I have been playing around with making my own moisturizer for a while. I’m always amazed at how you can take a few simple ingredients and transform them into such a nourishing treat for your skin. This body butter is incredibly moisturizing, absorbs into the skin quickly and doesn’t feel as greasy as others I’ve tried. By using a 3:1 ratio of butter to oil you can experiment with different ingredients to create a finished product that is totally tailored to your wants, needs and price point.

What you Need:

• 3 parts Butter – shea, cocoa, mango, coconut (solid). Any one or a combination of these will work well. I used mostly shea and a bit of cocoa butter.
• 1 part Carrier oil – sweet almond, avocado, jojoba, grapeseed, coconut (liquid), olive. Again, there are many to choose from and you can combine oils. I used sweet almond oil.
• (optional) Arrowroot powder, tapioca or corn starch. I used Arrowroot powder. You’ll need approximately 1 tsp per cup of butter/oil concoction. This helps cut the greasy feeling and makes the butter absorb more quickly into the skin.
• (optional) essential oil. About 36 drops per 1 cup of butter. I used grapefruit essential oil.

Instructions:

Step 1 – Melt butter in a double boiler over medium heat.

Step 2 – Mix carrier oil with arrowroot powder and set aside.

Step 3 – Once butter is melted, remove from heat add carrier oil/powder mixture. Mix well to combine.

Step 4 – Put mixture in fridge until opaque; firm but not rock hard. For me this took about an hour. I mixed the butter after 45 minutes and refrigerated for another 15 minutes.

Step 5 – Remove butter from fridge, add essential oil if using and whip with a fork for 1-2 minutes until you reach your desired consistency.

Step 6 – Transfer to an air tight container. Enjoy!