Time on My Hands

no...not ice cream

I had just an ounce of time on my hands while my PC was in the shop, and decided to play mixtress for one evening…or two or three!  Back in the beginnings of winter I finally took it upon myself to mix together my own shea butter creme, something that would help with my overly dry skin.  I was super succesful in sifting together a moisturizing butter with a raw-unrefined shea base.  I’d layer it on at night and wake up in the morning to soft, gleaming skin! It was a personal victory considering how far I’d come…over the years I’d tried a million-n-one different over the counter creams and balms to keep the dryness at bay…including taking antihistamines when the dry skin escalated into something surpassing drugstore help.  I was over the top misserable, partly because I’d grown so dependant on the pills to function through a regular day, and second…well I didn’t have insurance at the time, so seeking the help of a dermatologist was strickly out of the $uestion.

So, succesful in banishing my winter dryness I was bored the other day and tried to mix together leftover butters and oils I had lying around.  Using a butter in the spring/summer months is a rarity for me…for obvious reasons I guess.  The feeling of a thick butter being slathered over skin that’s already naturally moisturized is not cute.  Instead, I’m more likely to stick to light lotions and light/fluffy creams.  I didn’t have much to start but the end result was a good start:

• 2  1/2 oz refined shea butter
• 1 tablepoon aloe butter (you can be more generous if you like)
• 1 teaspoon jojoba oil
• 1 teaspoon sweet almond oil
• three tablespoons emulsifying wax
• 1 tablespoon grape-seed oil
• half tablespoon cornstarch
• half a teaspoon Vitamin E oil

Almond Joy

Mixing was easy, but also a bit time consuming because I was looking for a lighter, fluffy consistency.  I melted the butters + emulsifying wax over a double boiler until soft and almost completely melted.  Removed butters from heat as soon as the bits of wax were almost dissolved, once removed you can add the oils and cornstarch.  The butters I used are rich with an already oily, creamy consistency when hard, so I did go sparingly with the carrier oils.  I eyeballed, but still managed  to use no more than listed above.  Once the oils and butters were mixed, I brought out a hand mixer to incorporate everything fully, and to also get the right consistency.  I started on a low speed than alternated as I went along…once the cream began to form bubbles and pull itself together, I added some fragrance oil. (3 tblsp. almond oil; 2tblsp. vanilla bean oil).

To get the right kind of fluffy texture, I ended up mixing for a good ten minutes (still working on how to cut this down), then placed the mix in 2 oz containers, enough to fill 2 equally.  Before allowing the cream to set I dusted the top with dark cocoa powder (cosmetic grade) for a dessert like look! The mix smelled so yummy, with the almond and vanilla that I could not resist! What I ended up with was a light souffle type butter creme, that goes on silky, but not greasy (thanks to the cornstarch), and light enough to use in the coming Summer months.  My skin was left moisturized and glowing after using.  I’m still playing around with scent, but this batch smells like pure almond/vanilla ice cream!

If you’ve been hesitant in the past to try your hand at mixing your own goodies…u need not fret! First of all, it’s easy peezy, COST EFFECTIVE, and you have sites like Mixology and countless others to lead you by the hand;-)!