Boomsilk moisturizer dupe

[DeeAnna]

I keep getting these ads on my Facebook feed for Boom products by Cindy Joseph. The ads target women of a certain age, and I suppose I fit the demographics regardless of how I feel about that fact.

When I first looked at the Boom website a month or so ago, I was tempted to buy their moisturizer since I was anticipating winter weather and how my skin shrivels up in the low humidity. Once I saw the prices, my cheapskate self began to balk at treating myself to this little indulgence. I unearthed the ingredients lists tonight and my penny-pinching self is now stubbornly refusing to loosen the purse strings.

The "Boomsilk" product is a white cream touted as a general purpose face and body moisturizer. Price ranges from about $8 to $15 per ounce. Ingredients: Purified water, organic extra virgin olive oil, beeswax with propolis and pollen, raw Pupekea wildflower honey, and d-alpha Vit E. https://www.boombycindyjoseph.com/products/boomsilk-product#

There's a related product "Boomstick" that is the same moisturizer without water in a firmer stick form. A whopping $28 for 7 grams (about 1/4 ounce). Ingredients: Organic extra virgin olive oil, beeswax with propolis and pollen, and raw Pupukea wildflower honey. https://www.boombycindyjoseph.com/products/boomstick-glo#​

I make a premium lip balm with beeswax from my own bees, high-oleic sunflower oil from Wisconsin that I infuse with homegrown calendula petals, and jojoba. I imagine it is probably every bit as nice as the Boomstick moisturizer. My beeswax naturally contains propolis and pollen, although from the plebian cornfields of Iowa, not the lush tropical forests of Hawaii. I'm sure this humble Midwestern provenance weakens this as a selling point, but I'm okay with that. I think I can safely omit the honey and then I don't have to worry about using a preservative.

I even already have some 0.5 ounce lip-balm type tubes and a few oval mini deodorant containers on hand. With a nice label, I'm all set for making a Boom-type moisturizer, DeeAnna style.

My "why buy it if you can make it better" mother would be proud of me.

 

[Millie]

Awesome!

I still buy a cheap face lotion, followed by the ever lovely plant squalane. Everything else I put on my face I make. Thanks to y'all. Needed Deep Cleansing Oil and made it for pennies just a week or two ago from a recipe here. I used to pay $$$ for that. Oh, and all those masks I used to buy that were pretty much just clay..... why oh why didn't I look at ingredients before?

Maybe I'm evil but now I look at ingredient labels and think "thanks for the recipe"

 

[Rsapienza]

I keep getting these ads on my Facebook feed for Boom products by Cindy Joseph. The ads target women of a certain age, and I suppose I fit the demographics regardless of how I feel about that fact.

When I first looked at the Boom website a month or so ago, I was tempted to buy their moisturizer since I was anticipating winter weather and how my skin shrivels up in the low humidity. Once I saw the prices, my cheapskate self began to balk at treating myself to this little indulgence. I unearthed the ingredients lists tonight and my penny-pinching self is now stubbornly refusing to loosen the purse strings.

The "Boomsilk" product is a white cream touted as a general purpose face and body moisturizer. Price ranges from about $8 to $15 per ounce. Ingredients: Purified water, organic extra virgin olive oil, beeswax with propolis and pollen, raw Pupekea wildflower honey, and d-alpha Vit E. https://www.boombycindyjoseph.com/products/boomsilk-product#

There's a related product "Boomstick" that is the same moisturizer without water in a firmer stick form. A whopping $28 for 7 grams (about 1/4 ounce). Ingredients: Organic extra virgin olive oil, beeswax with propolis and pollen, and raw Pupukea wildflower honey. https://www.boombycindyjoseph.com/products/boomstick-glo#​

I make a premium lip balm with beeswax from my own bees, high-oleic sunflower oil from Wisconsin that I infuse with homegrown calendula petals, and jojoba. I imagine it is probably every bit as nice as the Boomstick moisturizer. My beeswax naturally contains propolis and pollen, although from the plebian cornfields of Iowa, not the lush tropical forests of Hawaii. I'm sure this humble Midwestern provenance weakens this as a selling point, but I'm okay with that. I think I can safely omit the honey and then I don't have to worry about using a preservative.

