DIY Whipped Body Butter Recipe for Winter Skincare

What is body butter?

Body butter contains oils and butter that hydrate and smooth the skin and create a protective layer that seals the moisture for up to 24 hours. As there are no water based ingredients body butter tends to be stable without additional preservatives.

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.” Read full disclosure here.

Body butter vs lotion

While body butter contains just oil based ingredients, the lotion has both - water and oil parts which require the use of emulsifiers and preservatives. They also differ in their consistency as body butters are denser than lotions and create a barrier that locks the moisture from leaving the skin. People favor body butters in the winter when their skin is dry and chapped.

Body butter has a longer shelf life

On the other hand, it can feel too greasy to some people and tends to be more expensive compared to lotions if you want to buy one.

How to use this body butter?

• This body cream is specifically designed for a cold and dry climate when your skin is dry and needs to keep moisture from escaping. It is great to include it in your daily winter skincare routine.
• If you suffer from dry patches on elbows, knees or feet use this formula every day before going to sleep to soothe and hydrate this skin. You can use socks or cloth gloves to soften the skin overnight
• It also makes a wonderful alternative to shaving cream as it provides a protective barrier and allows for a smooth shave.
• The warming effect of spices increases blood circulation and makes this formula perfect for cellulitis and stretch marks.
• Pine oil infused with ginger, clove, and cinnamon encourages blood flow and provides relief for achy muscles and rheumatic pain.
• This also works well not only on your hands but also on cuticles for easier cut or push.
• Can also replace make-up remover as it dissolves and removes all makeup residues.

Whipped body butter recipe

First step

start with the pine infused oil that is made of foraged pine needles and warming spices such as cinnamon, clove and ginger. It makes for an excellent skin care oil that enhances and warms you up during cold winters. To make this potent pine needle oil you will need pine needles, cinnamon stick, cloves and one small piece of ginger.

Second step

Melt shea butter, coconut oil and mango butter in a double boiler stirring occasionally.

Third step

When melted remove it from the heat, let it cool a bit and add the pine infused oil and vitamin E and mix it gently.

Fourth step

Let the mixture cool down to solidify. You can refrigerate it or freeze it for 30 minutes.

Fifth step

Use a hand mixer or blender to whip it to the desired volume until the butter turns creamy and frothy.

Sixth step

With the help of spatula remove the mixture from the sides of the bowl and whip it again.

Seventh step

transfer the whipped butter to the glass container with a spoon.

How to make your whipped body butter less greasy?If you prefer less greasy body butter you can add starches that absorb the greasiness by adding starch into the mixture when you are melting the butter in a double boiler. These starches such as arrowroot starch, corn or rice starch are able to absorb the greasiness. Other ways of making body butter less greasy is selecting ingredients, mainly oils and butters, that are easy to absorb such as apricot oil rosehip seed oil or grapeseed oil. Better to avoid oils with slow absorption such as castor oil.

Why is my body butter not whipping?There can be several reasons. The first important thing to look at is to allow the whipped body butter to set up. It is ready to whip when you can stick your finger in the middle and it will hold the indentation.

Aonther reason could be that you accidentally forget it in the freezer and it gets too hard to whip. In that case just simply allow it to thaw at room temperature until you are able to whip it.

Another reason could be that you don’t have enough of the mixture and it is impossible to whip it. Bare in mind that you need a minimum of 200 g to be able to whip the mixture.

Can I use body butter on my face?This body butter is a great moisturizer that will smooth your skin and convert dry patches into moisturized and smooth skin again. However, the skin on various parts of your body differs. While the skin on your face is thin with more hair follicles skin on other parts such as feet is thick. Face skin is more sensitive and more prone to breakouts. Applying this thick body butter can clog the pores on your face especially when your skin is oily and acne-prone. People with normal or dry skin can use the body butter as long as it doesn’t irritate their skin.

What's the shelf life and do I need to add preservatives?There is no water added to this recipe nor any preservatives so the shelf like can be calculated as the shelf life of each butter and oil added to the recipe. You will know that it has gone bad when it starts to smell a bit “off”.Use a spoon or spatula to dip rather than your fingers to extend the life of your body butter.

To calculate the expiry date you would have to take each ingredient separately to check its expiration, mainly the oils. I have been using infused pine oil with spices which have a shelf life of around one year. The vitamin E added to the recipe will help little bit to extend the shelf life of oils and slow the process of the oils going bad.

I don’t like the scent of shea butter, can I replace it with something else?Indeed, the smell of shea butter can be hard to take for some people, there are however two versions on the market - refined and unrefined. The refined shea butter is not as aromatic as the unrefined version so you can try that. Alternatively, you can replace shea butter with more mango butter or cocoa butter. But bear in mind that cocoa butter is harder than other butters. Another thing to consider is its consistency So if you want to replace shea butter with cocoa butter you should consider adding more oil into the mixture to achieve the right consistency of your body butter.

Other body butter variations you might like:

Honey whipped body butter with beeswax

Body butter with calendula

Pumpkin Spice body butter

Yield: 200 g (7 ounces)

This whipped body butter made of combined butter and oils infused with warming herbs and spices warms and nourishes your skin.

Active Time

30 minutes

Additional Time

30 minutes

Total Time

1 hour

Difficulty

Medium

MATERIALS

• 32 g (¼ cup) shea butter
• 32 g (¼ cup) mango butter
• 16 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil
• 1 g vitamin E oil
• 32 g (¼ cup) pine infused oil or other evergreen infused oil such as grape seed, sunflower, olive oil or sweet almond oil)
• ¼ teaspoon arrowroot powder (optional)
• 20 drops of evergreen type of essential oil (optional)

TOOLS

• silicon spatula

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Melt shea butter, mango butter, and coconut oil in a double boiler stirring occasionally.
2. When melted remove it from the heat, let it cool a bit and add the pine infused oil and vitamin E. Mix it gently.
3. Let the mixture cool down to solidify. You can refrigerate it or freeze it for 30 minutes. 
4. Use a hand mixer or blender to whip it to the desired volume until the body butter turns creamy and frothy. 
5. Use a spatula to remove the mixture from the sides of the bowl and whip it again.
6. Use the spoon to transfer the whipped butter to the glass container.