This recipe is one I’ve used for years, adapted from fellow herbalists including Rosemary Gladstar, and edited and tweaked with the input of students every summer. It is somewhere between the texture of a face cream and a body lotion and can be more or less thick or spreadable depending on how you use the ingredients. In the recipe below, I provide tips on making it the texture you want. It is rich and fragrant and incredibly soothing on dry skin—use it to pamper yourself, or give as a gift to a new mother or someone special on their birthday.

Herbal Lotions and Creams

A lotion is really a spreadable cream, and it's made from two types of ingredients: waters and oils. The waters are the best place to add your herb fragrance--use hydrosols (distilled herbal waters) or herbal infusions ("teas") to give your lotion the fragrance and healing properties of the plant you want to use. The oils or fats include vegetable oils as well as a bit of beeswax.

Depending on how spreadable you want it, you can add more waters (more spreadable) or more oils (less spreadable). The little bit of beeswax can also be increased to make it more of a salve or ointment consistency and less of a body lotion.

Making an herbal lotion or cream does require some special equipment—specifically, a blender. I’ve tried making lotions and creams with food processors and with hand-held blenders, and they tend to frustrate the process. Be sure to have a long-handled rubber spatula ready, and it helps to have a working freezer available; make some room in it, if possible, because it may come in handy when you’re wanting to speed along the process of cooling down hot ingredients.

You’ll want to pour the finished lotion into a small jar (avoid tins) or into a squeezable tube or into a lotion bottle with a press-pump. Stored in a cool spot or even in the refrigerator, it will last a few weeks. Include a hand-made paper card or label along with the lotion with instructions to slather it generously on the face, neck, shoulders, arms and chest where its moisturizing properties will be most appreciated and the scent can be inhaled and enjoyed for hours.

My Favorite Moisturizing Lotion Recipe

Waters:

• 2/3 cup hydrosol or herb-steeped tea (something mild such as violet, rose, elder flower, or lemon balm)
• 1/3 cup aloe vera gel
• 5 to 10 drops essential oil (I suggest rose, lavender, lemon balm, or sustainably harvested frankincense), optional

Oils:

• ¾ cup vegetable or nut oil (jojoba, sweet almond, or sunflower)
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped beeswax (not beeswax beads, as these get gummy and will not give you the texture you want)

Step 1: In a saucepan on the stovetop, combine the oils first; melt the beeswax with the oils and then pour them directly into the blender. Now, allow them to cool; this will take time. I’ve found it goes faster if you place the entire blender bowl into the freezer for 20 minutes or so.

Step 2: While the oils are cooling, prepare the waters. Use straight hydrosol or brew a light tea with lavender, elder flower, or rose petal. Strain this and set it aside. A note about aloe vera gel: I tried once to be as authentic as possible, harvesting the tiny “leaves” from my indoor, struggling aloe houseplant. It took forever to scrape a bit of gel off each leaf and I would have killed all my houseplants if I’d actually continued until I had 1/3 cup. If you can purchase it, or if you have access to really large leaves, please use them!

Step 3: Once cool, turn the blender on low speed and slowly add the waters. It will immediately turn creamy and the color will lighten. Blend until you achieve the consistency you want. I’ve found it can help to have a small amount of semi-soft melted beeswax on hand if you find the lotion is too liquidy; this will help solidify it more. If you want more of a face cream, add more beeswax. If you want more of a body lotion, add more waters. Add the essential oils drop by drop while the blender is running, if desired, but keep in mind that most face creams need to be mild and subtle, because a strong-smelling face cream can be harsh on the skin and eyes.

Bottle, label, and refrigerate your lotion. Keep it refrigerated or in a very cool place. This recipe yields 5-7 small (2-ounce) jars and each jar will last about 3 weeks before you might expect spoilage.

Excerpted/adapted from Llewellyn’s Little Book of Herbs by Holly Bellebuono