I love making balms because they’re so easy to create and there are so many different ways that you can make them. This Winter Body Balm recipe is designed to comfort and heal your dry, chapped winter skin making a perfect gift for that skier on your Christmas list. It has a creamy consistency for a balm, making it easy to apply to your feet, elbows, knees and hands (or anywhere on your body that is in need of extreme moisture). And if I haven’t sold you on this recipe yet, I’ve designed some winter themed labels that fit our ultra cute bail jars.
Ingredients
3 oz Candellila Wax
4 oz Meadowfoam
4 oz Olive Oil
5 oz Avocado Butter
1 oz Dulse Extract
.3 oz Butter Mints Fragrance Oil
Buy everything you need in the click of a button!
ONE: Combine the Candellila Wax, Meadowfoam and Olive Oil in a heat safe container. Put it in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds then take it out and stir with a spoon. Repeat 2 more times until the wax is fully melted.
Note: You can also melt the waxes and oils in a double boiler.
TWO: Stir in the avocado butter until fully incorporated. Some butters can get grainy if heated to high temperatures so I’ve just gotten used to always stirring in the butters. If it starts to cool down too quickly, pop it back into the microwave for 20 seconds until it’s back to a translucent liquid.
THREE: Mix in the fragrance oil and Dulse Extract. Give it a good stir and it’s ready to pour into the bail jars.
Bail Jar Tips: If you open the lids all the way back the jars will tip over (ack). In the picture above I have them half way open so they stand up by themselves and there’s still enough room to pour the balm.
Finishing Tip: A little divot can form in the center as the balm cools. To achieve a nice smooth top, gently heat the surface with a heat gun so some of the melted balm fills in any cracks.
Just slap on the free labels and these winter balms are ready!
- 3 oz Candellila Wax
- 4 oz Meadowfoam
- 4 oz Olive Oil
- 5 oz Avocado Butter
- 1 oz Dulse Extract
- .3 oz Butter Mints Fragrance Oil
- 4 Small Bail Jars
- Super Cute Labels
- Combine the Candellila Wax, Meadowfoam and Olive Oil in a heat safe container. Put it in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds then take it out and stir with a spoon. Repeat 2 more times until the wax is fully melted.
- Stir in the avocado butter until fully incorporated. Some butters can get grainy if heated to high temperatures so I’ve just gotten used to always stirring in the butters. If it starts to cool down too quickly, pop it back into the microwave for 20 seconds until it’s back to a translucent liquid.
- Mix in the fragrance oil and Dulse Extract. Give it a good stir and it’s ready to pour into the bail jars.
- A little divot can form in the center as the balm cools. To achieve a nice smooth top, gently heat the surface with a heat gun so some of the melted balm fills in any cracks.
I love how easy this is… I’ve made two batches already, one with Cranberry Fig fragrance, and the other with Gingersnap leftover from the Gingerbread Man kit I bought from you guys last year. 🙂
Quick question- after all that’s said and done I have about 2ml of Gingersnap FO left. How much carrier oil do you think I should add to it to make perfume oil in the roller bottles?
Good morning, Sibs!
We are just so happy that you have been trying out this recipe and can’t wait to hear more about your soapy adventures. If you are able to get any photos of your products, we’d love for you to share them with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry
If you have a small amount of Gingersnap Fragrance Oil that you want to make into a perfume, here are a couple of recipe that you could go with:
Spray Perfume: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lotion/how-to-make-perfume-video/
White Ginger and Amber Spray Perfume: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/white-ginger-and-amber-spray-perfume/
You can also go with this recipe and your Gingersnap Fragrance Oil:
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/home-crafts/bug-away-spray-bouquet/
For the amount of fragrance oil you have left, you could mix 5 ounces of Fractionated Coconut Oil with your Gingersnap Fragrance oil and mix it and pour into your bottles for a lovely roll-on perfume. I hope that this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions. =)
Gingersnap Fragrance Oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/Gingersnap-Fragrance-Oil-P3918.aspx
-Becky with Bramble Berry
This may be a silly question,but once these are made then how does a person use the body balm? Do you just dig your fingers into jar and scrape? I ask because I’ve only seen them made into roll on containers or brick style so you can rub over rough spots.
