If you’ve been dreaming of enveloping yourself in tropical scented wonderfulness, this beautiful all-natural Passionfruit Coconut Vegan Body Butter is for you. A base of beachy coconut oil and passionfruit oil is thickened with a combination of stearic acid and carnauba wax that gives the end product a really indulgent, creamy consistency. The mouth-watering scent comes from an unbelievably juicy smelling passion fruit natural fragrance oil—swoon!
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The bulk of this gorgeous tropical body butter is a blend of fragrant virgin coconut oil and super lightweight passionfruit oil. This is the first project I’ve used passionfruit oil in. The first time I saw passionfruit oil (aka maracuja oil) was at Sephora, sold by Tarte—$63/50mL (1.69fl oz). Wowza. Thankfully the bottle I’m using is far more affordable! Passionfruit oil is a slightly fruity-smelling light, fast-absorbing oil with fantastic luxury appeal and skin feel. You can learn more about it in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia 😊
For fragrance, I’m using an utterly mouthwatering passion fruit natural fragrance oil from Essential Wholesale. You know that puckering feeling you get at the back of your jaw when you smell a perfectly ripe piece of fruit that is just begging to be eaten? (Maybe that’s just me, ha.) That’s the feeling I get when I smell this natural fragrance oil. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say it’s mouthwatering! I get a lot of questions about what makes a natural fragrance oil different from a fragrance oil or essential oil; to learn more read this blog from Essential Wholesale.
When I was thinking about how to thicken this body butter I knew I wanted to add some richness as well, so I blended together creamy stearic acid and glossy carnauba wax. Plain carnauba wax will definitely harden formulations very effectively, but I find it creates a really hard glossy end product that spreads thinly across the skin without the added richness that we’d get from thickening with beeswax. Since I was aiming to make this vegan, I got that richness from stearic acid instead, which thickens and adds a richness reminiscent of butters like shea to the end product. The end consistency is really lovely—soft, creamy, and quite indulgent.
I have included a small amount of sea buckthorn fruit (or berry) oil for colour—at 1% it turns the end product a sunny yellowy-orange. If you don’t have it or don’t want to use it I’ve discussed different options in the substitutions list at the end of the formulation, but I’m definitely a fan of the cheerful colour it adds ☀️
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Passionfruit Coconut Vegan Body Butter
Heated phase
33g | 60% virgin coconut oil
10.725g | 19.5% passionfruit oil
6.6g | 12% carnauba wax
3.3g | 6% stearic acid (USA / Canada / UK)
0.55g | 1% sea buckthorn fruit oilCool down phase
0.55g | 1% passion fruit natural fragrance oil
0.275g | 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 small saucepan.
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.
Once everything has melted, remove the measuring cup from the heat and dry the outside of it off with a dishtowel. 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.
Weigh in the cool down phase, quickly stir to combine, and pour the liquid into a 60mL (2 fl oz) tin. I used a white screw-top tin from YellowBee. Carefully transfer the tin to the fridge to set up.
Once the body butter has set up (you’ll see it pulling away from the edge of the tin), remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. And that’s it!
To use, smooth the body butter over and skin that could use a bit of extra passion-fruity love!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this body butter 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 55g, which fills a 60mL (2 fl oz) tin or jar 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 (passionfruit oil) please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- You could use refined coconut oil or babassu oil instead of virgin coconut oil. Do not use fractionated coconut oil instead of coconut oil.
- You could try candelilla wax instead of carnauba wax.
- Don’t substitute the stearic acid.
- You could use sea buckthorn fruit oil, sea buckthorn seed oil, or unrefined buriti oil instead for the yellow/orange colour. You could also replace it with another 1% passionfruit oil, though the balm won’t be as colourful.
- You could also replace the sea buckthorn fruit oil with some orange or yellow mica.
- You could use a passion fruit fragrance oil instead of the passion fruit natural oil. You could also replace the fragrance with more passionfruit carrier oil and then the balm will just smell of the coconut oil.
Gifting Disclosure
The passion fruit natural fragrance oil was gifted by Essential Wholesale. The passionfruit oil was gifted by Mystic Moments. The white metal tin was gifted by YellowBee.
Ooh this sounds lush 🙂 My skin is getting really dry lately, maybe too much sun lol I have everything except the fragrance oil, but I have some mango fragrance that I could use instead. I love Passion fruit oil, I have been using it in lotions and creams for quite a while now. It absorbs into my skin beautifully and doesn’t feel greasy or sticky. Great one, thanks Marie, I will definitely give this a go 🙂
Thank you so much! The mango would be lovely as well :X Happy making!
Why carnuba wax and not beeswax?
Beeswax isn’t vegan, and I wanted this to be vegan, and it has a really different skin feel. Learn more about them in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) 🙂
Hi there! I just made this with few modifications: sunflower oil as carrier, small amount of monoi oil and total 2 % seabuckthorn, rosehip and calendula CO2 extracts (in carrier). My seabuckthorn smells fruity so I can already see myself slathering this on even without any added fragance! This fits so well to my summer scent theme! Only one small visit to your blog and diy break is so over, haha. ;D I tend to prefer beeswax balms but this feels quite creamy considering the vegan side. Thanks.
Hooray! I saw your posts on IG and it looks positively divine 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Mmmm, this will be the perfect inaugural project for my passion fruit natural fragrance! I bought it and the mango on your recommendation… YUM! Now if only they could make a pineapple one, my dreams of being slathered in my favorite tropical fruits would be complete 😀 I need to hunt down some of that passionfruit oil too, you are always getting me with these fruit oils!
I hope you love it! ❤️ TROPICAL FRUIT ALL THE THINGS!
I would like to make these in a twist tube. Is that possible, is the consistency good enough for that? Thank you!
I’d say it’s too soft for that, but watch the video and see what you think 🙂
I love all your recipes for the passionfruit . Thoughts on adding arrowroot to this?
You could, but I would make it as-written first 🙂 Also, check this out.
I am not able to source passion fruit fragrance oil and passion fruit oil. Could I have suggestions for other fruit oils? Thank you!
Please look up passionfruit oil in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) 🙂
Since the recipe contains a lot of coconut oil, I wonder how the butter behaves at a temperature above 25°C, since the coconut oil is already melting by then? In general, I’m interested in how to maintain the consistency of butter to the same at 15°C and 30°C. Thank you for everything you do, you’re fantastic!
Hey! Please read this FAQ 🙂
can I add some corn starch??
You could, but I would recommend making it at least once as written 🙂
Question does passion fruit have a scent because mine doesnt, I read online that it smells nice and fruity but mine smells just like an oil.
From the encyclopedia, it’s “Nothing strong; slightly fresh/fruity”. It’s not castor oil, but it’s certainly not fruit salad either 🙂
Can you add shea butter or mango butter to this recipe?
Why not just make a formulation that already includes shea or mango butter? Look up the butters in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) and scroll down for a list of formulas using those ingredients!
Hi Marie,
I stumbled onto your site as I’m trying to find an equivalent of beeswax to carnauba wax. There’s a lotion bar recipe I would like to make that calls for 4 oz of carnauba wax. I can see from your site that I would need more beeswax for the recipe. Could you give me an idea how much more, please? Thanks, Lori