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Here is another idea for a little luxury product that is really easy to make at home.
You can make this with any fragrance or coloring that you like and it makes a perfect gift! I also like these homemade beauty products as a great way to spend time with the kiddos- teenage girls in particular might enjoy making these kinds of things with Mom. They can have fun with these recipes and make batches of body butter for their friends.
So this one is really easy to whip up and it makes a wonderful treat for winter skin.
Ingredients:
- 6 oz Coconut Oil
- 2 oz Cocoa Butter
- Peppermint Essential Oil (or fragrance of your choice)– use therapeutic grade oils if you can. They are safe for topical use.
- Red colorant (optional)
- Rubbing Alcohol (optional)
- Mason Jars (optional)
Directions:
- Spray a storage container with rubbing alcohol and set aside to dry. (This will just sanitize your jars and is an optional step).
- In a double boiler, melt both the coconut oil and cocoa butter. Once oils are melted, remove from heat and refrigerate. {Do not place in freezer!}
- Once the oils appear opaque, remove from fridge and using a stand or hand mixer whip. The oils will get creamy fast.
- Once oils are creamy, refrigerate for 5 minutes, and then continue to whip again. Add in essential oils, and whip until you get stiff peaks.
- Separate into two bowls, and color one with the red colorant. Using a spoon or piping bag, add a layer of white body butter, then red, alternating until container is full.
You can skip the coloring and just keep this white and it will still look really pretty.
Some other fragrance ideas would be cinnamon, lavender, citrus, vanilla, coconut, eucalyptus… the possibilities are endless!
If you decide to make this please come back and let me know what you think!
All the products needed to make this recipe can be found on Amazon or at a natural foods store.
Oh and one last note, if you don’t have the cocoa butter this recipe still works. The cocoa butter just makes this even more moisturizing. Home cooking advice by Woolworths Catalogue specials may be really interesting for you, too.
See tons more DIY ideas on my pinterest board.
If you have extra coconut oil, you might try this easy Deep Conditioning Hair Conditioner recipe.
And you might also like these homemade lotion bars. A wonderful treat for dry hands!
Easy Hand Scrub– perfect for cooking or gardening
Why would you ever put rubbing alcohol in a body butter!! It is extremely drying to the skin!
Julie,
You aren’t actually adding rubbing alcohol into the body butter. If you read the directions, you simply spritz rubbing alcohol to sanitize a container. If you feel comfortable not sanitizing your container, you can skip that step. I mentioned that in the post.
I am just wondering if there is a substitute for the coconut oil for those who are not a fan of coconut? Thanks
Kristal, If you get the refined coconut oil there is almost no coconut smell to it. The unrefined coconut oil is the one that does have a bit of coconut fragrance. Coconut Oil is what most people use because it is so nourishing and relatively inexpensive and it whips up beautifully.
I am not sure if shea butter would work. I haven’t tried it and it might not whip up as nicely and it might leave the skin feeling a little greasy. If you have some though you can give it a shot 🙂
I like the cocoa butter. But wondering how it would turn out if I used shea butter instead?
Not sure on that Breanna. If you give it a shot let us know how it works out 🙂
Just a heads up, this isn’t a true Body butter. It’s oils that are whipped. So it should be whipped body oil, not butter. And you should never, ever put cinnamon on the skin. It’s way, way too hot and could result in burns. Just some unsolicited, but important advice.
Hi Heidi,
I don’t think a pure cinnamon essential oil would cause skin irritation but I guess if you are prone to highly sensitive skin it might be something to be aware of. This is so diluted with a few drops of essential oil, I haven’t found any issues.
There is both oil and butter in almost all body butter recipes. This recipe has coconut oil and it has cocoa butter. I think with just cocoa butter or shea butter, it would be extremely dense.
Here is the ingredients list for Body Shop Body Butter- you will see several oils listed:
Aqua (Solvent/Diluent), Butyrospermum Parkii (Skin-Conditioning Agent/Emollient), Glycerin (Humectant), Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter (Emollient), Isododecane (Solvent), Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate (Skin Conditioning Agent – Emollient), Glyceryl Stearate (Emulsifier), Cetearyl Alcohol (Emulsifier), PEG-100 Stearate (Surfactant), Cera Alba (Emulsifier/Emollient), Dimethicone (Skin Conditioning Agent), Glycine Soja Oil (Emollient/Skin Conditioner), Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil (Emollient), Bertholletia Excelsa Seed Oil (Emollient), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil (Skin-Conditioning Agent), Phenoxyethanol (Preservative), Parfum (Fragrance), Dipentaerythrityl Hexahydroxystearate/Hexastearate/Hexarosinate (Skin Conditioning Agent), Xanthan Gum (Viscosity Modifier), Phenethyl Alcohol (Fragrance Ingredient), Caprylyl Glycol (Skin Conditioning Agent), Benzyl Benzoate (Solvent), Vanilla Planifolia Extract (Natural Additive), Benzyl Alcohol (Preservative), Disodium EDTA (Chelating Agent), Tocopherol (Antioxidant), Coumarin (Fragrance Ingredient), Hydroxycitronellal (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Salicylate (Fragrance Ingredient), Limonene (Fragrance Ingredient), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Sodium Hydroxide (pH Adjuster), Hexyl Cinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Cinnamate (Fragrance Ingredient), Citral (Fragrance Ingredient), Citric Acid (pH Adjuster), Farnesol (Fragrance Ingredient), Geraniol (Fragrance Ingredient), Amyl Cinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Isoeugenol (Fragrance Ingredient), Eugenol (Fragrance Ingredient), Anisyl Alcohol (Fragrance Ingredient). [+/- Caramel (Colour), CI 19140 (Colour), CI 15985 (Colour)].
