It seems hard (to me, at least) to think of New Year’s Eve without thinking of New York City. I fell thoroughly in love with New York in May of 2014, and I would love to be there on New Year’s Eve. Last summer I read Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America 1927 and I was just enamored with the sparkle and excitement of it all—and so much of it was in New York. All that is to say that this sparkly winter shimmer body lotion is inspired by all that, but it doesn’t need to be the roaring twenties to get your glitter on.
I’ve chosen safflower oil as the base oil for this lotion because it’s nice and light. On its own it sinks into the skin quickly, so when it’s blended into a lotion you get lightweight lotion that absorbs in a flash. To that I’ve added a bit of menthol for a bit of a refreshing chill.
Once we’ve got an emulsified lotion, it’s time to add the sparkle. I’m using silver mica to channel sparkling snow, and I’ve also included a wee bit of blue ultramarine to give the lotion a cool tint in the bottle. It won’t carry through to the skin (unless you use far too much!), so don’t worry about looking like a glittery member of the Blue Man Group 😉
Winter Shimmer Body Lotion
7g | 0.25oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)
18g | 0.63 oz safflower oil73mL | 2.47 fl oz distilled water
2g | 0.07g raw honey
¼ tsp silk peptides3g | 0.1oz menthol crystalsor 20 drops peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)
¼ tsp silver mica mica
Teensiest bit blue ultramarine—just a speck or twoBroad spectrum preservative of choice
Combine the emulsifying wax with the safflower oil in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
While the emulsifying wax is melting, combine the water, honey, and silk in a small measuring cup and gently warm.
Once the emulsifying wax mixture has melted, add the water mixture. Heat through to ensure everything is melted before removing the pan from the heat. If you’re using menthol crystals, add them as you heat everything through and ensure they melt before removing from the heat.
Whisk the mixture as it cools—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).
Whisk in the mica and blue ultramarine (and the peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada), if you’re using that instead of menthol). Add 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 pump-top bottle. Enjoy!
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
This looks so Awesome!! I MUST try this! err… When I order all my ingredients….
What colors do u recommend getting in oxides and what colors in ultraMarines?
-Kathryn
The colours I use most are red, yellow, brown, black, green, and blue, though I make cosmetics (lots of ’em these days!) so that drastically impacts my needs 🙂 Think about your needs and go from there, I suppose 😉 If you’d only use them for soap and you’d never make grey or black soap, you probably won’t need black (and so on and so forth). For micas you can often get away with just silver, and then use your oxides to add a bit of a tint… though if you’re like me you’ll eventually crack and try to acquire the entire rainbow LOL!
Ok! So would you reccomend blue oxide or blue ultramarine?
Also, Would it be alright if I used cocoa powder instead of brown oxide
and charcoal instead of black oxide?
Thanks so much,
Kathryn
There’s no such thing as blue oxide, just blue ultramarine 😉 Sometimes you’ll see it listed as blue ultramarine oxide, but from my understanding there is no oxidization involved in the process, so that “oxide” bit in the name is more there to communicate that it works similarly to the actual oxides 🙂
Cocoa butter and charcoal will work instead of oxides in some applications, and not in others. If you’re mostly concerned with making soaps they’d be good choices, but if you want to make cosmetics, you should really get the actual oxides to avoid oxidization, colour shifting, and colour inconsistencies.
Thanks for being sweet and patient enough to answer my questions!
<3
Kathryn
Of course! 🙂
What benefits do allation and silk peptides add to lotions?
-Kathryn
Hi Kathryn! They both help with healing, and silk is also a fantastic moisture manager, helping dry skin stay hydrated 🙂 It’s amazing how big of a difference a small amount of silk can make in a recipe!
I have found Alantoin powder blended into a lotion works amazingly well for conditions like excema. I often blend it into a good quality Dermabase. It is safe and mild enough for babies and children as well.
I see that all your recipes are measured in g, maybe it is because you want them to be small for the blog. I hope that in your book your recipes are in ounces.
Margarette
I work in grams for the same reason I write in English; I was raised with it. It’s also the dominant measurement system across the globe. The book will be in both 🙂
Hi Marie.. I am big fan of yours. Today i thought of checking your website after few weeks time and it was a sweet surprise to my eyes.. Loved the new look of your website. Keep going!! All the best for your book!
Thanks, Tejashri! It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but I’m super happy with it so far 😀 I figured it was about time the graphic designer blogger took the time to make her own site look nice 😉
Hey Marie, I like the new look of your website, I haven’t explored all of it yet, but I just wanted to let you know that I can’t click the links on your FAQ. However, they opened when i right click->open in new tab
Thanks, Sophie 🙂 I have noticed the FAQ has gone wacky, I think I need to recruit help from an actual developer :/ Weeeeird.
Hi Marie, is their anything that can be used in place of silk peptides? I have tussah silk but not the peptides. Will it make much of a difference to the recipe if left out? Thank you!
Hi Megan! As long as you can get the tussah silk to dissolve it’ll work beautifully 🙂
I’m a bit disappointed by the new website theme – I really loved the old one. However, I’m glad that you’re progressing and that you’re writing your own book now! Congrats 🙂
I think you’ll find this one works much better on a wide variety of mobile devices 🙂 It’s also much more flexible in allowing me to create pages like this one to help readers find more content!
About how many cans of lotion does this recipe make?
That depends on the size of your container. Just add up the weights of the ingredients for the total yield—it’s about 100g, which is just under half a cup.
Can safflower oil be substituted?
Yup! Read this for some ideas 🙂
Is emulsimulse the same as emulsifying wax from New Directions? What do you think of Polawax from New Direction?
It’s not—check out this blog for an in-depth look at how they differ 🙂
Thanks Marie! I can’t wait to make this lotion!
Enjoy!
I love the inspiration for this winter body lotion filled with a little glitter. Who doesn’t need a bit more sparkle in their life? =)
Thanks, Anne-Marie! I’m loving the bit of shimmer this is bringing to dark winter days 🙂