To me, macadamia nuts will forever evoke memories of Hawaii. I was last there with my family when I was seventeen, and I remember picking up a bag of some chocolate covered macadamia nuts in the airport on our way home. Those nuggets of chocolatey goodness were unbelievably delicious. To this day I’m certain there was some sort of covert layer of butterscotch or caramel in there that made them full-on addictive and memorable, even years later. So, when I finally got around to buying a wee bottle of macadamia nut oil (I’ve learned not to buy new oils in large quantities!), I knew what I’d have to turn it into: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Lotion. Yum.
In keeping with the buttery richness of macadamia nuts, I opted to make this a thicker lotion—something a bit reminiscent of a body butter, but much lighter. If you’re familiar with macadamia nuts, you’ll find macadamia nut oil to be shockingly light. It sinks into the skin in a flash, leaving it hydrated, but not at all greasy. It also has a lovely golden yellow hue and smells ever-so-slightly nutty. If you have the food grade variety you can use that and the final lotion will be even darker and nuttier. I paired lightweight macadamia nut oil with beautiful, fragrant cocoa butter (USA / Canada) for an incredible scent combination and a lotion that’ll thicken up nicely when it fully sets.
For a neat twist I added caramel instead of honey of glycerin as a humectant. I made a simple caramel by boiling sugar until it was a beautiful, dark caramel, poured it onto a sheet of greased aluminum foil to set up, and then added a few bits of caramel to the water part—just 3g (0.1oz), so you’ll have plenty of leftovers (yum!). The caramel gives the lotion a lovely cream colour and adds to how amazing it smells. Mmm.
The final lotion is delightful. It smells incredible. It hydrates beautifully, sinking in quickly and leaving your skin feeling soft and smelling utterly decadent. It’s rich and creamy, but not at all greasy (it feels almost dry, even!). In short, it’s lovely. You should make it.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Lotion
62g | 2.2oz distilled water
3g | 0.1oz hard caramel bits (how to make it)8g | 0.28oz BTMS-50 or other complete emulsifying wax (not beeswax!)
15g | 0.53oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
12g | 0.42oz macadamia nut oil0.4g | 0.014oz liquid germall plus (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer (aim for steaming, no bubbling) in a wide, shallow pan. I used a sauté pan (something like this, with a flat bottom and short sides), but a frying pan would work as well. You want the pan to be large enough to hold two measuring cups or small bowls so you can heat the two parts of the lotion at the same time.
Weigh the emulsifying wax, cocoa butter (USA / Canada), and macadamia nut oil into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup, and place that measuring cup into the water bath to melt everything together.
Up next, combine the just-boiled water and caramel bits in another small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place that measuring cup in the water bath along with the emulsifying wax mixture to heat it up, stirring to blend everything together.
Heat the two parts in the water bath for twenty minutes, keeping an eye on the water bath so it doesn’t simmer dry. After twenty minutes the oil part will be thoroughly melted, the water part will be completely heated through, and the caramel bits will be completely dissolved so you’ve got a lovely caramel scented liquid. Pour the water part into the oil part. Leave that measuring cup in the water bath for another three minutes to ensure everything is melted before removing the measuring cup from the heat.
Whisk the mixture as it cools (or use an immersion blender, which will help lotions made with Polawax or E-wax NF thicken up faster)—it will thicken into a nice white cream (the thickening may take a few days if you are using a different emulsifying wax than emulsimulse/ritamulse and no immersion blender).
Blend in your preservative (though do check the instructions for your specific preservative—some have special instructions for adding to concoctions) and decant the mixture to a 120ml/4 fl oz pump-top bottle or wide-mouthed jar. Enjoy!
Now I just want to eat! I think of made this I’d have a problem (ending with probably having to get my stomach pumped). But I want to get macadamia oil now, it sounds like the perfect oil!
