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Gardeners Soap Recipe with Exfoliating Botanicals

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June 21, 2019 By Rebecca D. Dillon 1 Comment

This homemade cold process gardeners soap recipe is made with exfoliating botanicals and three skin conditioning body butters. So it doesn’t just get you clean, it also helps to nourish skin!

Life is messy. Sometimes it’s even dirty. So when it comes time to clean up the dirt left behind from your summer shenanigans, projects and gardening, you need a soap that’s created just for such situations.

Formulating a Gardeners Soap Recipe

The problem with a lot of gardening soaps is that they are super cleansing. Obviously if you need soap that’s powerful enough to get off that caked on grime – and whatever else water is fleeing in sheer horror from – they’re likely to strip your skin. You’re clean, but your skin also feels tight and dry. So you try an extra conditioning soap bar instead. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work as well as you need it to on your muck and mayhem. And in this day and age, no one has time to scrub their skin into next weekend.

So why not make a gardeners soap recipe that embraces BOTH of these characteristics? That’s just what I did! Formulated to be extra cleansing – with the inclusion of exfoliating botanicals to help scrub dirt away – this cold process gardeners soap recipe is also extra conditioning. So you get clean AND your skin stays balanced.

I then took my gardeners soap recipe to the next level by adding a simple blend of essential oils that outdoor bugs and mosquitoes prefer to stay very far away from. And while the general consensus is, that soap being a wash off product, isn’t effective at discouraging biting insects, I figure it can’t hurt.

I used to make my brother lemongrass soap every year before his annual camping trips. He swore up and down it worked for him – he never came home with mosquito bites – so I’m not about to knock that notion totally out of the water.

If you’re looking for a leave on mosquito repellent, however, be sure to check out my insect repellent body butter recipe here. You may also want to check out these research based tick repellent recipes with essential oils from the Tisserand Institute.

Now let’s make this cold process gardeners soap recipe!

Homemade Gardeners Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

2.4 oz. babassu oil (15%)
1.6 oz. castor oil (10%)
4.8 oz. pomace olive oil (30%)
2.4 oz. mango butter (15%)
2.4 oz. unrefined shea butter (15%)
2.4 oz. tucuma butter (15%)

5.3 oz. distilled water (33% of oil weight)
2.1 oz. sodium hydroxide/lye (8% superfat)

.1 oz. lemon eucalyptus essential oil
.1 oz. marjoram essential oil
.1 oz. Virginia cedarwood essential oil
1 Tablespoon French green clay
1/2 teaspoon calendula flower powder
1/2 teaspoon cornsilk powder
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon Alpine green mica, optional

Gardeners Soap Making Notes:

If you’ve never made cold process soap before, I encourage you to check out my soap making tutorial on how to make soap from scratch. Or check out the book, The Complete Guide to Natural Soap Making, by Amanda Gail Aaron.

This homemade gardeners soap hardens up rather nicely and is easily cut the next day if using a loaf mold. If you’re using individual cavity molds, however, I recommend waiting an extra day or so before unmolding so your edges come out clean. Alternately you can use a steeper water discount – I’d recommend 30% of the oil weight – or you can also add either a teaspoon of sodium lactate or salt to this gardeners soap recipe to get a firmer bar out of the mold.

I used both the succulent silicone soap mold from Brambleberry as well as this silicone chrysanthemum mold for my gardeners soap recipe. The end recipe yielded four 2.5 oz. succulent shaped soaps and three 4 oz. chrysanthemum shaped soaps.

I chose the botanical exfoliants for this soap based on what I had on hand. While pumice is common in a gardeners soap recipe, I decided to use gentler exfoliants instead. However, you can swap out any of these exfoliants as desired with those of your choice.

Instructions:

This gardeners soap recipe is made using the cold process soapmaking method. You need to follow all safety precautions when making cold process soap from scratch. This includes using heat safe containers and non-aluminum containers and utensils. Protective clothing and eyewear is also highly recommended.

To make this homemade soap, begin by measuring out the water (or other liquid) called for in the recipe in a heat safe container. Then use a digital scale to weigh out the lye into a separate container. Carefully pour the lye into the water in a well ventilated area. Then mix well until all the lye has dissolved and set aside. (This step can emit fumes. Therefore I recommend using an exhaust fan. Alternately, you can mix the lye into the water outdoors.)

Next, weigh out all the soapmaking oils and butters. This includes the babassu oil, castor oil, olive oil, mango butter, shea butter and tucuma butter. Combine the carrier oils and soap making butters in a heat safe container. Then melt the ingredients on the stove, in a crockpot or at reduced power in a microwave. Once melted, remove the melted oils and butters from the heat source and set aside.

While the lye-water and soapmaking oils cool, weigh the essential oils out and combine in a glass measuring cup. Likewise, measure out the clay, mica and exfoliants and combine in a small dish or container separate from the essential oils.

Once both the lye-water and soapmaking oils are about 95°F, you’re ready to continue making my gardeners soap recipe.

Start by adding the clay, exfoliants and mica to the melted soapmaking oils and butters. Mix briefly with an immersion blender to distribute the additives throughout the oil mixture.

Follow with the lye-water. Then mix until you achieve a light trace.

Add the essential oils.Continue mixing the soap batter until you reach a medium to heavy trace. (I overmixed my soap batter to be sure I did not get a false trace as my gardeners soap recipe calls for a high percentage of hard butters.)

