anywhere. this sounds like it would be a great recipe. thanks for helping me!
I link to all my favourite DIY gear in this post 🙂
Betty, don’t know where ur from, but i had a hard time finding these for a good price fromout The Netherlands. And I’v found them at Zavko.com with good price and great shipping!
Hi Marie,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. One question – can i make this lotion using only aloe vera instead of water?
I don’t recommend it; that much aloe presents a preservation challenge and may result in a too-thin end product from the electrolytes in the aloe 🙂
As I was preparing this, I used 1 g of Silk Peptides…I guess I was thinking of this instead of hydrolyzed silk !! lol ! THEN I added 1 g of sea kelp…and again, replaced the calendula with sea kelp too !! oh boy !! It is a very lovely hand lotion ! glad it turned out with all my bloopers !!
Silk peptides can be hydrolyzed (I have hydrolyzed silk peptides), so you’re probably fine there 🙂 The “peptide” part denotes the size of the silk, whilst the “hydrolyzed” part indicates it has been modified to be water soluble. I find it best to specify the hydrolyzed part since it’s more important that the silk dissolves than that it’s peptide-sized 🙂 And hey, sea kelp is lovely! I’m glad you’re enjoying the end product 😀
I love love love this cream! Not only does it feel amazing but also smells great!
Thank you for sharing xx
Yay, I am so glad! Thanks for DIYing with me 🙂
Hi! Love this DIY! Perfect as gifts to fellow moms! 🙂
Thanks so much! I know my mom is sure enjoying it 😀
Love love love everything I have made of yours. You are the DIY Goddess. Your book is lovely. My question is, If I want to use something in place of the calendula, or liquid botanical extracts, what should I use in its place? If your answer is an oat protein, or something similar, do I still put it in the cool down phase? Or in with the water or oil phase? Thank you again for the wonderful products you come up with. Everyone just loves you! You make- making things so easy with your technique and personality.
If you don’t want to use a botanical extract I’d just replace it with more water in the heated phase as there’s already some hydrolyzed protein in here 🙂 Happy making and thanks for the kind words 🙂
Must say, this is my favorite lotion of all. Thought it would be too sticky with the lanolin but it’s perfect. Finally, something I can use with all that lanolin I purchased. Im turning around and making more straight away. Also, thought the fragrance would be too sweet, it’s perfect, everyone loves it. Thank you for this
I’m so, so glad! Whee! Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me (and my mom 🙂 ).
I switch the Polawax for BTMS-50 and I will not have any problems? I do not have Polawax, lots of Beeswax. It’s been while since I have made anything so I want to make sure I get it right the first time.
That swap should work just fine 🙂
I think when I added the benzoin it reacted with one of the other things, maybe vitamin e. It caused small dark flakes in my product. I mixed it with just a little lotion then added back to the batch. Seems fine when I pour but gets real dark and causes the flakes. What could it be reacting with? Maybe it’s not mixed well? I never heated it. Even what was on a paper towel turned dark. Was ok just adding into the whole batch before. Any ideas? Thanks.
Very odd—do you have a link to the benzoin you used?
I thought its weird too. It is from Mountain rose herbs in the us, which is really good. It has to be that because all is fine until I add it. And with the small container, it goops the side where I can almost not clean it. That is clear though more like a fine glue. I may make it for fun and leave it out just to make sure.
It looks like their product is diluted differently from mine—theirs is diluted alcohol and looks rather thin, while mine is extremely thick. I’m wondering if perhaps the alcohol in yours is evaporating off and “stranding” the benzoin in the product?
Finally got around to making this. I love citrus so I am excited to get to use it in lotion.
Awesome! I hope you love it as much as my mom does 🙂
Is there anything you can substitute for the benzoin resinoid? It’s the only thing I don’t have that you don’t have a recommendation for a substitute.
Treat it like an essential oil 🙂
Hey! I’m loving your book and website. Obsessed. I’m looking for a body butter recipe that still has water and emulsifying wax. Or basically, just a super thick and creamy lotion. Locally I’ve purchased some sold as body butters. Do you have any recipes like that?
This one is pretty great 🙂 This one might also work, depending on what you’re looking for. Happy making!
Not sure if it is me, but I am having issues downloading the pdf file with the ingredients listed. The pdf file that shows up includes everything but the ingredient list.
I’m afraid the print friendly generator thing (I’m assuming that’s what you’re using?) is a 3rd party plug in, so I don’t have any control over it’s functionality. I tried it, though, and you’re 100% right—the recipe part for me starts at “For the water phase…”, eliminating the ingredients. WEIRD. I can’t imagine why that would be happening, and I’m afraid I really can’t do anything about it as that software isn’t mine. Perhaps just try copy/pasting the entire post into a Word document this time? Sorry!
And thank you for being a patron 🙂
Hi Marie, I’ve been reading through your website, and I’m really grateful you decided to share your knowledge with the world. You have the most informative and well-researched posts out there. I’ve learned a lot about the importance of using weight and calculating percentages, and you have the best explanations on how different ingredients contribute to each recipe, making it easier to substitute, omit, or add on depending on your desired result. Prior to finding your site I had been making the same lotion recipe for years. The texture was kind of lumpy, but I preferred it to store bought as I was able to control the ingredients. I assumed that was the price I had to pay for DIY skincare products.
Then I came upon your site, and tried this recipe. It did not turn out well for me, actually, but it wasn’t lumpy :). I’m sure it was user error as I’ve come to trust your judgement after reading many of your posts and watching some of your YouTube videos. My lotion was very foamy, and the emulsion broke after a couple of weeks. I’m guessing that it was because I used a whole leaf aloe gel instead of juice.
I’ve since purchased better ingredients and made a kind of hybrid recipe using your lotion recipe and my old lumpy (but richer) recipe. The result was almost exactly what I had been looking for over the last few years. It was rich and smooth, but not greasy. The emulsion has been stable over the last 3 weeks of use. The only issue is that this lotion is still really foamy at the top, but more dense and smooth at the bottom of the jar. Do you know if there’s a way to counteract the foaminess?
Here are the ingredients I used:
345g aloe juice
30g vegetable glycerin
22g emulsifying wax NF
18g cetyl alcohol
125g jojoba oil
20g cocoa butter
1g vitamin E
fragrance oil
optiphen
Any thoughts appreciated, even if you just want to tell me I’ve created a monster, and you’re surprised it works as a lotion at all :). Thank you for reading my way too long comment.
Whoa. That’s one… apologies for this one, OTT formula you’ve got going on over there! This is what your recipe looks like in percentages which is a lot easier to work with.
61% Aloe Juice
5% Glycerine
22% Jojoba Oil
4% Cocoa Butter
4% EWax
3% Cetyl Alcohol
+ Preservative & Fragrance
The foam on top is usually caused by over beating and you’ve a recipe that is extremely oil heavy. Have you thought of reducing your oil content and adding in vitamins?
Barb
Hi Barb! Thanks for getting back to me! I do realize I use quite a lot more oil than Marie usually does, but my skin seems to prefer it. I’ve play around with a few different levels of oils and adding different vitamins, proteins, etc. since asking my original question and basically having fun experimenting. I’ve even started using spreadsheets! (Thanks, Marie!) I’ve solved my foamy issue by waiting for the lotion to cool completely and stirring it gently before packaging so we are all good now!
And that is exactly what I love to hear!!!
Can’t wait to see some of your creations!
It took me a moment to find this article, it’s jsut about reducing the amount of aloe juice you’re using to get the same effect!
Happy making!
Barb
Hey Marie, I see you use a stick blender a lot when making emulsions. Doesn’t that put air in them and make the texture soufflé like?