Today’s Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer is a riff on something I first tried back in 2016, and it’s lovely. Massage this soft, putty-like Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer into your skin and you’ll feel it turn into a velvety, super-smooth skin treat that leaves your face looking and feeling fantastic. And, best of all—you need just five ingredients!
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The bulk of this Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer is an on-theme blend of passionfruit oil and fractionated coconut oil. Passionfruit oil, also known as Maracuja oil, is an ultra-lightweight with great skin feel and an ever-so-slight fruity scent. It is sometimes sold on its own as a pricey premium serum type thing, but if you’re shopping DIY ingredients (and not at Sephora) you can pick up a bottle for less than $10. Booyah!
I’ve blended the passionfruit oil with some lightweight, inexpensive fractionated coconut oil. You could easily use more passionfruit oil if you like, or a different lightweight liquid oil. I think olive squalane would be a lovely alternative, as would Neossance® Hemisqualane.
The ingredient that gives this Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer its “matte” and “velvet” attributes is quite an unassuming one; cornstarch! The idea to pack an oil-serum type product with a hefty dose of starch came from Lush. I first tried it back in 2016 with my Sea Buckthorn Mattifying Moisturizer, and thought it was high time I riffed on that idea again as people loved it! Cristie left this fabulous feedback on the Sea Buckthorn Mattifying Moisturizer back in 2016: “I’ve put an APB out for my pores. For the last three days, I’ve been using this moisturizer on my face. Coincidentally, I seemed to have lost my pores. I’m especially searching… in vain sadly… for my largest, most beautiful pores. If found, you can just keep ’em. My compliments.”
A small amount of cetyl alcohol thickens the oil and starch mixture just enough to keep everything combined. If you live somewhere substantially hotter than I do, you may wish to swap 3–5% of the fractionated coconut oil for some more cetyl alcohol or you may get some oil pooling on the surface or the end product (though you can always stir it back in if that happens—a bit like natural peanut butter).
I’ve left this Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer unscented, but you could very easily incorporate a bit of essential oil or perhaps the lovely natural passionfruit fragrance oil I used in last month’s Passionfruit Coconut Vegan Body Butter. Since this product is designed for facial use, I’d keep the concentration to 0.5% or less, removing that from the fractionated coconut oil to keep the formulation balanced.
The finished product is soft and smooth. Massage a dollop into your skin and feel it transform into a rich, soft, velvety skin treat that is downright decadent and leaves your skin feeling fantastic. Enjoy!
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Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer
Heated phase
8.4g | 28% passionfruit oil
6.45g | 21.5% fractionated coconut oil
3g | 10% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
12g | 40% corn starchCool down phase
0.15g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)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 heated phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
While the heated phase melts, prepare an ice bath. Take a bowl that is large enough to accommodate the container the heated phase is melting in, and fill it about halfway with ice cubes and cold water.
Once everything has melted, remove the measuring cup from the heat and dry the outside of it off with a dish towel. Set the measuring cup on a towel or hot pad to insulate it from the counter and stir the mixture with a flexible silicone spatula to combine everything.
Place the measuring cup containing the heated phase into the ice bath and cool, stirring constantly, for about thirty seconds, until the mixture has cooled down a bit. Remove the container from the water bath and add the cool down phase. Stir to incorporate.
Continue stirring the mixture in the ice bath until you reach a fairly thick “trace”—the mixture should have enough viscosity that a spatula drawn through the mixture creates a line that holds for a few moments. Refer to the video to see it in action!
Once you’ve reached trace, transfer the product to a tin or wide-mouthed jar. I used a 30mL (1fl oz) slide-top tin from YellowBee. Leave the product to set up, and that’s it!
To use, massage a small amount of product into your face towards the end of your skincare routine—in the same place you’d usually use an oil serum or a final lotion. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this moisturizer is 100% oil-based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
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 30g, which fills a 30mL (1fl oz) container nicely.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this formulation, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- As with any formulation that has very few ingredients, anything you change is going to make a pretty big difference in the end product.
- You could use a different luxurious oil your skin loves instead of passionfruit oil. Argan oil, prickly pear seed oil, moringa oil, and meadowfoam seed oil come to mind.
- You could use a different ultra-light liquid carrier oil instead of fractionated coconut oil.
- I don’t recommend substituting cetyl alcohol.
- You could use a different starch (arrowroot would be my top choice) instead of cornstarch.
