BUTTERS

Cosmetic butters: solid fats that give a formulation body

Butters are solid plant fats obtained from the seeds and fruits of tropical plants. In a formulation they do two jobs at once: they nourish and protect the skin, and at the same time they decide the consistency of the product – whether a cream turns out rich, a balm firm and a body butter airy and whipped. We stock 114 of them, from shea and cocoa to Amazonian murumuru, tucumã and cupuaçu.

The hardness of the butter governs the consistency of the product

When you put a formulation together, choose the butter by its melting point and texture. Hard butters with a higher melting point – cocoa or kokum – firm up the structure and stabilise viscosity, giving a stick or a solid balm its hold. The creamy middle ground belongs to shea butter, an all-rounder suited to every skin type including sensitive. Tucumã brings a denser, velvety texture; mango butter, by contrast, is light and non-greasy and absorbs quickly, which makes it right for summer body lotions. Murumuru, with its light texture, has become a favourite among makers of hair care. You then fine-tune spreadability with the ratio of butter to oils, and the firmness of anhydrous products with waxes.

Unrefined, refined, organic – and one with borututu root

Unrefined butters keep their original colour, aroma and bioactive compounds; refined ones are pale and neutral, ideal wherever the fragrance is meant to come through. Shea butter shows this best, and we keep it in five lines: unrefined, unrefined organic, refined, refined organic, and unrefined with borututu root. Cocoa butter comes natural and unrefined in organic quality with the characteristic scent of cocoa beans, and cupuaçu is cold-pressed.

From a 50-gram jar to a 25-kilo sack

Pack sizes start at 50 and 100 grams – 100 g of unrefined shea butter costs €2.99 – and end with bulk 10 and 25 kg packs for production facilities; refined shea is also supplied in 100 kg. The unit price falls as the volume rises, and every batch comes with a safety data sheet and a certificate of analysis.