Homemade Anti-oxidant Serious Facial Butter

First of all, let me emphasize the importance of using good quality products. You can’t beat the awesome products from Mountain Rose Herbs. I absolutely love the quality. You get what you pay for. My homemade facial moisturizer was made with Shea Butter, Illipe Butter, Kokum Butter, Apricot Oil, Emu Oil, Rose Hip Seed Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Lavender Essential Oil and Vitamin E. The Butters make up about 80% of my moisturizer which I melted in a pyrex measuring cup in a double boiler for about 20 minutes. Allowing the butters to remain melted at a safe heat of around 170 degrees for 20 minutes helps keeps the butters from crystallizing when they cool. I added the rest of the ingredients to the melted butters and poured into a small glass container to cool. If Shea Butter does crystalize (feels kind of bumpy), it will still melt quickly and smoothly on the skin and doesn’t affect the benefit or quality of the product.

I start out by washing my face with Castile Lavender Liquid Soap and apply a very small amount of moisturizer in the palm of my hand and mix with my finger in circles until melted. I apply it on my face and let the oils penetrate into my skin. The oiliness disappears in about 5 minutes and I am ready to apply my makeup. The natural sun protection that carrot seed oil contains makes this oil even more valuable for the skin. I chose to make my facial moisturizer with ingredients that have amazing properties on the skin.

• Shea Butter: Extremely good for dry chapped skin. Has healing and anti-inflamatory qualities, very softening on the skin. Has a natural sun protection of about a 6 SPF.
• Illipe Butter and Kokum Butter: Exotic nut oils good for moisturizing and healing dry, rough, damaged skin, sunburn. Great for mature skin and hair.
• Apricot Oil: Helps minimize and prevent fine wrinkles in the skin. Helps soothe and heal dry, damaged skin. Penetrates the skin easily.
• Rose Hip Seed Oil: Helps with scars, eczema, psoriasis, wrinkles, age spots, UV damage from sun exposure. Also great for hair. Its a dry oil that soaks in easily and a great hydrator for skin. I only added a few drops as it is not recommended for acne or very oily skin.
• Emu Oil: One of my favorite oils – so versatile. Benefits include, anti-inflammatory (great for joints), anti-aging qualities (helps to thicken the skin), heals burns (they use on burn victims to heal the skin twice as fast), helps with muscle strains and ligament healing, therapeutic for cracking, red, dry skin, insect bites, hair, acne, chapped lips, gout…..etc. Hands down, it is amazing stuff.
• Carrot Seed Oil: Great anti-aging benefits. I make sure to dilute this oil carefully. It does have a strong odor. Helps with wrinkles, problem skin like acne, eczema, psoriasis, boils. Has antiseptic properties and is detoxifying. Said to reverse some signs of aging.  It revitalizes the skin making it great to use on rashes and dermatitis.
• Lavender Essential Oil: Oh, my favorite because of its versatility and soothing features. It attacks bacteria in acne, heals and soothes burns while stimulating new skin cell growth, acts as an anti-fungal treatment, helps ease pain in muscles and joints, great for eczema and sunburn and much more.

Start out making a small trial batch. You can add more or less of what you like. Always make sure to read about safe dilution of essential oils before applying to the skin and which ones are compatible together. I’m not an expert by any means. I just love making my own products and want to share beneficial solutions that have worked for me.