Body lotion and lipbalm

I had a lot of beeswax and essential oils left over from my candlemaking experiment, which prompted me to wonder what else I could do with it which created a desirable homemade gift for Christmas. Which is how I developed the body lotion and lipbalm.

Personally, I love natural products that don't have added chemicals. I also suffer with dry skin and chapped lips in winter. The recipes below created something that was not only a good gift for friends, but meant I could test it first (and keep it if it didn't work!).

Lipbalm

The lipbalm was experimental, and I wasn't happy with the consistency the first time around (too hard) and the second time around it wasn't right either (too gloopy). Like recipes, consistency can be a matter of personal preference and how you tend to 'contain' your end product. I've noticed online that you can buy 'tubes' for handmade lipbalms/lipstick, so if you want a stick balm then a harder consistency will be better than a 'pot' balm, which is what I desired. The tweaking of the ingredients meant I had to scoop out the 'set' pot and reheat the mixture, adding a bit more oil or wax in small amounts until I'd found my perfect recipe. This means giving a definitive recipe is impossible, but a rough guide is as follows:

For about 10 small pots of lipbalm, you will need (all of which I sourced from eBay)

• Beeswax
• Coconut oil
• Sweet almond oil
• Essential oil (I used cinnamon bark oil as cinnamon is a natural 'lip plumper', not to mention smelling delicious)
• Optional: extra virgin olive oil, or other organic/extra virgin oil of your choice
• Some small pots (or tubes if you prefer). I used about 10 x 3g/6ml pots
• Bain-marie for melting the ingredients

 Method:

1. Heat water in a saucepan ready for the bain-marie.
2. In the heatproof mixing bowl, add one 1oz (28g) stick of beeswax (chopped or grated, to fasten the melting process), 1oz of coconut oil, 1oz of sweet almond oil.[Note: so long as there is a ratio of 1:2 on wax to oil, you can mix the oils to your preference, adding any other oil you may wish]. Melt, but don't boil, in the bain-marie.
3. Turn the heat off once melted, stir in several drops (2-3) of your chosen essential oil and stir.
4. When the mixture is cooler, but still runny, pour into your chosen containers and leave to cool. [Note: you may wish to do one first to check the consistency once cooled and either add more beeswax (if too runny) or more oil (if too solid)].
5. Leave to cool overnight and then put the lids on and package for friends/put in your handbag. Your lipbalm is ready to go!

Body lotion

This is basically like a large version of the lipbalm, but a little oiler, and with a different essential oil. I usually use body butter or plain coconut oil as a moisturiser as I suffer from very dry skin, with a touch of eczema and psoriasis. I also love swimming and chlorinated pools really add to the process of drying the skin out. A really absorbant moisturiser is therefore really important for me.

The ingredient list for the body lotion is exactly the same as the lipbalm (above). However, I switched from cinnamon essential oil to tea tree for its antiseptic qualities. When making for a friend I added rose oil for that really fresh girly smell. The only difference between the balm and the lotion is the wax:oil ratio, as the end product is oily but still quite viscose.

I've also taken this product on holiday as a treat for my skin following a day in the sun/at the beach when your body is crying out for some moisture. A tub of it is also in my gym bag. However, one thing I would say is that it's quite oily so a little goes a long way. At home I tend to put it on before bed and slip into my pyjamas, leaving it on my skin overnight to really soak. However, if you're applying it in the morning, I'd leave it to soak in for a few minutes before you put your clothes on or you risk it absorbing into your clothes before it has the chance to do it's thing to your skin.

Method (for approx 3 x 150ml tins)

1. Heat water in a saucepan for the bain-marie.
2. In the heatproof mixing bowl, add one 3oz (85g) stick of beeswax (chopped or grated, to fasten the melting process) to 9 oz (250g) of oil. I used 5 oz of coconut oil, 1 oz sweet almond oil and 3 oz extra virgin olive oil. [Note: the wax to oil ration here is 1: 4] Melt, but don't boil, the oil/wax mixture in the bain-marie.
3. Turn the heat off once melted, stir in several drops (10-20) of your chosen essential oil(s) and stir.
4. When the mixture is cooler, but still runny, pour into your chosen containers and leave to cool. [Note: as with the lipbalm, you may wish to check the consistency of the lotion when cooled and add a bit more oil or wax to meet your desired consistency.
5. When cooled, put the lids on and you're done!

