I’m still learning to love winter. As a southern girl originally from Texas, I’ve had to adjust to cold weather, but I’m finally starting to make the best of it by filling the house with cozy and natural touches that celebrate the season.

This Winter Bliss Lotion Bar recipe is a recipe I first made years ago and an absolute must-try DIY project even for beginners. Not only are these bars deeply moisturizing, but they are scented with natural oils like wintergreen and peppermint.

Imagine what a great gift basket these would make along with some hot chocolate mix, a bottle of wine (or wassail), and some simple homemade bath salts!

How to Make Winter Bliss Lotion Bars

I wanted to find a lotion recipe that tied in my favorite smells and flavors of winter while nourishing my skin. I’d made many variations of lotion bars before but I wanted one that would be perfect for winter and make a great (and great-smelling) gift for winter. These lotion bars were the result.

The Recipe

This recipe is so simple! Just melt and mix coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax. Add essential oils. Pour into molds and let harden. What could be easier?

The “secret sauce” here is the wintry blend of essential oil scents that make the bar extra special for the season.

The Equipment

Unlike my standard lotion bar recipe, I usually make/gift my Winter Bliss Bars in some kind of tube (to keep the peppermint oil off hands and away from eyes). Any empty deodorant tube works beautifully, but if you’re making this for friends and want it to look extra nice, try:

A standard push-up deodorant tube (I recommend one like this that fills from the bottom so the top is smooth like a new deodorant would be)
A plastic-free cardboard push-up tube (very attractive and seems sturdy, but I haven’t tried personally yet)
Amazingly… silicone wine glasses also work well! Just wrap in gift wrap or tissue paper and tie with twine for a nice presentation. Bonus, it’s reusable 🙂

You can also simply use a silicone mold like this and use the lotion bars without the tube.

Here’s how to make it!

4.12 from 45 votes

Winter Bliss Lotion Bars Recipe

Make festive homemade lotion bars with natural ingredients and wintry scents, such as wintergreen, peppermint, lavender, and orange.

Prep Time20

Yield:

Author: Katie Wells

Materials

⅓ cup coconut oil
⅓ cup shea butter
⅓ cup beeswax pellets
10 drops each of essential oils (I used wintergreen, peppermint, lavender, and orange)

Instructions

In a double boiler, melt the shea butter, beeswax, and coconut oil.
When everything is melted, remove it from the heat and add the essential oils.
Carefully pour into empty deodorant containers and let set until hardened. If using bottom-fill containers, I found that a plastic dropper or tiny funnel (like a flask funnel) helps a lot.
To use, rub carefully on dry skin to nourish and moisturize.

Notes

Use caution with essential oils of any kind, especially wintergreen and peppermint on children or pregnant women and always ask a doctor before using any herb or essential oils.

If making for family use, Plant Therapy makes a Frosted Mint blend in their Kid-Safe line that would work great with this recipe!

Also try these other easy beauty DIYs, perfect for gifting:

You’ll find my full list of homemade natural beauty DIYs here!

Ever made lotion bars? What was your favorite?

Sources

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About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

61 responses to “DIY Winter Bliss Lotion Bars (Great for Dry Skin!)”

Xica LaRoque

January 4, 2015

One more question (or maybe 2): I see that Mountain Rose Herbs is out of shea butter…would cocoa butter be an acceptable sub for this recipe? If not, any quality recommendations for shea butter that can be purchased from Amazon Prime?

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1. Katie – Wellness Mama
  
  January 4, 2015
  
  Yes. Or just look for a raw, organic one on Amazon.
  
  Reply
2. Susan R
  
  January 5, 2015
  
  Xica –I purchased my Shea Butter (raw, organic) from Essential Depot directly due to a great special they were offering but I noticed that they also sell through Amazon. I am VERY happy with their quality. It came in a plastic jar.
  
  Reply
Xica LaRoque

January 2, 2015

I apologize if this question has already been asked. If using a silicon muffin tin, how many lotion bars would this recipe make?

