Vanilla Body Lotion Bar--a tutorial

Holy cow! Another tutorial! I know you're all just teeming with excitement. As my mom would say, "Keep your panties dry!" (And yes, I really did just type that. I might regret it later.)

As part of the Christmas gifts I gave/sent to my siblings and in-laws, I included 2 little bars of vanilla body lotion. I saw a tutorial for these on Pinterest, and though it was a cool idea. So. My tutorial, very slightly adapted from this tutorial by Sarah over at Frugal by Choice.

First, you need your ingredients, which I did not take a picture of. Shame on me.

~ 1 part grated beeswax
~ 1 part sweet almond oil
~ 1 part coconut oil (solid at room temp)
~ vanilla essential oil

I used a cup each of the oils and the beeswax. I had some grated already from the lip gloss I made last year, so I only had to grate a little. An important note here: DO NOT use a good grater to grate beeswax. You will not be able to use it for anything else after grating beeswax with it. Trust me on this one.

First, completely melt your beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat.

Add your almond oil. It'll sort of harden the beeswax up a little again into white squiggly stuff. That's okay. Allow most of the squiggles to melt.

Add the coconut oil, and allow it to melt completely. Like this:

This is where I added my vanilla oil. In reality, you should allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding.

Get whatever you're putting this in ready. I bought this nifty silicone snowflake-shaped pan on sale at Joann. There are a ton of things you could put this in, though. Use your imagination!

I opted to pour the mixture into a measuring cup to control the pouring better. I highly recommend it. I just know if I'd tried to pour it straight from the bowl, it would've been everywhere.

Pour carefully. And be impressed, because I'm taking this picture one-handed on my phone while pouring.

Fill up your little molds. I filled them all the way up, you can see the surface tension on a few of them. Because I used the silicone mold, they were incredibly easy to pop out once they hardened.

Allow these to sit in the mold until completely solid. That middle row is already on its way. They don't take particularly long. Once they're solid, pop them out of your mold, and you're good to go! I put two in a little ziploc bag for each. (Like, a little jewelry-sized ziploc. They're small.)

To use: simply rub the bar on your hands (or wherever), like you would a bar of soap. The heat from your body will soften the bar enough to get some of the lotion on your skin. Then rub the lotion into the skin. This does start out feeling slightly oily, and you have to rub it in more than a light lotion. But it DOES rub in, and it's incredibly moisturizing. I use it on my feet, which are...well, I have gross feet. But this actually helps, and it rubs in better than the Eucerin I usually use. Smells nicer, too.

The next time I do these, I'll probably add more beeswax, to make them a smidge more solid. I thought they were a bit soft for my taste. So, maybe a cup & a half of beeswax.

Enjoy!