elegantnaturals

Now this is just a guess, but I'm betting it's the epsom salts. My reasoning is that salt will clump together eventually since there is always some kind of water in the air. We even had to put rice in our table salt when our family lived in the high desert because of the swamp cooler (the rice absorbed the water so the salt would remain clump free). I know you can't put rice into the mix (ewww!) but maybe leave out the salt until you are ready to ship? HTH

Does anyone know if altitude will affect lotion making recipes? I know that certain store bought pre-made foods have alternative high elevation directions. Does this apply to B&B as well? TIA

Good question! I'd like to know too. I think with lab results they "force" the situation like you would with a blood sample to see if anything pops out. Anyone else with actual experience with testing know how its done? TIA

Can you just ship it out now? I can't wait to get your soapies come August!

Jenny and Lotoincrafter ROCKS! Not only is the store full of goodies and the shipping quick but the customer service is unbeatable. I emailed her with a question the other day and waited patiently for her email to come back with a reply. To my surprise, she actually called to talk to me! How great is that? She is definitely on my short list of preferred suppliers!

I do something similar with my toner but use a combination of green tea and chamomile. I then add in aloe liquid, and a hydrosol (at the moment its lavender). To top it off, I add in some tea tree oil. Very nice to my skin! Now I'm working on a recipe for an oily skin lotion with a bit of kaolin clay thrown in.

Thanks! I'm going to experiment this weekend and see what I can come up with.

Has anyone used mica in their bath & body products (not soaping). I'd like to use some in my lotions and washes but am afraid it will leave color behind. For my lip gloss, this isn't such a bad idea (I have the color safe lip mica) but what about shampoo or lotion? Inquiring minds want to know! TIA!

According to the Chemistry Store: Minimal to no irritation will occur at a 3% concentration. According to WholesaleSuppliesPlus.com: Suggested Use Level: • Liquid Foaming Bath Products: 3-8% • Powder Foaming Bath Products: 15-25% I know...not realy helpful, right? My suggestion is to make small test batches with varying amounts of SLSa and see which percentage works for you. It's a PIA but ultimately it's what experimenting is all about! HTH

I actually just made that scrub last night! I followed the lotion making directions for the oil phase and miscellaneous phase. At least, that's what I think I did. I'm a bit fuzzy since I ended up making two batches of lotion and a batch of scrub. My eyes hurt! lol Don't be surprised if the scrub is runny at first. It seems like to me that it has to set up after a while. Also, 1 to 1.5 oz of sugar to 10 oz base isn't enough (to me anyway). I ended up adding in nearly 8 oz of sugar. Good luck! I used it this morning and it was really nice!

No, I'm using it in a lotion/cream formula: 37% distilled water 27% coconut oil 16% butter 10% oil 5% e-wax 3% hydrolized oats (if you don't want to use hydolyzed oats, increase your water 3%) 1.5% Ultra Maize (its a thickener and also works to counteract that "greasy feeling" - it can be omitted and you could sub stearic acid or increase your butter 1.5%) .5% phenonip I didn't want to use stearic acid since I think it makes the lotion feel waxy. Thanks!

Does anyone know if I can sub corn starch for Ultra Maize? I know that Ultra Maiz is dispersable in cold water while corn starch doesn't. Your thoughts would be great! TIA

All the stupid stuff people will do won't fit on a label!

I am trying to compile a list of usage rates for oils and butters used in B&B (not soaps). Here's what I've got so far: hemp oil 2% to 20% Rose hip oil 2% to 15% apricot kernel oil 2% to 30% avocado oil 2% to 20% evening primrose oil up to 10% grapeseed oil calendula extract up to 2% liquid silk up to 1% jojoba oil shea oil 3% to 20% macademia nut oil 1% to 100% meadowfoam seed oil 1% to 100% rice bran oil 1% tp 100% squalane 2% to 31% FCO 1% to 84% coconut oil shea butter 1% to 100% mango butter kokum butterAs everyone responds I'll update the post (and my personal list!) TIA

You can use water. I like using rose water for everything because of the smell and the skin benefits but it isn't necessary. As a matter of fact, you can leave out all the tea as well and use water in its place. As for the squalane, any light oil will do. Remember, this is for your face so you may want to stay away from coconut oil. Use whatever you have! HTH

This happened to me as well. I managed to fill three bottles, banged them against the countertop, and let them sit overnight. The next day each had a space at the top for a "fill up". Good luck!

It does feel really wonderful! I tried it this morning and am thinking this recipe is a keeper! Thanks again!