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Heidi

December 24, 2014

This may sound dumb from the newbie, but are you making one scent for each bar? Or mixing them all together?

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  December 26, 2014
  
  Not at all! I like the mix of scents myself, but it would be fun to do an individual scents in each bar.
  
  Reply
Erin

December 22, 2014

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
You know, I actually use a very similar recipe, sans beeswax, as my daily moisturizer, inspired by you! 2 parts shea butter, one part coconut oil. It’s SO creamy. And I use it on my skin in the winter when it gets dry. Last night I even experiment adding 1/2 part cocoa butter and talk about moisture retention! I’m a summer baby and while my winters are mild, they are SO dry. Love your site. Love your recipes. LOVE LOVE LOVE and Merry Christmas. Thanks, wellness mama!

Reply
Audy

December 22, 2014

Not to sound stupid, but why a lotion bar? My 14 year old asked since we just use lotion in tubes. I had no idea how to answer. lol

Reply
1. Wellness Mama
  
  December 22, 2014
  
  That’s not a stupid question. Lotion bars are a convenient form factor, especially for kids (ever had a 3-year-old get ahold of a bottle of lotion?).
  
  Reply
  1. Vicki
    
    February 2, 2015
    
    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all of your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom!
    I noticed these ingredients are the same as your magnesium body butter (without the magnesium). I like the idea of the body bar better than the body butter. How could the magnesium flakes/oil be incorporated into this recipe. Also, what are your thoughts about adding vitamin E drops as well?!
    
    Reply
    1. Wellness Mama
      
      February 2, 2015
      
      The vitamin E oil should be no issue. Don’t add too much so as not to mess with the consistency of the bars. With magnesium oil, I am not sure it can be done. The magnesium oil works in a cream or lotion, but I don’t think you would have a bar if you use it with this recipe. Then again you might be fine with a Winter Bliss lotion instead 😉 Let me know if you try it!
      
      Reply
Susan R

December 21, 2014

Thank you Katie for such great ideas. You made my Christmas gift giving so much more fun. I made 25 lip balms that were received with awe and delight (because it is a great recipe and how many people make their own lip balm right?). Next Christmas my gifts will be the your suggestion of “Gifts from A Far lotion bars”. Addressing one of your readers comments above – Because I encountered this as well I wanted to also respond to one of your readers concern about her end product not having the smell of her essential oil. My choice of essential oil for the lip balms was tangerine vs peppermint. I ended up using easily 3-4 times the amount of oil advised if using peppermint which makes sense due to peppermint being a very potent smell. I finally gave up trying to achieve that perfect tangerine smell and was content with the prominence smell of the sweet bees wax. . . when hunting online for the best bees wax pellets I kept running into reviews about their wax having a chemical smell and that it came from china. Because of that I chose to order my wax from Mountain Rose Herbs (Katie’s recommendation) as they stated theirs comes from the US. It’s not as inexpensive as Amazon options but it did indeed arrive with a beautiful sweet aroma (no icky chemical smell) . . . that dominates the tangerine essential oil in my lip balms.
TIP suggestion for lip balm- Once you fill all the lip balm tubes with wax and they have had a few minutes to harden up don’t try and top them off with new balm formula with the intention of trying to fill in that little hole. The newer wax has a tendency to separate from the older 🙁

Reply
Nicci

December 20, 2014

Would cocoa butter be a good substitute for the shea butter? I already have it however I don’t want to use something that won’t work if there’s a problem with cocoa butter.
Thank you!

Reply
1. Wellness Mama
  
  December 23, 2014
  
  The only reason I can think that you might want to not use it is the smell of the cocoa butter. It can have a more defined odor (not unpleasant) than shea butter.
  
