And yet another lotion recipe

Given that my last attempt at lotion making did not go very well and that I’ve used or given away most of the stock I had – I found myself wanting to give some to a friend, but having nothing available. So today I made (or tried to make) some more lotion, using yet another recipe. It didn’t come out perfectly either. I followed the instructions very closely, but made a few changes. I used beeswax pellets instead of shredded beeswax (can’t imagine it’d make a difference), green tea instead of chamomile tea, and skipped the potassium sorbate and cinnamon. Instead I added phenonip and cucumber-green tea essential oil. Now for the problems:
1) The recipe wouldn’t emulsify -or rather, about a third of it emulsified, but no matter how much I beat/blended it, the oil would not mix with the rest of the lotion. The consistency of the emulsified lotion, however, was wonderful: silky, smooth, creamy and light. I loved it – but I needed the whole bunch to be emulsified. Realizing that blending alone wouldn’t do it – I added a bit of melted emulsifying wax – and that, fortunately, did it.
2) Once the oil mixed with the rest of the lotion, the whole thing became very liquid. I blended and blended, mixed and mixed, and it made no difference. I finally added quite a bit of arrowroot, and I think that may have made a difference, but not a huge one.
So I’ve been left with a beautiful, silky, easy to spread lotion that is, unfortunately, quite thin. Still, I love the melt in your skin consistency and I’m definitely giving some to my friends (and keeping some for me!).
Here is the recipe that I plan to use next time.
Silky Body Lotion Recipe
1/4 cup apricot kernel oil
1/4 cup jojoba oil
1/4 cup beeswax pellets
2 Tbsp. emulsifying wax pellets
1 Tbsp. stearic acid
1 tsp. arrowroot powder
1 tsp. honey
1 cup brewed green tea, warm
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
1/4 tsp. citric acid
1 tsp. phenonip
fragrance oil
colorant (optional)
Melt together the oils, waxes, stearic acid, arrowroot and honey in a double boiler. Let cool a little, but not become hard.
Mix the tea, aloe vera and citric acid in a blender or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the mixed oils very slowly, mixing/blending constantly. Continue blending until it emulsifies. Blend for 2 more minutes, and then for 30 seconds at the time, until the lotion achieves the thickness you want. Add phenonip and mix again.
Divide the lotion in as many parts as you want and add fragrance and colorant to each, mix. Bottle.

1 Comment

  1. BlueMax

    Dear Marga.
    I suggest you to have a lot of care with lotions / creams containing stearic acid / citric acid as if the final pH is too low (under pKa of stearic acid wich is about 4,95) it goes out of the emulsion and you loose stearic acid emulsifying properties (is a soap)

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