Christmas in July: Grandma's Christmas Mints Lotion

When I was making the Grandma’s Christmas Mints soap, I couldn’t stop inhaling the delectable combination of Peppermint Essential Oil and Freckles Fragrance Oil. It was sharply minty, yet vanilla sweet, and so pleasant to smell! What better to do than make lotion with this scent?

Grandma’s Christmas Mint Lotion bottled and beribboned.

I did a little testing with the fragrance blend before making the lotion to be sure I knew what ratio to use. Because Peppermint Essential Oil can irritate our skin, I wanted to use the least amount possible to get the desired scent. I used our Perfume Testing Strips and placed one drop of Peppermint Essential Oil and one drop of Freckles Fragrance Oil on the wide end to test. Then I made another with two drops of Freckles to one drop of Peppermint, and one more with three drops of Freckles to one drop of Peppermint. The second blend of two drops Freckles and one drop Peppermint was my favorite. It smelled divine!

For this recipe, I wanted to use Jojoba Oil, but I didn’t want the golden color. My vision is a very white lotion, so I chose our Colorless and Odorless Jojoba Oil. This oil has been used for centuries in skincare products, and for a good reason. It is highly moisturizing and rejuvenating with compounds that fight free radicals.

I love Mango Butter and chose to add it for the buttery texture and moisturizing power. Hydrovance is a wonderful humectant that has staying power, and Stearic Acid helps create a lotion with more body. To round out my recipe, I chose to add Matcha Green Tea Extract, as an excellent anti-oxidant, anti-aging, sunburn protection, and skin-soothing agent.

Let’s gather up a few items and mix up a batch.

Begin by weighing the distilled water, then weigh and add all ingredients but the extract, preservative, and fragrance.

Microwave in 30-second bursts until the mixture is liquid. Because Stearic Acid has a melt point of about 156 degrees, I always make sure to adequately heat any mixture containing Stearic Acid. Nothing worse than having grains of unmelted Stearic Acid in your lotion.

Once the mixture has become mostly liquid, I pulse a few times with a stick blender to smooth everything out and check the temperature of the mixture. This also allows me to see if there are any unmelted grains of Stearic Acid, as the lotion sheets off the bell of the stick blender. The granules will show up quickly then, and I know I will need to heat some more if I see them.

The scent blend mixed and weighed.

Partially melted oils.

After the mixture is hot enough and mixed well, I set it aside to cool below 120 degrees before adding the extract, preservative, and fragrance. After adding those heat-sensitive ingredients, I stick blend thoroughly and use a flexible scraper to make sure everything is mixed thoroughly.

This mixture will still be quite fluid at this point, and I found it easy to pour from my mixing container into a funnel into squeeze bottles. Allow the lotion to cool completely in the bottle before capping to avoid condensation.

Notes:

The fragrance blend was just right. The lotion is quick to absorb, and it leaves behind no greasy feel. I’m smitten!