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Argan & Shea Lotion

Filed Under: Lotion

Difficulty: Beginner
Time: 30 minutes
Yields: One 8 oz. bottle

Little extras often make a good lotion a fantastic lotion, and this Argan & Shea Lotion has no shortage of extras. The recipe is highly customizable, and you can choose between three different scent, color and extract options. All three options contain powerful and unique skin-loving antioxidants and vitamins. Bonus, this tutorial comes with free PDF labels to give this lotion a professional touch.

What You’ll Need:

6.3 oz Aloe Vera Liquid
0.9 oz Sweet Almond Oil
0.5 oz. Argan Oil
0.5 oz Shea Butter
0.5 oz BTMS 50 Conditioning Emulsifier
0.3 oz Stearic Acid
0.1 oz Liquid Glycerin
0.2 oz. Sodium Lactate
4 mL Optiphen
4 mL Green Tea, Buckthorn or Dulse Extract (pick one)
2 mL Lemongrass Essential Oil, Rain Cybilla, or Herbal Essence Fragrance Oil (pick one)
1 mL diluted Emerald or diluted Sapphire LabColor (equal split if blending)
8 oz Bottle with Pump Top
Label Stock
Free Label Template

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

LABCOLOR PREP: Be sure to dilute the LabColors before using them in this recipe. If you’ve never diluted LabColors before, check out this blog post to learn how.

EQUIPMENT PREP: Disinfect your utensils by dipping them in a 5% bleach water solution and allowing to dry. This includes mixing containers, your stick blender, and any spoons or spatulas that may come in contact with your lotion. Your products must be absolutely 100% free of germs, bacteria, microbes or anything so be safe and bleach water all your utensils.

The recipe above makes one bottle of lotion, but you can customize it with any of these scent, extract and color combination ideas:
1. Lemongrass Lotion: Green Tea Extract, Lemongrass Essential Oil, and diluted Emerald LabColor.

2. Rain lotion: Buckthorn Extract, Rain Cybilla Essential Oil, and diluted Sapphire LabColor.

3. Herbal Essence Lotion: Dulse Extract, Herbal Essence Fragrance Oil, diluted Sapphire and diluted Emerald LabColor Blend.

Lotion Instructions:

ONE: Combine Sweet Almond Oil, Argan Oil, Shea Butter, BTMS-50, Stearic Acid, Sodium Lactate and Liquid Glycerin. Heat until Shea Butter, BTMS-50 and Stearic Acid have fully melted and the mixture is measuring about 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

TWO: In a separate container, heat the Aloe Vera Liquid to match (or come close to matching) the temperature of the oils.

THREE: Pour the Aloe Vera Liquid into the melted oils and pulse with a stick blender until emulsified. Check the temperature of the mixture to ensure that it is not above 176 degrees Fahrenheit, and add the Optiphen. Mix in well.

FOUR: Add the extract, fragrance or essential oil, and diluted LabColor of choice and mix until incorporated. To ensure the butters and wax do not harden, make sure the additives are room temperature or warmer.

FIVE: Pour the mixture into your bottle and allow to fully cool before twisting on the cap.

TIP: This lotion has a thick consistency and may be difficult to pump, so you may want to package it in a jar.

This lovely lotion is ready to use right away!

Argan & Shea Lotion
 
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This Argan & Shea Lotion is a great way to moisturize the skin!
Author:
Recipe type: Lotion
Serves: One 8 oz. Bottle

Ingredients
  • 6.3 oz Aloe Vera Liquid
  • 0.9 oz Sweet Almond Oil
  • 0.5 oz. Argan Oil
  • 0.5 oz Shea Butter
  • 0.5 oz BTMS 50 Conditioning Emulsifier
  • 0.3 oz Stearic Acid
  • 0.1 oz Liquid Glycerin
  • 0.2 oz. Sodium Lactate
  • 4 mL Optiphen
  • 4 mL Green Tea, Buckthorn or Dulse Extract (pick one)
  • 2 mL Lemongrass Essential Oil, Rain Cybilla, or Herbal Essence Fragrance Oil (pick one)
  • 1 mL diluted Emerald or diluted Sapphire LabColor (equal split if blending)
  • 8 oz Bottle with Pump Top
  • Label Stock
  • Free Label Template