Finally, pour the soap into your molds. Cover the tops of the soap with plastic wrap or parchment paper. Then set a tea towel on top of the soap to insulate the soap and ensure goes through gel phase. (You can learn more about the gel phase in soap making at Lovin’ Soap here.)

Unmold your soaps after 24 hours, then leave in a cool, dry location to cure for four to six weeks. At which point, you can wrap and label your soaps for personal use or handmade gifts.

If you’d like to sell the homemade soaps you make from my gardeners soap recipe, you need to follow good manufacturing practices (GMP) when making your homemade soaps. The book, Good Manufacturing Practices for Soap and Cosmetic Handcrafters by Marie Gale, is a valuable resource if you’re just getting started making your own homemade soaps, skin care products and cosmetics.

In addition to GMP, you also need to follow FDA guidelines for labeling your homemade soaps. If you’re unsure about the rules and regulations regarding labeling cosmetics, the book, Soap and Cosmetic Labeling: How to Follow the Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English by Marie Gale, spells out everything you need to know to legally label your products in the United States.

If you like my gardeners soap recipe, then be sure to pin it for later. You can also try my gardeners soap recipe from last year. It can can be found here.

Not quite ready to make my gardeners soap recipe or simply need a scrubby soap you can use right away? Shop for handmade artisan gardeners soaps on Etsy here.

For more homemade soap recipes and ideas be sure to follow my boards on pinterest. You can also find me on your favorite social media platforms! Follow me on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive my newsletter to stay in the loop.

Eucalyptus and Orange Essential Oil Blend for Health, Home & Beauty

June 11, 2019 By Rebecca D. Dillon 2 Comments

This natural aromatherapeutic eucalyptus & orange essential oil blend recipe doesn’t just smell wonderful. It actually can be used in a number of ways for health, home and beauty. Learn how to make a simple eco-friendly linen spray & deodorizer, surface sanitizer, smoothing hair shine spray & diffuser blend for stuffy noses. As well as how to add this essential oil blend to your homemade soap & natural skin care recipes. Keep reading to learn more!

Aromatherapeutic Essential Oil Blend

This is the same essential oil blend I used in my latest natural skin care recipe for a homemade coffee body scrub. And, because I love it SO much, I wanted to share a few other ways that you can use this natural essential oil blend recipe.

Whether you’re looking for new naturally scented skin care recipes to try or want an eco-friendly way to freshen your home, you’ll find this eucalyptus and orange essential oil blend has uses for all aspects of health, skin care and homemaking.

Eucalyptus and Orange Essential Oil Blend

To make, simply combine 3 parts eucalyptus essential oil with 2 parts peppermint essential oils, 2 parts orange essential oil, 1 part rosemary essential oil and 1 part tea tree essential oil in an amber glass bottle. Then shake to combine.

Here’s an easy breakdown to make a batch of this essential oil blend to use throughout the year, broken down into ounces and grams.

Eucalyptus and Orange Essential Oil Blend Recipe

.15 oz. / 4.25 g eucalyptus essential oil
.1 oz. / 2.8 g peppermint essential oil
.1 oz. / 2.8 g wild orange essential oil
.05 oz. / 1.41 g rosemary essential oil
.05 oz. /1.41 g tea tree essential oil

Ways to use Your Eucalyptus and Orange Essential Oil Blend

For Homemade Beauty Recipes

You can then use this essential oil blend in you homemade beauty recipes such as melt and pour soaps, body butters and scrubs – even natural homemade deodorant for summer! I recommend .5% for leave on products and up to 2% for wash off products such as homemade soap recipes and body scrubs.

Or try swapping out this eucalyptus and orange essential oil blend in one of these natural beauty recipes.

For Natural Hair Care

I also love using this blend for natural hair care. Combine 12 drops of this essential oil blend with 1 oz. fractionated coconut oil. Then simply mist or smooth a few drops over hair for a healthy looking shine.

For Seasonal Allergies & Colds

As this natural essential oil blend contains eucalyptus essential oil, I also found it worked wonders at opening up my nasal passages caused by seasonal allergies.

Simply use this blend in an essential oil diffuser – like this one, pictured above. Or, combine 24 drops of essential oil with 2 oz. of witch hazel in a spray bottle to mist onto your pillow before bed. (You can also use this as a spray deodorant!)

For Home Scents & Sanitizers

Alternately, I also found that this essential oil blend works beautifully as an odor neutralizing spray, sanitizer and air freshener in my home. Simply combine this blend in a spray bottle with either vodka or 99% isopropyl alcohol to deodorize and sanitize surfaces. It can also be used as a linen spray to freshen laundry. (Shake before each use.)

For Laundry Care

You can also add this essential oil blend directly to your wool dryer balls for freshly scented laundry that’s also eco-friendly.

How Much Essential Oil Should I Use?

Confused about how much essential oil to add to your recipes? Check out Mountain Rose Herbs’ new essential oil dilution calculator here. Or try their easy essential oil conversion calculator when you’re not sure how to make conversions from drops to larger units of measure. Plus get pro tips for using essential oils for home, health and beauty.

An Easy Way to Learn About Essential Oils

Ready to start your essential oil collection but aren’t sure where to start? Simply Earth offers a monthly essential oil recipe box that’s perfect for you! Each monthly box comes with four essential oils as well as additional ingredients and recipe cards. Use the essential oil recipe cards to craft simple essential oil recipes for health, home and beauty. Then store the index sized cards in a recipe box for future reference or to duplicate your favorite recipes.