For ideas on base oils or essential oils to use in your product, see my page discussing oils here.

Something different... home-made candle

It's been a while, and I've been storing recipes and blog items in my head or on my PC but not having found time to put virtual pen to paper.

For Christmas 2013, I decided to make candles and beauty products for the female contingent in my gifting circle. The idea came about because one of my friends only buys organic produce (including beauty products) and for another I thought about buying her a "candle making" set, but then realised she probably didn't have the time or would enjoy the activity as much as me. So, buying the ingredients myself and creating my own product was much better idea!

All of the base ingredients for the candle, body lotion and lipbalm were virtually the same, but required adjustments to the quantities (you don't rub candles on your skin, do you?). The consistency for the lip-balm took a few attempts (re-melting, adding more oil, leaving to cool and testing) but I got there.

I chose to use soy as my wax (with beeswax, for one) because it's environmentally friendly and produces a clear burn. Apparently it's carbon neutral, so you can't complain that your candle habit is adding to your carbon footprint! I chose to make a beeswax candle in my old honey jar because beeswax is another clear burning wax which produces a slight honey and pollen scent when burning. Beeswax should also burn brightly without a drip.

Candle

You will need (all of which I purchased from suppliers on eBay)

• Soy candle wax
• Waxed wick and wick holders (if you purchase unwaxed wick, you will need to melt some soy wax and place the wick in the melted wax for a couple of hours to soak and for the wax to soak into the wick)
• Wick bar (I drilled a small hole into an old ice-cream stick - you basically need something long enough to go across the width of the container 
• Containers (you can use old tea-cups, pretty tins, glasses, old jam jars - anything is a vessel). I used lidded metal tins for the fragrant candles and an old honey jar for my beeswax candle
• Essential oil of choice (I used cinnamon bark essential oil)
• Optional: beeswax, candle wax dye
• A bain-marie (well, a pot of boiling water with an oven-proof dish over it in which to mix the wax - I used a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan)

Method:

1. Heat the water in the bain-marie until boiling.

2. Add the wax to the oven-proof dish and place onto the saucepan. The amount you need depends upon the size of your container. As a rough guide, I used 1.5 times the amount of the size of the container (using the container as a scoop). The amount used can be 100% soy wax, or a mixture of beeswax and soy at your preferred ratio. You want the wax to melt completely but not boil.

3. As the wax is melting, add any dye you want at this point and stir until the colour is evenly distributed. Without wanting to state the obvious, the more dye you add, the more intense the colour of the candle.

4. While the wax is melting, knot at one end and feed a piece of the wick through a wick holder and cut to about 2 inches (5 cm) above the height of the container.

5. Take the wax off boil and add a few drops (no more than 5) of the essential oil to the mixture and stir.

6. Drop a small amount of wax into the container and use it to set the wick holder to the base of the container. Thread the top part of the wick through a wick bar to keep the wick in place in the centre of the container (the candle will burn best if the wick is centred). You may want to tape the wick to the wick bar to stop it moving when you're pouring the wax.

7. Pour the wax into the container, keeping the wick upright through the centre (as much as possible). The wax should not be higher than about 1/2 inch (1cm) from the top of the container, which accounts for the melting wax when you burn the candle.

8. Leave the candle to cool, preferably overnight. As it solidifies, it may shrink in volume slightly. If you have any left over wax, you may want to re-heat and top it up. [Note: you can make multi-coloured candles in this way, by building up layers of different coloured wax, leaving the wax to cool between layers, much like you would a jelly].


9. Once cooled, trim the wick to about 1/2 inch (1 cm) from the top of the candle.

10. Hey presto! Homemade candle!

For notes on the use of oils and essential oils, see my page here