| Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and I wanted to make a lotion for the occasion. Because roses are the most common flower sold for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make something with rose. I ended up choosing our Rose Hydrosol for this project. Come join me for this love inspired lotion!
My star ingredient for this lotion is the Rose Hydrosol. If you have never worked with Rose Hydrosol before, you are in for a real treat. The Rose Hydrosol will take place of the water, adding a nice, soft rose scent. No overwhelming florals here! I choose to use Sodium Lactate as the humectant for this recipe. Humectants draw water from the air to the skin, helping keep the skin soft. You can chose from a variety of humectants. I just prefer Sodium Lactate. For one of my oils, I decided on Coconut Oil Fractions. Coconut Oil Fractions is a light oil that spreads smoothly on the skin without feeling greasy. My goal is a light lotion that you can apply and then go right back to whatever you are doing. Coconut Oil Fractions helps me accomplish that. I also used Pumpkin Seed Extract. This extract is high in fatty acids. Pumpkin Extract is also reputed to stimulate the skin. Bright, velvety skin sounds good to me! How about you? Next I used Red Raspberry Seed Oil. Our Raspberry Seed Oil is a cold pressed oil that has an incredible fatty acid and omega profile. It is a great addition to any lotion. As beautiful as this oil is, it unfortunately does not add any color. So if you want your lotion to be colored, you will need to add a tiny amount of our Purple Raspberry Color. A jar of Almond Butter that was sitting on my desk also demanded in on the fun. I find that if I make the same lotion formulation except one doesn’t have Almond Butter and the other one does is the difference between that is pretty nice and WOW! Almond Butter really makes a difference. I also added some Vitamin E Acetate. Vitamin E Acetate helps fight free radicals. What does this mean for your lotion? It means that your lotion has an extended shelf life! Whew! Isn’t that great? My final luxury item that I added to this formulation is Squalane. Squalane is very similar to an oil that our skin produces to keep our skin soft. This wonderful is very light and helps keep the skin moisturized without feeling greasy. Our final three ingredients are Stearic Acid, Emulsifying Wax and Optiphen. Stearic Acid is used as a thickening agent for lotions. This helps prevent lotions from being too fluid. Emulsifying Wax is a emulsifier. It helps keep the oils and hydrosol from separating. Optiphen is a preservative. It prevents icky microbes from growing in our lotion. Collect needed items:
Weigh all of the ingredients except Optiphen into a microwaveable container. Heat until all of the ingredients are melted. Using an immersion blender, mix until blended. Allow the solution to cool to 120 degrees Fahrenheit before adding the Optiphen. Stir occasionally while waiting for the mixture to cool. You do not want your lotion to separate. If you wish to add any color, now would be the time. Mix the preservative into the lotion until well blended. Allow the lotion to cool to room temperature. You may now put the lotion into containers. The 500 gram batch is about 16 fl oz so you can make four 4 fl oz bottles, two 8 fl oz bottles or any variation you desire. Enjoy!
If you want to make your own rose toner, check out this blog! It even includes information about making tea with roses!
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 Finished Lotion on Finger  Weighing Oils  Adding Rose Hydrosol  Heating Oils and Hydrosol  Mixing the Lotion  Mixing the Lotion  Adding Preservative  Cooled Lotion in Container |