Green Tea & Rose Facial Lotion Phase A 376 (1 2/3 cup) grams distilled water 76% - 1 1/3 cup distilled water (add two tea bags at end of 20 minutes) - 1/3 cup to make up 376 grams of Rose Water (this is approximate...make sure to weigh everything out!) Phase B 15 grams Stearic Acid 3% 20 grams Emulsifying Wax 4% 10 grams Hydrovance 2% 22 grams jojoba oil 4.5% 20 grams Mango butter 4% (or other face friendly butter) 10 grams Evening Primrose Oil 2% 5 grams Avocado Oil (or Aloe Extract at same level) 1% 5 grams Meadowfoam Oil 1% 5 grams Apricot Kernel Oil1% 2 grams Vitamin E .4% 2 grams Rosehip Oil (or Squalane at same level) .4% Phase C 3.75 grams Germaben II .7% Fragrance (although optional, I found that adding up to 2.5 grams of essential oils will help mask the some of the stronger smelling oils) Total of 494.75 grams or approximately 17 fluid ounces Combine and heat Phase A to 176°F, cover and hold for 20 minutes to kill any bacteria and mold spores. I added the green tea bags at 5 minutes to go and then let sit. Remember to squeeze out the bags to get all the liquid. Remove from heat. Add the rose water. Combine and heat Phase B ingredients to 176°F and remove from heat. Gently stir the oils and waxes to combine. Cover and hold at this temperature until the water phase is ready. Pour Phase A (water phase) into Phase B (oil phase) with mixing. Insert an immersion (stick) blender into the mixing vessel, keeping it near the bottom and blend. Move the stick blender around in the vessel to make certain that the lotion is well mixed. Stop blending briefly. Place your mixing vessel into a cold water bath in your sink. Immediately resume blending your lotion with your stick blender, moving it around the bottom of the pot to fully incorporate the mix. Mix until temperature is approximately 122°F. This should only take about 1-2 minutes. Remove from water and place mixing vessel on counter. While blending with stick blender, slowly drizzle Phase C into your emulsion, mixing well. Continue to mix with stick blender until everything is fully emulsified. Once fully incorporated, switch to a wire whisk to continue mixing. *This is important because if you continue to stir with the stick blender, you will add air into your lotion which forms bubbles in the mixture. This will not only make it difficult to pour but you will not fill your bottles all the way because of the extra air* Place the pot back into the cold water bath and resume mixing with wire whisk until the lotion is about 95°-100°F (this should take no more than 1-3 minutes more). Remove the pot from the water and place on the counter. Check the weight of your batch to make sure you still have 494.75 grams, add more distilled water if needed to replace what may have evaporated. Add the fragrance to the mixture and mix well with wire whisk. Lotion will be thin but thickens as it cools down. Pour into containers.I found that this recipe will fill approximately four 4-oz tottles (maybe less if the water phase had excessive evaporation). Enjoy!

Success is mine! I made the changes that you lovely b&b creators suggested and it worked! I also made sure to follow the lotion making directions from the lotioncrafter.com. If anyone is intereted in the recipe, I've named it Green Tea & Rose Facial Lotion and have posted the recipe to the recipe section! Thank you again, everyone!

I was under the impression that Phenonip and Germaben were formaldehyde free? If so, were the heck did the formaldehyde come from? I sincerely hope Marge is feeling better soon! My heart freezes up when I think of what happened to her may happen to a child or baby! Take care April

I know you asked about the vitabeads and & MP soap but I found a recipe for a MP face soap that might help: Facial soap/good for all skin types makes six 2 oz. bars Iris Emily PUREEM@aol.com 13 oz opaque m&p 3 tsp lavender flower infused oil - olive, jojoba, almond, etc 1 tsp. Lavender EO 1 tsp. Vitamin E 1 tsp. honey 1/2 tsp. pink clay 1/2 tsp. finely ground lavender flowers (You can grind your own or buy lavender flowers in powdered form) slight tint for color (optional) Gently melt m&p, add oil, vit e, honey until mixed, then add eo, flowers, clay, and tint Instead of the clay, maybe you could add the vitaburst beady thingies? BTW I found this recipe in the B&B recipe section. Just do a search for MP soap and there are a ton of recipes. HTH

I just purchased some fractionated shea oil. I'm wondering if that would work better than shea butter? I know the FCO soaks in really quickly although I don't know if I'd use it on my face. Thanks for the tips! I may master the art of lotionmaking this century!

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it! I'll up the stearic acid and make sure the oils and water are the roughly the same temp when I mix them together. If I take out water how much should I reduce by? The ewax is NF and I got it from Brambleberry. If it still doesn't emulsify this time around, I'll let them know. Since this is a light facial lotion, I am hesitant to add any kind of butter. If there is a particular butter, though, that someone would recommend that is good for the face, please let me know! Again, thank you for your input and advice!

I just made another batch of lotion and it's separating...again! Aaarrrggh! All the measurements were correct, I subbed per the site owners suggestions, let it cool so I could add the Germaben and it still separated. It's also really grainy. Any suggestions as to why this is happening? This recipe is off thesage.com formulary. TIA 7 grams Stearic Acid 20 grams Emulsifying Wax 10 grams Hydrovance 45 grams jojoba oil 10 grams Evening Primrose Oil 5 grams MMS Aloe Extract (Avocado Oil substitute) 5 grams Meadowfoam Oil 5 grams Apricot Kernel Oil 2 grams Vitamin E 2 grams Squalene (rosehip oil substitute) 380 grams distilled water 3.75 grams Germaben II 2.5 grams essential oil (optional)

Bumping this up....I've never heard of fractionated Aloe Vera but I am curious as to what it is. I'm still trying to figure out how to replace Aloe Vera Extract with aloe vera juice.