Making Substitutions
Don’t have the oil or butter called for in the recipe? Here’s a guide on how to choose a good alternative from what you do have.
What's with the waxes?
Beeswax, carnauba wax, candelila wax, bayberry wax—how are they different? Can you use one instead of another?
Help, I made a mess!
My best tips for cleaning up your DIY messes 🙂
A body treatment for crepe-y skin
Let's find out what makes CrépeErase's Body Repair Treatment tick 😄 There were a couple really neat, new-to-me actives in this one. Not all of them are available, but quite a few are, so hooray!
My first emulsions with Magnesium Chloride
Magnesium Chloride emulsions are all the rage, so let's try making some!
Winter Wonderland Hand & Body Lotion
Today's gift-able holiday DIY is a powdery, silky, fragrant Winter Wonderland Hand & Body Lotion that I'm just obsessed with. I find hand and body lotion is quite a good gift as it's a product many people already use (so it's already part of their day-to-day life...
Candy Cane Emulsified Body Butter
As soon as I settled on Candy Cane as a theme, I knew I wanted to try to make a lovely piped multi-colour body butter for it. And here it is! The ingredient list is fairly simple, the piping is fun (and easy once you've got the right gear!), and the final product is...
A deodorant with a good-for-skin approach
A deodorant with a good-for-skin approach; and a very DIY-able one, too! Hooray 😄
Easy Non-Greasy Hand Lotion
Hand lotion is a skincare staple; heck, even my dad uses it! But, if your handmade lotions are anything like the ones I made when I was a new maker, you’ve probably noticed that your DIY versions are really different from products sold by big brands like Cerave,...
Easy Non-Greasy Lotion: 6 more variations
As I was working on my Easy Non-Greasy Hand Lotion formulation I created seven different variations before choosing one to share. They're all pretty similar on paper, but noticeably different in reality (though all are still light, pump-friendly lotions). I wanted to...
CeraVe’s Moisturizing Cream
This drugstore staple is a favourite of many, featuring hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and a reasonable price tag! Join me and my patrons as we figure out how it works and if we might be able to make something similar at home.
20 Quick & Easy Ways to Customize Lotion Formulations
So, you’ve finally made your very first lotion. Exciting stuff! If you're anything like me, you're now dreaming up all the different ways you'd love to customize the formulation. Could it be thicker? Can you add some colour? What about some scent? However, as a new...
An experiment that turned into my fave summer lotion
This gorgeous, ultra-fluid emulsion was born out of some experiments I did earlier this year where I pushed the lower effective limits of a variety of emulsifiers. I didn't expect it to work (let alone stay stable for 6+ months!), but it did and it has, and I've...
Strawberry Body Yogurt
You’ve almost certainly heard of the rather dairy-product-sounding "body butter"; but what about the equally dairy-ish body yogurt? Think of body yogurt as body butter’s ultra-light cousin: a fast-absorbing and super-slippy body moisturizer that is low on rich oils...
Foaming Shower Oil
I'm so excited about this formulation, and even more so by the possibilities it represents. I've had lots of questions about how to make products like L'Occitane's Almond Shower Oil and Glossier's Body Hero Daily Oil Wash, and the answer has always been a really...
Foaming oil experiments with LUMOROL K 5229
How much LUMOROL K 5229 do you actually need in your formulations for effective cleansing and plentiful lather? Join me while I do some experiments to find out, hands-on style.
Dry Summer Body Oil
Body oils sounds like they should be the perfect, easy, DIY. Take some oil, put it on your body, and you’re done. Right? Unfortunately, if you've tried it you'll know that approach can leave you feeling pretty darn oily. Why do commercial body oils leave your glowing...
The key to smooth body butters
Grainy, mealy, uneven body butters are the bane of any formulator’s existence. You’re dreaming of something silky smooth and divine, but instead your body butter feels like its full of sand... or perhaps you were promised a solid bar, but got oily slop instead. Bleh!...
Easy Emulsified Body Butter
If you've been frustrated by heavy, melt-prone body butters, this is the formulation for you. In this post I'll be teaching you how to make an easy 7-ingredient body butter that is lighter than traditional DIY body butters, won't melt in hot weather, won't seize up if...
Lavender Oat Dream Cream
Today we are diving deep into the archives to Bee Better a project I published almost exactly nine (!!) years ago. This formulation began life as a Lush dupe(ish), and while the 2014 version wasn't bad, I've learned a lot since then. Today's updated version is softer...
Lighter Whipped Shea Butter
In this post I'm sharing two lighter whipped shea butter formulations—Lavender Calendula and Coffee—and I'm sharing the easiest formulation strategy for creating lighter, less greasy body butters. Let's go! Want to watch this project instead of read it? Watch Now The...
Can you make an emulsion with perfume?
You've got a perfume you adore and you'd love to have a lotion that smells just like it... can you make an emulsion and use your perfume to scent it? Let's find out!
Green Tea Conditioning Hair & Body Butter
Today's formulation is a soft, creamy butter that works beautifully for haircare and skincare. Depending on how you use it, it can be a super-concentrated leave-in hair conditioner, a hair serum, a regular-strength leave-in hair conditioner, or a body butter. It's...
Perfectly Pillowy Whipped Shea Butter
I'm pretty excited about this simple yet perfectly pillowy whipped shea butter! This two-ingredient formulation came about as part of my work on last spring's Why is my body butter not whipping? video. I needed lots of b-roll of different body butters being...
Super Simple Cold Processed Whipped Shea Butter
Two incredibly simple whipped shea butter formulations. Just two ingredients, no heating required!
Naturium’s Bio-Lipid Restoring Body Lotion
What makes this highly-rated body lotion stand out? Join me and my patrons as we dive into the ingredient list to figure out why it's so lovely!
Rich Herbal Body Cream
Today we're blending up a rich, botanically blessed body cream that is perfect for cold, dry winter days. I developed this formulation with the help of my readers; t's creamy, scoopable, skin-soothing, and positively decadent. Enjoy! Want to watch this project instead...
