SmoothKitty

Oohhh! Looks good! THANKS cdesousa5!

Hi Everyone... I'm interested in finding out the best sources for ordering body butter ingredients. Butters, oils, fragrances, etc. I live near the Wisconsin/Illinois border, so if there are any places within driving distance where I could pick-up I'd love to know about them. But, anyplace where I can order line is fine too. Thanks very much! :rolleyes2

CareBear: It's been over a week now and if anything it's harder than ever. I'll see about getting some mango butter. Jeana: I don't know what my rationale was for using both the ewax and the cetyl. This was the last written recipe I was about to try before packing it all up before remodeling. I should have started again at square one with a basic body butter. Ah-soy: That sounds like a logical assumption, that my supplies were old. I guess I should order some fresh stuff! RNSandScents: Again, I don't remember where I was when I shut down long ago, but the recipe I wrote down before I quit called for it and I don't know why. Probably something from the old message board and I haven't been able to find whatever it was. I do know that all the recipes I used for body butter before I packed up did not call for any water...the reason being that it was not necessary and if water was used I'd need to add some kind of preservative so it wouldn't grow bacteria. Thanks to all of you for the advice. I'm going to order new ingredients and start again with a basic recipe and TOSS OUT that obviously bad one!

Well, last night I melted the whole batch back down to a liquid. Then I added an ounce of sweet almond oil and whipped it up again. This morning it was definitely softer, but still a crumbly mess. I guess I'll just toss it out and try a new batch. Back to the drawing board! Lesson learned from failure...which means it wasn't a TOTAL failure. :embarasse

Sure! I melted the butters and oil, added the rest of the ingredients. Whipped it up with my hand mixer while it sat in a big bowl of ice water. Spooned it into the jars. Same method I always use. I wondering if I melted it all down again and added...hmmm...a little more oil? More shea butter? Thanks!

Hi everyone... I was gettin' busy on here about 2 years ago and had loads of fun trying body butter recipes. Then I got started on a remodeling of my kitchen and bathroom. Every problem imaginable and setbacks galore! I won't bore you with the gory details. I finally have my kitchen back in working order and I immediately dug out my big Rubbermaid tub of supplies, recipes and notes. I should have started at the beginning again, but I found the last page of notes I had and a new recipe I was going to try. I started there. As usual, the body butter looked great and smelled even better! But this morning when I opened one of my jars, the butter had become extremely hard. I pushed my finger down into it and finally a chunk broke loose and hit the floor. I'm hoping someone can tell me what I did wrong and if it's possible to re-melt and make it right. Here's my recipe: 5 oz. unrefined shea butter 1 oz. cocoa butter 2 oz apricot kernel oil 1 ts. Nutrisorb 1 oz. Ewax 1 oz. cetyl alcohol 2 capsules vitamin E .2 oz. FO I wasn't making this for anyone but me, so it's not a big loss. But I hate to waste ingredients. I'll be grateful for any help or advice...or just pity...that anyone would like to share! Bless you all!

OKAY! I'm making this tonight...absolutely! Now, I need a little advice from all you experts. If I sub cetyl alcohol for the stearic acid, do I use the same amount? Also, what is Liquid Par Optima and what can I sub for it? Thanks for help...and will let you all know how it turns out!

I'll check it out. THANKS! :whoohoo: :whoohoo:

Hey everyone... It's cold and snowy and I've been feeling like whipping up a batch of something new. I could swear I have seen somewhere in here a recipe for a really thick, heavy body cream, but I can't find it now. I've searched for "heavy" and "cream" but that's not doing me any good. If anyone has a good one, or can remember where I can find the one I'm looking for, I'll be sooooo grateful! I seem to remember it was in a discussion about butters vs. creams. I think someone was trying to make body butter that was more like what you'd buy at B & B-Works, and someone else said it would be a heavy cream instead of butter, which is harder. Is this ringing any bells? Anyway, I've been really enjoying the body butters I've been making...as have my female family members! I'd like to try something a little different, as well as maximum moisturization. Winter is SO hard on the skin! You all stay warm! :rolleyes2

Hi Everyone! I finally got some time last weekend to try my second batch of body butter using the help and advice I got from several of you after my first batch was too oily/greasy. Here is my revised recipe: 5 oz. unrefined shea butter 1 oz. cocoa butter 2 oz. apricot kernel oil 1 tsp. Nutri-Sorb .2 oz. fragrance oil This time the consistency was MUCH better. More like butter and not nearly so greasy when smoothing on the skin. I ended up not liking the scent...it's called "milk & honey," but smells like Play-Doh to me. However, that's my fault, not the recipe's. Does anyone see anything wrong with this recipe...or any way to improve on it? Also, I'm wondering about preservatives. I try to be diligent about having everything real clean and I dip my containers in boiling water and air dry before filling. I hope to give some of these body butters as gifts and I think I might need to add something to keep them from spoiling. I've read about a lot of different kinds of preservatives. Does it matter which one I use? Any particular one recommended for butter? Any advice appreciated! My previous post was "First Try...need advice" on May 21, 2006. TY, TY, TY!

Thanks to all of you for your generous help and advice. I'll try a new and smaller batch this week using the tips you've given. AJ, you were right. My shea is refined. I'll get some UN-refined. Carrie, your avatar is SOOOOOO cute!! Here's a little background info. I thought I'd try this after realizing how much money I was spending per month at Bath and Body Works on fancy, yummy-smelling butters. I'm over 50 now and sliding faster and faster toward "senior citizen" status. Which means I'm also drying out like a hunk of old leather. I slather on body butter like it's going out of style. A little bit? Not for me...or I'll lie in bed and itch all night. Soooo, I figured if I could make my own I'd save some money. However, after researching the subject thoroughly on the internet, I'm fascinated. I'm VERY glad I found this forum where I can share my disasters and successes! After looking at the pictures of what others are doing, I might try some soap and candles too! Thanks again to all...

Thanks KristinesShower! I'll definitely make a much smaller batch next time. But did you mean that I should not have used 2 DIFFERENT kinds of oil? In other words I should have used 6 oz. of the Apricot kernel oil? Or did you mean that I should have cut down on the total amount of oil? Say...4 oz. total instead of 6 oz.? Will let you know how the next batch goes. I'll probably have a whole new batch of questions too!

Hello to one and all! I'm interested in intense moisturizing products. Mainly creams and body butters. I've been looking at recipies for a couple of weeks and a few days ago I made my first batch of butter. Here's the recipe I used: 5 oz. Shea Butter 5 oz. Cocoa Butter 3 oz. Coconut Oil 3 oz. Apricot Kernel Oil 2 tsp. Corn Starch .3 oz. Fragrance Oil (Tahitian Vanilla, in this case) It smelled totally yummy, whipped up nicely and looked good enough to eat! It made enough to fill four 8 oz. jars. I kinda wish I'd only started with a half-batch. Anyway, it ended up being a little harder than I would have liked. It didn't keep that creamy soft "buttery" consistency. But the main thing is that it's very greasy feeling. As soon as it hits my skin it turns to liquid and leaves an oil slick behind. Can anyone tell me what about that particular recipe made it so greasy? Advice about what to do next time? Or suggestions for a better recipe? Bless your hearts and THANK YOU!!