# I'm being challenged to make body butter



## SoapTrey (Aug 28, 2017)

OK... I was challenged by my wife to make some body butter. I've never attempted it, buy hey... how hard could it be.... right????? :think:

Anyway... she has challenged me to see if I can make something close to: 

Kiehls Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter

Does anyone here have a recipe that is close? Actually, just a good basic body butter recipe that has honey in it would probably be all I need. Thanks in advance for any help!

I don't think I'll be using as many ingredients as they do.... wow

AQUA / WATER
GLYCERIN
CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE
NYLON-66
BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII BUTTER / SHEA BUTTER
GLYCERYL STEARATE
PEG-7 GLYCERYL COCOATE
PEG-40 STEARATE
SQUALANE
MYRISTYL MYRISTATE
AMMONIUM POLYACRYLDIMETHYLTAURAMIDE / AMMONIUM POLYACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE
SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) BUTTER
SORBITAN TRISTEARATE
PARFUM / FRAGRANCE
UNDECANE
PHENOXYETHANOL
CETYL ALCOHOL
TRIDECANE
TOCOPHEROL
SORBIC ACID
TRISODIUM ETHYLENEDIAMINE DISUCCINATE
CHLORHEXIDINE DIGLUCONATE
PENTAERYTHRITYL TETRA-DI-T-BUTYL HYDROXYHYDROCINNAMATE
SODIUM HYDROXIDE
COUMARIN
BENZYL ALCOHOL
LIMONENE
CARROT OIL / BETA-CAROTENE


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## BrewerGeorge (Aug 28, 2017)

I don't have a recipe, but take a look through those ingredients and you'll see no honey.  That doesn't surprise me at all because I was going to comment on the undesirability of leaving sugar behind on the skin before I even noticed the lack of honey in the ingredients you posted.  Sugar in leave-on products is a sure recipe for stickiness.  The Milk and Honey in the name is probably a description of the scent.


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## toxikon (Aug 28, 2017)

Have a search through the Swift Crafty Monkey blog for body butter recipes, she has plenty to get you started.


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## artemis (Aug 28, 2017)

I would guess that the ''soy milk and honey" is the fragrance, since I think I don't see any soy milk, either.


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## dixiedragon (Aug 28, 2017)

Of course, there's no official definition of body butter, but to my mind, body butter has no water. I would call that a thick lotion. 

Here are some good guidelines to start with:
If you’re feeling adventurous and want to experiment with other oils and butters, you can design your own recipe. To create your own recipe follow these guidelines:
70-80% Distilled Water
3-5% Stearic Acid
3-6% Emulsifing Wax
add the rest in your choice of oils and buttersTo this add
.5 – 1% Preservative
.5% Fragrance

For a thin lotion (one that squirts out of a bottle) I use all liquid oils and up the water to 80% and use the minimum of stearic. For a thick texture, I drop the water to about 70% and use coconut oil (solid at room temp) and avocado, and use in the stearic in the medium range.


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## IrishLass (Aug 28, 2017)

There are two different kinds of body butter: the emulsified type, which contains water and needs an emulsifier and a preservative, and the solely oil/butter type that doesn't contain any water in it at all. 

The Kiehl's Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter is of the emulsified type. Technically, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, an emulsified body butter is really nothing more than a really thick lotion. They are more complicated/involved to make compared to the solely oil/butter type, which is much easier/peasier to make, but limited as to what other ingredients you can add to it (i.e., they must all be oil-based; no water-based ingredients allowed if you want it to turn out well and not develop nasties). 

I happen to make both types, and I can assure you that if your wife has her heart set on you making something with the consistency of Kiehl's, she most likely will _not_ like the easier-to-make, solely oil/butter type. It has a totally different feel and consistency to the emulsified type. She will definitely want you to make the emulsified type instead. For this, you will need to study up on lotion-making. The best place to do that is over on SwiftCrfatyMonkey's (Susan Barclay's) blog. There's no better place to go to for lotion and other B&B making info and recipes (except for soap, that is- she does not make soap). She may even have a much simpler recipe for an emulsified body butter on her site.

For what it is worth, if you are hoping to make the easier oil/butter type and just adding honey, that's a no-go, because honey is water-based and will precipitate out of the oil/butter mix without an emulsifier. Not only that, being water-based, the honey will encourage bacteria to grow in your otherwise waterless butter unless you include a preservative. Honey may be great at preserving itself, but it's horrible at acting as a preservative in a body butter. All said, you might as well just resign yourself to making an emulsified body butter.