Hi Yvonne!
With a body balm, you just dip your fingers into the jar and take out as much as you need and rub it on the dry spots on your skin! =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Hey I love your balm recipe but when I made mine it was only smooth on the side of the container . How do you get your balm to look so uniform and smooth?
Hi NisaImani!
The best way to get a uniform and smooth look in these balms is to use a heat gun to gently heat the surface, that should get rid of those divots and cracks. =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
thx, will do…
ln both recipes l used corn starch at the rate of 3 gr(approx) per 100 gr of oils and they turned out to be quite nice. Especially in the belly butter formula the touch is very nice… And as you said l think the amount can even be increased to 1oz ppo.
That’s wonderful, Pelin! I’m so glad that you got it to work and found a usage rate that you like! If you have pictures, you should share them with us on our Facebook page, we’d love to see how it turned out!
https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Dear Anne-Marie,
I love your body butter and balm recipes and they really worked well on my dry skin 🙂
I wanted to check with you if you would prefer this recipe or the whipped belly butter one for very dry and chapped feet.
I should note that due to the limitations in my supplies, I will need to substitute candelila wax with beeswax, meadowfoam with apricot kernel or sweet almond oil and avocado butter with shea butter in this recipe and hemp seed oil with apricot kernel or sweet almond oil in the belly butter recipe.
Your answer is much appreciated, thanks,
Hi Pelin!
Both recipes are fantastic, but Anne-Marie absolutely loved the Whipped Belly Butter when she was pregnant, it worked really for her belly and her feet and kept her skin super moisturized.
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lotion/whipped-belly-butter-tutorial-2/
With the ingredients you have you can do this recipe or the Whipped Belly Butter and they will both turn out fantastic. Although, the whipped belly butter does smell a little bit because of the Chamomile, Carrot Seed and Frankincense.
Good luck and share with us how it turns out! 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Thanks a lot…
One more question 🙂 I would like to add some corn starch to take away the greasy feeling, how much should I put for these recipes?
Thanks a lot…
I would start out with 1 teaspoon per pound of oils, all the way up to 1 ounce per pound of oils. You’ll have to let us know how this turns out!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
would you still use 1 tablespoon per pound if using the Tapioca Powder as a drying agent?
Definitely – I really like using Tapioca Powder. I find it to be very effective.
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, can I substitute the Dulce extract w/ avocado or carrot extract the last two have water as part of the ingredients.
Thanks,
Sylvia
Hi Anne-Marie,
My Bramble Berry order on 2-1-2012 included downloads of all your labels – All PDF and only a few duplicated as MS Word, which is the program I use. How do I get the Winter Balm and Winter Relief in MS Word?
Thank You for everything! You are A-mazing!!
Taleda
Hi Taleda,
That one is only in a PDF because there isn’t any ingredient listing or anything that you would need to change wording wise to customize. I made the labeling templates in word so that you can change your ingredients and name of the product.
If you don’t have the Adobe PDF reader, it’s a free download http://get.adobe.com/reader/
i have a question what can i use instead of meadowfoam oil? is there something comparable to it?
Nothing comparable to it but you could put Olive Oil or Sweet Almond Oil in without much of a decrease in functionality or nourishment. =)
So since it already calls for Olive oil would you just sub 4 more oz of olive oil for the 4oz of Meadowfoam or just leave that out?
Hi Jennifer! You could sub 4 more ounces of the Olive Oil, or even sub in the Sweet Almond Oil for the remaining four ounces if you aren’t wanting to use the Meadowfoam Oil in the recipe! 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Hi, just reading through all the comments and if I use cornstarch to pick up some of the oil. How much should I use? and How do i keep it from clumping. Also if i use this as a lip balm should I use a special fragrance oil for lips.
thanks
Penny
A great starting place is 1 tablespoon per pound. Try sifting the cornstarch before adding it to the mixture to avoid clumps. This would be a great lip balm base just make sure that you use lip safe flavor oils https://www.brambleberry.com/Flavoring-Oils-C177.aspx
If you are going to make it a lip balm I would add 2 extra ounces of wax to harden it up a bit.