Instructions
LABCOLOR PREP: Be sure to dilute the LabColors before using them in this recipe. If you’ve never diluted LabColors before, check out this blog post to learn how.
EQUIPMENT PREP: Disinfect your utensils by dipping them in a 5% bleach water solution and allowing to dry. This includes mixing containers, your stick blender, and any spoons or spatulas that may come in contact with your lotion. Your products must be absolutely 100% free of germs, bacteria, microbes or anything so be safe and bleach water all your utensils.
  1. Combine Sweet Almond Oil, Argan Oil, Shea Butter, BTMS-50, Stearic Acid, Sodium Lactate and Liquid Glycerin. Heat until Shea Butter, BTMS-50 and Stearic Acid have fully melted and the mixture is measuring about 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a separate container, heat the Aloe Vera Liquid to match (or come close to matching) the temperature of the oils.
  3. Pour the Aloe Vera Liquid into the melted oils and pulse with a stick blender until emulsified. Check the temperature of the mixture to ensure that it is not above 176 degrees Fahrenheit, and add the Optiphen. Mix in well.
  4. Add the extract, fragrance or essential oil, and diluted LabColor of choice and mix until incorporated.
  5. Pour the mixture into your bottle and allow to fully cool before twisting on the cap. This lotion has a thick consistency and may be difficult to pump, so you may want to package it in a jar.
  6. This lovely lotion is ready to use right away!

 

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68 Comments

  1. Very disappointed with this recipe. I should’ve read all the way through the comments before trying it. You should put in the recipe that the extract needs to be warmed up. Because everything was nice and emulsified together until I added the extract. Once I added that, I got the cottage cheese consistency, it kept separating and nothing I did fixed it. I had to throw the entire batch out. Not happy right now.

    • Hi Kristy!

      I’m sorry you’re disappointed with this recipe. In our tests and recipes, we’ve found that room temperature extracts, preservatives and fragrance/essential oils work well in lotion. We went ahead and updated the recipe to include a note about using room temperature or warmer oils. Thank you so much for your helpful feedback.

      For the lotion now, you can heat it back up to get it nice and emulsified. I would recommend warming it until it’s around 130F (don’t go warmer or the preservative can degrade). Then, mix with a stick blender for a couple minutes until the consistency is smooth and there are no chunks.

      Again, I’m so sorry for any inconvenience Kristy.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  2. Are you measuring by weight or volume? I’ve noticed some recipes you go by weight and others by volume so I’m never quite sure which to do. Thanks

  3. Hi. I’m new to this and want to try this recipe out but this one does not have the quick print card like a lot of the other recipes. I like to have a paper copy of a recipe in front of me while I work but when you print these off, it comes out in like 5 to 7 pages with all the pictures. Can you please put the basic information needed in the ‘quick print’ for all your recipes you have, it makes it so much easier! Thank you so much, this has quickly become one of my favorite web sites!

    • Hi Cindy!

      Sorry about that Cindy! I went ahead and added a recipe card to this post so you can print it out easily. When we updated our blog, the recipe card option was added and we put it on all the new posts! We are hoping to go back through our older posts and get recipe cards added. Thanks for your patience. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  4. Help Please
    My lotion is also separating and looking like cottage cheese what am i doing wrong. I’ve blended for a few more minutes (& have even heated it for a minute in the microwave) but it doesn’t seem any better, maybe even worse. I x4 the recipe and now have a big oily mess. Can my lotion be saved? I’m tempted at this point to add some more emulsifier, Do you think that would help?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated

    • Hi Norine!

      I’m sorry that lotion is separating on you! I’m wondering if it’s a temperature issue. If the water is too cold when it’s added to the oils and waxes, it can start to harden them up before the recipe is emulsified. What temperature was your oil mixture and water at? Thanks so much Norine. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

    • Hi Chrissy!

      Because our melt and pour bases have already turned into soap, we don’t recommend adding extra oil to them. It can make the bases oily or crumbly. If you do want to add extra oil, we recommend adding around 1 tsp. per pound of soap. That will give you the benefits of the oil without affecting the texture too much. 🙂

      You can superfat cold process soap though! The extra oils not turned into soap give your bars a luxurious feeling. Learn more about superfatting here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/superfatting-soap-an-explanation-2/

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  6. I’m very new at this. I still haven’t tried making any lotions, I’m a little confused about the preservatives, Optiphen and Phenonip, I’ve noticed in a lot of your lotion tutorial it shows that you use Optiphen but in the tutorial on how to make lotion from scratch it says to use Phenonip. Can you please explain?

    Thank you,
    Bea

  7. Would love to try this recipe but could u PLEASE convert it to grams. I can’t seen to get it right, I think I could do it if it was in percentage. Thank u!!

    • Hi Amanda!

      Thanks so much for your suggestion, we’ll definitely keep that in mind for future posts! To convert to grams, you can use a search engine. Simply type “6.3 ounces in grams” and it will do the converting for you. For instance, 6.3 ounces is 178.6 grams. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  8. Hi I made a small batch of lotion, and went fantastic, now I made another batch and not stay the same, I went very liquid, I did wrong? Reproduce the récipe, can get my lotion?

    • Hi Angy!