If you are not keen on the idea of figuring out how to formulate an emulsified body butter from scratch and/or trying to gather all the ingredients needed, I know of a great kit you can buy that includes the recipe, plus all the needed ingredients (except for the water and the fragrance which you supply yourself) for making a wonderful emulsified body butter: http://www.lotioncrafter.com/body-butter-bliss-kit.html

I have bought and tried the kit myself and can attest to it's wonderfulness. As a matter of fact, I have abandoned my own emulsified body butter formula and now only make the recipe included in the above kit (it's _that _good to me!).


IrishLass


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## SoapTrey (Aug 28, 2017)

Thanks IrishLass, what a great explanation! Sounds to me like I'm going to be making the emulsified type and I'll look around Susan's blog to get myself acquainted with the process.

You know... I think you might have the answer with the 'kit'. I've never bought a kit like this before and I really like the idea.. especially if you're suggesting it... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





(I already have most of what's in the kit, but that's OK... I'll know exactly what to order next time),  Now... I just need a Soy Milk and Honey fragrance.

Thanks to everyone who responded!!  Y'all are awesome!!


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## cmzaha (Aug 28, 2017)

I agree with Dixiedragon, it is a thick lotion and I am sure you can come up with a nice or nicer product with less ingredients. Just looking at the ingredient list I see 2 copolymers /stabilizers and several surfacants /emulsifiers. Here is an interesting article for the Undecane, which is most likely used as an emollient. 

http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1963.pdf

You can make a very nice whipped butter/ thick lotion with less ingredients. In my opinion with the amount of oils/emulsifiers the percentages are going to be tiny. I make my butter type lotion with coco butter and cetyl alcohol as the main thickeners and 65-70% water. Sorry since I sell I don't list all my ingredients, but it is a simple recipe.


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## SoapTrey (Aug 30, 2017)

I'm so excited! :mrgreen:

I received the kit today, which was really fast. And I have to give a shout out to Lotioncrafters. After I ordered the kit for $32.95 and $18.15 shipping... total $51.10... I get an email refunding $6.87 for shipping because they were able to use a flat rate box. So total cost of $44.23! Very nice. This may be expensive to a lot of you, and in bulk; and if you know what you are doing it probably is. But, to be able to click my keyboard and have it arrive with the recipe and everything needed saves me a lot of research time. I feel this is going to be well worth it if it's a good BB.

The kit makes 33oz, so this was absolutely a fantastic way to jump into BB's... I can't wait to make it. I'm just waiting on the Brambleberry Oatmeal Milk & Honey FO. I hope it's decent scent. 

Thanks again everyone for the great support! I'll put up some pictures after it's made.

Edit:  I wanted to make a quick edit to say I was completely wrong about using so many ingredients. I'm going to have a lot of fun looking up each one and learning what it does.


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## cmzaha (Aug 30, 2017)

Let us know how it turns out. It has been on my list of lotions to try. In case anyone is interested the recipe is located here http://www.lotioncrafter.com/formulary/Body_Butter_Bliss.pdf


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## MySoapyHeart (Aug 31, 2017)

That looks like a lot of fun! Can`t wait to see your finished product : )


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## IrishLass (Aug 31, 2017)

Lotioncrafters is an awesome company from which to order. Their customer service and their products are always top-notch. Let us know how it turns out for you and how your wife likes the finished product. If she is anything like me, she will absolutely love it! 


IrishLass


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## SoapTrey (Sep 8, 2017)

So... while I was waiting for the fragrance from BrambleBerry to arrive (it came in yesterday, so I'll try and make the Lotioncrafter kit this weekend), I decided to try a really easy whipped body butter.

6oz. Coconut Oil (76 degree)
6oz. Cocoa Butter
6oz. Shea Butter
6oz. Jojoba Oil
1gr of Yellow Vibrance Mica (I did half the batch without colorant and added the yellow mica to the other half)
30 drops of Oatmeal Milk and Honey FO (the cocoa butter was so over-powering that you can't smell the FO at all and I need to add that I've never used cocoa butter in anything ever... before this.  I bought it as an add on item to get free shipping... I learned a lot about cocoa butter )
6oz jars 

That's it.  I just melted the oils using a double boiler... put the oils in the fridge for a couple of hours and then used my mixer to whip the oils and incorporate a lot of air.  This is my first time trying this and I think it turned out OK. It's like a whipped butter lotion and I used a bit this morning.  I have dry skin so this was excellent, it doesn't take much at all and my skin just feels nice and smooth with no greasy feeling at all. The only negative for me is I smell like I've been at the beach or a chocolate factory... if I make it again, I'll use mango butter instead of cocoa.


