Rose Lotion Bars - a Successful Failure



Even though I haven't written about it for a while, lotion bar development has been a continuous and ongoing process in the LisaLise lab for well over 2 years now.

Lotion bars are not only fun to experiment with, but so easy and fast to make that you can practically formulate on the fly.

Above: my latest batch of lotion bars with ingredients list - fresh out of the fridge after setting. For this batch, I've added an ingredient I've never worked with before: rose floral wax.

The scent?
Absolutely divine!

The feel?
Absolutely superb!

The texture?
Absolutely a re-do...


Or maybe not.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here's how I put this batch together.

Ingredients

This batch includes several of my staple faves

  • beeswax
  • lanolin
  • sal butter
  • coca butter
  • jojoba

a relative newbie
  • coco 'silicone'

and one newbie

  • rose floral wax

Tip:
When trying new ingredients, add ONLY ONE to a tried and true formula. This way, any unexpected changes in the batch outcome can be pinpointed relatively easily.


Method


Ingredients are weighed out and melted SLOWLY over LOW heat. Melting can be done in a bain marie (water bath) or in a heat-proof beaker directly on the heat source.

Tip: if you work directly on the heat (as shown above), the mixture must be monitored constantly.


Pour Up


Just before the mixture is completely liquid, I remove it from heat, stir thoroughly until completely melted, and pour up.

As molds, I used standard silicone cupcake forms.

Ready, Set, Cool!

Let set until cool. This process can be speeded up if the mixture is placed in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. I used my speed-up cooling process for this batch.

Tip: If you have added essential oils or other fragrance to your bars (like, say, rose floral wax) - you probably want to chill them away from your butter (said the person who's husband complained about rose-tasting butter the day after making these lotion bars).

Using a Lotion Bar

To use a lotion bar, simply rub the bar between your hands to soften it slightly, then apply to skin.

To my surprise, these particular lotion bars turned out to be too soft to hold their shape for more than a nanosecond upon skin contact.

I had to return the bar to the container by scraping it off of my hands.

There was a good part to this though.

The feel of this mixture is fabulous!


Success From Failure

Instead of tossing this batch, I just mashed each bar out to fill the container - like this.


What we have here is a balm.

A delicious rose-scented balm. It's the most decadently fabulous foot and hand balm I've ever used.

I simply can't call this batch a lotion bar failure.

It is instead, a rose balm success.

New label design- coming up!

Do Tell

Have you ever had a formula turn out differently than expected - but it was a good thing? Please share!

More About Lotion Bar Ingredients and Lotion Bars on This Blog

lanolin
rose floral wax
cocoa butter
sal butter
jojoba
coco silicone
How to Make your own lotion bars - basic recipe

Comments

Thea said…
Rose floral wax sounds divine. I must come for coffee soon!
LisaLise said…
Hi Thea - you will be more than welcome!
Olivia J said…
You have me curious about the coco silicone. What is it exactly?
Tina Rasmussen, CPH said…
I think your balm/soft balm bar sounds amazing! I am a big fan of lanolin and sal butter too, it must be great! I must try the coco silicone in a balm too.
I have used the rose wax in a tinted lip balm with some mica in it and was surprised that a small amount changed the texture of my recipe a lot. I have been changing it a bit and it's almost there now. Love the feel and scent!

A friend of mine has been using a balm from Clarins which used to have rose wax in it but has been discontinued and she just asked me when I'd be making some more, that's a nice compliment :-)

I have some other floral waxes that I need to try out soon too - two different jasmine waxes that might work great in a soap. I am not really fond of jasmine but it could work with some petitgrain to lighten it up maybe? Or a bit of bergamot?
LisaLise said…
Hi Olivia - I've written a post about coco silicone a while back. It's a plant-based alternative to silicone that is coconut-based. Click 'ingredients' under topics to find it. I think the title is 'plant-based silicone- yes-indeedy' (or something along those lines).
LisaLise said…
Hi Tina - Ooh this is interesting news! I must admit I was quite surprised at how much difference the floral wax made in the texture. It's a very small percentage of floral wax I used. I have just done a lip balm with the floral wax as well. The texture is perfect and I LOVE the subtle rose (I used a very small amount-- just to 'cut' the lanolin smell). I agree with you on jasmine-- and love the idea of mixing it with petitgrain, bergamot, or how about cedarwood?
Tina Rasmussen, CPH said…
Cedarwood - that's a good idea too! Tak Lise :-)