Today I’m sharing my first Bee Better 3.0 project; a soft and creamy Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter that’s an evolution on a shea butter and aloe vera heavy formulation I first shared in 2014, and then revised in 2019. This updated 2021 version uses a new emulsifier to create a product that is lighter, softer, smoother, and easier to apply. It’s definitely better, and you should make it 😄
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Once I started playing with Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate, it didn’t take me long at all to whip up some super shea-heavy emulsions. The naked-ness of Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate makes it really well suited to shea butter-heavy emulsions because it doesn’t add to the richness of the butter, which can get overwhelming, heavy, and draggy in high concentrations. Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate allows me to use a serious schwack of shea (say that ten times fast!) while still getting a silky smooth, ultra-spreadable finished formulation.
Since I love shea butter for dry, irritated skin, all of my shealoe projects have been very soothing/moisturizing themed, and this one is no different! The water phase features soothing and fragrant lavender hydrosol, anti-inflammatory aloe vera, moisturizing vegetable glycerin, and regenerative panthenol (Vitamin B5). I also included some fantastically anti-inflammatory + soothing colloidal oatmeal; in the video, you’ll see me put it in the heated water phase, but it’s far less messy to put it in the heated oil phase! It cooks a bit and swells into an uncooperative oaty, porridge-like blob when heated with the water 😂
Unsurprisingly, the oil phase is mostly shea butter at 25%. I used a lovely unrefined shea butter from Baraka Shea Butter as I quite like the smell of unrefined shea, especially when it is combined with subtle lavender notes from the hydrosol and the slight oat-y scent of the colloidal oatmeal. If you’re not a fan of the scent of shea, though, you can absolutely use refined shea butter instead. At 25% you’re definitely best off using refined shea rather than trying to mask the unrefined scent with fragrance oil or essential oil. I’ve found the scent of unrefined shea butter doesn’t really “cover up” well once it starts coming through in the finished product as it does here—you just end up with the scent of shea butter + whatever you’ve tried to mask it with.
The oil phase also includes a small amount of lightweight fractionated coconut oil, some silky & slippy cetyl alcohol, and a wee bit of xanthan gum for added slip and stability. Our emulsifier is Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate, and that is essential. If you don’t have it, you can’t make this version of the formulation. The 2019 version of this project uses Polawax instead, and while I don’t think it is as good as this 2021 version, you can make it without Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate.
Lastly, the cool down phase features our preservative (Liquid Germall™ Plus), some soothing calendula extract, and a touch of ultra-light cyclomethicone. The cyclomethicone helps further improve the slip and application of this formulation, but you could easily replace it with more distilled water if you don’t have it. Unlike the 2019 version, silicone isn’t integral to good application for this formulation thanks to the new emulsifier.
The finished Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter is decadent and delightful. It’s soft and whippy and scoopy—brilliant for dry skin, with a lovely application. It’s a big improvement on the 2014 and 2019 versions, and a great way to use shea butter without feeling greasy or sticky afterwards. I hope you love it!
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Shealoe Emulsified Body Butter
Heated water phase
7.3g | 7.3% distilled water
10g | 10% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
20g | 20% aloe vera juice
20g | 20% lavender hydrosol (USA / Canada)
1.5g | 1.5% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)Heated oil phase
3.5g | 3.5% Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate (USA / Canada / UK & EU / Australia)
25g | 25% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
5g | 5% fractionated coconut oil
2g | 2% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
0.3g | 0.3% xanthan gum
2g | 2% colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada)Cool down phase
0.4g | 0.4% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
1g | 1% calendula extract
2g | 2% cyclomethicone (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 water phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or glass beaker. Weigh the entire lot (measuring cup + ingredients) and note that weight for use later. Weigh the heated oil phase into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat and weigh the water phase. Add enough hot distilled water to the heated water phase to bring the weight back up to what it was before heating, and then pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the lotion is thick and creamy.
When the lotion is cool it’s time to incorporate our cool down ingredients. Because cool down ingredients are typically present at very low amounts you’ll need to use an accurate scale—preferably one accurate to 0.01g. As these more accurate scales tend to have fairly low (100–200g) maximum weights you won’t be able to put the entire batch of lotion on that scale without blowing it out. So—grab a smaller dish. Add a scoop or two of lotion, and then weigh the cool down ingredients into that, using the more accurate scale. Stir to thoroughly incorporate, and then stir all of that back into the master batch of lotion. Doing it this way minimizes the amount of cool down ingredients lost to the secondary container.
Once the cool down phase has been incorporated, all that’s left to do is package it up! I used a black screw-top jar from YellowBee. Whatever you choose, make sure it has a wide mouth; this emulsion will thicken up in the day or so after making, so while it may seem pump-top bottle friendly at first, it won’t be for long. Watch the video to see what I mean!
