Yummiest Lotion Bar Ever!

For those of you that don't know me, I make ALOT of my own beauty products along with household cleaners.  I feel soo much better about using them when I know exactly what is in them.  While I have made lotion bars before, they just seemed either too heavy or flat out too hard to mess with as an every day moisturizer.  I kind of gave up on making them rather quickly because of this.  Well, after doing a little more research, I think I finally came up with my own recipe that I am really happy with and that smells SUPER!  The essential oil I used is called litsea cubeba.  This oil is refreshing and uplifting with a citrusy smell, close to lemongrass only sweeter.  I love citrus but I don't want to smell like furniture polish!  The sweetness in this fragrance stops all of that.  You can read more on this essential oil here. The recipe follows:

1 part beeswax
1 part coconut oil
1 part grapeseed, apricot or almond oil (I chose grapeseed)
1/4 part shea, mango, or cocoa butter (I used shea)
1 tsp. of essential oil per pound of product
1 tsp. Vitamin E oil per pound.


I chose to make a small batch and used 1/4 cup each of the oils and 1 Tbs. of the shea.  I used a 1/2 tsp. of both the EO and the Vit. E oil. 


Basically you take your top 4 ingredients and melt in a double boiler or microwave.  If you choose to use the microwave, check after one minute and stir contents.  You do not want the oils to boil and burn.  If it still needs more time, choose 30 second intervals or less.  Once they are all melted and combined you can add your EO and the Vit. E oil.  Stir them gently together again.  Place the melted oils in molds.  I used these two little massage bar molds that I found on etsy and they were the perfect size.  Wait for the oils to harden and then remove.  The lotion bars should pop out really easy.  Once they pop out, place them in a container or on a plate.  You do not want to handle them for long lengths of time as the point of them is to melt when coming in contact with body heat (unless, of course, you are wanting to put lotion on right away).  Then, voila!  You are finished.

You can find the ingredients for these bars in many places.  I've listed some links below to get you started. 

32oz. African FILTERED CREAMY Shea Butter from Ghana
Sundown Pure Vitamin E Oil 70,000 IU, 2.5 oz
Now Foods Grape Seed Oil, 16 Ounce
Nature's Way Organic Coconut Oil, 16 Ounce
BEESWAX PELLETS YELLOW 1-LB
Litsea Cubeba 100% Pure Essential Oil - 1oz