There’s no monthly commitment to try Simply Earth. Buy a single box or individual essential oils when it fits your budget. Discover all the benefits of Simply Earth’s essential oil recipe boxes here. Or check out my reviews of past boxes from Simply Earth here.

Ready to explore new essential oils? Order this month’s box with right away! (Use coupon code: SOAPDELIFREE to receive a FREE bonus box worth $40 with your first order. You’ll also get an e-coupon for $40 off your next box. Get yours now!)

Interested in learning even more? Explore more ways to use essential oils in your home as well as for health and beauty applications by visiting my essential oils & herbs board on Pinterest. And, of course, don’t forget to pin this post with my eucalyptus and orange essential oil blend recipe for later!

For more ideas for using essential oils as well as my own original bath and beauty recipes, be sure to follow me across your favorite social media platforms. You can find and follow me on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive my semi-weekly newsletter to stay in the loop.

Filed Under: Bath & Beauty Recipes, Handmade Home, Health & Wellness, Lifestyle Tagged With: allergy relief, bath and beauty, bath and body, essential oil blend, essential oils, essential oils recipes, eucalyptus, handmade home, health and wellness, healthy homemaking, lifestyle, natural alternative, natural beauty, natural skin care, non-toxic, orange, summer skin care

Coffee Scrub Recipe for Natural Summer Skin Care & Homemade Gifts

June 6, 2019 By Rebecca D. Dillon 6 Comments

Made with a blend of aromatherapeutic essential oils, this homemade coffee scrub recipe resembles potted succulents and is the perfect treat for your natural summer skin care routine. Learn how to make this DIY beauty recipe today to naturally pamper your skin and reduce the visible appearance of cellulite. Or make this natural body scrub to create unique homemade gifts for friends and family.

Getting Around to Summer Skin Care

I am one of those people who lacks a green thumb. While I’m not a serial plant murderer, my thumb varies from shades of putrid yellow to brown. I never kill my plants right off the bat. Instead, I tend to slowly torture them to death through a series of overwatering and underwatering then back again. My succulents always suffer the most. I’ll typically keep them alive for a year or so before sending them into a downward spiral that leads to rotting roots and leaves.

Granted, I do consider myself an intelligent person. I honestly do grasp the concept of plant care. The problem, however, isn’t that I don’t know HOW to care for succulents. It’s that my anxiety gets the better of me.

Normally, I’m a mostly sane person. (I’m not sure anyone is completely sane all of the time, so I prefer not overvalue my own sanity.) Unfortunately, I’ve never been great at handling the emotional overload that comes with that monthly visit from Aunt Flo. She’s quite challenging, especially now that perimenopause has set in. So I find myself, at least once a month, trying to compartmentalize the emotional whirlwind and anxiety that accompanies the hormone changes she packs for every visit.

To cope, this sometimes means, the OCD gets the better of me. And so I water my succulents thinking they aren’t getting enough to drink. Then I do it again the next day. And the day after that. And when they start to suffer, it must be they need more water! Or I go entirely the other direction and forget about them for months on end. At which point, there’s nothing left to salvage.

Luckily our skin can be salvaged. (Visibly anyway.) And whether or not you have a green thumb, this potted succulent coffee scrub recipe is the perfect way to pamper skin you’ve neglected prior to shorts season.

Skin Care Benefits of Coffee Scrubs

Coffee scrubs are exactly what you think they’d be. A body scrub comprised of coffee as the primary exfoliant. Typically, additional ingredients are also added to meet your skin’s personalized needs. Seeing as I’m turning 44 this month, I like to customize my body scrubs in a way that targets aging. By choosing carrier oils and essential oils that address aging, in addition to coffee’s caffeine content, I’m able to attain a variety of skin care benefits from my coffee scrub recipe.

Like most body scrubs, coffee scrubs are a wonderful way to naturally exfoliate skin. Exfoliation, which helps to promote cellular turnover, leads to brighter, smoother looking skin. This helps to reduce the appearance of aging. (Bye bye, fine lines.) By adding carrier oils, such as coconut oil, to a coffee scrub recipe, it also moisturizes skin which generally leads to a more youthful appearance.

Additionally, you may have heard, that coffee scrubs can help you can annihilate your body’s cellulite like I did last year’s succulents. But does it really?

Does a coffee scrub really help cellulite?

The one thing my homemade coffee scrub recipe cannot do is completely tackle cellulite. There is no magic remedy for reducing the amount of cellulite your body has. Much of cellulite is based on hereditary factors such as age, genetics, gender and ethnicity. However, both diet and activity level also play a role.

Nonetheless, by using a body scrub, such as a coffee scrub, you can diminish the appearance of cellulite. The massaging motion used when slathering on a scrub works much like dry brushing. It can help increase lymphatic drainage and it also increases body circulation. While the caffeine found in coffee assists in the dilation of blood vessels to tighten skin and aid in an overall firmer appearance.

Additional ingredients in my coffee scrub recipe.

I’ve seen coffee scrub recipes online that advice using cinnamon essential oil to further increase body circulation for cellulite reduction. However, as cinnamon oil is a known skin irritant, I strongly advise against its use. Instead, I’ve formulated my coffee scrub recipe using an aromatherapeutic blend of essential oils. These oils include both peppermint and eucalyptus, which can also aid in improving circulation without irritating sensitive skin.