Yeah… I’m bad for the wanna-eat-it DIY projects lol. Sorry not sorry 😛
This sounds lovely! I make a summer lotion with macadamia oil, lemon myrtle tea and lemon myrtle essential oil to celebrate Australian native ingredients – both of those are Australian 🙂
Beautiful! I should give something similar a try with the lemon myrtle you sent me—it smells so amazing 🙂
Have you ever tried soy lecithin instead of emulsifiying wax? I don’t like the content of these waxes.
Thanks
Sarah
I have, and it doesn’t even come close to working—there’s a bunch of articles in the FAQ on e-waxes and emulsifiers that you should check out 🙂
That said… if you don’t like the ingredients in an e-wax, you’re going to hate the ingredients in preservatives that actually work, so perhaps concoctions that contain water just aren’t for you.
Can I substitute shea or mango butters for the cocoa butter. I just ran out
Well, you can, but they are really different (watch this video to see how) and you will completely lose the chocolate part of the lotion. It’ll still work, it’ll just be pretty different. I’d probably choose mango over shea since it’s closer to cocoa butter in terms of absorption speed 🙂
I made this today! Beautiful lotion. Very, very light fragrance, super hydrating and creamy – I do want to lick the spoon 🙂
Woohoo! Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
I made it, as well. I had dark(brown) cocoa butter and Cupuacu butter by hand, so I used combination of them instead of white cocoa. It turns out light brown, smells like milk chocolate. Also I wondered whether it would be sweet and sticky because of caramel. Not at all! This recipe is just for autumn days coming, to indulge yourself, with right consistency for cold weather. Great as a hand cream.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 And yes, in such small quantities the caramel won’t be sticky—similar to adding a tiny amount of honey to a recipe!
How do you measure 0.4 g of liquid? I think my scale starts at 1g.
With a scale that measures in smaller increments 🙂 I’ve linked to the two I have here, and you can currently enter to win one here! You could try weighing out 1g and then roughly halving that, but I do worry about you using too much (too little with liquid germall plus is hard as it’s very potent, even in small amounts).
I made this today and I am having a terrible time weighing small amounts (Germall 0.4g/0.014 oz). I have 3 scales and just purchased a jewelry scale for small amounts but the platform is too small for much more than a ring or something. I also have the problem where the scale says zero and then jumps to a weight higher than what I am aiming for. Can you recommend a scale for small quantities ? I have a KD8000 My Weight scale for large weighing. Thanks
Hey Deb! I’ve linked to the two scales I use the most here—one goes to 0.1g and the other to 0.01g 🙂
Thanks Marie !!! I bought the one shown in your video a couple weeks back on Amazon.ca and LOVE it !! It is the solution to my problem and I picked up a tip along the way too. I forget if it is in your video or not but I’ll say it anyway. If you are measuring a very small amount and let’s say the scale only registers after the first gram is on the scale…don’t Tare the vessel. So if you have a vessel weighing 1.5 grams and you need 0.5 grams just add whatever to the vessel up to 2.0 grams. Hope this makes sense as it was the second tip I needed to erase all frustration.
Good call! I actually used to do that a lot before I got a more accurate scale, but I totally forgot about that tip until you reminded me! It’s a good ‘un 😉
Would it be ok to just use raw honey instead of the caramel? Also when Ive seen you use raw honey you often put it in the water to simmer for 20 min. What if we added it after the water has been heated through or even after emulsifying? Isn’t the objective to not heat raw honey?
For sure! And yes, I am a bit conflicted on that part; the heat and hold helps kill any nasties that might be living in the water part and helps the honey dissolve, but it’s going to kill the living bits in the raw honey as well. You could add it afterwards, but without the heat you are going to have a rather hard time getting it to dissolve in any reasonable period of time. In such low concentrations, I suspect the benefits of raw honey are fairly negligible, though—what we’re more excited about is the humectant properties of the suagr, which aren’t impacted by heating.
Lol! I’m having a down morning where I’m procrastinating. So I’m commenting on recipes!
I LOVE this lotion! I find my skin likes it best while still wet from the shower and not on dry skin. I found it didn’t need any essential oils the chocolately scent was just perfect for me. But I made a chocolate mint sugar body scrub the other day and I am going to pair it with this body butter with a wee nip of peppermint essential oil for a Christmas present.