I even already have some 0.5 ounce lip-balm type tubes and a few oval mini deodorant containers on hand. With a nice label, I'm all set for making a Boom-type moisturizer, DeeAnna style.

My "why buy it if you can make it better" mother would be proud of me.

I was just looking at a very similar recipe on Humblebee's website.
https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-egyptian-magic/

 

[DeeAnna]

@Rsapienza -- Wow, you're right the Egyptian Magic ingredients do look similar to the Boomstick. What is old eventually becomes new again, hey? I think Marie (Humblebee) does a nice job with her tutorials.

@Millie -- Like you, I don't make DIY versions of all the products I use, but it sure is fun to read the labels and at least know I could do it if I wanted. Given all the hype and the high price for this Boom moisturizer, I was thinking there should be a lot more precious stuff in it than there is.

 

[Millie]

Marketing is one dark art.

 

[DeeAnna]

I've shared my lip balm elsewhere on SMF, but here it is again since I've been talking about it here --

Dee's Bees Lip Balm

High oleic Sunflower infused with calendula ... 33.8%
Jojoba ... 33.8%
Beeswax ... 31.5%
Essential oil blend (optional)

Sweet orange ... 0.5%
Red mandarine ... 0.3%
Rosemary verbenon ... 0.1%​

Total ... 100%

edit: All ingredients are measured by weight, not volume. :end edit

Measure the beeswax, sunflower, and jojoba into a small heat-proof container sitting in a warm water bath (bain marie). For this type of recipe, I often use a small glass canning jar to hold the fats and immerse it into a saucepan of warm water that's as deep as possible. The water warms the glass up to the rim so the balm remains more liquid as I pour it.

Warm the water in the bath to about 180F / 80C and let the beeswax melt, stirring occasionally. When fully melted and the mixture is clear, stir in the essential oil blend or other fragrance. Immediately pour into lip balm tubes or other containers. Let the balm cool undisturbed until the product is firm.

A 275 gram batch will fill about 50 regular-size (0.15 oz) lip balm tubes. edit: A 90 gram batch will fill about 16 tubes. :end edit

This recipe as written passes my "pocket test" -- the balm in a regular lip balm tube doesn't melt in my pants pocket. It also passes the Iowa winter test -- the balm remains soft enough when it's cold to glide smoothly over sore chapped lips. Your results may be different than mine, however, so plan to test and adjust the proportions to get the consistency you want. More wax (or less oil) will make the balm firmer and more melt resistant. Less wax (or more oil) will make the balm softer and more melty.

To adapt this recipe to be more similar to the Boom and Egyptian Magic products, I'd replace the sunflower and jojoba with mildly-scented olive oil. If the beeswax is from a local beekeeper, the wax will naturally have propolis and pollen in it -- the lemon to butter yellow color is proof of that. If the beeswax is a nearly white product from a B&B supplier, it's most likely been filtered, deodorized, and bleached, so none of the propolis or pollen (or the wonderful scent) remains.

edit: You're on your own if you want to add water-soluble ingredients such as honey. Without an emulsifier, the honey may separate out unless you use only a tiny, tiny amount of honey. Also, adding a lip-safe preservative is mandatory. (Honey is not a preservative in this context.) I want my balm simple to make and safe to use, so I never include water soluble ingredients. :end edit

 

[beckster51]

I've shared my lip balm elsewhere on SMF, but here it is again since I've been talking about it here --

Dee's Bees Lip Balm

High oleic Sunflower infused with calendula ... 33.8%
Jojoba ... 33.8%
Beeswax ... 31.5%
Essential oil blend (optional)

Sweet orange ... 0.5%
Red mandarine ... 0.3%
Rosemary verbenon ... 0.1%​

Total ... 100%

Measure the beeswax, sunflower, and jojoba into a small heat-proof container sitting in a warm water bath (bain marie). For this type of recipe, I often use a small glass canning jar to hold the fats and immerse it into a saucepan of warm water that's as deep as possible. The water warms the glass up to the rim so the balm remains more liquid as I pour it.

