Guide to making your own skincare products

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Reviewed By: Kacie La

We all know that skincare is a big deal. Your skin absorbs approximately 60% of what is put on it, so it would be prudent to know what ingredients are in your products and what benefits they have specifically for your skin condition. This is where the benefits of creating your very own skincare products at home comes in.

For a long time, the practice of making homemade skincare has been part of many cultures across the globe, with recipes handed down the generations. In recent years, the green beauty movement has been rising from the ashes, especially in homemade skincare. Now it's a booming trend on social media, where you'll find DIY skincare enthusiasts keenly sharing their recipes and results.

For great skin care, you do not have to fork out big bucks. In fact, several brands of skin care products in department stores are filled with harsh additives, artificial colours and so on. Even so-called brands of natural skin care products can contain questionable ingredients that you wouldn't want on your face. That is why creating homemade skincare products gives you control over the ingredients you add in your recipes, uncompromising your safety or their suitability for your skin condition.

With us at N-essentials helping you along the way, you are sure to get the best out of your ingredients, to avoid wasting them and most importantly, to ensure you are making safe cosmetic products for yourself and everyone around you.

Choose ingredients for your DIY skincare products

When selecting ingredients to use for homemade skincare, it’s best to secure the ones that are raw, organic, unrefined and sustainably sourced. Doing this ensures that you have genuine and safe ingredients meant to love your skin and not harm it. The known base ingredients for homemade skincare are carrier oils and butters as both are great for conditioning and smoothing the appearance of your skin.

Carrier oils such as coconut oil and sweet almond oil have a thick consistency and aroma and is widely used in soapmaking. Shea and cocoa butter are fantastically smooth butters that can be applied solo on your skin or mixed with a carrier oil. You can choose from raw, organic, deodorised and unrefined butter for your lotions, body butters and more.

In DIY skin care recipes, essential oils are used as they help lessen the appearance of fine lines, even skin tone, brighten skin, offer a youthful look, and even help alleviate occasional blemishes. Tea tree, lavender, peppermint and geranium essential oil are some of the favourites! Although they are safe for skin, do a patch test on a specific area before adding oils to your face to ensure you do not have an adverse reaction.

Other essential staples in homemade skincare products are beeswax, witch hazel, bentonite clay, vitamin E oil, and aloe vera gel. These ingredients have been the usual ingredients in homemade skincare as they combine well with other materials to create many amazing skin and body products.

Tools to use for creating homemade skincare products

You will find most of the resources you need to start making your own natural skincare products right in your kitchen. Eventually, you may think about having some separate equipment just for making homemade products, but some basic staples are all you need when you are just getting started. Such basic tools and equipment include:

• Glass bowls
• Mason jars
• Whisk
• Measuring cups
• Wooden spoon
• Kitchen scale
• Storage containers

Set up your workspace

You want to ensure that you have a sanitised, sterile and well-lit workspace, even if you're making formulations for your own use. This is to avoid contaminations and incorrect formulations from happening. First and foremost, you don't want to order several beautiful raw ingredients, spend hours learning how to make your own serum and then contaminate it with a dishcloth or use the wrong liquid ingredient for your face!

To put it simply, you'll need to set up a designated workspace if you want to create natural skincare products at home. Cross out the kitchen on your list unless you can keep it clean and properly sanitised every time you formulate. Remember to always implement good hygiene, safety first and good storage.

Make homemade skincare products

Learning to make your own versions of your trusted skincare products can be overwhelming but that’s going to be the first step. Once you are able to identify the  raw ingredients that works best for your skin type and spot your errors, it’s going to be breezy and rewarding as you go along. Here are skin care recipes that can replace an entire skincare routine using store-bought products that you most-likely may have paid a lot for.

Easy homemade makeup remover recipe

Ingredients:

6 tbsp Witch hazel

4 tbsp Jojoba oil or Avocado oil

Instructions:

• Mix both ingredients in a small container or dark bottle.
• Shake the mixture for 1-2 minutes.
• Pour a small amount of the mixture onto a cotton pad or Q-Tip
• Gently wipe away makeup in desired area.
• Finish it up with a clean and damp towel.

Cool DIY facial wash recipe

Ingredients:

10-20 drops of Peppermint essential oil

1 cup Coconut oil

1 cup Baking soda

½ cup Liquid Castile soap

Instructions:

• Combine coconut oil, baking soda and liquid castile oil in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
• Add in peppermint essential oil and blend properly.
• Pour into a clean pump bottle or airtight container to store.

DIY floral facial toner recipe

Ingredients:

118 ml Witch hazel

5 ml Vitamin E oil

4 drops Geranium Essential oil

Instructions:

With a small mixing bowl, combine the witch hazel and vitamin E oil. Pour mixture into a bottle and add in the geranium essential oil. Cover the bottle and shake the mixture to mix well.

Homemade face moisturiser recipe

Ingredients:

2 cup Aloe vera gel

3 tbsp Beeswax

0.5 cup tbsp Almond oil

0.5 cup tbsp Coconut oil

20 drops essential oil of your choice

Instructions:

• In a pan, pour the almond oil. Add in the beeswax and coconut oil and melt altogether. Let melted oils cool.
• Once cooled, pour oils in a blender and start blending.
• Slowly add in the aloe vera gel (make sure not to use cold aloe vera gel). At this stage, you'll notice your mixture transform into a white fluffy lotion-like consistency.
• Pour in a clean container and keep away from direct sunlight or heat. 

