Recipes with Videos
Are you more of a visual learner? No worries, all these recipes have accompanying recipes on my YouTube channel!
Passionfruit Velvet Dry Oil Mist
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...
Moisturizing Repair Lotion
Happy new year, and happy 2021! I decided to kick off this new year with an evolution of the formulation that kicked off 2020—my much-loved Moisturizing Repair Cream (please read that post, too—there's lots of good background information in it!). This lotion-y...
Midwinter Conditioning Beard Balm
Today I'm sharing my last formulation of 2020—a Midwinter Conditioning Beard Balm. Beard balms are usually made up of carrier oils thickened with some sort of wax to create a firm balm. This formulation features argan oil, jojoba oil, and a small amount of...
Winter Solstice Oil-Free Facial Moisturizer
Today is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere—the shortest, darkest day of the year, but also the turning point towards longer days (tomorrow will have a whole 5 seconds more daylight than today!). I've shared several winter solstice themed projects over the...
Ice Palace Sulfate-Free Shampoo Bar
Today we're mashing up a beautiful Ice Palace Sulfate-Free Shampoo Bar. You don't need to melt anything and you don't need a press (you don't even need a mould!). Just mix and mash everything together until you have a smooth, workable dough, shape that into some sort...
Cocoa Coconut Sticky Lip Balm
There was really no way I could do a Cocoa Coconut theme and not do a lip balm. Cocoa Coconut practically begs to be lip-balm-ized! Since we're in the midst of ultra-dry wintery weather right now, I opted to make this a Cocoa Coconut Sticky Lip Balm because when it is...
Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream
This Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream is packed with great-for-skin actives and just a hint of mica for skin that positively glows. I was inspired to create a complexion-enhancing moisturizer by products like Charlotte Tilbury's Hollywood Flawless Filter and...
Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion with Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate
Today we're re-visiting this summer's Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion to learn how to adapt formulations to use the emulsifier Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate instead of emulsifying waxes like Polawax, Emulsifying Wax NF, Olivem 1000, BTMS-50, or Ritamulse...
Cocoa Coconut Simple Conditioner Bars
If you've been interested in making a solid conditioner bar, but have been intimidated by the long ingredient lists on the formulations I've shared in the past, this post is for you! These beautiful Cocoa Coconut Simple Conditioner Bars are made from just six...
Ice Palace Fizzing Shimmering Bath Dust
This Ice Palace Fizzing Shimmering Bath Dust has all the fizzy fun of a bath bomb, combined with the ease and indulgence of bath salts. There's no moulding or pressing—just massage everything together, leave the mixture out to dry for a day or two, and you've got...
Cocoa Coconut Rich Cream Facial Cleanser
Today's Coconut Cocoa Rich Cream Facial Cleanser has a decadent, rich skin feel with a lotion-y consistency and offers fabulous yet gentle cleansing. It's also a bit of a riff on the two rich cream cleansers I shared earlier this year—Rose & Honey and Whipped...
Ice Palace Bath Bombs
One of the things I absolutely have to make every year as part of my holiday DIYing is bath bombs—my mom loves them, so I need to make sure she's set for the following year 😊 This year's holiday bath bombs are Ice Palace themed, with a fizzy surprise in the...
Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars
Today's DIY is part of our ongoing Cocoa Coconut theme—we're melting up some stunning Cocoa Coconut Vegan Body Butter Bars that put silky cocoa butter and mouthwatering coconut oil on a pedestal so they can shine. You'll only need six or seven ingredients to make...
Ice Palace Body Wash
We're getting all kinds of sudsy today with a pearlescent and bubbly Ice Palace Body Wash! If you're generally a fan of creamy body washes, this one is just the thing—it kicks off heaps of fluffy bubbles, smells wonderfully refreshing, and looks a bit like a liquid...
Popping Cocoa Coconut Bath Salts
These beautiful and fun Popping Cocoa Coconut Bath Salts are the latest addition to this year's Cocoa Coconut Holiday 2020 theme! And yes—they do pop! They pop and fizz and crackle like an indulgent magic trick when added to your bathwater. In addition to the popping...
Ice Palace Body Glow Lotion
We're continuing our Ice Palace theme today with this lovely Ice Palace Body Glow Lotion! This one is really neat in the skin feel/consistency department. In regards to viscosity and absorption speed, it's more like a mid-weight lotion—but the richness is closer to...
Autumn Spice Whipped Body Butter
This decadent Autumn Spice Whipped Body Butter is a Bee Better of a Whipped Pumpkin Spice Body Butter I shared back in 2016. This updated version features fully percentage-ified measurements, a safer scent blend, and a new whipping method. Starring lightweight mango...
Cinnamon Sugar Dry Foaming Body Scrub
Today we're mixing up a fragrant, perfect-for-autumn Cinnamon Sugar Dry Foaming Body Scrub. Starring sugar, rhassoul clay, and a gentle surfactant for all kinds of gorgeous bubbles, this 7-ingredient scrub makes a great gift and a great excuse to take a hot bath...
Almond & Olive Creamy Lip Balm
It has been absolutely ages since I shared a lip balm formulation, but with cold & dry winter conditions here for the somewhat foreseeable future, it's definitely time for a new way to keep our lips happy! This Almond & Olive Creamy Lip Balm has a rich,...
Ice Palace Soap
Welcome to holiday soap (and holiday theme) #2 for 2020; Ice Palace Soap! This year's Ice Palace theme is all about embracing the cool, sparkling beauty of ice and ice sculptures. This cold processed soap channels dazzling wintery wonder with wispy cool-toned swirls...
Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter
If you love The Body Shop's body butters, you are going to love this Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter! Fragrant coconut oil and cocoa butter star, making up a full 40% of this formulation. This Cocoa Coconut Emulsified Body Butter has much of the richness of a...
Silk Aloe Body Wash
This DIY came from an old ideas notebook I started back in 2014 or so—on a trip to Costa Rica, I believe (there are a lot of doodles of geckos and notes about surfing and passionfruit and goodness... to be back there now!). This little notebook is filled with all...
Vegan Cocoa Coconut Nanaimo Bar Soap
Welcome to our first project of the holiday 2020 making season—Vegan Cocoa Coconut Nanaimo Bar Soap! These decadent bars of soap are part of our cocoa/coconut theme (I announced both themes on YouTube last weekend—check out the video here!), and channel my favourite...
Açaí & Jojoba Facial Oil Serum
Today we're blending up an all-natural, lightweight oil serum that is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory goodness. Starring exotic açaí berry oil and featherweight Neossance® Hemisqualane, you can easily mix up this serum in just a few minutes—just weigh, cap,...
Hemp & Shea Hand and Body Lotion
This silky Hemp & Shea Hand and Body Lotion is another Bee Better project, riffing on and updating the Healing Herbal Hemp & Shea Lotion I shared back in October 2014. This version keeps many of the same ingredients and very much riffs on the same themes of...
Gentle Clay Facial Cleansing Bar
Today we're squishing up a creamy off-white Gentle Clay Facial Cleansing Bar, starring velvety white kaolin clay and a gentle surfactant blend that kicks off dense, rich lather. You don't need any heat or even a mould to make these—just a bowl, a dust mask, and a pair...
Rose and Clay Cleansing Balm
When I first dreamt up this cleansing balm, the dream was of a seaweed and clay cleansing balm. How romantic and exotic-sounding, no? A hefty dose of vitamin-rich green seaweed powder would star, and how lovely it would be. There was just one problem with that....
Calendula + Clay Soft Foaming Body Scrub
If you've been looking for a way to mix up your bath routine, I think you might just love this Calendula + Clay Soft Foaming Body Scrub. It's a dry, sudsy body scrub that works beautifully on a loofah or between your hands—just work it up with a bit of water and...
Creamy Oat & Shea Face Mask
If you're looking for an indulgent facial, I think this Creamy Oat & Shea Face Mask is just the thing. A rich base of shea butter and safflower oil suspends a blend of soothing, moisturizing ingredients to create a really decadent masking experience. Try using...
Nourishing Hand Rescue Lotion
This gorgeous Nourishing Hand Rescue Lotion is another "riff" project—taking inspiration from April's much-loved Intense Hand Rescue Cream with the aim of creating something similar, but lighter and more pump-top/squeeze tube friendly. I positively adore April's...
Whipped Cream Calendula Facial Cleanser
This decadent Whipped Cream Calendula Facial Cleanser is a riff on the Rose & Honey Rich Cream Cleanser I shared earlier this summer. That cleanser was really popular, and I really loved it, so I thought I'd play with the idea a bit more. This variation features a...
Silk & Camellia Seed Leave-In Hair Conditioner
Today's Silk & Camellia Seed Leave-In Hair Conditioner stars lightweight camellia seed oil and luxurious hydrolyzed silk peptides. They work together to moisturize and smooth the hair, while a trio of conditioning ingredients smooth the hair cuticle, leaving hair...