- Please read this if you want to incorporate an essential oil or fragrance oil.
Gifting Disclosure
The passionfruit oil was gifted by Mystic Moments. The 30mL (1fl oz) slide-top tin was gifted by YellowBee.
I’m wondering if mineral makeup would work in place of the cornstarch for some color.
Ohh did you try this? How did it go??
It’s like you made this just for me ! I’ve been looking into pore refining , mattifying creams recently.
I just brought a Clarins one this week.
This will definitely be top of my moisturizer list of things to make.
Thank you for sharing
This looks super easy. I’m definitely adding it to my to do list. Thanks for sharing.
Hello Marie;
I’m on the same page as the first commenter, is it possible to use my powder foundation (from your book) in addition or instead of the cornstarch?
Thank you as always for your imaginative and lovely recipes.
Definitely give it a try! I look forward to hearing how it turns out ❤️ Happy making!
So – I’ve tried this both with 10% foundation/10% sericite mica/20% starch and 20% foundation/20% starch (in both ones I’ve used potato starch instead of corn as it’s the most popular one here) and I’m loving both! The only two drawbacks are that I’ve made the foundation somewhere in winter and in the 20% version the slight change in my skin colour is a bit noticeable ;), and that it might have changed the texture a bit (comparing to the photos, it’s a bit on the softer and meltier side without the starch), so that could be a thing to consider when re-formulating.
Cool! Thank you so much for sharing your experiments 😀 I’m thrilled it’s working for you!
Just couldn’t resist whipping this up. I didn’t have Passionfruit oil so used some cranberry seed oil. It is like the world’s best moisturising primer. Foundation goes on like a dream. Brilliant!
Woohoo! I’m so thrilled you are loving it ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie! I’ve always heard to avoid coconut oil on the face as it would cause breakouts. Does this not apply to the fractionated version?
I’d recommend reading this 🙂 The fractionated version is very different, though, and is a very common ingredient in face products!
While I was stirring this, I figured it might be a good base for a deodorant. I added essential oil of sage, and 1% of an ingredient called Odex HT Deowirkstoff in German, an agent that inhibits bacteria. And also a small dose of Farnesol.
Works great!
Thanks, Marie, for inspiring me!
Ooooh, very cool! Thanks for sharing 😀
Hello Marie,
I’ve been using the deodorant I made with this base for some time now and it works perfectly for me. Also during the heat wave we had here in Belgium in August. I’ve added Odex, which consists of Zinc Ricinoleate, Tetrahydroxypropyl Ethylenediamine, Laureth 3, and Propylene Glycol. No idea whether these ingrediënts are safe, but in any case: they do their job. The recommended amount for this product is from 1 to 3% of the total.
Yours sincerely,
Greet
Thanks, Greet! I have tried Zinc Ricinoleate and I haven’t found it works for me, but I know it definitely works for some people and I’m glad to hear you’re one of them 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie,
Have you ever tried Triethyl Citrate? I do not know it, but I read that it is an ester of citric acid and that it is used in deodorants. It would be suitable for natural cosmetics.
I haven’t, but I’ll keep an eye out for it 🙂
Whoops, I used corn powder accidentally instead of starch (I didn’t know they were different things) so it turned gritty, haha. 😀 Lovely looking recipe. I’ve been admireing your earlier version as well. I’ll try this again when I find some kind of starch, perhaps with indigo lagoon balm sort of twist.
Just made this and used moringa and jojoba oils + MCT oil and blue tansy + francincense + jasmine. Skinfeel is fabulous, silky powdery, matte but not drying. It absorbs fast. In case it doesn’t mattify enough during day, I might add some silica. I really like it for entire face. Like indigo balm, it makes me feel beautifull but is less fragant. 🙂
Holy mattifying miracle! I thickened mine afterwards a bit (~ 13 % cetyl alcohol) and added some silica. I’m so addicted to the way it makes my skin look! ☺️ My fiance loved it so much that I made one adapted version for him. He haven’t used oils / creams lately and within few application wrinkles strated filling. I haven’t seen anything like it in his case, really.
Hooray! 😀 I love the silica addition—that stuff is amazeballs.
Hey Johanna. Would you mind sharing you edits please ?
Did you remove or reduce anything to make way for the extras ?
STUNNING! Swoon. You always dream up the loveliest ways to make formulations your own 🙂 As always, thanks for sharing!