Mmmmm! Chocolate!
Yay! You’re making me think I need to whip up another batch now 🙂 NOM.
Marie,
Thank you for recommending this lotion. I made it on Saturday and it came out fabulous, it was a hit with my husband. I loved how creamy and thick and non greasy it is. I infused oatmeal, rosehips and a bit of aloe powder in the water while it was boiling to give it a little bit more healing power for his cracked skin. Thank you for introducing me to macadamia oil too.
Woohoo! I’m so glad it’s a hit 🙂 Do be sure to keep a close eye on it; oatmeal, rosehips, and aloe are some pretty delicious bacterial temptation, so even with preservation your lotion will be quite prone to spoiling. Happy making! 🙂
OMG! I made this but used Hemp Butter instead of the macadamia oil and it is FABULOUS! Utterly decadent feeling and silky! I adore how the BTMS-50 brings a powdery feel to this. I did have to add extra water because it kept getting so thick (the soft butter exchanged for oil?), but it’s just perfect. My grandson is super dry in the winter, now he’ll have Chocolate Orange Butter Cream.
Ooooh beautiful! I’m so glad you’re loving it Hopefully the hemp butter helps stave off the temptations to lick it off
When I first read this recipe, I ran right out and bought some macadamia nut oil. I FINALLY made it tonight. It has only just begun to thicken, and I already love it! Thank you for this recipe! And I love your book!!!
YAY! And I’m so glad you’re loving the book 😀 Happy making!
Made it. Love it.
This is definitely my after shower as I crawl into bed, lotion. I crossed my fingers and used my hoard of orange blossom water for the water part and it wasn’t a disaster.
YAY! And the orange blossom bit sounds downright divine 😀
Hi Marie,
I would like to try this over the next day or two,but can’t find the oil, could I use walnut oil instead of macadamia nut please? Or sweet almond? Love the look of some of these lotions and potions lol My sister is mad on patchouli EO could you suggest which recipe to use with this and which EO’s if any to add to the patchouli please.
Thanks Marie.x
Definitely! Just remember that none of the oils you mentioned are as fast-absorbing as macadamia nut oil, but in a lotion that is mostly water, that won’t impact the end product that much. I’d probably recommend walnut since I don’t find sweet almond has much of a nutty smell 🙂 For patchouli recipes, try a search on the blog for it and see what pops up—there’s very literally nearly 1000 recipes up here, so I’m sure you’ll find something. Happy making!
Boom!! I made this and it turned out so lush! I just love it so much! Thanks Marie you are the true Bomb ..Boom Boom Boom ! I am so glad I found you for this learning and life changing experience ! I never thought I could do something like this..
Yay! I’m so glad! Helping people do things they didn’t think they could do is my favourite 😀
Oh I can tell..You are very caring in each response..And so informative ..So we really get whatever it is we need ..I just think you are awesome ..
Hi Marie, I read your recipe for the caramel. Would you take out the spices for this lotion or use as is? Thanks Sue
Good instincts, Sue! Leave out the spices 🙂
oh no, I did a silly and just made the caramel with the spices :'( … I need to make another batch don’t I ? xD
Awww nooo…. 😀
I am also from Montreal! You are just awesome!!! Much Love!! :3 :3 :3
Hello fellow Canadian! I was in your city just a couple weeks ago on a short stop-over—I made time for poutine 😀
Ooh I need to get some macadamia oil! This sounds fabulous. Love the look too. Macadamia sounds really lovely versatile carrier oil, something I could combine with cocoa butter or vanilla infused oil, cinnamon cloves and cardamom infused oils, and many other common ingredients, perhaps even with benzyl alcohol. Thanks so much for your hard work in your encyclopedia. xx
Oh wow. Dream cream. Beautiful alternative to body butters! I made it twice and used some vanilla infused macadamia oil and honey. Both ecomulse scg and btms50 worked great. I should try new carrier oils more often. xx
I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying it! ❤️