Home Made Christmas Gifts: Coconut Lotion Bars

I used this recipe to make these Coconut Lotion Bars.  The recipe is on coconutoil.com but it's another great recipe from the Wellness Mama.  They look great.  I think the feeling of the lotion is a little oily and I like thick cream lotions more. The picture looks yellow but the lotion bars are more of an off white color.  The walls in my kitchen are yellow and it always makes it hard to take pictures in there.

This was a good recipe for a beginner like me because it used all the same ingredients as the lip chap that I made last weekend.  I used 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup shea butter and 2/3 cup bees wax pellets.  

I added these 3 ingredients into a glass measuring cup and set the cup in about 2 inches of water in a pan on the stove.  As the water heated, it melted the ingredients together.  I made sure to check on it every cup minutes and give it a good stir.  The bees wax pellets take the longest to melt.

After melted together, I removed from the heat and added about 15 drops of peppermint essential oil.  I didn't want these to have a strong peppermint smell but I wanted to cover up the smell of the shea butter. Shea butter smells like play dough.  The peppermint wasn't strong enough though.  It didn't totally cover up the play doughy scent.  I might try these again using vanilla.

I bought a 6 cup muffin tin at the dollar store and filled each cup half way then left out on the counter over night to cool.  I actually had enough to make 7 lotion bars.

The next morning I turned the muffin tin over and hit the bottom of each muffin cup with the palm of my hand. The lotion bars popped right out.