Today we’re getting our Pemberley-themed pamper on with this lightweight sugar-studded emulsified Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub. A creamy, self-emulsifying base is heavily dosed with granulated sugar for a sparkly, fragrant bath treat. The beautiful Pemberley scent blend is brilliant in this luxurious, fluffy scrub—I think you’re going to love it!
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Our base is comprised mostly of inexpensive, lightweight fractionated coconut oil. I’ve selected a light, inexpensive oil to comprise the majority of this scrub as it is a wash-off product. Save your expensive oils for projects that will really let them shine! For this emulsified sugar scrub we really just need something that’s a liquid oil. This can also be a good place to use up and lightweight liquid oils that are getting to the end of their shelf lives—you’ll use a decent amount, and I find whipped sugar scrubs typically get used up pretty quickly.
The fractionated coconut oil is thickened up with some cetearyl alcohol, which I find offers a very lovely fluffy body to our formulations. The emulsified part of the scrub comes from a combination of Polawax, a complete emulsifying wax, and Polysorbate 80, an inexpensive liquid solubilizer. I find I like combining complete emulsifying waxes and solubilizers in projects like this—they complement one another nicely for excellent wash-off.
We’re not including emulsifiers because this project is an emulsion; we’re including them so the product will self-emulsify with any water on your skin (in the shower or bath, most likely), instantly transforming into lotion and then easily rinsing off when you’re done. I like sugar (or salt) as an exfoliant here as it gradually dissolves into the water you’re washing with, meaning you’ve got a good scrubby kick right off the bat, but it lessens as you scrub away and introduce more water, and by the time you go to drain the tub it’s all gone—meaning less mess for you!
Our scent blend is a beguiling combination of intoxicating rose wax, spicy cardamom, juicy grapefruit essential oil, and sweet and mysterious benzoin. I’m so smitten with this stunning scent blend and I find it’s just perfect for bath time pamper-time! I highly recommend pairing this scrub with a glass of wine and some lovely music for some indulgent self (and skin) care. Enjoy!
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Pemberley Whipped Sugar Scrub
Heated phase
5g | 5% Polawax (USA / Canada)
4g | 4% Polysorbate 80 (USA / Canada)
26.85g | 26.85% fractionated coconut oil
1g | 1% rose wax
12g | 12% cetearyl alcohol (USA / Canada)Cool down phase
0.25g | 0.25% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.2g | 0.2% cardamom essential oil
0.3g | 0.3% grapefruit essential oil
0.4g | 0.4% benzoin resinoid
50g | 50% white sugar (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 medium sized, deep, heat-resistant mixing bowl. Place the bowl in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
Once the mixture has melted, remove it from the heat and leave it to cool, stirring occasionally. You can speed this along by using an ice bath if you wish. The aim is to not allow the mixture to cool completely undisturbed, otherwise a harder layer will form on the surface and you won’t get a thorough, even blend.
When the melted mixture is mostly cool and is quite viscous, but not fully solid, add the sugar, vitamin E, and essential oils, and whip using electric beaters until light and fluffy.
Gently spoon into a jar—I used a 100g single wall transparent jar from YellowBee for my 100g batch, and that worked well. To use, portion out a small amount of scrub into a shower-safe container, and take that container into the shower or bath with you. Massage small amounts of the scrub into your skin and rinse off. Enjoy your lovely soft, exfoliated skin!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this scrub does not contain any water, 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!). Be sure to keep it dry to ensure it lasts as long as possible—don’t let any water get into the container and it should easily last a year. I highly recommend portioning out the amount you want to use into a small shower-safe container for use so you are never taking the master batch into the bath/shower, where it is very likely to become contaminated with water as you’ll be dipping into it with wet hands. If you plan on giving this scrub away, please include 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada).
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.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, 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 use a different complete emulsifying wax instead of Polawax.
- Olivem 300 or Cromollient SCE will work instead of Polysorbate 80, but Polysorbate 80 is cheaper.
- You can use a different inexpensive lightweight carrier oil instead of fractionated coconut oil.
- You can use 0.2% rose fragrance oil and 0.8% fractionated coconut oil in place of the rose wax.
- You could try a blend of stearic acid and cetyl alcohol instead of the cetearyl alcohol. I’d probably start with 50/50 and see how that works.
- You can use a different citrus essential oil or a citrus scented fragrance oil instead of the grapefruit essential oil. Either pink or white grapefruit essential oil will work.
- You can use a different fragrance/essential oil blend if you prefer.
- You could use salt instead of sugar.
Thank you for great education, recipes and direction….and links. In this particular recipe, there is not a link to buy Rose Floral Wax – where to get this please?
I’ve updated the post, thanks for letting me know I forgot!
How should this be stored and how does it handle heat from higher room temperatures. Not everyone uses air conditioning or may want to send it in the post to a loved one. Thank you
Hey Annissa! I’ve written an FAQ on this 🙂 Happy making!
Im in LOVE with this stuff!!! Everytime i have friends around I make them try it and they all love it too.
I’m so thrilled to hear it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie, should I use Liquid Germall Plus here or a preservative that is for anhydrous products like Optiphen? Thank you,
Huong
I would use liquid germall plus in this if gifting 🙂
Hey, can we use Coco Glucoside instead of Polysorbate 80 in this scrub? [Im aware that this is an Anhydrous product (no water) and polysorbate 80/20 is oil soluble, however Coco Glucoside is Water soluble] The reason is, im looking for a Natural Surfactant.
I don’t recommend it at all—coco glucoside contains water, for starters, which will dissolve the sugar in the scrub. It also functions very differently from polysorbate 80. While both have some emulsifying/surfactant properties they do not do the same thing at all in our formulations.
Hi, this recipe looks amazing. Could I replace the sugar in this recipe, for more gentle ultra fine oats and use it as a face scrub?
You could try it, but I would recommend starting with one of my formulations that is designed to be a face scrub, like this one 🙂
Hi Marie! This formula is amazing and the scent is absolutely divine! After making a small batch, I stored it away in an airtight container. I forgot about it for a week and when I went to use it I found it hardened somewhat. Not too bad but it was definitely not like wet sand, for example. Any thoughts on why this would have happened?
Hmm. Was it at room temperature for your last whipping/was it stored somewhere cold?
Hi! I tried following this recipe but oil keeps rising up to the surface. I used 10% of the total emulsifier in the recipe. Could this be the cause?
Do you live somewhere quite hot?
Yes, I do. What could be a solution for this?
It sounds like it’s melting—emulsification isn’t an issue in something that contains no water 🙂 You’ll need to incorporate more thickeners to raise the melting point—give this a read 🙂 Happy making!
Oh, I forgot to mention. I also left Polysorbate 80 out of the recipe. Could this be the culprit? Total percentage of wax/emulsifying agents is just 10% of the recipe.
This is so lovely! I’m obsessed with the smell.
I had my heart set on making your Pemberley Conditioning Body Butter to go with this as a set to gift. My order for a few supplies I need for the body butter is delayed
Can you recommend another lotion or butter option that incorporates this beautiful Pemberley scent?
Hi Marie! I couldn’t find a complete emulsifying wax in my area like polawax or e-wax. Can I replace it with glycerol monostearate? Will it thicken the mixture? Or should I add a wax instead to help thicken it? Thanks! 🙂
You need an emulsifying wax so the scrub emulsifies on use—please don’t replace it with a non-emulsifying wax 🙂 You could try glycerol monostearate—let me know how it goes!