      It sounds like that lotion may need a bit more stick blending! I would recommend popping that lotion back into a bowl and stick blending it for another couple of minutes. It can also help to leave it in the bowl for five minutes after stick blending. If it’s still liquidy, stick blend it for a couple more minutes. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  9. If I add a little more aloe vera liquid to make a thinner lotion, how much would you suggest to start off with. I’m sorry, but I just have no idea if a little goes a long way or not. Thanks!

    • Nevermind! I see you’ve already answered the question about how much aloe vera liquid to add for a thinner consistency. Sorry!

    • Hi Dawn!

      That’s awesome! If you have any other questions let me know. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  10. Hi, just wondering I can only get aloe Vera gel in Australia instead of the liquid. Can this be used instead of the aloe liquid? Is there any other substitute. Also I can only source btms 25 is this ok instead of 50???

    Thankyou!

  11. Good Morning! Could aloe vera juice which we consume be used instead of aloe vera liquid?

    I haven’t made a batch yet, but I so love all your helpful hints.

    • Hi Connie!

      We haven’t actually tested this recipe with aloe vera juice, so I’m not 100% sure. Sometimes, those juices can have additives like sugar which can affect your recipe.

      I’d recommend making a small test batch with the juice to see if it does anything weird. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  12. Can I use La Bomb colors in lotion? If so, are the usage guidelines similar to bath bombs? Thanks and love you guys!

    • Hi Gina!

      Thanks so much for your kind words. 🙂

      We always have the best luck with our LabColors, but I believe the La Bomb colorants would work! You may want to make a small test batch to be sure.

      A little bit goes a long way in lotion, so I’d recommend starting out with a couple drops of color and go from there.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  13. My lotion is seperating and looking like cottage cheese what am i doing wrong. Made this several times and the same thing happens.

    Thanks
    Penny

    • Hi Penny!

      I’m so sorry this recipe is giving you trouble!

      Can you tell me a little more about your recipe? Did you substitute any ingredients, or add any extra ingredients?

      I’d be happy to help you troubleshoot! 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  14. بسم الله الحرمن الرحيم

    Hello. Thanks for this post. I have faced a filling lotions in bottles – When I fill the lotion, it tends to foam up. Sometimes, it fills nicely (free of foam) kind of like pouring full cream milk but when it cools down, it foams up in the bottle.

    Could you please comment on why this happens and how I can avoid it.

    It would be great if you could reply sometime soon as I will be doing some major filling over the weekend (filling about 100 bottles).

    THanks

    • Hi Usman!

      When you whip this recipe with a stick blender, it can definitely foam up a little. The good news is that’s totally fine!

      Just let it sit overnight and that foaming will go down. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  15. I really love this recipe and have made it several times now.
    Question:
    1) I have a customer that says she only uses lotions that have SPF and Vitamin C in them. I’m not going to even attempt the SPF, but what amount would you recommend for adding some liquid Vitamin C? Do you think it really helps your skin?
    2) I’ve also thought of adding some zinc, for a little sun protection, but don’t want to turn this wonderful lotion into something chalky. Do you have any experience with zinc in lotions?
    Thank you for your help!!

    • Hi Sly!

      You can add zinc oxide into your lotion, I would recommend adding a small amount 1/2 tsp. per pound, and going up from there. For Vitamin C, I have heard of soapers using Vitamin C powder in their lotions, although we have never tested this.

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  16. I mistakenly used tea tree oil instead of green tea and it turned out great, best lotion ever. I like the smell of tea tree and it made my skin have a cool feeling- I loved it. Just wanted to share.

    • Hi Lori!

      That’s awesome! I love when little mistakes like that end up being a positive! 🙂

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  17. I just have 3oz aloe vera liquid, can I replace the lack of it by water, does it change the quality of this lotion

    I love shea oil,rice bran oil,medowfoam oil, hope you will make the recipe using it on future
    and my friend give me some optiphen plus, can I use it like optiphen

    many thanks

    • Hi Sadara!

      You could certainly replace the amount of aloe water with regular water. I think the lotion would still be wonderful! Thanks for your suggestion, I will pass it along 🙂 Optiphen is best used in oil based recipes, while Optiphen Plus is a water soluble preservative. For more information regarding the differences between the two, you may find these blog posts helpful 🙂

      Perfectly Preserved:
      http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/perfectly-preserved/

      Talk it Out Tuesday: Preservatives: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lotion/talk-it-out-tuesday-preservatives/

      I hope this helps 🙂

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

      • some of lotion maker said optiphen plus can make lotion curd
        I just handmade some easy stuffs before like lip balm,body butter
        I have no experience of making lotion
        and now I want to try
        you always use optiphen
        and you know susan barclay nichols, she always use german plus in her lotion recipes
        it’s make me confused

        • Hi there!