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Looks amazing! I love the look and the formula sounds wonderful!
I doubled this and made it for Christmas gifts last month. It was a huge hit! Everyone loved it. The lotion is super oily, but that works well with my dry skin. I used different glass jars and used up some vanilla fragrance samples in it. All my friends are looking forward to a summer fruity version. I think I may try to substitute some shea in it next time too. Thank you for the amazing formula!
Wonderful – I am so happy to read this. And yes, subbing shea would be great and work wonderfully.
Vanilla would warm up so nicely on the skin in a balm. Nice choice.
Hi there,
I’ve watching your videos and looking through the blog for a long time now. And I’m really interested in getting into making my own soap and cosmetics and possibly starting an Etsy store. My question is can you use a different jar? Like the tins? I don’t have a whole lot of money to spend so I’d probably put them into smaller containers to get more for my money but I didn’t know if it mattered what container is used. Are there any other substitutes that might be cheaper that I can use? Either for the meadowfoam oil or the avocado butter..I’m SOOO excited to start though.
Hi Nicole! You can definitely use different sized jars or tins for this recipe. And have fun experimenting with different ingredients. Any liquid oil will work in this recipe so you could use all Olive Oil or Sweet Almond Oil. You could replace the Avocado Butter with Shea or Mango. The Dulse Extract is optional as well. The recipe will still be great if you leave that out. Have fun playing with the recipe!
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Hi, I just checked on the jars I made New Years day. There is a little pool of oil on the top that appears to be the FO. Any ideas why it is separating out?
I’ve had water separate out from balms before when I’ve used a freshly washed (and damp!) double boiler. If there was water in the mix it could be that it picked up some of the FO? I don’t use FO but I’ve never had EO separate before.
Not sweating? Taste it. Is it EO or condensation?
No, a pure EO should not sweat out. An EO that is cut or diluted might?
Just tried the recipe and poured it into several containers just to test applications: lip balm tin, tin for use as a body balm and a silicone mold to use as a lotion bar. After trying each I think I like this recipe best as a lip balm! For me, it’s a bit too oily as a body balm or lotion bar but is soft and has great staying power when used as a lip balm 🙂 I added peppermint and lemongrass EO and next time might do a vanilla/rosewood combo (one of my favorites!) with a tiny bit of lanolin.
Thanks for the great recipe!
If it’s too oily for body, you could always use Tapioca Powder (whenever it comes back into stock) or a Cornstarch to help absorb the oil and make it more of a dry, silky feeling =) That blend sounds amazing, by the way!
Hi, can you clarify: The recipe calls for 4oz of Olive Oil but the link takes you to Olive Oil – Pomace. Which is needed?
Can you tell me where the pomace can be used as a substitute since I think I will be getting a pound of it, but this recipe calls for only 4 oz.
It’s the same – you can use Virgin, Extra Virgin or Pomace =)
You can totally use the Pomace Olive Oil for this recipe.
Sorry – Meadowfoam oil called for 4 oz and I barely got 3.8 oz… off by 1 oz!
See my comment above =)
Courtney from Bramble Berry
I just had one more thought. .2 ounces is just the right amount that could still be in the bottle, around the edges. Let the fragrance oil bottle sit upside down to get the remaining .2 ounces out of the bottle =)
Courtney from Bramble Berry
I liked the sound of this recipe, so thought I would try it and did the click on the button to order all the ingredients instantly. Everything came in, and tonight I made the balm. Here are a couple of comments:
This is SUPER EASY to make! I was done in 15 minutes flat! Up against the holidays, this was a really great thing for me.
The recipe calls for 3 oz of Winter White FO (which I love, by the way), but what came was not even 2 oz – although I “think” it will be enough. Still if I was supposed to use 3, there wasn’t enough sent. Same thing with the Meadowfoam oil – called for 3 oz and I got barely 2.8 oz – again, I think it will be fine.
