Shea butter, lavender and rose geranium night cream

This amazing Shea Butter, Lavender and Rose Geranium night cream is suitable for all skin types. It is nourishing, without it being too heavy, and balances out dry and oily skins, bringing your skin back into perfect equilibrium. Wake up in the morning with gorgeous soft and happy skin!

This night cream came to be as we were discussing and playing around with ingredients in our weekly formulation day. We were revisiting the Facial Emulsions module, because the final product of the Diploma of Organic Skin Care Formulation course has to be an emulsion, and we looked at their Lavender Day Cream and that’s where we started brainstorming for a different, yet also simple to make cream, but which would be packed with benefits to the skin. We also wanted to use ingredients that are easily obtained.

Why a night cream? That kind of happened accidentally. We wanted to use nourishing shea butter in the cream, because it’s really a miracle butter. So much goodness is in shea butter. 15% of the butter is vitamins, minerals, phytosterols, antioxidants – called the unsaponifiable content. Most oils contain less than 1% of the good stuff, the remainder are triglycerides. Butters in cream, in my opinion though, make creams a bit heavier, which is why this became a night cream. And also, I needed a night cream for myself.

Nourishing shea butter
Calming lavender
Balancing rose geranium

Shea butter, lavender and rose geranium are the star ingredients in this night cream. Shea butter, as explained above, is full of nutrients and an emollient. Lavender is well known for its calming and soothing qualities. And rose geranium is the perfect skin essential oil, because of its balancing properties.

All the ingredients I used to make this gorgeous shea butter, lavender and rose geranium night cream are available from Pure Nature.

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Shea butter, Lavender and Rose Geranium night cream

Nourishing, balancing, soothing and regenerative, this beautiful night cream is suitable for all skins.

INCI: Lavender Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Water, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Almond) Kernel Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Seed Butter, Glycerine, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Pelargonium Graveolens (Rose Geranium) Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Xanthan Gum, Dehydroacetic Acid, Benzyl Alcohol, Citrus Grandis Seed Extract

Ingredients

Sweet almond oil: I love using sweet almond oil in my creams. It is one of the lightest oils, with a light odour and colour too. Despite all the lightness, it is a good emollient and absorbs well into the skin. It is also suitable for all skin types, including oily skins.

Olivem 1000: This is the emulsifier to bind the oil into the water ingredients. Olivem 1000 is completely natural and made from olive derivatives (cetearyl olivate and sorbitan olivate). In my emulsifiers tests, Olivem 1000 turned out to be a great all-round emulsifier, producing a nice thick cream, but with a light feel to it.

Shea butter: Shea butter is one of the best skin butters you can have. Extracted from the karite nut, it is full of nourishing vitamins, minerals phytosterols, and antioxidants. It is suitable for all skin types, and is absorbed deep into the skin without clogging the pores.

Lavender hydrosol: Lavender is both calming and soothing to the mind and skin. After being exposed to environmental damage all day, your skin needs to recover, and what better than with soothing lavender? Lavender hydrosol provides has regenerative properties and provides relief to irritated and inflamed skin. It is the major component in this cream. I’m using New Zealand lavender hydrosol, which has grapefruit seed extract added for preservation.

Glycerine: This is a humectant, meaning it draws moisture to itself, and hence to the skin. I love using glycerine in my creams, because it keeps the skin well-hydrated. Note you can buy palm-free glycerine nowadays!

Xanthan gum: Derived from glucose, xanthan gum is used as a thickener and a stabiliser in creams. In the emulsifiers tests I did, I noticed that Olivem 1000 can separate after a few days if the emulsion wasn’t properly mixed. Xanthan gum helps prevent that.

(Egyptian) Rose geranium essential oil: Rose geranium is a skin-balancing essential oil that can improve the overall skin complexion. It is well known to balance out sebum production, reducing oiliness in oily skin, and increasing sebum in dry, unconditioned skin. It also has a balancing effect on the mood and its fragrance is light and uplifting. I use the Egyptian geranium because the scent is lighter and more rose like, but the benefits and properties of the two oils are the same as is their name Pelargonium Graveolens.

Vitamin E (tocopherol): This is an antioxidant, which prevents the oxidation and degradation of the oils in the product. Antioxidants are also good for reducing damage to your skin!

Preservative Microcare DB: Creams, like this shea butter, lavender and rose geranium night cream, contain both water and oil ingredients and provide the perfect environment for moulds and bacteria to thrive. To avoid this we need to use preservative, which prevent growth of such unwanted nasties. The good news is they can be natural, and they are provide broad spectrum protection against mould, bacteria and yeast. Microcare DB contains dehydroacetic acid and benzyl alcohol (doesn’t sound natural, but believe me it is!)

This amazing night cream is an absolute dream for your skin. Nourishing, regenerative, calming, soothing and balancing, it helps restore your skin to a beautiful youthful complexion. And the light floral fragrance from the lavender hydrosol and rose geranium essential oil help you sleep in bliss!

If you want to learn how to formulate your own skin care products, sign up for the FREE Masterclass by Formula Botanica*. This is the accredited school that I am studying with.

*Affiliated link

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Formulation

Makes 100 g. You will also need a 100 gram cosmetic jar.

Stage	Ingredient	Category	%	g
A	Sweet almond oil	Foundation – oil	15	15
A	Olivem 100	Functional – emulsifier	5	5
A	Shea butter	Foundation – butter	5	5
B	Lavender hydrosol	Foundation – water	67.8	67.8
B	Glycerine	Functional – humectant	5	5
B	Xantham gum	Functional – stabiliser	0.2	0.2
C	Rose geranium essential oil	Aromaceutical	0.5	0.5
D	Vitamin E	Additive – antioxidant	0.5	0.5
D	Microcare DB	Additive – preservative	1	1

Instructions

Note you do not need to use an electric mini mixer for this cream. Mixing the ingredients by hand will work for this emulsion, but do ensure you mix them well to ensure proper emulsification.

1. OIL PHASE: Weigh out all the ingredients from Stage A into a beaker and place in a water bath.
2. WATER PHASE: Weigh out and mix the xantham gum and glycerine to a slurry in a separate beaker, and then add the lavender hydrosol to it and mix it well. Place it also into a water bath.
3. Heat both beakers to above 70ºC. The temperature should be between 70-75ºC when you pour them together.
4. Once you have the temperature above 70ºC, pour the water into the oils and mix well with a small whisk or a small electric mixer.
5. Mix well. If mixing by hand, mix for about 2-3 minutes.
6. Place into the fridge for 15 minutes to cool down.
7. One by one, weigh out and mix in the rose geranium essential oil, vitamin E, and lastly the preservative. Add each of them separate, and stir well before adding the next ingredient.
8. Scoop into the cosmetic jar and let set overnight. The cream will need 24 hours to reach its final consistency.

Apply to skin every evening, about an hour before going to sleep to let the cream absorb into the skin (otherwise most of it will just end up on your pillow, especially if you are a side sleeper like me!)

As with any skin care product, it is best stored and kept out of direct sunlight and not exposed extreme heat, which will degrade the beneficial compounds and reduce the effectiveness of the product. With correct preservation, it will keep for 12 months.

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