In addition, I’ve also included Epsom salt in my potted succulent coffee scrub recipe. This salt, which is rich in magnesium, can help ease daily aches and pains that become commonplace as we age.

And, while I crafted this coffee scrub recipe with coconut oil, you can honestly use any carrier oil of your choosing. Hazelnut oil, for example, is great for massage. Alternately, I have another wonderful coffee scrub recipe without coconut oil – similar to Frank’s Original Coffee Body Scrub – that you can try here.

How to Make a Coffee Scrub Recipe

Ready to make a succulent themed summer coffee scrub recipe? Then let’s get started!

My potted succulent coffee scrub recipe is comprised of two parts. The actual coffee scrub recipe and a recipe for a simple succulent shaped soap that rests on top of the scrub. The coffee scrub is meant to be used after washing with the soap. When paired, the combination of these two natural summer skin care products make a beautiful presentation for homemade gifts.

The following recipes will yield four potted succulent coffee scrubs for seasonal gift giving. Should you not wish to make that many products at once, simply halve each of the recipes. It’s also important to note, that while I did use a small amount of cosmetic mica to add richer color and shimmer to my succulent soaps, you may omit the mica for all natural products.

Coffee Scrub Recipe with Coconut Oil

Ingredients:

8.5 oz. ground coffee
5 oz. Epsom salt
6 oz. fractionated coconut oil
4 oz. French green clay, suitable for all skin types
.25 oz. essential oil blend, found below

Essential Oil Blend:

.15 oz. eucalyptus essential oil
.1 oz. peppermint essential oil
.1 oz. wild orange essential oil
.05 oz. rosemary essential oil
.05 oz. tea tree essential oil

Instructions:

Begin by making the essential oil blend. Simply weigh out each essential oil into a glass container. Mix to combine, then pour into an amber jar for use later.

Next, use a digital scale to weigh out the fractionated coconut oil (which is always liquid at room temperature) and .25 oz. of the essential oil blend. Combine in a glass bowl or a glass Pyrex measuring cup. Stir to combine, then set aside.

In a separate container, weigh out and combine the ground coffee, Epsom salt and French green clay. Mix well to fully incorporate all the ingredients evenly throughout the mixture.

Pour the dry ingredients into the container with the coconut oil and essential oil blend. Mix with a fork to combine. Then spoon evenly into four 8 oz. thick walled PET amber jars. Set aside.

Succulent Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

11 oz. clear melt and pour soap base
1/2 teaspoon French green clay
1 teaspoon 99% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
.1 oz. essential oil blend, found above
1/4 teaspoon apple moss green mica
additional mica for dusting, to suit

Instructions:

Weigh out the clear glycerin soap base using a digital scale. Using a sharp knife, cut the soap into chunks and combine in a glass Pyrex measuring cup or other heat safe container.

Heat the soap in a microwave in 30 second increments until all the soap has melted. Set aside.

In a separate container, measure out the French green clay and isopropyl alcohol. Combine in a small glass bowl or measuring cup. Stir well to combine. Then stir into the melted soap base.

If desired, measure out the apple green mica, then add to the soap base as well.

Now weigh out a portion of the essential oil blend you made previously and stir into the melted soap. Stir to incorporate all the ingredients evenly throughout the melted soap base.

Next, place your succulent mold onto a cutting board.

If desired, dust the the inside cavities of the mold with skin safe, cosmetic mica powder. I like to sprinkle a small amount of mica powder into the mold then blow the excess out over the sink. For my succulent soaps, I used the same apple moss green mica I tinted the soap with along with a pink mica powder.

Remix the melted soap base, then pour the melted base evenly into each of the four cavities of your succulent mold. If needed, spritz the tops of the soap with isopropyl alcohol (in a spray bottle) to remove any air bubbles.

Use the cutting board to transport the soap to the refrigerator.

Allow the soap to set in the fridge until the soap has fully cooled and solidified.

Then remove the succulent soaps from the mold.

All that’s left now is to pair the containers of coffee scrubs you made previously with a bar of soap each.

To do this, simply wrap the succulent soaps tightly in foodservice film. Screw the lids onto the containers of coffee scrub. Then rest the succulent soap bars onto the lids of the coffee scrubs.

Tie the two natural skin care products together using pretty pink ribbon from the craft store. Your coffee scrub and succulent soap duo are now ready to give as homemade beauty gifts!

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it, but if you’d like to sell the products you make using my homemade coffee scrub recipe and succulent soap tutorial there are some guidelines you’ll need to follow. In addition to your state and country’s laws, you’ll also need to follow good manufacturing practices (GMP) when making your natural skin care products. I therefore recommend the book, Good Manufacturing Practices for Soap and Cosmetic Handcrafters by Marie Gale. This industry praised book is a valuable resource if you’re just getting started making your own homemade soaps, skin care products and cosmetics.

In addition to GMP, you’ll also need to follow FDA guidelines (in the United States) for labeling your products. If you’re unsure about the rules and regulations regarding labeling cosmetics, the book, Soap and Cosmetic Labeling: How to Follow the Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English by Marie Gale, spells out everything you need to know to legally label your products. (And avoid a visit and inspection from the FDA.)

I hope you love my coffee scrub recipe with coconut oil as much as I do. If so, then make sure to pin my coffee scrub recipe for cellulite on Pinterest for homemade gift ideas down the road.

