Sun-kissed lips and dehydrated skin will love this deep soothing balm made from a base of mango butter, beeswax and coconut oil and gently fragranced with essential oils of mandarin, lavender and cedarwood — basically, you’ll want to keep a jar of this heavenly moisturizer in every room in the house (and maybe toss one into the glove compartment too!).
Making your own skincare isn’t just fun and satisfying, it also gives you a lot more influence over what goes on your skin (and into your body) — as a bonus, it comes at a fraction of the price of commercial products in the long run.
About Mango Butter & Its Benefits
Mango butter is extracted from the seed (aka: the pit) of the mango fruit. Like other plant butters used in skin products, such as shea and coconut, mango butter is prized for its emollient nature which has been shown to replenish moisture and leave skin feeling soft, silky and hydrated. Mango butter has a mid-firmness at room temperature (sometimes referred to as a soft solid) that is easy to work with.
In addition to its soothing effects, mango butter has also been shown to have wound healing and skin protective/repairing properties thanks to its antimicrobial, anti‐inflammatory, and anti-oxidative activities which help promote cell proliferation, increase collagen synthesis, stimulate dermal reconstruction and repair the skin’s lipid barrier function: reference/pubmed and reference/pubmed.
ESSENTIAL OILS
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts that retain their essence and are an excellent way to capture the signature fragrance of botanicals. These aromas can support our psychological and physiological wellbeing when harmonized with our particular response system.
You can leave this balm unscented if you like (the beeswax has a very mild, natural fragrance) or choose your own mix of essential oils.
For this recipe I’m using:
Red Mandarin (Citrus nobilis): like other citrus oils, red mandarin has uplifting, energizing and cleansing properties which help promote feelings of optimism and wellbeing while being deliciously refreshing.
Lavender (lavandula): the mother of essential oils, lavender is revered for its beautiful, delicate floral bouquet and its calming, mood enhancing properties.
Cedarwood (cedrus deodora): with a woodsy earthen aroma that brings a sense of grounding and warmth, Himalayan cedar oil is both restoring and connecting (I am deeply in love with this oil). In Ayurvedic medicine, the Himalayan cedar (wood of the Gods) is prized for its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.
Is This a Soft or Firm Balm?
Somewhere in between!
The balm is formulated with some firmness – solid to the touch once set – and softens with the warmth of your finger or tip of your nail to get it started. At room temperature, the balm will generally retain a cream consistency going onto the skin. You can play around with the firmness/softness of the balm by adjusting the amount of beeswax used; for a softer balm, just ease up on the beeswax a little and increase the mango butter by the same amount that you reduce the beeswax – similarly, if you prefer a firmer balm, increase the amount of beeswax relative to the mango butter.
*Keep in mind that room temperature is generally defined as somewhere around 70F/21C — if the ambient temperature where you’re storing your balm is warmer or colder, you can expect that to impact the firmness/softness of the balm (a bit like leaving butter out on the counter in the summertime vs. the winter).
What do I need to Make This Balm?
- Mango Butter
- Beeswax (I’m using a yellow beeswax)
- Fractionated Coconut Oil (best alternate: sweet almond oil)
- Essential Oils of red mandarin, lavender & cedarwood — you can leave the balm scent-free if preferred or choose your own mix!
- A candy thermometer
- At least 2 x 1 oz jars to store your balm (I prefer glass to plastic) – the supplies will allow you to make tons
Where to Apply the Balm
I think the correct answer is everywhere (I even tried it on my hair! I don’t recommend it tho; more tweaking is required before I launch version 2.0: hydrating hair mask).
This balm is especially wonderful on lips, dry skin (knuckles/gardeners’ hands), cracked heels/toes (soak your feet, use a pumice stone to exfoliate, apply some of the soothing balm and then cover with a sock to allow it to soak in).
A little goes a long way – start with a pea sized amount and then spread the love from there, enjoy!
- *Please Read through Instructions before Making*
- 21g/.75 oz (1.5 Tbsp) Mango Butter
- 7g/.25 oz (.5 Tbsp) Beeswax
- 28g/1 oz (2 Tbsp) Fractionated Coconut Oil
- 1 oz glass jars for storing
- Essential Oil Blend:
- 12 drops red mandarin (best alternate: orange or tangerine; could also try bergamot)
- 12 drops lavender (best alternate: clary sage; could also try sweet marjoram)
- 6 drops Himalayan cedarwood -- (best alternate: vetiver; could also try frankincense)
- Melt mango butter and beeswax together in a small sturdy pot on stove over lowest heat, just until barely melted then remove from heat (I use a chopstick to assist the beeswax) - wait 2 minutes then add the fractionated coconut oil, mixing again with chopstick or swirling the pan.
- Allow the mixture to cool to 125F (use a candy thermometer) before adding essential oils. This preserves the integrity of the oils and prevents the fragrance from evaporating (you want to enjoy the fragrance in your balm!).
- Before pouring: make sure you have your jars in a place where they can sit and rest undisturbed for 8 hours or overnight (away from direct sunlight).