Hi there! 🙂 I’m planning on making a couple batches of this body butter to give to friends and family this Christmas, but I have a question: what’s its shelf-life?
Hi Libbey- it will last ages and ages 🙂
I made it.. lovehow soft it made skin, but how do u store it? I know coconut oil with any warmth melts, but cant refrigerate it bc it gets to hard…
I made it with Shea by mistake.. I did lavender oil and also steeped my dried lavender for a while in the hot melted liquid. It is beautiful!
Thanks for the recipe!!
It will be a fun gift to give.
Oh good so happy it worked out for you Sheri 🙂 Lavender is so lovely as a gift.
I love the recipes for coconut oil. It is much more economical too. I would like to start using coconut oil for cooking and my question is “Can the same coconut oil be used for cooking or is there a difference:”
Hu Sybil,
The quick answer is yes. The longer answer is that for cooking you probably want to get unrefined coconut oil. It doesn’t have the coconut taste and isn’t processed so most people prefer that for cooking. It is just slightly more expensive. I only buy unrefined so I don’t have to bother getting two different jars 🙂
So I made this and found mine quite mouse like I rather than butter like. But I did use she butter instead. Overall loved the concept of making your own …thanks for great idea!
Hello, I made a batch of this last night and found that it had started to melt overnight. Do you think I didn’t whip enough or does it need to be stored in the fridge?
Hi Amy,
I am not sure where you live but where I live, it is triple digit heat right now and incredibly hot. If it is super hot where you are as well, you might need to adjust for the warm temperature and put it in the fridge. If you live in a cool climate, it might have just been a matter of not whipping quite enough. 🙂
So I came across this on Pinterest and I would love to make it. However, I AM interested in knowing if there’s an alternative to the coconut oil? I saw the previous comment where someone mentioned not being a fan of coconut, but I actually have a coconut allergy, so I cannot use it. I am always looking for these kinds of wonderful DIY products, and I love to make them. However, so many of them require coconut oil, which is a problem for me. Would another type of oil work as well, or is coconut it, do you think? Thanks!
Can you use shea butter instead of coco butter ?
Hi Maria,
I have not personally tried that but you can check the comments above for others that have modified the recipe with shea butter. Good luck!
I made this as part of my homemade Christmas gifts last year. All of the girls loved it as did I. It’s really great for the feet.
As a bonus it’s the only product that has helped my sons dry skin due to taking Accutane. He’s even requested I make it again this year as he’s running low! Who knew.
Yeah Leslie you made my day 🙂
Can the cocoa butter be replaced with shea butter?
So you have a natural recommendation for the coloring instead of food coloring? I read a diy scrub recipe that used grapefruit juice to get the pink color. I wonder if it woul work?
Hi Amanda- not sure on that. I know beet juice is a great all natural red coloring but with fresh foods like that there might be issues with molding and with staining? Lemon juice can be a little harsh on the skin and you definitely need to avoid the sun after using – not sure if that is all acidic fruits or just lemon though. If you decide to try it let us know how it works out!
Absolutely lovely. I have made this twice and loved the smooth feeling to my skin. Because I live in a humid climate (Queensland) and its very humid at the moment, I added a small amount of Esoy just to give it a bit of firmness which worked a treat. I’ve tried this with lotion bars too and they are gorgeous. Soft on the skin. I love this recipe. Thanks so much for the diy – great work! Cannot understand people being so critical on these things – telling everyone THEY know better when it’s perfectly obvious the choice is up to them. If they don’t like something (ie rubbing alcohol – OPTIONAL) then try another recipe! Or come up with their own. Had to say that – sorry!
So happy to hear you liked it Lesley! I haven’t heard of Esoy but I will look it up. Merry Christmas 🙂
-Charlene
Hi! I love this DIY and I think it’s a great idea! Just one question: how much essential oil does it take? I want to make two batches and was just wondering how much essential oil I would need. Thanks!
Hi Brooklyn, it kind of depends on the amount of fragrance you prefer. I usually start with ten drops and stir and smell and stir and smell until I get the scent I want. 🙂
Hi, I was just wondering if you can use the microwave instead of a double boiler. Do you think that might work? Thanks!
Hi Addison, yes I think so it just might not melt as smoothly. The coconut oil will melt really fast and the cocoa butter might take a little longer. I would just do very short intervals and stir well in between.
HTH!
How much essential oils do you add? 10 drops? 15?
hello i want to make these for christmas how many jars can the one batch make if i use the same size jars that you have in the post?
How many drops of Essential Oil do you use?
Where do you get the cocoa butter? I looked it up and was directed to stores that sell creams and lotions with cocoa butter. Is this the same thing? Thanks 🙂
I really wanted this to work. I made it twice but both times it came out soooo oily. Can’t use it.
Where do you get the cocoa butter? I looked it up and was directed to stores that sell creams and lotions with cocoa butter. Is this the same thing? Thanks