Also be sure to check out my other summer skin care recipes and homemade gift ideas below!

More Summer Skin Care Recipes

If you enjoyed my potted succulent coffee scrub recipe and succulent soap tutorial, then you should try these other homemade summer skin care recipes! Formulated for fun and function, these skin care products are made using a combination of natural ingredients including essential oils, body butters and carrier oils to nourish skin. Discover new ways to craft homemade beauty products for your natural skin care and beauty regimen now!

For more DIY beauty and summer skin care recipes, be sure to follow me across your favorite social media platforms. You can find and follow me on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive my semi-weekly newsletter to stay in the loop.

Filed Under: Bath & Beauty Recipes, Homemade Gift Ideas Tagged With: anti-aging, bath and beauty, beauty products, beauty recipes, body scrub recipe, coffee body scrub, coffee scrub, epsom salt, essential oil blend, essential oil recipes, essential oils, gift idea, natural beauty, natural skin care, salt scrub recipe, succulent, summer, summer skin care

Summer Beauty Recipes: An Easy Seashell Soap Tutorial & More Ways to Care for Skin This Summer!

May 23, 2019 By Rebecca D. Dillon 9 Comments

Celebrate summer with nine summer beauty recipes from top bloggers. Easy recipes for DIY seashell soaps, mermaid fizzing bath salts, an aloe vera face mask and more!

Summer Beauty Recipes

Summer means more time outdoors, vacations and fun! So to celebrate the excitement and opportunities of summer, I wanted to share an amazing collection of summer beauty recipes. Not only will you enjoy making these summer skin care products (on a rainy day perhaps?) you’ll also love using them! Keep reading to discover how to make a super easy seashell embed soap. Plus find eight more summer beauty recipes you can make from some of my favorite fellow bloggers.

Summer Beauty Recipe Inspiration

I grew up on trips to Myrtle beach every summer until I was sixteen. Most of those years, we saved money by camping out in a campground. Not only did it give me a greater appreciation for the outdoors, I also learned that you should ALWAYS wear flip flops when using a campground shower. (Thanks, Mom!)

One of my favorite things about staying on a beach campground was the lack of hotels. Sure, there were lots of people, but there were no hotels to mar the skyline. Just beach and plants and trees. It was easy to make daily discoveries of beautiful shells, sand dollars, tiny crabs and clams in the sand.

Much like my early adventures in a hometown creek that fed into our river, I always tried to take at least one of my live discoveries home with me. While at home, I tried to create a habitat for crawdads I caught. At the beach, I took baby clams and other small (yet to be identified) creatures home in a bucket of sand and water.

Being that Myrtle Beach is a good 8-9 hour drive from my home in Virginia, these tiny sea creatures never managed to survive the trip. However that didn’t stop me from trying. Being the stubborn girl that I was (and still am apparently) I tried again year after year, until the camping trips ended. My parents, probably in their wisdom to never argue with a strong willed little girl over something so simple, never protested. Although I’m not sure how they DIDN’T looking back. An eight hour drive in an old school Dodge van with zero air conditioning and sea water left quite the lingering aroma.

Making Beach Themed Seashell Soaps

My DIY seashell soaps are a nod to those carefree summer beach trips of days past. They are reminiscent of time spent outdoors in the sun and sand. Long days hunting for seashells and mysterious creatures hidden just under the sand as the waves roll in and onto the beach.

What makes this summer beauty soap project so easy?

Made using a melt and pour soap base, this soap making tutorial incorporates pre-made soap embeds into the recipe. This eliminates some of the challenges that come with working with embeds as a beginning soapmaker. It also saves you money, as you’ll only need one soap making mold for this soap tutorial. This helps reduce the otherwise more expensive costs of investing in multiple soap making molds. There’s also no need to work with lye. So if you’re still not ready to make cold process soap, then this soap making project is perfect for you!

Save on materials & time by purchasing pre-made elements for your summer beauty recipes.

While you can make your own melt and pour soap embeds for my beach soaps, this can be challenging and time consuming. Therefore I chose to use pre-made seashell soap embeds that I purchased from a fellow soapmaker. I used seashell soap embeds that I purchased from Spruce Mountain Soap to make this soap making project both simpler and faster.

My seashell soap is the perfect summer beauty recipe for cleansing your skin on hot summer days. Made with a blend of fresh litsea cubeba and peppermint essentials oils, these fun beach inspired soaps help to brighten and energize dull skin. Discover my summer soap making tutorial and recipe below. And don’t forget to check out the other summer beauty recipes for everything from an aloe vera face mask to mermaid fizzing bath salts after the recipe!

Summer Beauty Seashell Soap Recipe

Soap Ingredients:

21 oz. clear melt and pour soap base
3 mL litsea cubeba essential oil
1 mL peppermint essential oil
12 drops amyris essential oil
1-2 oz. white melt and pour soap base
skin safe blue mica powder, of choice

Soap Exfoliate Ingredients:

1 teaspoon calendula flower powder
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon cornsilk powder

Additional Materials & Supplies:

seashell, beach rocks or sea glass soap embeds
rectangle silicone soap mold
digital scale
graduated transfer pipettes
glass measuring cups or bowls
spray bottle with 99% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
utensils (for mixing) and a large Chef’s knife
cutting board
measuring spoons
microwave
your imagination

Instructions:

Being by weighing out the clear melt and pour soap base. Cut the base into chunks and combine in a large Pyrex glass measuring cup. Heat the cubed soap the microwave in 30-second increments until melted.

