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If body lotion is also part of your beauty routine, you should pay close attention. We bring you a recipe for a light body lotion with a pleasant floral scent. The production is not too complicated, and preparing body lotions is an excellent way to improve your skills in creating emulsions.
The body lotion consists of water and oils, which means an emulsion is formed. For successful combining of these raw materials and thickening of the product, it is necessary to use an emulsifier, in our case Olivem 1000. To obtain a delicate light green colour, mica powder was used and the fragrance was provided by a fragrance oil.
Make the production of body lotion easier with our tips and tricks, which will help you simplify the entire manufacturing process.When heating the water and oil phases, use a water bath. Make sure that the containers are covered with aluminium foil – this will prevent excessive evaporation of water and at the same time prevent water from the bath entering the oil phase. If you have a kitchen or infrared thermometer at hand, definitely use it. It is best to combine the water and oil phase when they have reached approximately the same temperature, about 70 °C. Always pour the water phase into the oil phase while still in the water bath. After combining the phases, start to mix intensively with a milk frother or stick blender. While mixing, remove from the water bath and continue mixing for at least 5 minutes. Then periodically mix the blend every few minutes while it is cooling. As the temperature drops, the product will thicken, so do not forget to stir it regularly.Only after cooling adjust the pH of the product and add heat-sensitive substances. When adjusting the pH, add lactic acid only drop by drop, mix thoroughly and check the pH. The indicated amount of lactic acid is only approximate and depends on many factors, such as the batch of the hydrosol, temperature, weighing accuracy, substitutions in the recipe and so on. Adjusting the pH to a value of 4.5–5.5 is essential not only for better tolerance of the lotion by the skin (pH 4.5–5.5 represents the physiological pH of the skin), but also for the functionality of the preservative. Cosgard is most effective in an acidic pH, ideally below pH 5.5. Therefore, do not neglect pH adjustment and add the preservative only after the pH has been adjusted.If it happens that the blend has not combined and the water and oil phases separate, make sure that both phases had the same temperature before combining. Likewise, you will see the final viscosity of the product only after cooling, so if the blend is still hot and too fluid, continue mixing with the blender – the blend will thicken as it cools. If, even after cooling, the lotion is too fluid, check whether your emulsifier is not past its expiry date and whether you have used Olivem 1000 (emulsifiers are not identical in terms of thickening ability, so if you substitute the emulsifier, it will probably be necessary to change the dosage). You can also replace the milk frother with a stick blender; some milk frothers do not have enough power to form an emulsion.
Below you will learn more about the individual raw materials used to make the body lotion.You will also find out more about possible substitutions or changes in the recipe that you can make.
To achieve a stable emulsion, high-quality raw materials are necessary. This is why it is important in cosmetic production to use demineralised or distilled water. This water is free of mineral substances that could disrupt emulsion stability and so on. Distilled water in the recipe can be replaced by floral hydrosols, which are also obtained by distillation but contain various valuable components from the flowers and plants from which they were distilled. Many hydrosols also have pleasant scents, so they can be a replacement for perfuming.
An excellent moisturising raw material for your skin is glycerin. This alcohol is well soluble in water, so it is suitable to add it to the water phase of products. It helps to keep moisture in the skin for longer and thus hydrates it intensively. At the same time, thanks to glycerin, powder colourants and substances disperse more easily, which is why it is useful to mix mica powder with glycerin and only then add water and hydrosols.Glycerin can be omitted from the recipe and replaced with water, or you can adjust its level; it is used up to 10 % of the content.
We have already spoken above about floral hydrosols and the possibility of replacing distilled water with these substances. Floral hydrosols bring many benefits from the plants from which they are obtained, and at the same time give the product a gentle fragrance. Of course, you can replace the hydrosol with distilled water, or play with the ratio of water to hydrosol.In any case, any change of hydrosol in the recipe, whether of its type or its proportion, will result in a change in the required amount of lactic acid to adjust the pH. Therefore, lactic acid must always be added gradually, since even individual batches of hydrosol can differ from each other and thus affect the final pH of the product.
The colourant used to obtain a gentle greenish colour was mica powder. Mica powders are available in a wide palette of colours, so there are no limits to your imagination. You can play with the amount of mica powder used and thus achieve different colour shades. Alternatively, you can omit mica powder completely and replace it with water.
The base of the oil phase is hemp oil. This oil is rich in various unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins, and thus is very suitable for various skin types. Of course, you can substitute hemp oil with another plant oil of your choice. However, hemp oil has the advantage of being relatively nutrient-rich and reasonably priced.You can also try a blend of different oils, or change the proportion of oil in the recipe. If you suffer from dry skin, you can increase the oil content in the body lotion.
Another component of the body lotion recipe is the emulsifier. Emulsifiers are components that help combine water-based and oil-based raw materials and form an emulsion from them. Thanks to this, you obtain a beautiful creamy texture of the body lotion. Emulsifiers also contribute to increasing the viscosity of the product, so if you want a more fluid body lotion, reduce the proportion of emulsifier and vice versa.Of course, individual emulsifiers differ from each other, and so do their emulsifying and thickening abilities. Therefore, if you substitute Olivem 1000 with another emulsifier, it will probably be necessary to adjust the dosage to achieve the desired consistency.
To obtain a pleasant, flower-rich fragrance, Blooming peony fragrance oil was used. Although this is a synthetically prepared fragrance oil, thanks to this method of preparation you can enjoy fragrances that could not be obtained in the form of essential oils. However, essential oils represent an alternative to fragrance oils, and therefore you can also use them as a substitute.Remember that both essential and fragrance oils are heat-sensitive, so add them only to the cooled product. Also, observe the dosage; an appropriate dose for your product can be found, for example, in the IFRA standards indicated with the product.
The main role of lactic acid in this product is pH adjustment. The advantage of lactic acid compared to citric acid is that lactic acid is liquid, so you do not have to prepare a solution in advance, as in the case of granules of citric acid.Of course, you can also adjust the pH using a solution of citric acid; again, the necessary amount of citric acid compared to lactic acid will differ, so add it gradually and check the pH.
Last but not least, products containing water require a preservative. This is no different in this case. In this body lotion, the preservative Cosgard was used, which is effective in an acidic pH, so it is necessary to adjust the pH to a value of 4.5–5.5. If you want to use another preservative, choose broad-spectrum preservatives (i.e. effective against yeasts, moulds and bacteria) and check the pH of the product to see whether it corresponds to the effective range of the preservative substance. If not, adjust the pH to the desired value (most likely it will be necessary to lower the pH by adding an acid solution) and only then add the preservative.
As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade recipes to achieve the desired properties. However, the final result can be influenced by many factors, such as humidity, temperature, quality of raw materials or their storage. Before you use any raw material to make a cosmetic product, familiarise yourself with its properties, recommended dosage, storage conditions and safe handling. Every raw material can have the potential to trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, so before using the product we recommend checking whether you are allergic to any of the raw materials or to the finished product, for example by means of a skin test. If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or you have other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professional before applying a new product to the skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure raw material or a commercially available product.
We believe that if you have managed to make a body lotion according to our procedure and have created it according to your ideas, you will not want to replace it. Nothing can compare to natural raw materials and a composition that you know.
If you have any questions regarding the creation of the body lotion or its instructions, definitely write to us at marketing@handymade.skWe will be happy to answer you. We would like to thank Ivana Jačalová very much for the excellent tutorial and the entire article.
