Vanilla Blue Body Balm
by Jade Shutes
What are body butters and balms? How are they different from salves?
Both body butters and balms are made utilizing the base ingredients of butter (there are several kinds of butter: e.g. shea, cocoa, etc) and herbal or vegetable/nut/seed oils. Since body butters and balms (and salves) do not contain water, they are called anhydrous formulations. The lack of water also means they do not need a preservative however depending on which vegetable oils you use in your formulation, you may want to consider adding in 1% antioxidant such as rosemary CO2 extract, vitamin E or mixed tocopherols.
The difference between butters and balms and salves is not consistent across the industry but for the sake of clarity:
Body Butters = Butters + Vegetable oils + Antioxidant (sometimes has a smaller amount of beeswax then is found in body balms)
*If you put water into butters the product becomes a cream.
Body balms = Butters + Vegetable/Herbal oils + Beeswax (and antioxidant if needed)
Salves = Vegetable oils + Beeswax*
*If you put butters into a salve this becomes a body balm or butter not a salve. Salves are traditionally combinations of herbal oils, vegetable oils and beeswax.
Today we will be making our Vanilla Blue Body Balm.
Supplies Needed:
Ingredient |
Ounces |
Grams |
%tage |
| Shea butter | 1.5 | 42g | 27% |
| Coconut oil | 1 | 28g | 18% |
| Vanilla infused oil | 1 | 28g | 18% |
| Beeswax | 1 | 28g | 18% |
| Cocoa butter | 0.5 | 14g | 9% |
| Calendula oil | 0.5 | 14g | 9% |
|
Butters Oil Beeswax |
54% | Total butter: 5.5 oz or 154g | |
| 27% | |||
| 18% | |||
Essential Oil |
Latin name |
Drops in Blend |
|
| German chamomile | Matricaria chamomilla | 14 | |
| Lavender | Lavandula angustifolia | 30 | |
| TOTAL DROPS: | 44 |
Equipment needed:
- 6 Bowls or Measuring cups
- Double boiler
- 3 – 4 stainless steel spoons
- 1 stainless steel fork or whisk
- Tubes, containers or glass jars for product
- Scale
- 5-6 stainless steel spoons
Step to make Vanilla Blue Body Balm
Step One: Gather Ingredients
Step Two: Weigh all ingredients
Step Three: Place beeswax in double boiler and begin to melt down.
Step Four: Just before the beeswax is completely melted, add in Coconut oil and Vanilla infused jojoba. Stir with stainless steel fork or whisk.
Step Five: As the beeswax completely melts, add in calendula herbal oil and the butters (shea and cocoa)
Step Six: Remove pot from double boiler and stir butters and mix with stainless steel fork or whisk. Allow butters to just melt.
Step Seven: Add in essential oils. And stir.
Step Eight: If the mix has begun to harden, place on double boiler again and gently heat until melted again.
Step Nine: Fill containers. Leave a small amount of mixture to top off containers.
Step Ten: Let filled tubes (or jars) sit for a minute, to settle, then top off with mixture.
Step Eleven: Let tubes sit for about 15-30 minutes then clean off the sides and put caps on.
Step Twelve: Let containers sit overnight. Next day, check the balms to insure they are hardened.
WOW! gorgeous recipe! I cannot wait to try this one. Also thank you for the clarification on Butters, Balms and Salves. Great to differentiate!!!!
Love Heidi
xoxox
This looks divine. Curious how you infused the jojoba with vanilla? Was it the bean? Any particular source, solar infused? (2 weeks)? Where did you get this nifty container?
This is a good article. I like how you explained the difference between body butters and balms. I wanted to make the time find out the difference, and then your email came to me with the information I needed. I am looking forward to making this body balm, especially now that we are coming into the Fall. Blessings, Tamara :)