- Pour the mixture into the 2 x 1 oz jars dividing equally between them; allow the mixture to cool completely (at least 1 hour) before putting the lid on and then let it rest another 7 hours (ideally overnight) to reconstitute fully into a solid balm before enjoying - - it may look like it's solid on the surface but it's a bit like a thin skating rink on a lake :) it takes time for the layers underneath to solidify and achieve consistency throughout. I don't recommend putting in fridge or over ice to accelerate the process; just let nature take it's course at room temperature for the best result.
- Storage: it's best to store this balm at a room temp, dry place away from direct sunlight. It's lifespan will vary accordingly, in the range of 6-12 months.
- Enjoy your balm!
Hi I was wondering how would the smell of tea tree go with the mango butter . And can you use this as an after balm for waxing like Brazilian wax.
hi Deborah! you can work with any fragrance of essential oil/s you like according to personal preference and intended us with the mango butter – i love the idea of using this as a soothing balm, one caution would be in delicate skin areas such as after a brazilian wax where there might be tiny (temporary) lacerations (micro-tears) in the skin, tea tree could burn/aggravate and that’s the opposite of what you want; my instinct would be to use a fragrance-free mango butter balm for this (right after you wax) and then maybe go with your fragranced idea for later in the cycle (it would also be great for toes/feet – tea tree is excellent in this capacity, you can read more about its medicinal properties in this post: https://www.inspirededibles.ca/2020/09/diy-foot-soak-with-tea-tree-oil-epsom-salt.html) — the other possibility for right after your wax is to simply go with an unfragranced oil such as sweet almond or coconut oil and see how you/your skin responds to that by way of soothing.
hope that helps! cheers.
Ok thank you I also have HS it is a skin disease that causes cysts and I have to be careful what things I use so I will not break out that is why Tea tree helps a lot with that so you don’t break out.
Is jojoba oil an acceptable alternative to the coconut or almond oil suggested?
hello, i haven’t tried making this butter balm using jojoba oil but my thought is that it would be a suitable substitute at a 1:1 ratio for the fractionated coconut oil. Jojoba does have a mild nutty flavour so may not be as neutral in that sense as coconut oil but in terms of consistency, absorption, longevity and skin benefits, i suspect similar results; hope that helps.
A thoughtful and helpful response. Thank you!
I followed the recipe but the final product was a bit grainy. Can someone suggest how to fix this? I poured the mixture into jars and let them cool at room temperature.
hello Tanya, there are a number of factors that can give rise to this — your best bet might be to reheat and cool again — to do that, you can place sealed jar in warm water (warm bath), in the sun or, if preferred, microwave with lid off briefly until the mixture is brought back to liquid and you can then recool at room temp; this often does the trick.
Hi, wondering if the recipe would change if I want to use little tubes instead of jars.
Hi Mel, i haven’t tried making this in a small lip balm tube (the kind with rotating bottom that lifts the stick of balm as you go along kinda thing) — i suspect from a texture point of view, you should be okay — in theory, this balm should be solid once set but as i mention in the post, there are variables that can give rise to a softer/firmer balm, so maybe double check that info in case relevant to how you fashion making these. Hope that’s helpful — would love to hear how it goes!
I see someone thanked you for providing a link for mango butter, but I can’t find that link. This recipe sounds great. I’ve never made anything like this, but I’m going to try. The photos are lovely.🤎💚💛
Hi Suzanne, thanks so much for dropping in! I purchased my mango butter from ‘Better Shea Butter’ (bettersheabutter.com) – I hope you enjoy the process and the result; depending on the ambient temp where you are, you can adjust the amount of beeswax for a softer/firmer balm as detailed in post. I hope you love this balm :) happy holidays, x.
i found it on Amazon.
I’ve never been brave enough to make my own balms. I have used locally made ones from time to time with great results, but find it hard to find them again. Love the idea of making my own and the ingredients in yours do sounds very soothing, a nice scent but nothing too strong or overwhelming. Now that I’m retired, making something like this is rather exciting. thanks for the links to the beeswax and mango butter. I wouldn’t know where to find them here. A very inspiring post Kelly.
This sounds wonderful (and looks so “yummy” ) I’m curious about cedar wood scent, I haven’t tried it yet. Could I substitute pine, I have that one for now . ..what do you think?
love the ‘yummy’ i think that sums it up quite well :) you can use any combination of essential oils you like in this balm but in terms of comparing Himalayan cedarwood to pine needle, I would say that as far as fragrance goes, pine has more of a camphorous note (reminiscent of the eucalyptus/tea tree/rosemary family only not as pronounced) so it just depends what you’re in the mood for and your personal preferences. The closest comparison I can think of to cedarwood is vetiver (the grass). Hope that helps! Thank you for your note.
I tried making my own balm a few years ago, I now have an appreciation of the R&D that goes into it. Kudos for developing a great balm!
haha, r&d and t&e — i like experimenting with stuff like this and figuring it out; i find it weirdly fun :) thanks Eva!