This Summer Stone Fruit Creamy Face Mask is part face mask, part gentle scrub, part cleansing balm—it’s really whatever you want it to be. You can use it as a mask one day, a cleansing balm the next, and a gentle scrub later that week. A beautiful blend of stone fruit oils teams up with two soft clays, an optional additional exfoliant, and an emulsifier to create something rich, creamy, and downright lovely. Let’s dive in!

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The clay blend is mostly white kaolin clay, with a bit of Australian pink clay for colour. These are both smooth, silky, gentle clays that provide mild physical exfoliation. If you’re looking for a bit more exfoliation, I’ve presented a variation here that includes 1% apricot kernel powder. Grind the apricot kernel powder up with the clays to reduce its particle size and abrasiveness; whether the extra-exfoliation version works for you will be highly dependent on your skin and how often you use it. If you have more sensitive skin I recommend making the video version and using another 1% kaolin clay instead of the apricot kernel powder.

Our carrier oil blend is a combination of three stone fruit oils; apricot kernel, cherry kernel, and plum kernel. If you only have one or two of those, feel free to use what you’ve got—just make sure the total liquid oil content is still 47%. I also recommend sticking with stone-fruit-y oils if you can, but you don’t have to.

I experimented with a few different ways to make this Summer Stone Fruit Creamy Face Mask, and you’ll notice I’ve settled on sharing a version with the plum kernel oil in a “post-heat phase”. I did this purely to speed up the cooling of the product. We melt/heat many of the things, and then add a thing that has not been heated to accelerate the cooling of the things that have. You could also include the plum kernel oil with the heated things and use an ice bath for the same effect, but I thought this way was a bit easier.

There are several different ways to use this Summer Stone Fruit Creamy Face Mask. I’ve been enjoying massaging a thin layer into my skin, leaving it for twenty minutes or so, and then massaging it off with a damp microfibre cloth. This is more of a moisturizing and exfoliating masking experience than a traditional clay mask, which is more pulling/drying and exfoliating. If you prefer a more traditional experience you can blend a dollop of the mask up with a bit of water in your palms before applying, or wet your face before (or after). You can also treat this product more like a cleansing balm if that’s what suits your fancy. It’s very versatile!

Relevant links & further reading

• Kaolin Clay in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Apricot Kernel Oil in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Cherry Kernel Oil in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Cetyl Alcohol in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Plum Oil in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• Emulsifying Wax NF in the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia
• More formulations that are similar:
  • Creamy Oat & Shea Face Mask
  • Creamy French Green Clay Face Mask
  • Rose and Clay Cleansing Balm
  • Soothing Cleansing Balm
  • Chocolate Cherry Face Mask
  • Strawberry Rose Clay Face Mask

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Summer Stone Fruit Creamy Face Mask

Grinding phase
7.25g | 29% white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)
0.25g | 1% apricot kernel powder (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 10% Australian Pink Clay

Heated phase
3.75g | 15% apricot kernel oil (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 10% cherry kernel oil
0.625g | 2.5% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 10% Emulsifying Wax NF (USA / Canada / AU)

Post-heat phase
5.5g | 22% plum kernel oil (USA / Canada)

Cool down phase
0.125g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)

Combine the grinding phase ingredients in a DIY-only coffee grinder and blend them together thoroughly. It’s a good idea to wear a dust mask when you’re working with fine powders and coffee grinders. If you don’t have one, make sure you leave the coffee grinder to settle for 5 minutes after you’re done grinding before opening the lid; this will dramatically lessen the amount of powder that floats up and can be inhaled.

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. Add the ground clays + apricot kernel powder. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.

After about 20–30 minutes everything should be completely melted through. Remove the water bath from the heat, remove the measuring cup from the water bath, and dry it off with a dishtowel. Stir the mixture with a flexible silicone spatula to combine everything and ensure there are no clumps.

Slowly add the post-heat phase, stirring to combine. This will help cool the mixture. Once it has cooled, add the cool down phase, pour the mask into a container, and transfer it to the fridge to set up. I used a 30g (1.06oz) paperboard jar from YellowBee. If you use a paperboard container you’ll want to be extra careful to avoid dripping any product down the outside of it as the oil will stain the paper.

To use; I like to work the mask up with a bit of warm water between my palms, and then massage that into my face. You could also spread the mask all over your face, and then mist your face with your favourite hydrosol. Gently work that into the mask with your fingers—it’ll get a bit creamy and paler in colour. Leave to dry for at least 15 minutes before rinsing off. Whatever you do, follow up with your favourite moisturizer. That’s it!

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this creamy face mask 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!). Be sure not to contaminate it with water during use, and advise any giftees of this. 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 25g.
• 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 use all white kaolin clay if you don’t have pink clay.
• You can replace the apricot kernel powder with more kaolin clay for a gentler finished mask.
• You can play with different smooth clays instead of the ones I’ve used; I do not recommend bentonite clay or rhassoul clay for this formulation as they’re coarser and heavier than the ones I’ve used.
• You could use more of any of the three oils in this formulation to replace what you don’t have.
• Sweet almond oil or peach kernel oil will also work well as a replacement for any of the oils in this formulation that you don’t have.
• You could use other oils you like, too, but that does start to defeat the purpose of a “stone fruit” themed product if you’re replacing the stone fruit oils with other oils!
• Do not substitute the cetyl alcohol.
• You could use Polawax instead of emulsifying wax NF. You could also try Olivem1000 or Ritamulse SCG.
• If you’d like to incorporate an essential oil, please read this.