To use, smooth over any skin that could use some extra softening and love. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative, this project may eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
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 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 (panthenol, colloidal oatmeal, cyclomethicone) please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- You could use propanediol 1,3 instead of glycerin.
- You could replace the aloe vera juice with more distilled water. DO NOT use green aloe vera gel from the drug store.
- You can use a different hydrosol for a different scent, or replace the hydrosol with more water for an unscented final product.
- You MUST use Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate. If you don’t have it, make the 2019 version instead.
- You can use refined or unrefined shea butter.
- You could try a different soft butter, like mango butter or murumuru butter, instead of shea butter.
- You can substitute another lightweight oil like sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower seed
- You could try cetearyl alcohol instead of cetyl alcohol.
- You can try a different gum or gelling agent, like hydroxyethylcellulose or Polyacrylate crosspolymer-6 (Sepimax ZEN), instead of xanthan gum.
- You can use a different botanical extract your skin loves in place of calendula.
- If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this FAQ and this chart.
- If you’d like to incorporate an essential oil, please read this.
Gifting Disclosure
The black screw-top jar was gifted by YellowBee. The shea butter was gifted by Baraka Shea Butter. Links to Baraka Shea Butter are affiliate links. The Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate was gifted by Mystic Moments.
Am I the only one that gets a little scared to work on lotions? I have made soap, body butters whipped or lotion bars, scrubs but lotions using with water scares me. I dont want to make something that molds quickly and that happened to me the first time/last time I made lotion and I just cant get over it and just did not try again.
You definitely aren’t the only one! I would recommend starting with my Super Simple Lotion as it’s a great starter formulation 🙂 If you are using Liquid Germall™ Plus (INCI: Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate) as your preservative and make sure everything is clean (I hand wash everything as I don’t have a dishwasher, but straight out of the dishwasher would be a great standard of clean) you should be A-ok 🙂
Thank you Marie!
I know how you feel Mama Bear. I was interested in trying lotions for a long time but it just seemed like a whole new level of complicated. So I took my time, read everything that Marie shared with us, read up on ingredients, watched the videos and boy am I HOOKED!!! Anyone who wants to try lotion making should be on Humblebee because Marie has done all the hard work. Being able to make lotions has opened a whole new world of exciting products to make. Once again, huge thanks to Marie for literally everything, that girl is amazing ❤
Hooray! You’ve put a huge smile on my face, Bernadette ❤️
Hi Marie, You’re amazing! Thank you so much for helping so many people DIY! It’s been wonderful for me personally.
I’m wondering… when you add an extract in the cool down phase, does it matter if it is oil based or water based?
Thank you so much! ❤️ You’ll always want to check with your suppliers re: which phase an extract should be added to 🙂 That information should be supplied as part of the product page. Happy making!
Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate you taking the time. The supplier doesn’t list that info, so I’ll go ahead and contact them. Thank you!!
Is there a general rule about what percentage of the recipe can be added to the cool down phase without breaking the emulsion?
Roughly 10% 🙂
The word “emulsified “ reminds me of something I could use in the shower. At first, without carefully reading through all the info, at the end, I was looking for how much “sugar” you were using. You know, to make an emulsified scrub. Have you tried thus on wet skin in the shower?
I haven’t, but it would probably work just fine.
Hi Marie! I want to try this recipe but I have Aloe Vera 10:1 or 200x available to me. I want to replace all water phase with (equivalent) amount of Aloe Vera? Or at least as much water phase as possible with Aloe Vera? I read that this can be difficult to preserve. Any tips on how to go about this?
Have you read the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) entry on aloe? That details how to work with the concentrates. I wouldn’t be particularly worried about preservation with this preservative, but I would also recommend making the formulation as written first before changing it 🙂
Thank you for your reply. I had read the entry on aloe vera. My main concern is the preservation aspect. I will try to make it like this and then play with the percentages. Cheers!
Hi Marie! Thank you for sharing this, def excited to try this. Just have a question, is DL-Panthenol the same as Panthenol?
DL-Panthenol is the same type of panthenol I used in this formulation 🙂
Hi Marie and thank you for all the info, the ideas and the recipes you offer us!
I would like to make this one but I have a couple of questions.
1. I live in Greece and I can only find liquid B5 not powder. Can I use this instead?
2. May I use Plantsil [Inci Name:
Hydrogenated Ethylhexyl Olivate (and) Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables] instead of cyclomethicone?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Katerina! Please read the panthenol (Vitamin B5) encyclopedia entry for an answer to your first question, and for 2, yes, though it likely won’t work quite as well 🙂
Can this still work without the cetyl alcohol?
