Easy, Silky Lotion Bars

I've been experimenting with lotion of late, and have found myself at both ends of the spectrum in terms of consistency on the skin. The massage butter that I made is amazing, but too oily for a daily lotion. And Jaxson's body butter is gorgeous, but just a little too hard to have in a container - it's difficult to dig it out and it doesn't melt quite as quickly as i'd like it to.

I decided, just for fun, to try making a lotion bar that I read about on Wellness Mama, another blog I really enjoy.

I chose these mostly because I wanted to make something else for my friend, Freddie, for her wedding as a nice way for her and her husband-to-be to reconnect for a romantic night. They're pregnant and I know that reconnecting with Adrian when I was pregnant, and after delivery, was both very difficult and very important. I also thought that these would be easy and transportable, since we're flying back to BC for the wedding.

To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of lotion bars, but after making these, i'm a convert!

I love them! I made the basic recipe and only used a single essential oil, so they would be baby and pregnancy-safe as well (I'm all for multi-use items!).

I tried to find silicone molds, as the blog suggests, but couldn't find them anywhere, so instead I just lined a cupcake tray with paper cupcake liners and that worked beautifully! Not as environmentally friendly, because I can't reuse the paper, but for now and until I find silicone molds, this will do!

Here's the recipe I made:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup shea butter
1/4 cup cocoa butter
1/2 cup beeswax pellets
1 tsp vitamin e oil
25 drops lavender essential oil

I melted the coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter and beeswax in a double boiler, then removed it from the heat and added the vitamin e. I let it cool just a little bit, then added the essential oil, mixed it well and poured it into my cupcake tin. This recipe made 6 good-sized bars!

To help these set, I stuck the tray in the fridge. It didn't take long at all - because of the beeswax, it started setting almost as soon as I poured it into these cups! I left it till the morning, though, and then popped them out and gave one a try! I'm so impressed with it. It's not oily or greasy, but it's really nice and thick and I can still feel it on my skin, an hour later. Very moisturizing, they smell amazing and melt nicely - not too much, but enough to get a nice thin layer on your skin!

I know I say this a lot (I think it's a good sign of good recipes), but I'm going to be trying this again, for sure, and experimenting with different scents.