Bubbly Bath Dough
I had a heck of a time trying to name this fun DIY! Generally speaking, it's a sort of play-dough for the bath or shower that can be sculpted into whatever your heart desires, used as a body wash, and/or crumbled under a running tap to create all kinds of bubbles....
Passionfruit Coconut Conditioning Body Lotion + Hair Conditioner
Today's DIY is a beautiful Passionfruit Coconut Conditioning Body Lotion. This rich emulsion is not only a great hand and body lotion, but it also makes a fantastic hair conditioner! Depending on your hair (and how much you use), it can be anything from a hair mask to...
Summer Shimmer Hair Oil
Today we're creating an ultra-lightweight Summer Shimmer Hair Oil that is brilliant for adding shine, smoothing flyaways, and adding a bit of sparkle to your locks. The shimmer and scent are completely customizable, and this is so easy to make that you could easily...
Super Simple Whipped Shea Butter
Today's project is another back-to-basics post—we're making an all-natural Super Simple Whipped Shea Butter! You'll need just four basic ingredients to create this decadent body butter. It's not greasy, you don't need to heat anything up, and half of the ingredients...
Passionfruit Coconut Body Scrub
Over the last couple months, emulsified scrubs of all types have become a big favourite of mine. I've always like them, but now I don't want to take a bath without one! A good scrub leaves my skin all kinds of soft and moisturized—I usually don't need lotion-ing...
Gold Dust Lip Cream
Today we're fully embracing summer with a rich, sparkly Gold Dust Lip Cream ✨ A creamy base carries a generous helping of shimmery gold things to bring some beautiful 24 karat loveliness to your days. Enjoy! Want to watch this project instead of reading it?...
Watermelon Mint Foaming Hand Wash
Our summery Watermelon Mint series continues today with a simple Watermelon Mint Foaming Hand Wash that pumps out thick clouds of the most decadent lather, making handwashing a treat. To keep things as easy as possible, I've used a pre-blended surfactant product so...
Passionfruit Coconut Conditioner Bar
Today we're making a lovely solid conditioner bar starring exotic passionfruit oil and richly conditioning BTMS-25! When you run this solid bar over wet hair, it transforms into creamy, slippy hair conditioner—leaving your hair soft and silky, taming flyaways and...
Summer Glow Body Lotion
Today's DIY is another Bee Better project—an update of the Summer Shimmer Body Lotion I shared back in 2015 (over five years ago!). This lotion is lightweight and packs a serious shimmery punch to leave you glowing like a summer sunset. You can easily customize the...
Soothing Makeup Finishing Spray
Today I'm sharing something I've been loving lately—a Soothing Makeup Finishing Spray. You certainly don't have to use it over makeup (it's also a great soothing & hydrating mist for bare skin!), but I've been using this as the last step in my makeup routine (and...
Passionfruit Facial Glow Oil
Today we're getting our glow on with a simple & shimmery Passionfruit Facial Glow Oil. This beautiful facial oil serum features a blend of luxurious, exotic carrier oils, a potent skin-repairing antioxidant, and a touch of customizable shimmer. The end result is...
Cream Silk Cleansing Balm
Today we're blending up a Cream Silk Cleansing Balm that I'm really quite proud of. It was vaguely inspired by a storebought cleansing balm that I recently tried + a need for a really effective waterproof makeup removing product. In regards to the storebought...
Passionfruit Coconut Matte Velvet Moisturizer
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...
Watermelon Mint Summer Body Oil
We're continuing our Watermelon Mint series today with a silky, fruity, easy-to-make Watermelon Mint Summer Body Oil. This lovely oil leaves your skin soft and glowing without feeling greasy or heavy. It's got a fresh, subtle scent, and can be made in mere minutes....
Oat & Shea Hand Lotion
If your hands are anything like mine, they're feeling the effects of multiple months of a whole lot of hand sanitizer use and intensive hand washing sessions. This lightweight hand lotion focusses on some great moisturizing and soothing ingredients to help breathe...
Rose & Honey Rich Cream Cleanser
This Rose & Honey Rich Cream Cleanser is quite the treat—it's rich and gentle, smells softly of roses, and leaves your skin feeling clean but not tight or dry. Made with sweet almond oil, fragrant rose hydrosol, and local raw honey, it has a positively decadent...