Once melted, use the graduated transfer pipettes to measure out and add the litsea cubeba and peppermint essential oils to soap. Follow with the amyris essential oil. Then stir the soap to mix in the fragrance.

Now pour a few ounces of the clear melted soap base into a separate measuring cup. Stir in a pinch of the blue mica and set aside.

Position your soap mold at an angle on a stable surface on a cutting board. (I used a cardboard box I cut at an angle for this step. I place the cutting board on the box, then put the mold on top of the cutting board for easy transport.)

Next, measure out the exfoliants into a small bowl. (You can make substitutions as desired for this step. The purpose of the exfoliants is to mimic the look of beach sand.) Mix to combine.

Then add a small amount of the mixture to each of the cavities of your soap mold.

Now slowly pour the clear melt and pour soap base onto the exfoliants and into the soap mold. Be sure to leave room for the seashell embeds by only filling each cavity about 1/3 of the way.

Use a utensil to reposition the exfoliants along the bottom of the mold as desired. Then spritz the top of they poured soap with alcohol to remove any air bubbles. Allow the soap to cool and harden before proceeding to the next step.

Once the first layer of soap has hardened, place the mold flat onto your work surface.

Now weigh out the white melt and pour soap base. Cut into chunks then heat in a microwave safe container in 20-30 second increments until melted. Set aside.

Spritz the tops of the soap in the mold with rubbing alcohol. Then place your seashell soap embeds onto the hardened soap, arranging as desired.

If necessary, gently reheat the remaining clear melt and pour soap base as well as the blue soap base. Then pour the clear soap base into each of the mold cavities leaving a small amount of space at the top.

Add a drizzle of both the blue and the white soap base into the melted clear soap base in each of the cavities. Use a utensil to gently swirl the white and blue bases as desired.

Spritz with rubbing alcohol to remove any air bubbles. Then allow the soaps to cool completely.

Once the seashell soaps have fully solidified, gently remove the soaps from the mold. You can clean up the tops or edges of your soap bars with a small knife or a potato peeler.

All that’s left is to tightly wrap your seashell soaps in foodservice film. They’re now ready for use or gifting!

Like my easy seashell soap tutorial? Then be sure to pin it (along with the other summer beauty recipes you’ll find below) for later.

Alternative Ways to Make Seashell Soaps

Of course, you don’t have to make your seashell soaps the same way I did. The great thing about artisan soap making is that is unique to the creator. So don’t be afraid that you’ll mess up or get it wrong. There really is not right or wrong way to craft your own artisan soaps for summer.

If you have a loaf mold, you can go into more detail creating water designs. Pictured above is a slice from the ocean portion of my mermaid soaps I made two years ago. You can find the tutorial for my melt and pour mermaid soaps here.

Alternately, Spruce Mountain Soap sells a beautiful Island Dreams Soap (pictured) that you can draw further inspiration from.

More Summer Beauty Recipes to Try

Ready to try your hand at even more summer beauty recipes. Following you’ll discover eight more gorgeous skin care recipes that are perfect for your summer skin care routine!

After Sun Aloe Face Mask Recipe

This easy DIY aloe vera face mask recipe from A Life Adjacent is a wonderful addition to your summer beauty routine. It’s not only moisturizing — it can also soothe sunburn, irritation, and redness, as well as aid in calming the inflammation caused by acne breakouts. (Also be sure to check out my own aloe after sun lotion bar recipe for natural after sun skin care!)

Beach Body Coffee Scrub Recipe

Coffee scrubs are by far one of my favorite summer beauty recipes for summer skin care. This beach body coffee scrub recipe from Botaneri is great for exfoliation and gives a teeny hint of color to the skin.

DIY Mermaid Fizzing Bath Salts

These DIY fizzing mermaid-inspired bath salts by Creative Green Living are easier to make than a bath bomb but just as fun to use! Your kids will love using this fun bath fizz as they splash and play in the tub.

Mermaid Whipped Soap Summer Beauty Recipe

This mermaid whipped soap recipe from Everything Pretty is so light and fluffy! Learn how to use a melt and pour soap based to make a creamy whipped soap that’s perfect for the shower or as a shaving soap before you head to the beach.

All-Natural Sunscreen Lip Balm Recipe

While you get chapped lips in winter, you can get burned lips in summer. Making this project from Garden Therapy a must for your to-do list of summer beauty recipes! Protect your lips with a homemade sunscreen lip balm. It will keep your lips safe from sunburn, make them kissably soft, and it’s made of all-natural ingredients!

Natural Solid Perfume Recipe

Learn how to make this solid perfume recipe at Life-n-Reflection. This natural perfume DIY is a luxurious multi-layered scent of the heady, rich florals jasmine and geranium with a top note of sweet, citrusy grapefruit. Blended with natural beeswax and oil and poured over delicate dried jasmine flowers into zero waste tins, this makes a lovely natural beauty gift.

DIY Melt & Pour Cactus Soap

Make these adorable shea butter melt and pour cactus soaps from Lydi Out Loud in just minutes for last minute gifts or party favors. Boasting a refreshing natural lime scent, these easy DIY soaps are perfect for an invigorating summer shower! (Discover more succulent soap inspiration and recipes at Soap Deli News here.)