          Part of choosing a preservative, is a personal preference. Germaben is another great preservative when making a water based recipes. We have always had good luck when using Optiphen in our lotion recipes 🙂

          -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  18. If I wanted to make this recipe a bit thinner could I just simply leave out the sodium lactate? Would I need to adjust the other ingredients if I left that out? Or, is there a better way to make this lotion thinner so that a pump bottle could be used easier?
    Thanks!!

    • Hi Lori!

      You could certainly leave out the sodium lactate if you prefer a thinner lotion. You would not need to change the other ingredients. You could also add slightly more Aloe Vera Liquid 🙂

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

        • Hi Trill!

          I would recommend starting out with .2 oz and seeing if you like the texture. If not, you can add a little more. 🙂

          -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  19. Hi Greetings
    I bought the kit, and my surprise was that it did not come sodium lactate, return to the pag enter my order and ohh surprise not included, thought it was my mistake but aparace within the shopping cart: how can I replace sodium lactate or I get here in Mexico
    thank you very much

    • Hi Angie!

      Oh no, I’m so sorry about that. I will look into getting that fixed, thanks for letting us know. If you could contact our customer service department, we can help you with this. You can send them an email via the Support tab on the very left hand side of the Bramble Berry homepage. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

      -Amanda

    • Hi Adrianne!

      Good catch! The sodium lactate acts as a thickener for this recipe, and should be added at step one. We will be updating the instructions to reflect this 🙂

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  22. Quick question, I had bought a kit somewhere and made a great lotion, I’ve been trying to remake it without the kit but it doesn’t seem to have the “staying power” on skin. Every time I’ve used it through out the day its still there even through washing my hands. Ive used pretty much all the same ingredients but it never lasts like from the kit.

    What can I use to give my lotions that lasting power.

  23. You could definitely see your enthusiasm within the work you write.
    The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe.

    Always go after your heart.

    • Hi Garfield!

      Thanks for the kind message! We are truly passionate about the work we do here 🙂 Thanks for reading!

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  26. I actually have a question about a posting that was on the site for Easy Whipped Shea Butter, I can’t seem to find it again. This may be a dumb question but are you supposed to melt the shea butter and coconut oil before you whip it? Or do I need to heat up my coconut oil so I can get it out of the bag, measure it out and let it solidify again, then mix it? Thanks – it sounds great and I want to try it.

      • Hi Michael,
        Yes, all of the oils should be melted and combined before adding the Aloe Vera Liquid and emulsifying. Take a look at step 3 for reference 🙂 Sometimes it’s easy to melt the coconut oil and then pour it over the shea butter to melt it on contact. We recommend melting shea that way because it can form little grains if it’s heated too quickly!

        • Hi Kirsten – thanks – however I was referring to a post that I saw and printed and then later it was gone, called Easy Whipped Shea Butter. I printed it yesterday when I saw it, but the instructions didn’t describe what to do with the oil in the recipe. So I was asking about that, and not the lotion recipe that this post is all about. Sorry for the confusion, but I would like to know how to use the oils in the whipped recipe – wherever that went to.

  27. This looks simple enough. Question: If I wanted to multiply this for shower gifts, would I increase the amount based on the number of bottles I want to make or is there a special formula for increasing the amount?

    • Hi Dawn, The recipe is for one bottle, so all you would need to do is multiply the amount you want to make that many times, and you will be just fine.
      Hope this helps.
      ~Kevin with Bramble Berry

    • Hi Arlisha!

      If you’d like to make a larger batch, you can multiply the ingredients equally to give you larger proportions 🙂 I hope you give it a try!

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  29. Sounds lovely, but you don’t have to hold your temp for 20 minutes, or is that just when using water? So far, I’ve not attempted any lotions since I have an electric stove, which I think is not as easy to control at a certain temp as a gas stove would be. With 5 buttons, I get 5 temps and no in-betweens. I should probably figure out what temps each one maintains.

  30. Thanks for what looks like a great recipe! One question–can I replace the aloe vera liquid with aloe vera gel (that I extract myself)? If so, should I up the amount of optiphen. Thanks, in advance, for your help. 🙂

  31. Great recipe. Thank you for the different combination ideas and the fact that it only makes 8 oz. I am new to lotions and creams and I currently have a big bag of E Wax (Traditional). If I use it instead of the BTMS do I need to modify the amount of the other ingredients? I know the consistency will be different, but could just substitute one for the other? Thanks.

    ~Mariselys

    • Hi Mariselys,
      You can use emulsifying wax in place of the BTMS-50, but we found that the BTMS helped to give this lotion that kissably soft feel. I would start with a 6% usage rate and increase it from there until you get a consistency you like 🙂