  Reply
Paige Tomlin

December 19, 2014

I love this recipe but I am slightly confused. I notice that you said to be careful about essential oils which was something that I had not noticed before so I looked on the bottles that I was using and they said to not apply it to your skin or ingest it (although in the comments on amazon people were doing it anyway) so is it safe to use or is it just a disclaimer. I am concerned because I was planning on giving these out for Christmas and I have already made them but now I am not sure I feel comfortable giving it out or even using it The essential oils I used are the NOW foods peppermint oil and woozies lavender 100% essential oil off of amazon.

Reply
1. Wellness Mama
  
  December 20, 2014
  
  You don’t want to use undiluted essential oils on your skin. Also, women who are pregnant/breastfeeding and small children should not use the oils, or avoid most. Lavender is ok for little ones, as is chamomile, but peppermint is not a good one for kids.
  
  Reply
Tracey

December 17, 2014

First, your site is amazing! I don’t think I could do this transformation to natural health without your help. This recipe is outstanding! Can you help me with a scent issue? While my bars smell natural, they are not smelling like the essential oils I’ve added (Orange Bliss and Lavender). Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? Thanks!

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Kathy

December 16, 2014

I totally agree with Mackenzie – could you please just sell me 2 of the lotion bars??? PLEASE. Let me know a price. I cannot take on one more task…

Reply
Jenny

December 16, 2014

I can see them, they read:
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup Shea butter
1/3 cup beeswax
10 drops essential oils

Reply
1. Daners
  
  January 23, 2015
  
  thank you!
  
  Reply
Therese

December 16, 2014

How much coconut oil, beeswax,, and shea butter do you use? The recipe is showing ? Rather than amt. I would like to use silicon molds, what type of container would you use to protect the lotion bar? I think this is a great gift idea I have the molds but not sure how to package. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all you do and the help you provide.

Therese

Reply
1. Cyndie
  
  December 17, 2014
  
  1/3 cup of each
  
  Reply
2. Carol
  
  December 23, 2014
  
  My computer sees 1/3 cup each of the shea, coconut oil and beeswax, and 10 drops EACH of the essential oils you choose, I’m guessing for a total of 40 for whatever essential oils you choose.
  
  Reply
mg

December 16, 2014

Maybe it’s my browser (Chrome) but the ingredients are reading as “? cup coconut oil, ? cup Shea butter, ? cup beeswax, 10 drops each of essential oils”. Would love to know the exact proportions 🙂 Oh and is that 40 drops of oils since you used four different kinds or 10 drops total? Thank you! And I love your site!

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Carrie

December 16, 2014

What are the ratios of the coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax? I only see “?” Thank you for publishing recipes like this.

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Mackenzie

December 16, 2014

I really wish there was a way I could just purchase most of this stuff you make. I don’t have time or room to make my own DIY Beauty Products but want to try your stuff so much.

Reply
Selime

December 16, 2014

Hi, Katie. I love your site. It’s one of my favorites. I just love all the DYI cosmetics. I learnt a lot from your page. I am a loner paleo at my house. But lately my mother started using oils to moisturize her skin too. I love this sticks. They are just brilliant. By the way, it’s not related but I really wanted to know your opinion about laser depilation. I have very sensitive skin. My skin is very white-rosy but my hair is dark and very think. So I can’t use any razor and I always do wax. The problem with my skin is later on the hairs don’t come out easily. Many times they get infected. And right now I have two bumps in my under arm. Today I went to see the doctor just in case because you never know and he told me to reconsider doing laser. I am all into it but at the same time do you think it’s natural?? Thank you very much. I appreciate your opinion.

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Courtney

December 16, 2014

What are the measurements? Equal parts?

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erin

December 16, 2014

oops! the recipe seems to be incomplete…unless the question marks mean I can choose how much of each ingredient I use depending on how much I want to make?

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Dana

December 16, 2014

Sounds fun butp the ingredients have question marks instead of the quantities.

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1. Lesa
  
  December 21, 2014
  
  1/3 cup each coconut, shea and beeswax is what the recipe states
  
  Reply
Taylor

December 16, 2014

This sounds lovely! I’d love to make these, if I can get the ratios right, of course 🙂

Reply