Whipped Delights: Make Your Own Luxurious Herb-Infused Body Butter
If I close my eyes while letting my hand run over my thighs, I can easily convince myself that I have the skin of a 20-year-old right now. That is because my skin is extra silky soft after my shower this morning.
I gave my skin a good scrubbing with my hemp mitt in the shower and followed with this post's special body butter - and that combination is useful stuff.
As mentioned in my last post, I've started making herbal oil-infusions because I found an easy way to extract the nutrients from herbs using alcohol as an intermediate. Adding this oil to my classic whipped body butter recipe gives my skin some extra nourishment.
I love my homemade body butters - for me, it's the ultimate skin luxury. It's so satisfying to apply this blend of pure, deeply nourishing, and moisturizing oils. And if you exfoliate your skin first with a hemp mitt, sugar scrub, or the booty scrub, it'll leave your skin with a healthy dewy glow and satiny-smooth every time.
In this recipe, I added some of my herbal oil infusion to inject more plant nourishment into the product.
The herbal oil I use in this recipe is infused with dried hibiscus and rose petals. You don’t have to use a herb infused oil, other carrier oils like olive oil, jojoba oil, and peach kernel oil will do too.
About The Herbs
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), roses have sweet, slightly bitter and warm properties, and is associated with the liver and spleen meridians. Its functions are to regulate qi (life force or energy flow), increase flow, remove blood stagnation, improve digestion, and nourish the skin.
It's also considered an excellent nervine, great for uplifting the mood and alleviating depression. Rose is renowned for having antispasmodic, aphrodisiac and sedative qualities, as well as being anti-inflammatory.
Hibiscus is very rich in vitamin-C and other great skincare and health stuff that I've written a whole blog post about.
Natural Whipped Body Butter Recipe
Props
Piping bag (helpful)
INGREDIENTS
150 g. mango butter
150 g. shea butter
1 tbsp. coconut oil
100 g. herb infused oil (or another liquid oil e.g. olive oil, jojoba oil, peach kernel oil).
30-40 drops skin-safe essential oils such as lavender, geranium (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a double boiler or glass bowl, combine mango butter, shea butter, and coconut oil.
Bring to medium heat and stir until all ingredients are melted.
Remove from heat and add the herbal oil or your liquid oil of choice.
Move to fridge and cool 2-3 hours or until starting to harden around the edges but still somewhat soft.
Add essential oils if using.
Use a hand mixer to whip for 5-10 minutes until fluffy.
Pour into clean jars with a lid.
Return to the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set.
Use as you would regular lotion or body butter.
If your home stays above 24°C /75 °F, it may soften and need to be kept at the fridge, but it will stay whipped at a temperature lower than that.
Shelf life: Stored away from moisture and light this homemade body butter should last 6-8 months.
Feel: Body butter is more emollient and has a heavier texture than lotion does, but after a few minutes it will penetrate the skin and lose any greasy feel.
