DIY Body Butter Recipe with Cocoa Butter, Jojoba, and Frankincense (2024)

Making my whipped body butter recipe is among my favorite skin care DIY’s. If you’ve been wanting to use more natural, chemical-free products on your skin, this recipe will get you there!

My homemade whipped body butter is nutrient-rich, luxurious, and also cost-effective!

This recipe is not hard to make. You only need 3 ingredients: a solid butter, a liquid oil, and essential oils. In my recipe, I’ve used cocoa butter (you can also use shea butter), jojoba oil, and Frankincense.

Your whipped body butter will last for as much as six months – but it’s best used within three months.

What are you waiting for? I know you can do this! Let’s get started with the ingredients & recipe instructions.

What Is A Body Butter?

Making body butter is super simple! It’s velvety texture comes from combining solid butters (such as shea butter, cocoa butter, or mango butter) with liquid oils (such as coconut oil, sunflower oil, almond oil or jojoba oil). The liquid oils are also referred to as carrier (or base) oils in aromatherapy.

After you have the base, then you add the essential oils of choice to give your homemade body butter that extra flair!

All you need is 3 ingredients:

• A solid butter (such as shea butter)
• A liquid oil (such as fractionated coconut oil)
• Essential oils

How To Make Homemade Whipped Body Butter

For this recipe, I’ve chosen cocoa butter as my solid, jojoba oil as my liquid, and Frankincense Serrata as my essential oil.

During cold winter months especially, the skin needs even more moisture to remain healthy. This combination of natural ingredients is deeply nourishing for beaten down skin and safe to use all over your body (except your face).

Creating your own skin products combining cocoa butter and jojoba oil is quite doable in your kitchen. Here’s how simple it is to make!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cocoa butter (solid)
• 1/4 cup jojoba oil (liquid)
• 12-18 drops of Frankincense Serrata essential oil

Directions

1. Combine cocoa butter and jojoba oil in a medium pot
2. Heat over a double boiler until the cocoa butter is melted.
3. Take off the heat and add essential oils
4. Stir to combine
5. Cover your container (to avoid condensation)
6. Cool it off in the freezer for about 20-25 minutes, until it’s half-solid again (press your finger to test – it should leave a mark easily – then it’s perfect!)
7. Whip for about 5 minutes – until you’ve created fluffy white peaks. This may take longer with a hand mixer.
8. Store in a clean jar for up to 3 months
9. Use as much as you want and need!

Time Required

You’ll need about 35 minutes to complete this recipe, but it’s not all working time. Most of the time is spent waiting for the butter mix to harden. When the butter-oil combination is fully melted, you have to harden it in the freezer for around 20-25 minutes.

Shelf Life

Keep your body butter in the fridge if you can. It can last up to 6 months, but it’s better used within 3 months. Personally, I find mine lasting less than a month usually because I make small batches so I can vary the essential oils for different scents and skin care goals.

If kept at room temperature, I’ve found it to go a little mushy. That said, if the consistency is too hard coming right out of the fridge, let it stand for a few minutes before applying. You can also use it almost like body lotion melts, using your body’s skin temperature to soften up the body butter as you apply it, if needed.

Body Butter Recipe Ingredients

Double Boiler

First and foremost, my body butter recipe uses a double boiler to melt the base ingredients.

To make a basic double boiler, use a regular cooking pot and an aluminum or glass mixing bowl that’s slightly larger than the pot opening. Put 1/4″ of water into the pot, place the bowl over top, and let it create steam. This will totally do the trick.

That said, a slightly more professional double boiler (like this one here) would be a fantastic little home DIY investment (or gift idea) for an essential oils DIY enthusiast!

And here are some more aromatherapy supplies you may appreciate for your at-home DIY projects!

Cocoa Butter

Cocoa butter is created from cocoa beans. It is packed with vitamins and acids that can improve skin’s appearance over time.

This butter has an extremely light, soft texture to it and it’s quite simple to work with. Adding cocoa butter is what makes your homemade body butter a terrific skin softener with an organic chocolate aroma. It is great for any type of skin.

Use Refined Cocoa Butter whenever you make body butter. Here’s the One I Used

Shea Butter

If you’re opting for a recipe with shea butter, your skin will love you! Shea Butter is a versatile beauty ingredient. It is naturally rich in Vitamin A, E, and essential fatty acids. In DIY recipes, it is nourishing and moisturizing for dry and damaged skin.

Look for a shea butter that is raw and has not been refined or processed. This will have the most smooth, satiny finish. Plant Therapy’s Organic Shea Butter Bar is excellent in lotions, creams, or balms.

Jojoba oil

Jojoba oil in this recipe has many different advantages, too. It has anti-inflammatory properties that help relieve skin dryness, itching, flaking, and related symptoms ¹.

Your skin is the biggest organ of your entire body and, like your hair, is among the initial things people see. That is why I used Jojoba oil in this skin-moisturizing body butter recipe. Your skin thanks you when you use Jojoba oil!

That said, if you don’t have Jojoba around, your next best bet is Sweet Almond oil or simple Coconut oil. Both of those substitutions are also great skin-nourishing oils.

I used this Jojoba Oil here

Frankincense Essential Oil

Why did I pick Frankincense as an ingredient for this recipe? Because Frankincense has ample benefits for shinier skin!

Frankincense has a lot of the necessary physical properties to make it ideal for the skin. First and foremost, it promotes cell regeneration ², which is what all skin needs. Especially during tougher periods for your skin, such as winter cold air or the natural ageing process, you can’t give it enough support to stay supple and looking young.

Another great added benefits of Frankincense essential oil is that it may also help relieve stress. Thus, the advantages of Frankincense oil are extremely diverse.

I used this Frankincense oil

Recipe Variations

I’ve created this cocoa-jojoba-frankincense body butter combination specifically for dark winter months.

You can use the same quantities, but vary the ingredients to make a more seasonally appropriate body butter.

For example:

1. Tropical Tango: Mango Butter, Sunflower Oil, Grapefruit Essential Oil
2. Garden Fresh: Shea Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, Juniper Berry Essential Oil
3. Hone Your Feminine Side: Shea Butter, Apricot Kernel Oil, Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
4. Finally Fall: Cocoa Butter, Hazelnut Oil, Tangerine or Sweet Orange Essential Oil
5. Evening Bliss: Shea Butter, Sunflower Oil, Lavender Essential Oil

NOTE: of course you also don’t have to use a single essential oil. You can use the same amount (drops) of oil, from an oil blend or synergy that you like. The aroma will be additionally complex as blends usually contain at least 5 single essential oils.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have made your own homemade body butter, lather it on as much as you want! Since you recognize precisely what is in it, you can feel good about using all-natural skin care products in your body care routine.

What other body products have you replaced with DIY recipes? Did you try my recipe and what do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!

References

¹ 13 Reasons to Add Jojoba Oil to Your Skin Care Routine https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/jojoba-oil-for-face#dry-skin

² Biological activities of Frankincense essential oil in human dermal fibroblasts: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5801908/