Gift: Orange Cream Face-icle

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was to sneak into my mother or older sister’s stash of toiletries, grab whatever I could find, and concoct my own beauty products from them. This often involved mixing facial cleansers with Nair and green food coloring. I’d then repackage the potion and give it to one of them as a gift. Thankfully, they never used said items; and with time I grew out of my “scientist” phase.

Over the past few years, however, I’ve become more and more of a naturalist—particularly when it comes to my skincare routine. I love the pleasure that comes with making my own beauty products, to say nothing of the improvement in my skin’s texture, moisture, and radiance. Like I said in a previous post, I typically wash my face with straight honey and then moisturize with almond oil, but every now and then I sit down and make something more complex for my face. Since I recently decided to treat myself and purchase a skin butter sampler from Camden Grey, I figured now would be a good time to return to my beauty product experimentation—only this time with raw ingredients, making skincare items you can actually use. (Warning: be prepared for a ton of beauty related DIYs).

This fragrant facial cream is a perfect complement to myLand of Milk & Honey Mask, since both feature a heavy orange smell.  It can be worn night or day; but if you’re a makeup lover, you might prefer using it at night only, since I don’t know how it would mix with foundation. A little of this goes a long way, and is designed to melt on skin contact. I recommend dividing this cream into smaller containers for gifts to more friends.

The Shopping List

2 oz. CupuacaButter

2 oz. OrangeButter (oh wow, this stuff smells great!)

3 tsp. Apricot Oil

1-2 oz. Containers for Storage, or 1 Small Jar

Orange Cream Face-icle:

Start by scooping Cupuaca Butter into a microwavable container, a mug or glass would do finely. Cupuaca is a relatively unknown butter and comes from a tree found in Brazil. It’s reported to reduce dry skin, as well as the development of wrinkles. It also helps restore skin elasticity which aids the prevention of skin degeneration. Cupuaca is a harder butter, so it needs to be melted down to mix it with the other ingredients. Place Cupuaca in the microwave watching until it melts (less than a minute).

Stir in Orange Butter until it dissolves into the Cupuaca Butter. Orange is renowned as a natural cleanser and toner, but it also is anti-inflammatory. And it smells delicious, without having to add any fragrance! Add in Apricot Oil, and continue to stir. Apricot Oil is one of the lightest oils out there, and is known to have intense skin repairing properties. It is said that the Apricot seed (from the pit of the apricot) contains a rare vitamin called Vitamin B17, which is reported to help fight cancer.

Allow facial cream to cool and set, stirring occasionally. Once the cream has a more, well, creamy texture, like this:

scoop into containers, decorate with ribbons, stickers, or markers, and enjoy! I have been loving this cream for the past week. It’s gotten rid of all my dry patches I had gotten on my face while I was down in California. And, did I mention how good it smells?

20 Days Until Christmas!