Naturally Colored Emulsified Body Butter
| Phase | Ingredient | Percent (%) | Weight (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase A | Glycerin | 6 | 6 |
| Xanthan gum | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
| Water | 58.2 | 58.2 | |
| Phase B | Emulsifying wax (Olivem1000) | 8 | 8 |
| Stearic acid | 3 | 3 | |
| Shea butter | 17 | 17 | |
| Carrier oil | 5 | 5 | |
| Phase C | Preservative (cosgard) | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Fragrance oil (I’ve used Caribbean berry & melon) | 1 | 1 | |
| Vitamin E | 0.5 | 0.5 |
In a previous post, I have shared a recipe for an emulsified body butter. This is one of the most used "cream" people use these days.
One thing I love about my DIY cosmetics is the possibility of playing with natural colors in my products.
If you've made some of my recipes/formulas, you know by now that I love to infuse oils for all the benefits it adds to my final products. Not only do I get some botanical properties when using infused oil, but I also can add colors and create vibrant products that are more aesthetic and fun.
Since I know emulsified body butters are trendy now, especially the colorfull ones, I decided to use oils to color this emulsified body butter. The result was gorgeous pastel colors that make this emulsified body butter so satisfying to use.
Of course, you can use different infusions and oil to make your personalized emulsified body butter.
Emulsified body butter has a large amount of butter and oils. If you reduce the amount of butter and oils, you'll have a cream rather than emulsified body butter.
In this recipe, I'm using Shea butter. Shea butter contains several types of fatty acids (including linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acids). Shea butter softens and hydrates the skin.
I use the unrefined version of shea butter. You can also use the refined version.
To obtain the natural pastel colors I'm using Shea butter infused with annatto seeds and Babassu oil infused with Alkanet root powder.
I'm making two batches of this emulsified body butter, each batch with a different color. Then I combine the two colors into one container to have a colorful emulsified body butter.
You can play with the intensity of the colors by using more of the infused oil or butter or using less. The more infused oil you use, the stronger the color will be in the final product.
You can use any infused oil or butter you like. You can infuse the shea butter with other ingredients to obtain different colors and not use an infused carrier oil.
Some good ingredients to infuse oils and butters are Paprika powder, nettle dry leaves, camomile dried flowers, Indigo powder, madder root powder, and sage and parsley powder.
Read this post on how to infuse oils in the cold method.
You can also use buriti oil or Sea buckthorn oil for natural orange color.
Check this recipe for the emulsified sugar scrub, where I used different infused oils to get natural colors.
This recipe is quite simple. You have 3 phases: the water phase, the oil phase and the cool-down phase. There are few ingredients; you can swap the shea butter with mango butter or kokum butter and swap the babassu oil with any other carrier oil you like.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It can delay the rancidity of the oils. You can use carrier oil instead if you don't have vitamin E.
Make sure to use a cosmetic preservative and use it according to the supplier's instructions.
You can use a different kind of emulsifying wax but remember that each emulsifying wax gives different results.
Read here on how each emulsifying wax can give different textures and densities to a product.
Now that you have the basic information let's make this beautiful emulsified body butter.
Method:
- We start by infusing the shea butter with annatto seeds to create an orange color (You can choose to infuse the carrier oil instead or use different botanicals for different color). In a heat-resistance beaker, add shea butter and the annatto seeds. Place the beaker into a double boiler on low-medium heat for an hour.
After an hour, you will see the shea butter changed its color to an orange color.
- After an hour, strain the seeds and leave the butter to cool-down.
- Now start with phase B. If you are making two colors repeat the process to have two beakers with each phase. Add the emulsifying wax, the stearic acid, the shea butter and the carrier oil.
In my first beaker, I used babassu oil infused with alkanet root powder for a pink color.
In my second beaker, I used the infused shea butter for the orange color. I added not infused sweet almond oil for the carrier oil in the second beaker.
Each beaker will have different colors depending on the oils or butters you infused.
- Now prepare phase A in a different heat-resistant beaker, add glycerin and xanthan gum, and mix them to create a slurry. Add the distilled water and stir. Repeat this for the second color.
You have two beakers with phase A and two beakers with phase B.
- Place phases A and B into a double boiler and cover phases A to minimize water evaporation.
- While phases A and B are heating, prepare phase C. Add the preservative, fragrance oil, and vitamin E. repeat this to have two containers with phase C.
- When phase B is melted, remove phases A and B from the heat.
- Combine phases A and B.
- Let the emulsions cool down. Check the temperature and add phase C when the temperature is less than 40 degrees Celsius.
- Mix to combine phase C. Check the PH level and adjust if necessary. Ph level between 5.5-6 is fine. Please read this post on how to adjust Ph in cosmetics. Also, you can check my other recipes when I demonstrate the process of PH checking and adjusting. For example, in this recipe for Calamine cream, you can find the PH adjustment process.
- You can place the emulsified body butter in a container or pipe it to create a two-colors combination.
- To use the emulsified body butter, take a small amount with a clean, dry hand and rub it on your body.
