Recipe: Summer Glow Body Butter

This is a recipe for a simple yet sumptuous, heat-free and all-natural body butter, made with just 4 base ingredients, plus optional essential oils and mica mineral for a little sparkle and glow ✨ 

Sourcing Ingredients
There are many suppliers available online for good quality skincare ingredients.  I recommend The Soapery for most DIY skincare ingredients: great quality, value, and fast and free delivery.  

I have included links on each of the ingredients, except essential oils, so that you can easily locate the ingredients on The Soapery's website.  I am not affiliated with The Soapery, and I don't receive any perks for including these links.  

Hygiene and Safety
Before you begin making this formula, ensure that your making area is clean and clutter-free, and that your equipment, utensils and containers are sterile.  Thoroughly ash hands and scrub under nails before handling ingredients.  

It’s good practice to keep a notebook with a record of each skincare product you make, and allocating it a batch number which will also be added it its label.

Keeping a record of your recipes and methods is crucial for safety reasons, and it's also useful because these little notes become an invaluable record over time, recording things that worked or that didn't quite go according to plan, and any tweaks and hacks.  By adding a batch number to your products, you can easily trace it back to its recipe for future remakes.  An example of such a record is at the foot of this blog.

Sensitive Skin & Allergies
Always carry out thorough research on ingredients, to ensure their suitability for your skin type, especially if allergies are present.  Where possible, use organic, unrefined ingredients.  However, when using nut-derived ingredients such as shea butter, opt for a refined version; although unrefined shea butter does not carry any allergy warnings, it is advisable to use refined as this will be free of any proteins that may trigger allergies.

Using Essential oils
These are optional, of course.  Leave them out if you want simple, scent free formulas, or if you have particularly sensitive skin.  If you’re not familiar with using essential oils, I recommend buying a beginners’ guide.  You don’t need to spend much either - eBay has hundreds of second-hand books.  My personal bible for essential oils is The Directory of Essential Oils by Wanda Sellar.  You can pick this up on eBay for a little a 99p!
 
The recommended percentage of essential oils in skincare can vary, but I would recommend a limit of 2% for body products such as body butters.  Any more than this could irritate skin, particularly sensitive skin

Equipment
Accurate digital scales with a Tare (reset) function
Mixing container (e.g. glass jug) with minimum volume of 250ml
Small spatula
Storage jar (preferably glass)
Sticky label

Using a digital scale with a Tare (reset) function and 0.01 accuracy is very important, especially when making in small volumes.  I recommend the Criacr Digital Pocket Scales, 500g, 0.01g Precision Kitchen Scales, on Amazon.

Recipe

Makes 100g
Shea butter (whipped): 54.5g
Apricot kernel oil: 26g
Arrowroot powder: 17g
Vitamin E oil: 2.5g
Optional Gold Sparkle mineral mica: 2.5g – 4g, depending on level of sparkle desired!
Essential oils of choice: 2g

Because this is an oil/butter-based recipe that does not contain water, there is no need to add a preservative.  However, I have included Vitamin E oil, which has a dual purpose of being a natural antioxidant to help prolong the shelf life of the body butter, while also being wonderful for skin.

Instructions
This is a heat-free formula, meaning that we don't need to melt any of the ingredients first.  However, to work with unmelted shea butter, we must whip it first  to give it a smooth, mixable consistency.  To whip, break the shea butter down into small chunks, place in a deep jug or bowl, and whip up to a fluffy consistency using an electric whisk.  Make sure there are no lumps remaining.    

Combine all weighed ingredients except the mica and essential oils, into your mixing container.  Blend together using a small spatula, by gently folding and mixing over and over until you achieve a smooth, silky texture, working out any small lumps.  If you see lumps, these are likely to be the shea butter, and you need to make sure that you work them out so that the texture is completely smooth. 

Add the mica.  Be careful, as mica can become airborne very easily, so you need to handle it slowly and steadily.  Once added, gently and slowly fold the mica down into the mix, and when it appears fully incorporated into the other ingredients, thoroughly whip it in with the spatula.  Now add the essential oils and give a final brisk mix through, ensuring everything is completely combined and lump free.

Decant into a sterile container, and store in a cool, dark place, suitably labelled with name, ingredients, and batch number.  Avoid contact with water.  Use within 6 months.

 Example of a Cosmetic Batch Record

Notes

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