Nourishing Vitamin C serum recipe

Ingredients:

1 tsp Vitamin C powder

2 tsp distilled water

4 tbsp vegetable-derived Liquid Glycerine

Instructions:

• In a mixing bowl, dissolve the vitamin C powder in distilled water.
• Stir in glycerine and mix all ingredients well.
• Once done, store in your dark container and use homemade serum for a month. Discard unused portions within that time.

Shea butter anti-wrinkle eye cream recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbsp Shea butter

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tsp Beeswax

3 tsp Rosehip oil

8 drops Geranium essential oil

Instructions:

• Combine the shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax in a wide-mouth mason jar.
• Fill a saucepan halfway with water and place it on top of stove.
• Submerge the mason jar in the pan of water.
• To melt the ingredients in the mason jar, bring the water to a gentle simmer
• Swirl the jar every now and then to gently mix the ingredients inside.
• As soon as the ingredients are melted and well-combined, remove the jar from the water bath.
• Pour the mixture in a small mixing bowl
• Cool for 5 minutes.
• Add in the rosehip and geranium essential oils.
• Using a spatula or wooden spoon, scoop the mixture into a glass or steel jar.
• Apply a small amount of your DIY eye cream under your eyebrow and under eye area at night.

Refreshing morning body scrub recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups freshly ground coffee

2 cups Himalayan pink salt

1 cup coconut oil

1 tbsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

• Melt your coconut oil and allow to cool (making sure that you do not leave it until it becomes solid)
• Add in salt and coconut oil and mix together properly.
• Store in an airtight mason jar or container.

Usage:

You may now use your refreshing morning body scrub 1-2 times a week. Apply all over your body whilst in the shower or bathing. You may use a washcloth or body sponge. Rinse thoroughly. Towel dry and apply your favourite body moisturizer after. Refrigerate remaining scrub after use.

Hydrating homemade body lotion recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sweet Almond oil

2 cups Rose water or Aloe vera juice or distilled water

2 tbsp Beeswax

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup Corn starch (corn starch will help the mixture bind together)

Method:

• Pour the sweet almond oil, coconut oil and beeswax into a mason jar
• Prepare a medium sized pan and fill with a few inches of water
• Place the mason jar into the pan and turn on heat
• Bring the water to a boil. Stir ingredients with a wooden spoon as they start to melt
• In another jar, warm the rose water. Place the jar in the same pan around the same temperature
• Once done, pour the rose water into a food processor and slowly add in oil mixture and corn starch (You may also use a stick blender for this)
• With a spatula, pour your homemade lotion into a clean container. Discard any unused portions within a few weeks.

How to choose the right container for your DIY skincare products

Choosing beautiful packaging for your homemade skincare is not only great fun, but the right bottle will also help keep your formula safe and stable for longer. In reality, it’s just proper to store your homemade skin care products into hygienic containers instead of used, second-hand containers.

An open jar is easier to contaminate than an air-tight container. If available, choose a pump or spray valves to dispense your solution, without having to open a bottle. If using a pump or spray is not possible, maybe because of the product's viscosity, then you might consider adding a drop dispenser, turkey baster or a spatula to help get the product out of its container and help reduce the risk of contamination.

You may look for cosmetic bottles, canisters, sprays and the like to ensure that your mixtures are stored safe and ready to use to help maintain your beautiful skin.

Natural preservation for homemade skincare products

In making your own skincare products, it is best to produce small batches as its impossible to tell when it will expire. Doing this will help you experiment with various ingredients in order to cook up a fresh batch once the need arises. This will also help you ensure that your homemade skincare products are at their freshest state!

You can create larger quantities when you produce anhydrous (no water) products that are properly packaged to avoid contamination, but always remember to add an antioxidant such as Vitamin E or Rosemary CO2 extract to slow down the degradation of the product.

It is recommended that you make single-use doses only when making unpreserved, water-based items. This is because microbial growth may occur rapidly, given the ideal growing conditions found at room temperature.

Top tips for creating homemade skincare products

• Ensure that you have the right containers for your products. Open air jars are more susceptible to contamination.
• Make sure to create skincare products in small batches, at least in the beginning, as it can be hard to determine the shelf life.
• Practice, practice, practice – you will make mistakes – and that is okay. As a beginner, there’s always room for improvement. Do not be afraid to experiment whilst being guided by a trusted DIY skincare recipe .

Our takeaway

With these DIY guidelines and simple recipes, we hope to have inspired you to create beautiful, safe and effective skin-loving DIY skincare products. Creating them can be fun and rewarding as you learn the different methods on how to play around with raw ingredients and tools used. However, keep in mind that you will need to devote time and give yourself room to grow whilst trying out the different ingredients and recipes. Document or record your processes and note what works for you and learn from what does not. DIY-ing requires your passion and dedication to get just the best results. Once you have that in you - you have all you need!

Source DIY skincare materials

So, are you ready to take your skincare regime to the next level? Start formulating your own version of skincare products from scratch and create a vast and whole new range of safer and skin-nourishing homemade face moisturiser, toner, lotion and more! Let us help you get started as we, at N-essentials, are here to provide quality raw materials for all your homemade skincare needs.

Reach out to us at info@n-essentials.com.au to know more.