Haha whoops! There are too many corn things to keep track of LOL.
Hi Pennie!
Sure. I made several batches because silica thickened balm way much than I expected. So my fiance’s version is way too solid, allmost like a rock! I used 3 g silica + 6 g starch / 30 g. But he likes it, I quess. 😉 Anyway, my personal favorite is like this:
3,6 g cetyl alcohol
8,5 g squalane
5,75 g evening primrose
12 g corn starch
0,15 g vit E
0,15 g 1 drop bluetansy,1 jasmine and 1 francincense
– “some” silica, not quite sure how much. 😀 Hope this helps!
Sorry about the lack of accuracy! Oh, the first one I made is more solid & mattifying. I like them both depending how my skin feels.
8,4 g jojoba & moringa oils
6,4 g MCT-oil
13,8 g corn starch
4,5 g cetyl alcohol
0,15 g same eo’s + 0,15 g e vit/ mixed tocopherols
– “some” silica, slowly during cool down
Thanks so much.
I’m going to try it with some kiwi oil. I like the idea of adding silica. Thank you for sharing your edits. I really appreciate it x
Thanks! I was making a sec Nd batch of this (liked the first) and was wondering about silica microspheres to make it smooooother and was going to ask and saw your comments! Will try- still would love a bit of clarification re “some” silica. Are we talking sprinkles or little spoonfuls (1/16th etc, pinch, tad etc)?
Thanks!
Marie, this is divine! It feels so luxuriously on the skin. “Matte Velvet” – it is aptly names!
I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying it, Kelly! ❤️
Hi Amy!
I added about 1,20 ml (a bit less than 1/4th tsp) at the first place and
ended up maybe doubleing the amount. So total amount was around 2,40 ml / a bit less than half tsp, quite a lot.
Btw, I cooled it down between additions and melted it again, if needed, adding extra silica slowly (to make sure I don’t add too much and waste precious oils). I also added eo’s after few days, when I was happy with the texture . I wish I would have weigh’ed silica too! 😀 This is stunning recipe from Marie, I love how mine absorbs oil during the day. Hope this helps!
Hi Johanna .. your comment regarding the use of silica and how it plumped face/reduced wrinkles is amazing. I want to prepare that for my husband .. however when looking for silica and where to buy them I noticed there where different VERSIONS of silica eg silicon dioxide and others .. that’s confusing for me.. which silica version should I buy and where from? .. thank you loads..
Hi Sara! Great! It’s this moisturizer that gives plumped up and airbrushed look, not likely silica as I’ve found it drying on it’s own. Have you checked encyclopedia (that’s the stuff I have)? Have you checked “where to buy from” list? Have you asked about it from suppliers? Mine is not longer available. I got it from Aromantic.
Oh, I double-checked that the silica micosoheres I used (INCI silicon dioxide) *could* be still available in Aromantics UK. It was sold as silica microfine back then. Marie’s encyclopedia about silica micosoheres pretty much says it all! Hope this helps!
Thank you loads Johanna.. thank you for specifying .. I did look it up in the encyclopdia but as i mentioned before there are many forms .. that’s what got me confused .. (one of which is silica dioxide) .. Thank you again..
I didn’t notice anything like that. Feel free to ask supplier(s) the full INCI name and the type of silica (hydrated amorphous or crystalline)?
Hi Marie .. I’m about to start making this recipe now and I’m overwhelmingly excited .. its around 5 am where I live .. so it’s the first thing I’m doing in my day ..
Few questions I need to ask so I’m using it properly and getting the most of it:
1. Having made vitamin C serum which you pointed to in one of your posts .. my question is Can I apply this moisturizer in conjuntion with/after I apply Vitamin C serum?
2. Can I apply this moisturizer again in conjuntion with/after applying night Retinol ?
3. Can I apply this moisturizer in conjuction with/after applying your Frankinsence facial lotion which I love tons?
Thank you so much for how you’re affecting our lives.
Hi Sara! There’s no safety reason you can’t use this product with any other products—it will be more about efficacy and comfort and that’s a question I cannot answer for you. Happy making!
Hi Marie- I made this exactly using the ratios in the recipe. My end result didn’t for solid. It is like gel. What shall I do.
Do you live somewhere really hot?
Hello Marie,
If we add micas to this receipt, can we make a blush ? Thanks a lot !
Scroll up to Paulina’s comments for some inspiration 🙂 Happy making!