Today’s formulation was inspired by Glossier’s “Body Hero Dry-Touch Oil Mist”—I saw it on their website and loved the idea of an oil mist, remembering reading on Lotion Crafter that fractionated coconut oil is “light enough to spray through a pump sprayer”. That got the formulation wheels in my brain turning 😊 There are almost no overlapping ingredients between this formulation and the Glossier product, save for the fractionated coconut oil (or caprylic/capric triglycerides) and the tocopherol, so it’s definitely more “inspired by” than “duping”, but I love it. It’s an ultra-light, softly fragrant oil that mists beautifully over the skin. Massage it in after towelling dry post-shower or bath, and you’ll be rewarded with soft, moisturized, lightly perfumed skin without any greasiness. Perfection!

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This formulation can be broken down into three key parts: 1) a thin, ultra-light base, 2) luxury oils, and 3) antioxidant + fragrance.

The ultra-light base is essential to both the “dry” and the “mist” part of this formulation. It’s possible to dispense most relatively thin liquids through a mister top, but unless the liquid is water-like in viscosity, you can get more of a “jet” than a “mist” (I learned this the hard way back in about 2011 with a face mist that was like getting hit with a water pistol 😂). So, it’s essential that the bulk of a product designed to mist be made of very low viscosity liquids, and we can’t add too much of anything that’ll thicken that base up. To that end, the bulk of this Passionfruit Velvet Dry Oil Mist is a blend of three thin liquid emollients: fractionated coconut oil, isopropyl myristate (IPM), and cyclomethicone. I’ve chosen these emollients not only because they’re very thin, but also because they feel very light on the skin, with isopropyl myristate (IPM) and cyclomethicone being so light that they help make other oils feel lighter/drier than they usually would. I have provided a few substitution suggestions for these ingredients, but the general gist is this: you want ~65% of this formulation to be comprised of ultra-light, thin liquid emollients. If you shift this balance too much you will start wandering from “dry mist” to “oily jet” territory.

The luxurious oils are where we get to have some fun! I’ve chosen a blend of exotic passionfruit oil and vitamin-rich golden jojoba oil. Passionfruit oil, also known as maracuja oil, is often sold for a small fortune from shops like Sephora. Thankfully, we know better 😄 Mine is from Mystic Moments (gifted), and it’s about $14 USD for 250mL.

Category three is very simple: a small amount of vitamin E to delay rancidity, and a tiny bit of something that smells pretty. I used a wee bit of the Brambleberry signature fragrance oil, which they sent me as a Christmas gift (thank you!). It smells of berries with a hint of citrus at first, mellowing down to a deep dry musky scent that’s really quite lovely. You could easily use an essential oil or a different fragrance oil that you love; I find that 0.1–0.2% is plenty for fragrances, but you may wish to use a bit more essential oil, depending on the particular essential oil (or blend) and keeping in mind maximum usage rates for individual oils. If that’s the case, I’d reduce the fractionated coconut oil to make space for it.

Now, as you’re looking at the numbers in this formulation, you might be wondering what’s up with the weirdly fiddly percentages for everything. What is up (or was up, at least) was a bit of a spreadsheet error on my end with a wonky and unrelated sum function that had me making a 113.8% version of this formulation without noticing until after I’d made it and loved it 🤦🏻‍♀️ Since I already loved it, I opted to adjust the percentages to match what I’d actually done… so things look a bit gnarly. If you wanted to massage the numbers up and down a bit to round them off I doubt you’d notice much of a difference in the end product. And yeah… double-check your spreadsheet totals as you work, ha.

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Passionfruit Velvet Dry Oil Mist

12.05g | 42.36% fractionated coconut oil (USA / Canada)
3.75g | 13.18% isopropyl myristate (IPM) (USA / Canada / UK / Aus / NZ)
2.5g | 8.79% cyclomethicone (USA / Canada)
5g | 17.57% passionfruit oil
5g | 17.57% jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
0.125g | 0.44% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.025g | 0.09% fragrance oil or essential oil of choice

Weigh all the ingredients into a small beaker, or directly into the bottle you’ll be storing the oil mist in. I used a 25mL frosted glass Zelo bottle from New Directions Aromatics with an atomizer/mister top.

If it’s a beaker, stir to combine. If you went straight for the bottle, cap and shake.

That’s it! To use, mist some product over the skin after towelling dry from a shower or bath. Be careful where you use this. It is very easy to cover tiles and other hard surfaces with a light misting of oil over several applications, rendering that surface dangerously slippery. Massage in and enjoy!

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this body oil 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 or two 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 28.45g, which will fill a 30mL (1fl oz).
• 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.
• You can try another lightweight oil like sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower seed instead of fractionated coconut oil, though keep in mind that I chose fractionated coconut oil because it is really low viscosity; Lotion Crafter specifically mentions that it is “light enough to spray through a pump sprayer”, which isn’t a descriptor I’ve seen for other lightweight liquid oils, so swapping out the fractionated coconut oil may give you more of an oil spray than an oil mist.
• You could try C12-15 alkyl benzoate instead of isopropyl myristate (IPM).
• You could try a natural cyclomethicone alternative instead of cyclomethicone.
• You could also try isododecane instead of cyclomethicone.
• You could use different fancy carrier oils in place of the passionfruit and/or jojoba oils.
• Regarding essential oils, please read this.