It’s cooling now and I’m really looking forward to testing this out! So far so good! Happy Holidays!
Hi Christine! Sorry for all of the confusion. The recipe actually calls for .3 ounces of fragrance oil (point three) and not 3 ounces so you’ll definitely have enough for the recipe. The kit button should have also come with 4 ounces of Meadowfoam.
So it seems that you were shorted by .2 ounces on the Meadowfoam and the Winter White. It’s entirely possible (and likely) that the product is still in the bottle – clinging to the sides of the bottle since you can’t fully empty the bottle without holding it upside down for a while. I’m so sorry about that. Email customer service and we can take care of the shortage for you =)
info(at)brambleberry(dot)com
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Can you use mango or shea butter instead of the avacado butter? Do these butters have a shelf life?
Yes, you can use mango or shea butter instead of avocado – and the consistency would be similar. The shelf life of butters is a minimum of a year but I’ve had shea butter last as long as 3 years for me =)
This is an awsome recipe. Is there a shelf life for this balm? What about spoilage from bacteria? Do of these ingredients preservatives? Thanks
Shelf life of any recipe is always the life of its shortest-life oil, in this case the butter so it should be a minimum of a year.
Bacteria is not an issue with no water added to the recipe.
The recipe does not need preservatives because there is no water (which is what mold growth and bacteria need to grow).
I love the sound of this recipe! This may be a silly question, but can the candellila wax be substituted with beeswax? Or will it change the consistency too much?
You can sub it but the Candellila wax is harder than beeswax so you’ll probably need the same amount of beeswax or more (because beeswax is softer). But yes, you can definitely sub it. Just plan for a slightly softer recipe if you do a straight 1:1 sub.
Looks so nice!.. You know what would be great?!.. A tute on how you take such lovely pictures.. with all those pretty backgrounds!
Thanks Erika! I love collecting large (18″ x 24″ or bigger) sheets of paper to use as backgrounds.
For a quick at home set-up, while I am waiting for the perfect natural light, (morning and afternoon light are my favorite because it is softer than mid-day) I push my dining table up against the wall, tape my large sheet of paper on the wall (with masking tape! Clear tape may peel off paint) and start experimenting with different arrangements of what I am photographing. I snap photos of each arrangement, even if I don’t love it. That gives me the opportunity to look back and see what works and what doesn’t. If you don’t have an area to push a table to and don’t mind working on the floor, that is always an option as well.
Things to think about during your photo shoot:
1) Lighting: Different lighting will give different effects.
2) Angles of the shot: Experiment with the angles from which you are shooting: from above, level with subject, and angles in between. I’m a shorty, so I employ a step stool and a chair.
3) “In the camera set-up”: I like to get my photo as clean and finished as possible when I push the shutter button. That way I have less editing to do on the computer. Make sure your background fills the frame. Make sure your background is clean (no rogue salt or herbs or clays, or what-have-you. Anything to make your set-up as picture perfect will help.
4) Background and arrangement combinations: Have a favorite arrangement? Change the backgrounds for different effects. Play with patterns and texture of backgrounds to highlight or interact with your product.
5) Aperture: If you have a camera you can adjust the aperture, play with different settings. I love setting it big, as in F-stops of 1.8 to 3.2. This shortens the depth of field in the shot so the focus is on your product and the background is fuzzy. If you don’t have aperture control, try setting your point and shoot on the macro or portrait setting.
I love getting inspiration from etsy.com. There are many blogs out there to get ideas from: foodie photography is one of my favorites to borrow from. Good luck and have fun with it!
Hello,
This looks divine and I love using balms this time of year. I love that it’s vegan too 😀
Yay! So glad that you are happy about the tutorial and I hope you like the recipe when you try it and use it.
Thanks you so much for posting this I had seen the recipe on another computer ealier and had bought all the supplies which came yesterday but then I could not find the recipe and here it is thank.!
Kam Murnion