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## Kittish (Sep 9, 2017)

Purely a cosmetic thing- I bet you could put that butter into a bag and pipe it into your containers, eliminating the big air pockets in the jars. If you decide to make some for gifting, you might consider it. 

Looks good, and the recipe looks like one I might like, too. Except that, like you, I'd probably replace the cocoa butter. I'm kind of over the scent of it. I'm not needing nearly as much lotion as I used to since I switched to using my own soap on my hands, but it would be awesome to have my own product to use when I did need to.


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## SoapTrey (Sep 9, 2017)

*Finished the Body Butter Challenge*

Hey everyone - I finally found some time to complete the challenge. First things first... this is a little more in-depth and time consuming than making a simple batch of cold process soap!   It was fun and I definitely intend on crafting more in the future, but it'll probably be a while since I have so much now... especially with the whipped butter I did.  I can't wait for Kelly to try it... (she's working this weekend and won't be home till this evening).

Overall, I'm satisfied with the product. It's still a bit warm, so when it cools off I'll do a side by side comparison with The Body Shop - Shea Body Butter I bought so I can really see if they're similar. (Yea that's even more BB I have to use up!)

The kit was excellent and thorough but there was one issue, they didn't include any PH strips. Yes there was a package in the kit, but it only contained the comparison chart... no strips to test PH. Luckily I have some on hand.

*First picture:* oil phase - simple double boiler until the temp reaches 176 degrees Fahrenheit

*Second picture:* water phase - I was a bit concerned about all the bubbles (almost like foam) and wondered if this was normal.  Eventually they all settle out during the last part of the process.

*Third picture:* oils have reached temp

*Forth picture:* after both the oil and water phases have been mixed together. They get put into a cool water bath until the temp is at or below 129 degrees. This didn't take long at all.
*
Fifth picture:* everything cooled down after the water bath. In fact it started to get a bit too cool and I needed to use a whisk for the fragrance and Citric Acid solution. This was when I discovered there were no PH strips and had to hunt mine down... so it had a chance to get even cooler.

*Sixth picture:* the finished product.  Those are 10oz glass jars I picked up at Hobby Lobby yesterday at 50% off.  Good deal!

So now I'm wondering if I could whip this body butter into the same fluffy light consistency that I did with the whipped butter. I would need at least twice as many jars. :think:


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## Zany_in_CO (Sep 9, 2017)

:clap:   
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







 Bravo! BTW, Lotion Crafter carries powdered honey. 

A kit is a great way to learn how to make lotions and potions. The first lotion I ever made was from a kit -- it gave me the confidence I needed to move forward on my own. Unfortunately, few suppliers offer that option. 

PS: 2g + 8g = 10g so 20% of 10g = 2g Yes? LOL I know cuz when it comes to math, I get confused, but I make 20% citric acid solution fairly often. I use it to lower the pH of my Baby Mild Liquid Castile Soap (Dr. Bronner dupe)


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## SoapTrey (Sep 9, 2017)

Zany_in_CO said:


> PS: 2g + 8g = 10g so 20% of 10g = 2g Yes? LOL I know cuz when it comes to math, I get confused, but I make 20% citric acid solution fairly often. I use it to lower the pH of my Baby Mild Liquid Castile Soap (Dr. Bronner dupe)



Thanks for the correction! I do get confused sometimes


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## Zany_in_CO (Sep 10, 2017)

Tell me about it! Me too!


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## Paintguru (Oct 18, 2017)

So which one did you like better, the emulsion one or the straight oil/butter one?  It looks like the oil/butter one is 1000x easier to make .


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## jcandleattic (Oct 18, 2017)

Paintguru said:


> So which one did you like better, the emulsion one or the straight oil/butter one?  It looks like the oil/butter one is 1000x easier to make .



I like MAKING the oil/butter one better because it's so easy. 

For the way it feels, an emulsified body butter feels much better to me.


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