THIS BODY BUTTER RECIPE MAKES AN ULTRA THICK, ULTRA NOURISHING BUTTER USING ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS. PERFECT FOR VERY DRY, WINTER SKIN.

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WHY IS THIS BODY BUTTER RECIPE “EVEN BETTER”?

In case you missed it, I’ve made body butter before here on the blog. My original body butter post is called: “easy, homemade whipped body butter with all-natural ingredients“.

Temperatures have started getting pretty low here in New England so our wood stove is keeping us nice and warm. While I love the heat of a wood stove, it really dries out our skin. My original body butter recipe is perfect “all purpose” moisturizer, but I needed something a little richer for winter.

Just for a fun experiment, I threw this recipe together. I certainly wasn’t expecting to love it so much. After I tried it, I even told my best friend that I thought I liked this better than my original recipe. She told me I should call it “better butter” and so I did!

All of my homemade skincare ingredients stay in a tote, so out came the tote and I began sifting through. There it was, I could almost smell it through the bag … cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is used in a number of DIY skincare recipes. The last time I used it was when I was pregnant to make a belly butter. Maybe it was just my pregnancy senses, but I remember cocoa butter to be the strongest smelling stuff on the planet and I hated it.

Cocoa butter basically smells like chocolate, which seems like a good thing! But slathered on my big pregnant belly it was all I could smell all day long. I made a mental note that I didn’t like it and threw it in the bottom of my skincare tote.

LET’S TALK ABOUT INGREDIENTS

Let’s first address the elephant in the room and talk about why on earth I used cocoa butter if I don’t love the smell of it. I will say, using and smelling cocoa butter now that I’m not pregnant is much different and it’s not as overpowering as I once thought it was!

Cocoa butter has many skin benefits, which is why it’s used in many skincare recipes and belly butters. Rich in fatty acids, the fat in cocoa butter can help to form a protective barrier over the skin and retain moisture. Cocoa butter may also have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects! As if that wasn’t enough of a reason to use cocoa butter, it also helps with skin elasticity making it the perfect ingredient for belly butter. (Spoiler alert, this recipe can be used as a belly butter too).

Shea butter is also rich in fatty acids and helps with collagen production. It has been known for use on hair, skin or even medicinal uses! Shea butter is very moisturizing and nourishing to our skin. It also reduces inflammation and because it helps with collagen production, can help to smooth our skin.

Coconut oil is next on the list. I’ve spoken about this magical ingredient many times before, and still can’t believe how versatile it is. Cook with it, season your cast iron pans with it, put it on a scrape or dry skin, put it in your hair … it’s literally good for everything. Coconut oil is quickly absorbed into our skin, it is very hydrating and aids in the protection of our skin. Are you noticing a pattern? We’re only using very hydrating ingredients here…

Sweet Almond Oil is a skincare ingredient I use every single day. Every evening, I use sweet almond oil on a washcloth to remove my makeup. This incredible oil can help to reduce puffiness and under-eye circles, reduce appearance of scars, provide support against acne and hydrate the skin. So of course I’m using this in my DIY skincare recipes too.

BUT I WANT MY LOTION TO SMELL GOOD…

Synthetic fragrances are everywhere, especially in store-bought lotions and other skincare. We all want our stuff to smell good (myself included) but we have to remember that synthetic fragrances are not healthy for our bodies.

Synthetic fragrances can cause irritations and that’s a pain. But on top of that, these fake smells contain endocrine disruptors as well as other chemicals that are carcinogenic. Eek (seriously, give it a google search).

So we want to smell good, but without the icky side effects. I use essential oils to add natural fragrance to may DIY skincare recipes. Now that I’ve made the switch to premium essential oils, my skincare no longer smells like cocoa butter!

For the recipe pictured here today, I used an essential oil blend called Christmas Spirit along with several drops of Peppermint. These two oils completely masked the smell of cocoa butter (and shea butter too).

HOW TO STORE THIS EVEN BETTER BODY BUTTER RECIPE

As a general rule with homemade skincare products: if the ingredients can be stored at room temperature, than the end result can also be stored at room temperature.

Keep your even better body butter recipe in a glass jar with a tightly sealed lid. This body butter will keep for several months, but you’ll likely use it all up before then!

TOOLS & INGREDIENTS NEEDED

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Large glass bowl
Mixer
Jars – I love these shorter jars because it’s so easy to get the body butter out of them
Cocoa Butter
Coconut Oil
Shea Butter
Sweet Almond Oil
Essential Oils

HOW TO MAKE EVEN BETTER BODY BUTTER

Set up a double boiler by bringing a medium sized sauce pan filled with water to a boil on your stove top. Set a large bowl over the top of the sauce pan so that the bottom of the bowl is in the boiling water.

Add equal parts of cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter and sweet almond oil to a glass bowl in the double boiler and carefully stir until the mixture has melted into liquid, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, let sit until cool enough to refrigerate.

Put this liquid into the refrigerator (or freezer) until it’s solid enough for your finger to make a clear imprint and retain it’s shape. There have been many times where I forgot about my body butter in the fridge or freezer, and just left it on top of my wood stove or in my home to warm up enough.

Put the body butter into a stand mixer and add about 15-20 drops of essential oils. Whip in the stand mixer until a the mixture turns white and looks like shaving cream but thicker.

Fill up your jars and enjoy!

PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD