Special Request Orange Cuticle Butter 7

Recently I was asked by dbuhler if it was possible to duplicate a cuticle butter from Lush. I asked what her what she liked about the cuticle butter, and here is her response.

My favorite thing I like about Lemony Flutter is the texture! Its texture is like a thick, moderately hard body butter, and it absorbs into my skin and cuticles! Other cuticle treatments I have tried are very waxy and balmy (Burt’s Bees Cuticle Cream) and take forever to absorb into my skin, thus leaving a film on my cuticles where lint and dust get trapped. Nothing is worse than applying a cuticle treatment and then look down at my hands an hour later and have lint stuck to my fingers – not a look I am going for while I am at work. The ingredient list is pretty impressive, and if I am reading the ingredients correct, one of the first ingredients listed is shea butter, which has been doing wonders for my nails since I started using hand products with shea butter in them! I hope this answers your question! If not, please let me know if you need any additional information. I would LOVE to be able to make my own cuticle cream and not have to spend a small fortune to buy LF (there is no LUSH store in ID so I have to order online). Thanks again!!

After reading her response, I started looking over the long list of ingredients, and I discovered that some of the ingredients that were used in the cuticle butter were not available to me. I sat down with a catalog and a search engine to learn what oils I had on hand were similar to the ones I didn’t have access to. Here are my reasons for picking the ingredients that I chose.

Shea Butter, High Melt Point: While the original product is stated to use Shea Butter, I wanted to make sure that I used the High Melt Point Shea Butter to prevent possible graininess in the final product.

Orange Butter: Since I don’t have a lemon butter, I used the Orange Butter instead so I could still have the citrus scent.

Hemp Butter: My first attempt used the Virgin Coconut Oil, but I didn’t like the conflicting scents from the coconut and orange. (Maybe I just don’t care for coconuts and oranges together!)

Meadowfoam Oil: I picked Meadowfoam to replace the Soy Oil that was listed in the original ingredients since I don’t have any Soy Oil on hand. I also wanted to use this oil for moisturizing capabilities it has.

Camelina Oil: In my research to learn about Flax Oil, I learned that Flax Oil is one of the botanical sources that contains a high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids. Looking at a comparison chart, I discovered that Camelina is also contains a high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids. I used this oil to match the similarities in Omega-3 and really pamper the skin.

Calendula Oil Extract: This oil is one of my favorites for the soothing feel my hands seem to have after using a lotion with Calendula. I thought that this would be a perfect ingredient to help the cuticles.

Horsetail Grass Extract: I used the Horsetail because this extract has some great strengthening, elasticizing and healing properties. It also has been shown to help nails become stronger.

Now that I had come up with some good ingredient solutions, I started formulating a recipe that might be similar to the what was described. Join me on my journey making this cuticle butter.

Completely cooled cuticle butter on my finger.

Weighed ingredients before melting.

Completely melted mixture.

Completely cooled cuticle butter.

SUPPLIES

RECIPE

Percentages

25% Shea Butter, High Melt Point
15% Orange Butter
10% Mango Butter
10% Hemp Butter
10% Beeswax
7% Meadowfoam Oil
5% Avocado Oil
5% Castor Oil
5% Lanolin
2% Camelina Oil
2% Calendula Oil Extract
1% Horsetail Grass Extract
1% LiquaPar Oil Preservative
1% Vitamin E Natural
1% Orange Valencia Essential Oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Weigh all ingredients except the Horsetail Extract, LiquaPar Oil Preservative, Vitamin E Natural, and Orange Valencia Essential Oil into your microwave safe container. Microwave using short bursts of time, stirring every 20 to 30 seconds until all the ingredients have been melted.

Do NOT microwave until the mixture is completely liquid as the mixture will be too hot to handle. The Beeswax will be the last ingredient to melt and if you are patient, simply stirring will melt the Beeswax.

Pour into your containers and allow to cool. Try to not move the containers much until the cream has set to prevent accidental messes.

Yield: This recipe will fill 10 of the 20mL Lip Balm Jars.

NOTES

It took three tries to reach this final formulation for cuticle butter. My first attempt had a much higher percentage of lanolin and ended up like a foot salve rather than the firm cuticle butter I had been looking for.

Slightly disappointed in the fact that the end result had not been the one I was aiming for, I went back to the drawing board and lowered my lanolin percentage and raised the percentages of my butters. I tried again, and while this butter was closer, it was still more like a lip and body balm than the cuticle butter I had imagined.

This time, I asked our Technical Team what they thought. I was told to increase the Shea Butter and Beeswax while decreasing the Mango Butter and Lanolin. I followed their recommendations, and this attempt was perfect!

This cuticle butter rubbed into the skin easily without leaving a waxy or sticky residue. I even was excited when my testers told me that it didn’t make them feel like they had to wait for several minutes before handling papers after applying the butter.

I feel that I have reached my goal of trying to create a cuticle butter that is easy to make. This cuticle butter is perfect for the current weather changes and for anyone who has constantly dry hands.

If you want to put this into a larger jar, please pour several thin layers to help prevent fractionation and graininess.

If you want to reformulate this recipe to use other ingredients, give us a call or email. We can help you formulate a similar product with the ingredients you have on hand.

Enjoy!