Making our own natural skincare products is a fun and creative hobby that we can enjoy from the comfort of our own homes.
The beautiful thing about this hobby is that once you understand the basics and know where to get accurate and reliable information – plus a few good recipes – you can make some amazing products for a fraction of the price of shop-bought brands.
Plus, when it comes to occupying, entertaining and educating our children, learning to make a few simple products is an absolute winner!
Kids tend to love making biscuits, pancakes and cakes and they also usually love arts and crafts. There’s so much fun to be had at home with children, and the memories this creates is something to be savored – for our kids and ourselves!
How about making some simple skincare products?
If you are looking for some new activities to try, here are seven simple, DIY cosmetic recipes that you can make with your children.
If you do try these products out, please make sure to properly supervise your children and ensure you follow the recommended safety precautions.
If you’d like more recipes to make with your kids, take a look at our Natural Bath Products short class, which contains 25 wonderful recipes, or our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products, which contains over 120 recipes!
1) Simple cocoa butter lip balm
This is such a soothing and nourishing lip balm, yet very quick, easy and inexpensive to make!
Recipe (for jars/tins)
Ingredients:
- 73.5g sunflower or sweet almond oil
- 16g beeswax (or vegan wax eg candelilla wax, which creates a similar firmness)
- 10g cocoa butter
- 0.5g essential oil of your choice (eg orange, peppermint or geranium)
Recipe (twist-up sticks)
Ingredients:
- 30g beeswax (or vegan wax eg candelilla wax, which creates a similar firmness)
- 20g cocoa butter
- 49.5g sunflower or sweet almond oil
- 0.5g essential oil (eg orange, peppermint or geranium)
How to make your lip balm
- Weigh out your butters, wax and carrier oils.
- Melt butters, wax and carrier oils together gently in a bain-marie or water bath.
- If you wish you can melt the harder ingredients with a higher melting point first (cocoa butter, beeswax) then add softer ingredients with a lower melting point (carrier oils). This prevents overheating ingredients.
- Once melted remove the mixture from the heat.
- Add your essential oils, Vitamin E if you are using it and any other ingredients that are heat sensitive. This is best done by weighing these ingredients as you add.
- Mix together well.
- Pour into containers. It’s important not to allow any drops of water from the bain-marie to get into the product so you may need to dry it with a cloth before pouring.
Steps 4-7 need to be completed quickly as products containing wax will set quickly as soon as they start to cool. It’s a magical process watching them form before your very eyes.
2) Lip gloss
Create a professional quality natural lip gloss at home! Discover the formula and how to make it:
Castor oil is an essential ingredient in lip gloss because it creates a very shiny and glossy finish, plus its fatty acid composition allows for an addition of a small percentage of glycerin.
Glycerin is often added to lip gloss formulas, as it enhances the glossy effect and increases the longevity of the lip gloss once applied. Even though glycerin is water soluble, and as such not miscible with oils, it can be successfully mixed with the oils if they contain a large enough percentage of castor oil and are properly thickened with waxes or oil-gelling ingredients.
Pigments and/or micas are used to add color to the lip gloss. The amount of pigment added to lip gloss can be varied according to the desired color strength.
Lipid thickener to thicken the oils into a gel-type consistency.
Preservatives and antioxidants to project the product from contamination and extend its shelf-life.
How to make DIY lip gloss
- Prepare your pigment mixture or choose a colored mica in your desired shade.
- Weigh phase A ingredients and combine them into a beaker. Heat phase A to 70°C in a water bath or on a hot plate until completely melted.
- Remove from heat and cool down to 55°C, stirring occasionally.
- Add phase B ingredients to phase A, mix well.
- Pour into packaging of choice.
3) Detoxifying clay face mask
This is a fun project for teenagers. Let them choose the most suitable clays and essential oils for their skin type:
This will make enough for one treatment. You’ll find information about all the ingredients below and at the bottom of this article you’ll find a professional formula (and recipe for a 10g batch) for a detoxifying face mask.
1. Select your type of clay. Two teaspoons is about the right amount for one treatment.
2. Select any additional ingredients such as exfoliating agents or fruit powders. 1/4 – 1/2 a teaspoon should be about right.
3. If you have dry skin add a drop or two of a carrier oil such as peach kernel or rosehip.
4. Add a drop of essential oil (optional – do take care with essential oils, read the safety advice and check contraindications).
5. Choose your liquid of choice: water, flower water, milk, aloe vera juice, herbal infusion, yoghurt. Mix in enough to make a thick paste (usually 1-2 teaspoons).
6. Apply to your face avoiding the eye area and relax for 10-15 minutes. Rinse off and feel radiant!
*Note: these masks should be mixed just before use and discarded afterwards. Once clay is mixed with water it is difficult to preserve and so should not be stored for reuse later. As with all products, we advise doing a patch test before use*