This makes a lovely, rich and dense hand/body cream, with lots of body. It is ideal for dry skins, although most skins will benefit from the rich texture. It is easily absorbed and easy to make.
This formula a couple of ingredients that I am finding quite interesting at the moment. Honey powder (being antiseptic and soothing but also a natural humectant), which I have been using as 50% of the total humectant content with some great results.
The other is stearic acid. I hadn’t had much experience with this previously but recently, the more I have been working with it, the more I am liking it. I like what it brings to the cream. Not only does it increase the firmness of a cream, giving it body and stability, I think it adds something to the skin-feel. In addition, it appears to reduce the oiliness of a cream and it seems to absorb much more quickly and effectively.
Oil Phase (to 75c)
8g Sweet Almond Oil 5g Natural Hemp Oil 4g Avocado Butter 2g Stearic Acid (vegetable) 5g Emulsifying Powder* 2g Cetearyl Alcohol
Water Phase (at or above 75c)
66g Water 1g Honey Powder 1g D Panthenol 1g Glycerine (palm free)
At around room temp...
1g Vitamin E 2g Olive Squalane 1g Ethox (preservative) 0.5-1g Fragrance/essential oil of choice
*Remember, the most effective way to homogenise the two phases when using emulsifying powder is to add the oil phase to the water phase (which needs to be at the same temperature or higher than the oil phase) while stick blending.
ONLY STICK BLEND FOR 30 SECONDS then revert to manual stirring with a balloon whisk (not moving too fast, but at a steady pace) for a further 3-4 minutes over heat. Remove from heat and transfer to a cold bath while stirring, and continue to stir until cream thickens.
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