I'm excited to share with you my latest obsession: this grapeseed and rose lotion for the face and body. If you are like me, you may be concerned with the ingredients found in store-bought skincare products. I like knowing exactly what I'm putting on my skin and making your own scrubs, cleansers, toners, masks and lotions allow you to do just that.
This recipe, adapted from the wonderful Mountain Rose blog (check it out, you will want to bookmark it), contains only the best ingredients in natural skincare and has no preservatives or chemicals meant to keep a product from going off too soon. Plus, you know what you're putting on your face when you make your own skincare products.
Nothing here is a filler, everything in this ingredient list is good for your skin. Coconut oil is a great base, as is the lesser-known grapeseed oil, which is great for all skin types because it contains antioxidants. Grapeseed oil is also an excellent for oily skin because it can help regulate your natural oil production.
Rosehip seed oil is a favorite of skincare experts. In my research into the best oils for skincare, rosehip oil came up a lot as a favorite. It has wonderful healing properties and is a great oil for sensitive skin. Find out more in my article, What is Rosehip Seed Oil? And Is It Good for Your Skin?
Aloe vera gel, as you likely know, has incredible soothing properties as well and provides a nice cooling effect to skin.
As for the other ingredients here, cocoa butter is wonderfully moisturizing and along with the beeswax adds a creaminess to this recipe. You can buy cocoa butter in wafers and the beeswax in pastilles, which is more convenient for DIY recipes. And you can use less of the beeswax if you want your lotion to be less thick.
Essential oils have their own benefits when it comes to skin, but for the most part they provide a nice fragrance to your lotion. Balsam of Peru is inexpensive, comes highly recommended by the Mountain Rose bloggers and has great wound-healing properties. It smells delicious -- like vanilla with a hint of cinnamon.
For this recipe, I allow you to choose your own favorite essential oils to add to this. According to Eden Botanicals, a great resource for all holistic ingredients, balsam of Peru blends especially well with Jasmine, Rose, Cedarwood, Orange and Ylang Ylang essential oils. You can buy small bottles with droppers of essential oils from Whole Foods or save money and purchase online. And feel free to skip the essential oils if you want to keep things simple. Check out my article to find your best bets for your skin, Essential Oils by Skin Type.
This lotion will last at least several months if stored in a cool, dry place. It may last even longer if you keep it in the refrigerator. And feel free to play around with the ingredient list. The beautiful thing about DIY recipes is that there are no rules. You can adapt these recipes based on the ingredients you have on hand or the ones you love most. I adapted this myself from a very popular, buzzed-about recipe.
This recipes makes about 4 cups of lotion, making it great for gift-giving. You can get all Pinterest-y crafty and put these in Bell jars for gifts. And of course you can halve the recipe if it's just for you.
Note: If you have skin sensitivities, try this lotion on your body first before applying to your face.
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra virgin coconut oil
- ½ cup grapeseed oil (buy from your local health food store, or online at Amazon.com)
- 1 tbsp cocoa butter or 7 cocoa butter wafers (buy the wafers at Amazon.com)
- 1 tbsp rosehip seed oil (buy at Amazon.com)
- 1 tbsp or 2 softgels of vitamin E (buy at Amazon.com)
- 2 1/2 tbsp yellow beeswax (buy from a local beekeeper, from a health food store or at Amazon.com). If you are allergic to beeswax, try 2 tbsp of Candelilla wax (buy at Amazon).
- 1/4 cup aloe vera gel (buy at Amazon.com)
- 1/4 cup distilled water
- 10 drops balsam of Peru essential oil (buy at Amazon.com)
- 2 teaspoons your favorite essential oil (I'm partial to rose or lavender)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 jar of wonderful face cream
Preparation
Combine the first 6 ingredients above (the coconut oil, grapeseed oil, cocoa butter, rosehip seed oil, Vitamin E and beeswax) in a double boiler and heat until melted over boiling water. If you don't have a double boiler, no problem. Try this trick from About's Frugal Living site, What to Use If You Don't Have a Double Boiler.
Stir the mixture, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool. When I made this, I put it in the refrigerator to quicken the cooling process.
In a separate bowl, mix the aloe vera gel and the distilled water.
Now it's time to blend. This step takes several minutes, so keep that in mind when choosing your method. I have a blender, which you can use, but I used a hand mixer when I made this and it worked just fine.
Pour your cooled mixture into a large Pyrex bowl. As you blend, slowly pour the aloe vera/distilled water mixture in. Blend a couple minutes, then add the balsam of Peru and your essential oils.
Blend for another couple minutes or until your lotion takes on the consistency of a cold cream. It took me about 5 minutes total blending time with a hand blender to get the perfect consistency but my friend who makes this all the time said that's normal. She said it once took her 10 minutes to blend hers with an immersion blender! Next time, I think I'll use a regular blender just to cut down on the time.
Spoon your fabulous lotion into jars or plastic containers and once they've cooled completely, enjoy!
More recipes:
- Homemade face mask recipes
- An amazing guacamole made with peas? You won't believe how good Rancho La Puerta's Famous Guacamole Recipe is.
No comments:
Post a Comment