.%20)
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
Hi Amanda- I am not sure about substitutes. I wouldn’t want to put vegetable oil on my body or shortening… for sure that wouldn’t be safe in the sun. Coconut oil will not develop mold.
I just made this using coconut oil and Shea butter.
I also added peppermint essential oil. It feels great on my skin but is extremely greasy. I wanted to give as Christmad gifts but don’t think I will now because I feel it’s way to greasy.
What did I do wrong?
Terry- I find it is greasy and then immediately melts into my skin so I don’t feel gross. I like richer creams though because my skin gets dry. If you want to change the texture you can add a little cornstarch in and see if you prefer that.
If you want it to be less greasy use a bit of cornstarch be sure to dissolve it in one of the oils in its warm liquid state so it doesn’t get gummy. You can substitute grape seed oil for the coconut but since it is liquid at room temp I would add less of that to the cocoa butter, keep whipping and adding in small amounts of the grape seed oil to get the right consistency. This is supposed to be thick and luscious so it will be heavier, it is not a lotion so it will take awhile to soak in but is so worth it. Apply in evening while watching TV etc. You only have to apply this once it is heavenly.
Thanks for your great tips Janis!
I made this and whipped it a lot. 2 times too. Let it sit in fridge for a while and I still never got stiff peaks. It stayed liquidy
Hi Latosha- can I ask what the consistency of your coconut oil was? Was it in a liquid form when you started? If so you might try putting it into the fridge for just a few minutes until it gets a bit firmer- not too long or it will be hard as a rock. Coconut oil changes consistency according to the temperature of your home- so in summer mine is liquid and in winter it is solid. I think that might have been the issue.
Ohhh I can’t wait to make this! But I just want to be sure, are the ounces weight or liquid measure?
I have a question–how much does this recipe make? I’m making and selling body butter and scrubs for the holidays to help pull in a little extra cash and it would help to know how much the recipe makes.
Thank you!
Chelsea- since there is 6oz of Coconut Oil and 2 oz of Cocoa Butter you will have approximately 8 oz of product. Slightly more because of whipping the ingredients.
Love all of these beauty things.
i made this and it was quite easy. I did keep all of the measurements correct and feel that it is a bit greasy. I might suggest using slightly less coconut oil so the ratio to the cocoa butter is a bit closer. It will be best for feet or extremely rough hands but I would suggest wearing socks or gloves until it soaks in. Put on feet before bed.
Body butter
Has anyone tried to use this with just a wisk? I want to make them but I don’t have a mixer :/
what is the shelf life for this?
Hi Marci- I wouldn’t suggest making a year’s worth or anything but this will last an extremely long time just like body butter from the store 🙂
That’s a great recipe. I love natural body products and I have all the ingredients to try this out! Should work well with my dry skin, which really loves coconut oil. Nice idea on adding a colorant as well, looks so pretty.
I just made this recipe yesterday! It was fairly straightforward, and turned out pretty well. Yes, it was a bit oily, but I would be curious to try a different ratio of cocoa butter and coconut oil in the future. I used a little less than 6 oz of cocoa butter and about 16 oz or so of the oil. However, the oily feeling was not a complete turn off, because it melts into your skin quickly. I broke the batch up into a few different sections and used eucalyptus, lemon, peppermint, and lavender doterra essential oils for the ‘flavors.’ It is a very lovely recipe, and it will make great Christmas gifts! If I try it again in the future with different ratios I will let you know what happens! Thank you!
I wasn’t particularly impressed with this body butter… I’d describe it more like scented coconut oil. I tried messing with the amount of coconut oil I used as I went along but it still is just really oily. Love the smell and it’s definitely not something you would need to use a lot of… Maybe it’s just a different consistency than I was expecting.
Hi Claire- Body Butter is meant to be very rich and hydrating. It is not a lotion- it is a much thicker version of lotion. If you are used to lighter lotions- especially the ones from the drugstore or Target which can be really light- you may not like body butter as much. There is a good amount of cocoa butter in the recipe so it is definitely not just a scented coconut oil. Also coconut oil is very, very good for the skin. I put it on my children’s feet every night.
I have tried this on one hand and used a Body Butter purchased at Body Shop on the other and the texture is the same. After a few minutes the butter absorbs into the skin and you are not left with an oily texture. I usually use body butter on my body and not on my hands unless it is right before bedtime.
Charlene-
I LOVE your website! Thank you for all of the awesome recipes and ideas! I have Shea Butter instead of Cocoa butter, would that work too? I wanted to make a home spa for my sister for the holidays 🙂 Scrubs, body butter and shaving cream plus loofa, etc. 🙂 Thanks!
You are so sweet! Thanks Anna! I haven’t tried shea butter– I think one reason people don’t use it is because of the fragrance?
Here is something I found that might help:
http://sedonaaromatherapie.com/blog/2012/03/12/the-difference-between-cocoa-butter-and-shea-butter/
Thanks Charlene! 🙂 I will let you know if I do use Shea butter and how it works out!
I think our lack of baking skills is coming through as some of us try to make this and maybe that is why we are getting mixed results. I can NOT get it to look like the pictures at all. I have had it look like coconut oil when it was done (I’m guessing lack of whipping) and then I put it in the fridge and it got too hard.. I was able to cram it into a container and I’ll use it on my kids but it’s not pretty or whipped looking at all. Mayvbe you need to teach us how to “whip”! What speed, for how long, one or two whisks? how do we know it’s working, etc.. I used the mixer for 10 minutes but it just looked like oil when I was done.
Not sure if my last post went through.. just wanted to ask for more specific instructions on how to “whip”.. I know you aren’t offering cooking lessons but I think this is where I am going wrong. I have an old handmixer from 1996, using speed 7 and 1 whisk… Did it for almost 10 minutes and it was still think like uncooked eggs. I put it in fridge and then it got hard like table butter… (I used some Shea so that might account for the hardness but from recipes I’ve looked at, these should all look “whipped” and fluffy.. like pudding or whipped cream or something in that world, right?
LOL- Jennifer I am not sure you want cooking lessons from me 🙂
Yes it should look like a thick version of pudding.
I know once upon a time I made whipped cream with a hand held mixer and it worked so I think it should work for you too with that?
If you go to Youtube.com and then type in whipped body butter you should be able to see various recipes and people showing what the end result looks like after whipping the heck out of it 🙂
Ha ha! Poor Jennifer. So one other thing– coconut oil changes consistency depending on the temperature. In the cold months (and the fridge) it will get hard, in the summer you will find it liquid. I keep my coconut oil in the pantry by the way like olive oil. So there is one issue- room temp is best definitely not the fridge.
And then another little random note– I put coconut oil on my kid’s feet every single night- I read in Kiwi magazine that it can be an easy way to help prevent illness in winter and so far we have been really lucky. So if you decide this entire thing is to be scrapped you can always do that with your end product 🙂
We use coconut oil all over daily! (My kids are from Africa) but I don’t like how oily it is so I thought making a butter would be better. I know what it should look like but I can not get mine to look right. I honestly think I do not know how to whip properly. 🙁
I was really excited to make this as Christmas gifts for my girlfriends and mom. I’m quite sad that it didn’t work for me.. I’m not very happy with my results 🙁 As soon as I got the butter on my skin and it warmed up to my body temperature, it completely melted down my leg and left my skin really oily. I had to wipe off excess oil because it really didn’t soak in at all. I’m trusting 100% that my ratios were off or something (I tripled the recipe) because it sounds like most people have had pretty good luck with this. Hope it works better next time for me!
I figured it out. Mine was still in liquid state when I tried to whip it. I took what I had that I thought was ruined and just whipped it up and it was perfect. I was reading 4 or 5 different blogs and somehow missed this, Your instructions are clear.. Especially where you say “when it’s opaque” and also to whip it again once it’s creamy.. that’s what made me try the buttery looking thing I had and it worked.
Hi Carolyn– “it completely melted down my leg” that sounds like you put a ton on? Maybe that is it? You don’t need a lot of this- it is ultra rich and hydrating so I use like a pea size amount at a time. Not a big scoop 🙂
I tried another recipe 2 days ago and it was awful! I tried this recipe last night and it was great! I did use Shea butter though instead of cocoa and I have no complaints!
Does anyone know how long it takes to turn opaque in the refrigerator before you can whip it? Thanks!
Can you subsitute cocoa butter for shea butter?
i made this, and it turned off a bit greasy. However, the consistency looked the same. It took a while for it to whip us though. My daughter loves it, but I initially made it for a dirty santa gift. It doesn’t seem as thick as I thought it should be.
How much colorant did you use?
I made this for Christmas presentS and got great great feedback. About to make a smaller batch for myself. People just remember to be patient and put in the fridge and whip as it says but I whipped it like she said but more… So every five minutes until it was thick. You will think it is not going to stiffen up but it will. Amazing stuff. Love love this simple recepie. I am makeing a batch with some more essential oils. Thank you for posting!!!!
I made this in several “flavors” for my sisters and niece for Christmas. I used shea butter instead of cocoa because I could only find the mostly liquid cocoa butter (I added some after the first whip, just for the smell and the additional moisture), I also added Vit. E. oil from some caplets. Truly wonderful stuff! Everyone loved it! It takes about 20-30 minutes in my fridge to turn opaque, I did scrape the sides of the bowl with a spoon & break up the more solid chunks. The consistency was that of softened butter and opaque in color. For those asking, I used a whisk attachment (single) on my hand mixer, and whisked until it was the consistency of butter cream frosting! (about 5 mins, more than that and it starts to heat up too much). Put it back into the fridge for about 5 minutes and then whisked again. Hopefully this helps!
Thanks Anna- great tips! So glad you liked it 🙂
What kind of colorant did you use? Would food coloring work?
Can’t wait to try this! Thanks!
Mary- Colorant can be found in craft stores – it is a little different than food coloring. Here is what it looks like:
http://www.amazon.com/Colors-75oz-Pkg-Lilac-Peach-Seafoam/dp/B000W5JIM4/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=colorant&linkCode=ur2&peasin=B000W5JIM4&pebp=1422764131837&qid=1422764112&sr=8-1&tag=myfrugadve-20&linkId=YZOADNIG5YHPVS3E
These are designed to use in lotions and such and would be the best bet 🙂
So, I am attempting this with the cocoa butter wafers and I’m struggling to make it work. I tried to soften the wafers in the microwave for short bursts, but they don’t soften, they turn to complete liquid. Then what? I tried to add the other ingredients and put it in the fridge, but became hard as a brick…. so I couldn’t attempt to whip. Should I microwave again and start over? HELP!!! I really want this for gifts for some girlfriends this weekend…
i didn’t love this body butter. I have made a numb of different versions and unfortunately this one just didn’t turn out how I like it normally. I think it may have been the ratio of coconut oil to cocoa butter. I like shea butter with a mix of olive or almond oil with coconut oil and some vitamin E. This smells great though and I used beet root powder for the red color so I will certainly enjoy using this- just not my favorite