Give your skin some much-deserved love! Not your average moisturizer, this DIY lotion bar uses the warmth of your body to melt natural emollients and essential oils into the skin to smooth, moisturize and hydrate dry hands, heels, elbows, and more.
With a rich base of coconut oil, beeswax, and shea butter, this homemade lotion bar recipe has a smooth and rich consistency. We honestly can’t get enough of the clean and fresh lavender-lemon combo we tried, but feel free to get inspired and create your own essential oil blend!
Bonus Tip: If you want to create an exfoliating texture, we recommend adding in some citrus zest, oatmeal, or dried lavender. Have fun experimenting!
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra-virgin coconut oil
- ½ cup beeswax
- ¼ cup shea butter
- ¼ cup cocoa butter
- 15–20 drops essential oil of your choice (we recommend 10 drops of Lavender essential oil and 10 drops of Lemon essential oil)
- Optional: dried lavender and lemon zest for exfoliation
Materials
- 16-ounce measuring cup
- Medium-sized saucepan
- Silicone molds or muffin tin
Directions
- Combine coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, and cocoa butter in a 16-ounce glass measuring cup.
- Place in a pot with water that rises to halfway up the measuring cup
- Bring water to a boil, stirring frequently until ingredients are completely melted.
- Remove measuring cup from the pot.
- Add dried lavender and lemon zest, if desired.
- Add essential oils and stir until completely combined.
- Immediately pour into molds.
- Let sit overnight.
- Once cooled, remove the lotion from the molds.
- Store in a cool, dry place.
What combination of essential oils are you excited to try? Tell us in the comments below!
View Comments
How many bars does the recipe make? I'm looking to give them a party gifts.
Hey Leslie. The amount of bars depends entirely on what size mold that you use. We used rather large molds in our video (3 lotion bars in total), but you can use molds as little as ice cube trays. You can also double or triple the recipe very easily. Hope that helps!
How about storage? What do you suggest? I want to make as a gifts and wanted some suggestions on storage to those I am gifting them.
Thanks
Hey Flo! The lotion bars are designed to melt from the heat of your body as you rub them on your skin. In other words the will melt pretty easily if left in hot conditions. Be sure to keep them in a colder place, whether that be the fridge, a cool cabinet, or air conditioned room. This will help the bars will keep their shape. Hope that helps!
these look like a fun project
I used carrot seed, frankincense, lavender and patchouli. Plan on making them as wedding favors. Thank you for the receipe
Adrienne Could you tell me how many bars this makes?
Can you use Mango butter instead of shea butter?
Hey Melanie! We have not tried it, but it should work. However, it may change the consistency of the bar a bit. It is worth a try though and let us know how it goes if you end up experimenting with the mango butter. Thanks!
Melanie, I use mango butter, instead of Shea butter all the time and love it!
Where can I find beeswax and cocoa butter for the above recipe?
myoilyhabit.com has lots of products very reasonably priced
Hello Cheryl! We have found it at local health stores, online, and also at Walmart. We suggest that you look it up online or call the stores beforehand though to save you a trip in case a store only has it online and not in the actual store. Hope that helps!
I order my beeswax and shea butter online at Apothecary.com. I get my order in a few days and always have been satisfied.
I want to try lavender and Frankincense since they are both great for skin. I will definitely be making some Joy lotion bars too!
How do you use these? Do you just apply it like regular lotion, or do you have to melt it in water... how does this work?
Hey Andrea! Once you make the lotion bar, you then just rub and glide it on your skin. The heat of you body will melt the bar into your skin. Lotion bars allow a deep hydration and it's just a fun way to rejuvenate your skin. Hope that helps!
This was my very first DIY project with Young Living! I made several variations from one recipe. One with peppermint for cooling or discomfort, one with lavender for soothing, and one with Joy and Abundance for happiness.
I'm allergic to coconut, anything I could sub to make this?
Hello Rachel, Currently we have not tested this recipe without coconut oil, however you are welcome to try a different vegetable carrier oil that has similar texture to coconut oil and let us now how it goes!