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Bite Me Not Lotion Bar

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

Summer is the season of days by the pool, nights by the barbecue, and (queue scary music) mosquitoes!  Keep the bugs away without synthetic chemicals this summer by making your own all natural “bug off” lotion bar. We’ve custom blended some essential oils to keep bugs away and keep you smelling great all summer long. Apply the lotion bar to your legs and arms and let the bugs beware!

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Lotion Bar Recipe:

4 oz Avocado Butter

4 oz Yellow Beeswax

4 oz Sweet Almond Oil

1 oz Meadowfoam Oil

1 tsp Essential Oil Blend

12 Push Tubes

Essential Oil Blend:

2ml Cedarwood Essential Oil

2ml Black Pepper Essential Oil

1ml Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil

1ml Rosemary Essential Oil

1ml White Thyme Essential Oil

0.5ml Clove Leaf Essential Oil

0.5ml Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil

Recipe Yields 12 Lotion Bars

Step 1: Melt all your butters and oils together.  I would recommend a double boiler for this step due to the beeswax.  Beeswax and microwaves can be a dangerous mix, as we learned while making lip balms in this post. The avocado butter will melt very quickly, but keep stirring in the beeswax until everything is liquid.

Step 2: Once all of your oils and waxes are melted add 1 teaspoon (you can go up to 2 teaspoons for an extra strong blend but keep in mind that Clove and Cinnamon Leaf are extremely powerful and should never be used over .5% of any total recipe ) of the essential oil blend and mix well!

Step 3: Pour the mixture into the  lotion bar containers and allow to cool before putting the cap on.

Tip:  If you have small cracks or a divot in the center of your lotion bars after they’ve cooled, don’t worry!  A short burst from your heat gun will remelt the top of your balm so your bars are picture perfect.

Bug Be Gone Fun Facts: Cedarwood and White Thyme have a long history of use as bug repellents and gives this blend a hearty woodsy note.  Cedarwood is most known for repelling moths, but is repugnant to other insects as well, including mosquitoes.  White Thyme is also a strong bug repellent, but because it is quite pungent, we’ve used a small amount in our blend.

Rosemary and Lavender have been used traditionally as bug repellents for centuries.  Both common herbs were used as either dried herb bunches or as hydrosol sprays to keep linens and clothes free of bugs in medieval Europe.  They also soften this essential oil blend, so you’ll smell bad to bugs but not to your friends!

Clove, Cinnamon, and Black Pepper lend a warm, spicy note to this blend, but did you know they can repel mosquitoes?  In fact, Cinnamon essential oil can be used as a natural way to kill mosquito larvae! Cinnamon and Clove are both really strong, so we’ve used a tiny amount in this blend. Remember, usage rate for both of these is under .5% because they both can be irritating to skin. Note: Please remember to research essential oils on your own before use as some may not be appropriate for pregnant women or certain health conditions.

Do you love lotion bars? Check out another recipe here!
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50 Comments

  1. I don’t have white thyme or black pepper EO on hand, but I do have all the others recommended in this blend. Can I do without those or replace them with something else like Lemongrass or Citronella EO? Will making this without them make a huge difference in how it works?

  2. I wanted to make this using Candelilla Wax what would be the substitute amount instead of the Beeswax? Would I only use 2oz of Candelilla Wax compared to the 4oz of Beeswax, or would you recommend me using more? Thank you in advance!

    • Hi Heather!

      If you use Candellila, it will be much harder. That wax is considerably more hard than beeswax. If you’re going to experiment with Candellila, just do small batches =) It’s about 15-20% harder in my experience and it is much more brittle. I’d try adding it little bits and do the frozen spoon test to make sure you like how it feels! I hope this helps.

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  3. I don’t have any of the meadowfoam oil, could I use apricot kernel oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil or wheatgerm oil instead? Of course I have everything but what I need. lol

  4. Hi!

    I make solid lotion and it is a bit greasy. Can you use Tapioca Powder for it was well?

    Thanks!
    Rachelle

    • Hi Rachelle!

      If you find your solid lotion to be a bit greasy you can use Tapioca Starch (if you have some at home) or you can even add a bit of Corn Starch. The corn starch will also help cut down on the greasiness of your lotion!

      ~Becky with Bramble Berry

  6. Can this essential oil blend be used in a spray bottle with Witch Hazel? If so, about how much would you recommend for 4 oz. using the blend as you’ve measured out? I’d like to try a less oily way to apply but can’t wait to try this! My supplies arrive today and I’m so excited. It’s like aroma therapy!
    Lydia

  7. Oh, I forgot to tell you – I left out the black pepper and white thyme oil, added some Lemongrass, and it worked well. Also, If I hit the finished sticks gently with a hot gun, would it maybe melt them a little so they aren’t so loose? Might go try it now!

  8. Thanks For the great recipe! We can’t even go out in the backyard here in Florida without getting attacked! The recipe worked great, but I’m having trouble with the stick sliding out of the container?? Like it shrunk up too much. Is this from pouring too hot?
    Any ideas??

    • Hi Dawnia!

      It sounds like your recipe might be a little too hard and is causing your bars to pop right out. You should be able to push gently on the bottom and have it slide right up for you to use without the stick sliding out of the container. You can fix that by using a little less beeswax in your recipe.

