A summer filled recipe from the natural beauty book

Mango and lime sounds good enough to eat, although this body butter would work well with any other soft butter, including macadamia, apricot, olive, avocado or almond. Mango butter is pressed from the kernel of the mango fruit and is used in skincare products for its emollient and moisturising properties.

The other two butters used in this recipes are more solid, and replacing these will alter the texture of the balm. both cocoa butter and shea butter have been used for centuries for their skin-softening and smoothing properties, and are available in many different grades.

Cocoa butter is mainly used in the chocolate making industry and therefore is very easy to find as food-grade or organic. The cosmetic grades tend to be refined or deodorised, because not everyone wants their cocoa butter products to smell like chocolate. I love the smell myself so i tend to use food-grade or organic cocoa butter rather than the deodorised version. You can also buy dark cocoa butter that smells strongly of chocolate, which is great in bath melts and chocolate flavoured lip balms but is not really suitable for body products due to the colour.

There are many Fairtrade suppliers of shea butter that support the communities of the (usually) women who produce it. The unrefined unfiltered shea does not go off much faster than the filtered version, so unless you intend to use it within a few months it is best to buy it filtered. Adding an anti-oxidant to your finished product (such as vitamin E) will extend the shelf line.

MANGO & LIME BODY BUTTER

INGREDIENTS

10g beeswax or jojoba wax

25g cocoa butter

30g shea butter

25g mango butter

1 teaspoon (5ml) almond oil

1 teaspoon (5ml) vitamin E 

10 drops lime essential oil

5 drops sweet orange essential oil

5 drops lemon essential oil

EQUIPMENT

double boiler

metal spoon 

airtight 100ml jar

METHOD

1. Melt the beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, and mango butter in the double boiler. If you have time, leave the mixture over over a gentle heat for about 20 minutes, because this will help prevent the butter going grainy when it cools.

2. Add the almond oil and vitamin E and heat for a few more minutes until everything is liquid.

3. Remove from the heat and and add the essential oil, stirring thoroughly.

4. Carefully pour the warm mixture into the jar and leave to set.

TO USE

This rich, tropical smelling body butter is best used after a bath or shower and gently massaged into slightly damp skin. It is very rich, so you don't need to use much, but to pay extra attention to areas such as elbows, knees and feet, which are more prone to dryness. It's a great product to take on vacation and use in the evening after a day in the sun. You could use organic or food-grade solid coconut oil (non-deodorised) instead of the mango butter, or mix half and half for a really tropical smell.

If you are interested to see more fantastic recipes like the one above, The Little Pocket Book Of Natural Beauty is available to purchase via the website. Please find the link below:

https://naturallybalmy.co.uk/products/the-little-pocket-book-of-natural-beauty

You can also find all of the ingredients for this recipe at www.naturallybalmy.co.uk