Probably—try it 😉
Hi Marie, thanks so much for this post. I’ll be making a mango and safflower version this week. I hope once it sets up I can whip it and it will stay whipped. Love from London 🙂
I hope it works out beautifully! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Can you use phenonip instead of liquid germall given that it is oil and water soluble?
I believe that should work, though please read this 🙂
Hi Marie, Thanks for all that you do!
I made this, very luxurious!
My friend suggested that I call it PHONE DOWN FEET UP because you cannot touch anything for at least ten minutes.
My main concern/ question is about the Germall amount- is it enough? I made this formula faithfully (ugh, ok, MOSTLY faithfully, I didn’t have the hydrosol so I just used more water…) and here we are not two months later and the batch has grown some green furry mold….
Oh no! My batch is still ok (as is an earlier batch that’s ~9 months old now), but there is room to bump the Liquid Germall™ Plus up to 0.5%. Is there any chance of contamination during making, or perhaps the packing wasn’t properly clean?
Me encantó tú blog, consejos y todo. Nunca había visto un blog tan completo con detalles que hasta te hacen sentir los productos. Llevó 4 años en este mundo haciendo mis productos cosméticos y me alegra haberte encontrado. Gracias por cada información, estoy leyendo todo admirando tus creaciones. Saludos desde el extremo de América Chile. Cariños ❤️
I loved your blog, tips and everything. I have never seen a blog so complete with details that even make you feel the products. I have been in this world for 4 years making my cosmetic products and I am glad I found you. Thanks for every information, I am reading everything admiring your creations. Greetings from the end of America Chile. Love ❤️
Hi Marie I tried this recipe , and I like it a lot could you tell me how to scale up please
This is covered in the first point of the Substitutions list 😉
Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate just arrived from the UK, so I made this today. I swapped rose hydrosol for lavender and left out calendula extract. Smells like sour milk. I then added some Pemberley scent made per instructions from your other recipes, and this helped a little. Still smells like sour baby formula. Any thoughts?
That is very strange! Have you tried smelling all of your ingredients independently to see if you recognize the smell in any of them?
Yes! This exact same thing happens to me too! No matter what fragrance I use it ends up smelling baby milk very quickly. I make other creams successfully and the result is stable but I just can’t figure out what to do about the smell the oats cause. Any advice would be sooo appreciated ☺️
Hi Marie, you and your producrs are amazing. I really am excited to try this , judt a couple of questions. Aloe vera juice or gel? And is fractionated coconut the runny coconut oil not the firm oil. Thanks
Hi Joanne! As per the post, aloe vera juice. Please look up fractionated coconut oil and coconut oil in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) to learn about how they differ 🙂 You can also look up aloe vera to learn more about it—there are now over 200 entries in my encyclopedia. Happy making!
Hi Marie, is this thicker than Cocoa Coconut emulsified body butter? I prefer a thicker consistency.
Thanks!
Hi Marie, I’ve got a question about glycerin. I can’t seem to find anywhere that you have used it in lip products, although you mention that it’s used in lipglosses. I love the feel of it when I’ve added a small amount to shea butter and almond oil. However, I’ve found out that due to it being a humectant, it needs a preservative and also an emulsifier as people have said it will separate over time. Do you have any suggestions/would you agree?
Hi Marie, I’m so tempted to try the recipe. however some of the terms (even after checking the encyclopedia (humblebee) I can’t find some ingredients here in India. the ones I can get easily are E wax, glycerine, cetyl alcohol, vit e, opthiphen (preservative) . was wondering if there’s a body butter I cud formulate with this. xanthum gum is available tho.
Thank you,
Hi Marie,
I’d like to attempt this recipe and add Allantoin to it as well. How would you recommend formulating the percentage? I tried figuring out the usage as recommended by you in your Encyclopedia but am lost. Please advise if possible! Thank you so much.
Hi Marie,
Hope you are doing well! I will be trying to recreate this formula but swapping out the 0.4% Liquid Germall Plus with 1.50% Geogard Ultra, and reducing the distilled water by the difference.
I would also be rehydrating some powdered concentrated aloe vera (200x) to make this recipe, and preserving the aloe juice with 1.50% Geogard Ultra.
My question revolves around the target preservative level of the entire formula for this shealoe emulsified body butter. Should I:
– (a) still target 1.50% for the entire formula (therefore disregarding the fact that there is some preservative already in the aloe juice) or
– (b) reduce the target preservative level by 0.30 %, which is the amount of preservative in the aloe juice (1.50% Geogard Ultra x 20% aloe juice content = 0.30% Geogard Ultra contribution to the total formulation from the aloe juice)?
In option B, I would therefore be targeting 1.20% (1.50% target – 0.30% preservative from the aloe juice) preservative level for the entire formula.
Thank you!