      Have you ever heard of the spoon trick? It’s a great way to test the consistency of your lotion bars. Stick a couple of spoons in the freezer. When you are ready, you dip the frozen spoons into the liquid mixture and it will harden up immediately on the spoon. That way you will be able to see what the consistency is before it fully hardens. Then you can make any adjustments you need. =)

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  9. instead of avocadobutter can I use sheabutter or mangobutter? or would that be too soft

    • Hi Heidi!

      You can use Shea, Mango or any other soft butter instead of the Avocado Butter and it shouldn’t change the consistency of the recipe.

      If the recipe turns out too soft for you, you can just add a bit more beeswax to help harden it up!

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  10. Would this work just as well making it into a spray or mist, instead of a lotion bar?

  11. I just spent a week with my sister and her sons (1 and 3 years old) and they have gnats that will run even the toughest little boy (or aunt) straight out of the grass and inside. I am thinking of making something for those boys so they can play outside even during the gnatty times…would this be safe for those little guys (I would use the Bug Be Gone synergy blend you used to sell, instead of the EOs listed in your recipe)? I don’t want to send my sister something to use that might be bad for her kids, but would love to help!

    • You can use this blend of EO’s or you can use the previous Bug-Be-Gone blend that we use to sell and either would be safe for her kids, just make sure you test out a small bit on the skin first to make sure it works for them. =)

      I hope this helps your nephews out, gnats and bugs are no fun!

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  12. So this lotion has been tested and really does repel bugs? For whatever reason I’m a bug magnet! I have a severe allergy to sweat bees and I get stung by them when everyone else around me never sees them. If this works even 1/2 as well as predicted I’ll be making it by the barrel. : )

    • Hi Sharryn!

      We’ve used this lotion bar here in the Pacific Northwest and the bugs seem to be staying off us. We used the above blends of essential oils, because they have been know to repel bugs and get them to stay away from you! Both Cedarwood and White Thyme have a long history of use as bug repellents, as well as the Rosemary and Lavender (both of which have been used traditionally as bug repellents for centuries). Another great thing about this blend is that it includes Cinnamon Essential Oil, which is a natural way to kill mosquito larvae!

      I’d try it out and see how it works for the bugs in your area, you’ll have to let us know! =)
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

    • This lotion bar is going to help repel a lot of different kinds of bugs. We don’t live in an area with ticks, so we don’t know if it works against them.

      If you make it, you should let us know how it works for you!
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  14. OOPPPs
    24 oz of Product. I’m so used to the autocorrect feature on my iphone!!!

  15. Hi –

    Could you tell me how to figure the amout a percentage is? Like if I was making 24 oz of produce, and wanted to add 2% of something? I know it’s in the blog, but I forgot where!!
    Thanks!!!

    • The easiest way I’ve learned (I’m not the greatest at math) to figure out percentages is to actually use Google. I typed in “What is 2% of 24” and came up with “0.48”. So in your recipe, you would ad 0.48 ounces of whatever you were wanting to add at the 2%! I hope this helps. 🙂
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  16. If you were to sell something like this would you have to have it approved through the EPA or anyone else?

      • Thanks! I had major mosquito issues last year so I bought a stockpile of it! Am excited to try it out in this recipe.

  19. That’s a cool fact about remelting the tops! I never would have thought of it! Thanks so much for sharing!

  20. It would be amazing if you could sell this blend of essential oils all together! I would love to make this, but I don’t think I would ever buy a full two oz of all those EOs. But I would absolutely buy 2 oz of this blend.

    • That would be a great idea I can’t afford the EO’s either but in a blend would be really great.

    • That’s a great question – and especially since I have a 1 year old, if anyone was going to be making all natural sunscreen, it would be me.

      Unfortunately, the FDA treats the sunscreen like a drug (with pre-market testing, every batch verified for SPF etc…). Because of this, I don’t make sunscreen for myself or my family.

      I did go to the website you found the recipe on and it looks like it would be hard enough to put into the push tubes which is a much more convenient way to apply any balm.

  22. This shouldn’t be used on pregnant women though. I’ve read that cedarwood, rosemary, and thyme are all prego no-no’s. I’m pregnant and have been working on, and researching a good insect repellent mix that is safe for me to make and use. Lemon Eucalyptus is supposed to work really well on mosquitoes.

      • Catnip is AWESOME – my fave – for bug repellant. We have a few more blends we’ve designed with that one coming up later this month. Some sites do recommend avoiding Catnip while pregnant. I’d check with your Doctor to see what they say.

    • Excellent point – I’ll be sure to add a little paragraph about doing all the safety research for the clients you’re considering using the product with.

  23. Can you not use the peppercorn EO to keep the cost down? Will it change the protection from the bugs any?

        • The blend does use Black Pepper Essential Oil as a component of the blend. I’m sure I’m misunderstanding your question so definitely ask a different way so I can answer with what you need. =)

          • I would like to make this for my sons to have but its a little expensive and was wondering if I could leave out the Pepper EO to bring the cost down and if it leaving out that EO would it not work as well to keep the bugs off my children.