DIY Strawberry Lip Scrub

This strawberry DIY lip scrub with coconut oil is another of my favorite summer beauty recipes. Perfect for exfoliating, this recipe from Country Hill Cottage makes dry, chapped lips feel and look smooth, soft, and supple. The scrub removes dead skin and moisturizes your lips at the same time. (You may also enjoy my own pink lemonade lip scrub recipe.)

Summer Beauty Recipes & Inspiration on Pinterest

I’m always amazed by the creativity of others. Pinterest is a great way to expand on that creativity and find inspiration. If you’re looking for more summer beauty recipes for your next DIY adventure, then be sure to follow my boards on Pinterest. You’ll discover great DIY ideas for making 42 homemade sugar scrubs, 12 summer skin care recipes for dry skin, 17 whipped sugar scrubs you can buy or DIY, 10 magical summer skin care recipes for your inner child, a foaming strawberry salt scrub recipe and a unicorn glitter butter recipe (pictured.)

For more DIY soap making ideas and summer beauty recipes, make sure to follow me across your favorite social media platforms. You can find and follow me on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive my semi-weekly newsletter to stay in the loop.

Filed Under: Bath & Beauty Recipes, Homemade Gift Ideas, Soapmaking Tagged With: after sun, bath and beauty, bath salt recipe, beauty recipes, body scrub recipe, face mask, lip balm recipe, lip scrub, melt and pour soap recipe, melt and pour soapmaking, natural beauty, perfume recipe, soap tutorial, solid perfume, summer, summer skin care, sunscreen, whipped sugar scrub

Aloe After Sun Lotion Bar Recipe for Natural Summer Skin Care

May 15, 2019 By Rebecca D. Dillon 5 Comments

This natural aloe after sun lotion bar recipe helps rescue sunburned skin. A vegan friendly moisturizer, this hard lotion bar is perfect for after sun summer skin care. Learn how to make your own easy aloe after sun lotion bars. Plus discover other natural sunburn remedies to try in a pinch.

Natural Summer Skin Care

I was badly sunburned at my son’s graduation not long ago. I’ll admit I wasn’t prepared. Although I did take a jean jacket with me in the expectation of cloudy skies, the weather turned out to be sunnier than expected. Of course, living in Southwestern VA, we go through all four seasons on a rotating basis, it seems, in both spring and fall. My shoulders bore the brunt of the burns, with my right shoulder – which was in direct sunlight – getting hit the worst.

Related: The Best Non-Toxic Sunscreens for Sunburn Prevention

After learning on the news some time back that many aloe vera gels actually have little to no aloe vera, I was at a loss as to what to buy. My regular go to for aloe is Mountain Rose Herbs. They sell genuine aloe vera gel with superior quality. Unfortunately, my sunburns needed love right away.

Luckily, my friend Cathy, has a giant aloe plant growing in her abode. So she gave me a giant stem of it to help relieve the pain. I also added a bit of lavender essential oil to the mix. Still, my right shoulder peeled two weeks later. Reminding me that I need to get my ass in gear and be better prepared the next go round.

What Are the Top Home Remedies for Sunburn Relief?

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is the most common home remedy for sunburn relief. I remember my mom plucking off an aloe leaf from the plant she grew whenever I got a sunburn growing up. Aloe gives skin an instant soothing sensation by reducing pain and skin inflammation. And, because it’s primarily water, it also helps to hydrate dry, sun damaged skin. (These benefits are also why I used aloe when formulating my aloe after sun lotion bar recipe!)

While most of us are familiar with using aloe vera for natural sunburn relief, it’s not the only home remedy that works. If you don’t have an aloe plant handy, you can try one of these other top sunburn relief remedies in a pinch.

Hyaluronic Acid Serum

Yes, this is the same stuff you use on your face to plump skin and hide fine lines and wrinkles. While it may not go the distance at relieving pain, it does a great job of hydrating skin. As a woman in my forties, I try to never go without a hyaluronic acid serum or cream. However, if this isn’t something you need or use on a regular basis, it’s easy to get sticker shock.

You can save money by making your own. This hyaluronic acid serum powder is competitively priced and allows you to make 50+ ounces of your own serum. Simply mix with cold water according to the package directions for a huge jar of your own homemade sunburn relief serum. You can even add a bit of aloe vera gel if desired!

Essential Oils

There are a number of essential oils that offer relief from the pain and inflammation of sunburns, with lavender essential oil being the most common. Gattefossé, who is known as the father of aromatherapy, first discovered the effects of lavender essential oil on burns when working in his lab. After badly burning his hand in the laboratory one day, he plunged his hand into the nearest liquid available to quench the pain. That liquid turned out to be lavender essential.

Gattefossé then recognized the natural skin care benefits of lavender oil after noticing how quickly his burn healed. This in turn started a fascination with essential oils that later gave him his namesake, the father of aromatherapy. As it happens, lavender essential oil possesses both antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties help to hasten healing times by helping your body recover from burns faster.

Other beneficial essential oils for sunburns include peppermint, chamomile and eucalyptus. Peppermint essential oil has natural pain relieving and skin cooling properties that can offer instant sunburn relief when diluted in a lotion or carrier oil base. While chamomile has inflammatory and antioxidant properties that help to hasten healing times and calm red irritated skin. Finally, like peppermint, eucalyptus essential oil also has a cooling effect on skin. This is, in addition to, its antibacterial, analgesic (pain killing) and anti-inflammatory skin care properties.

