Homemade Cacao-Coconut Body Butter

Have you ever had a lipgloss or a shampoo or something that smelled so good you just wanted to eat it? This is exactly like that... except you probably could eat it if you really wanted to! I've never really been one to worry about the effects of chemicals on my skin (in my own twisted logic I figured the more preservatives in my cosmetics, the more preserved I would end up. WRONG!) but lately I've been more and more interested in natural beauty alternatives. Not to say I'll be turning my back on lab produced goodies but once in a while, it's nice to give your skin a bit of a break. After all, it does such a marvellous job of holding in all your organs, the least you could do is feed it something good! This lush body butter has only 3 ingredients; cacao butter, coconut oil and sweet almond oil. It smells like a coconut truffle. If you've ever wanted to smell like an expensive box of chocolate then this is for you! Read on for my recipe.

 Here are all my ingredients. I used raw, organic cacao butter that I picked up from The Ingredient Tree in Wembley at last month's Secret Cake Club, some sweet almond oil (I picked mine up from Healthy Life at Garden City but this stuff's pretty easy to find at most pharmacies and health food stores) and lastly, some virgin coconut oil from Woolworths. It should be noted that I used food-grade rather than cosmetic-grade products to make this (I figure if it's good enough to go in me, it's good enough to go on me). This isn't the most wallet friendly DIY (I spent about 30 clams but I had to buy everything, including the jar), especially if you're using organic ingredients, but it makes bucket loads of product and is still cheaper than most quality body butters. The recipe below makes just under 2 cups of product, which I stored in a 500ml airtight glass jar. The body butter is stable at room temperature, and because of cacao butter's high level of antioxidants and coconut oil's natural antimicrobial properties, it'll last you a good while without turning rancid. That being said, try to use cold pressed and unrefined ingredients as high heat can destroy these properties and thereby reduce the shelf life.

 You'll soon see that this recipe is crazy easy. Simply weigh out your ingredients into a small, heatproof bowl...

 Place it over a pan of simmering water...

 ...and gently stir until it's completely melted. Your house should smell amazing at this point. Fellow Aussies will be strongly reminded of childhood school fetes and gobbling up chocolate crackles like they're going out of fashion. Once it's melted, carefully place it in the fridge (or freezer, if you're and impatient shit like me) and allow to set. It should take about 20 minutes. 

 Once it's set, transfer the body butter to a small, deep bowl before going to town with a handheld mixer. It won't take long at all to whip the body butter from a solid chunk of yellowish fat into a gorgeous, ivory cloud. If you over whip and it turns soupy, it just means it's started to melt again so just stick the bowl back in the freezer for a few minutes before whipping again. Very forgiving.

Finally, just transfer everything to your storage jar. Although the ingredients in this aren't high allergy risks, as a precaution, dab some on the inside of your elbow and leave for a few hours to check for a reaction. Once you're in the clear... slather it on indiscriminately! It won't behave like a regular lotion or moisturiser; it's an oil so it'll melt into your skin. That doesn't mean you'll end up with greasy skin though! Having to wait a few minutes for it to absorb might take a bit of getting used to but your skin will absolutely drink this stuff up and the pay off is soft, even-toned skin. Worth it. 

But wait, theres more! This body butter also makes for an amazing shaving cream. You won't need much and because of coconut oil's aforementioned antimicrobial properties, it'll help reduce those pesky ingrown hairs as well as helping heal any nicks your clumsy butt might end up with. All the ingredients in this are chock full of fatty acids and antioxidants that'll help maintain your skin's elasticity and improve your skin tone. If that doesn't convince you, let me go back to my main point. It smells like chocolate! Make it NOW! Okay that was a bit bossy; my apologies. Seriously though... try it, it's awesome!

Cacao-Coconut Body Butter

Makes just under 2 cups

You could also add some essential oils to this to amp up the deliciousness factor. Maybe some sweet orange oil or peppermint extract? Oh and don't be concerned that you'll walk around all day smelling like a candy bar and your expensive perfume will become redundant; the scent will calm down after about an hour or so.

Ingredients

100g cacao butter

100g coconut oil

50g sweet almond oil

Method

1. Weigh out your ingredients in a small, heatproof bowl.
2. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir gently to melt the solids.
3. Once melted, place in the fridge or freezer and allow to solidify.
4. Transfer the solidified fat to a small, deep bowl and whip with a handheld mixer (you could also obviously use a stand mixer) until fluffy and ivory in colour. 
5. Transfer to an airtight container and enjoy! 

Over and out!