Warm the water in the bath to about 180F / 80C and let the beeswax melt, stirring occasionally. When fully melted and the mixture is clear, stir in the essential oil blend or other fragrance. Immediately pour into lip balm tubes or other containers. Let the balm cool undisturbed until the product is firm.

A 275 gram batch will fill about 50 regular-size (0.15 oz) lip balm tubes.

This recipe as written passes my "pocket test" -- the balm in a regular lip balm tube doesn't melt in my pants pocket. It also passes the Iowa winter test -- the balm remains soft enough when its cold to glide smoothly over sore chapped lips. Your results may be different than mine, however, so plan to test and adjust the proportions to get the consistency you want. More wax (or less oil) will make the balm firmer and more melt resistant. Less wax (or more oil) will make the balm softer and more melty.

To adapt this recipe to be more similar to the Boom and Egyptian Magic products, I'd replace the sunflower and jojoba with mildly-scented olive oil. If the beeswax is from a local beekeeper, the wax will naturally have propolis and pollen in it -- the lemon to butter yellow color is proof of that. If the beeswax is a nearly white product from a B&B supplier, it's most likely been filtered, deodorized, and bleached, so none of the propolis or pollen (or the wonderful scent) remains.

Thank you, DeeAnna! I am a lip balm freak, even in the warmer weather. I have tried most lip balms on the market, and I have found the ones with a sunscreen just dry my lips out. The best commercial one I have found is from Paula's Choice. Oddly enough, the first ingredient is castor oil, the second one is petroleum. Then there is a long list of waxes and various other ingredients. There is no way I would be inclined to duplicate it. I may try to make some of yours. It would be great to be able to make one that works for me. So far, I have been unable to get the proportions correct for multi-season use when I have tried to make my own.

 

[DeeAnna]

I think you mean "petrolatum" or "petroleum jelly" not petroleum? Mineral oil, paraffin, and petrolatum (aka petroleum jelly or Vaseline) are highly effective occlusive ingredients -- barriers to moisture loss. In addition, they're tolerated well by most people's skin and inexpensive. Castor is a thicker oil that increases glide, and it also adds shine to the skin.

I had to patiently tweak the proportions of beeswax to oil to get the right consistency and skin feel. It takes awhile! Also, it's important to make only tiny tweaks -- a change of only 0.5% in the wax content is likely to make a big difference. I made a couple of tiny batches at first to get it right before I committed to making a monster (for me) 50 tube batch. I give these away as holiday gifts.

I won't guarantee if you use different oils that you'll like exactly the same proportions that I like. The viscosity of the oil is as important as the proportion of wax to oil. Both jojoba and sunflower are medium-thick feeling on the skin, and I'd want to substitute similar oils if needed. For example, I could have used meadowfoam in place of the jojoba -- the advantage to both is they have long shelf lives, so they help protect against rancidity -- but meadowfoam is a thinner, lighter feeling oil. I would expect it would change the consistency of the balm and how it feels on the skin.

The best way I've found to check the consistency is to put a drop or two of the melted balm on a cool ceramic plate, let the balm harden, then test the consistency by rubbing it between my fingertips and putting a bit on my lips. There's a fine line between nicely glidy on the lips versus overly soft and melty ... and nicely firm versus overly hard and draggy.

I had a larger 0.5 oz tube of this lip balm stashed away, and I've been using it on my face the last day or two. I go slow during application so the product softens from the warmth of my skin and glides more easily. Then I smooth the balm evenly over the skin with my fingers. After about 10 minutes to let the oils absorb into the skin, the balm feels "dewy" on the skin, for lack of a more objective word. Not sticky, not waxy, not greasy. I'll keep playing with it...

 

[beckster51]

Yes, thanks for catching that, I meant petrolatum. You're right, of course, I have found that there is fine line to making it too thin or too hard, and I just need to go back and play around with it some more when I have time. The consistency check is a great tip! I never tried testing it that way, but I will in future. Thanks again for all the knowledge you share with everyone on the forums. It is invaluable.