White or Apple Cider Vinegar

White vinegar is composed of acetic acid, a natural antiseptic. This will not only help prevent infection, it also helps relieve pain and inflammation. While the malic acid found in apple cider vinegar stimulates circulation to speed up the healing process. In addition, apple cider vinegar also helps skin maintain its pH levels which may help reduce peeling later on. Just be sure to dilute the vinegar in water first to avoid over drying skin.

Green or Black Tea

In addition to the naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea, tea also contains anti-inflammatory polyphenols that can help reduce swelling and inflammation. Therefore, tea is a great option for natural sunburn relief. Brew tea as you normally would, then refrigerate until it cools. Then simply soak a clean washcloth in cold tea, applying to the affected area for up to 15 minutes.

Baking Soda

Just like Mom used a baking soda paste for insect stings when you were little, you can also use a baking soda paste for sunburns. Like the tea, make a cold compress using baking soda and water. Then apply to sunburned skin for 15 minutes to help rebalance the PH of your skin.

Witch Hazel

Witch hazel is another wonderful home remedy for natural sunburn relief. Comprised of naturally occurring oils and tannins, witch hazel extract helps to reduce inflammation as well as draw skin tissue together to promote healing.

It’s not just a great option for a natural homemade toner, you can make an easy witch hazel after sun spray recipe as well. Simply add 12 drops each of lavender and peppermint essential oils to 2 oz. of witch hazel in a spray bottle. Then shake to combine.

Related: Uses for Witch Hazel Extract for Natural Skin Care

I recommend using a double distilled witch hazel with at least 83% witch hazel extract so there is no alcohol burn. Two brands to consider are Mountain Rose Herbs and T.N. Dickinson’s. Alternately, Thayers alcohol-free rose petal witch hazel with aloe vera also makes an inexpensive sunburn remedy that does double duty as a facial toner.

What Are the Benefits of Aloe Vera for Skin?

There are a number of reasons that aloe vera tops of the list for natural sunburn remedies. Aloe vera contains polysaccharides, a natural compound that encourages skin repair and the production of new cells, to promote healing. In addition, aloe also contains a natural analgesic, or pain reliever, called carboxypeptidase, that helps soothe the pain associated with sunburns. Further, compounds such as acemannan, help suppress inflammation. While aloe vera’s natural high water content, hydrates skin and locks in moisture.

Aloe After Sun Lotion for Summer Skin Care

With summer right around the corner, your chance of sunburns increase. Maybe you didn’t apply your sunscreen often enough or simply forgot and left it at home. When this happens, your skin needs extra love and attention – both to ease sunburn pain and moisturize skin. This natural aloe after sun lotion bar recipe helps rescue sunburned skin. A vegan friendly moisturizer, this solid hard lotion bar is made with aloe vera butter, calendula infused oil and a blend of essential oils that work in holistic harmony for the best after sun summer skin care.

Keep reading to learn how to make my homemade aloe after sun lotion bar recipe for your sunburns this summer. Infused with natural botanicals prized for their ability to promote healing, this natural aloe after sun lotion bar is the perfect choice for your summer skin care needs.

Aloe After Sun Lotion Bar Recipe

Ingredients:

1.25 oz. carnauba wax
1.75 oz. aloe vera butter
1.5 oz. calendula infused oil (or dandelion infused oil)
.5 oz. raspberry seed oil
1 mL (about 20 drops) peppermint essential oil
2 mL (about 40 drops) lavender essential oil
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mica pigment powder, or choice to suit

Instructions:

Using a digital scale, weigh out the wax, aloe butter and carrier oils. Gently heat the ingredients in a double boiler, or using the double boiler method, until melted.

Remove the melted ingredients from heat.

Next, measure out each essential oils, using a graduated transfer pipette, and stir into the melted wax, butter and oils.

Now measure out the mica powder using a measuring spoon and stir into the melted ingredients for the aloe after sun lotion bars. (I used 1/4 teaspoon apple moss green mica for this project.)

Pour the lotion bars into your mold of choice.

I used the 4-cavity succulent mold from Brambleberry for two lotion bars weighing about 4.5 oz. each. However, you can use a similar silicone succulent mold of your choice. Alternately, you can also reuse empty single serving ice cream containers for round aloe after sun lotion bars.

Allow the aloe after sun lotion bars to cool and fully solidify at room temperature. (As carnauba wax is an extremely hard wax, I don’t recommend placing these in the refrigerator to call as it may cause your lotion bars to crack.)

Once they’ve solidified, carefully remove the lotion bars from the mold.

Finally, wrap your aloe after sun lotion bars in foodservice film. Or store them in large tins when not in use.

More Aloe After Sun Relief Remedies

If you’re looking for more ideas for natural sunburn relief, then be sure to check out these other aloe infused sunburn remedies.

Love these natural summer skin care recipes? Be sure to pin this post with my aloe after sun lotion bar recipe for later! Also be sure to check out this post with 12 natural recipes for summer skin care.

Discover more DIY soap making ideas you can craft for handmade gifts by following me across your favorite social media platforms. You can find and follow me on Pinterest, Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up for my semi-weekly newsletter to stay in the loop.

Filed Under: Bath & Beauty Recipes, Health & Wellness, Lifestyle Tagged With: aloe vera, crafts, diy, home remedies, home remedy, moisturizing, natural alternative, natural beauty, natural remedy, natural skin care, solid lotion bar, solid lotion recipe, summer, summer skin care, vegan