Sweet Chai Body Lotion: a warm and spicy body cream made with moisturizing shea and mango butters.
Chilly winter weather is the perfect reason for curling up with a hot cup of spicy chai tea. This wildly fragrant body cream was inspired by Kelly’s favorite winter habit. That, and an abundance of richly moisturizing ingredients being available in our formulary cupboard! Kelly’s Sweet Chai Body Lotion was a huge hit with our office staff due to its captivating aroma and soft, creamy texture.
Our Sweet Chai Body Lotion recipe combines a blend of highly conditioning oils and butters to help soothe and moisturize dry winter skin. The base is made from three classic skin care ingredients, mango butter, shea butter, and camellia seed oil. We used our super easy going emulsifying wax to transform this nourishing combo into a fluffy body cream infused with real chai tea.
Chai tea gives this recipe its pretty cocoa color. The tea will darken the formula further the longer it is steeped, but take care not to concentrate the tea TOO much, as spices do have the potential to irritate skin – even when used in a mild concoction like tea.
To give our Sweet Chai Body Lotion its unique aroma, Kelly used a carefully formulated blend of plant-based fragrance oil and pure essential oil. It’s important to note that cinnamon bark and clove essential oils can be irritants if used in percentages above 0.07% in leave on formulations, such as lotions. We used both at 0.05% each in this formulation and kept the essential total ratio of essential oil under 1% (0.91%).
While our testers did not experience any irritation when using this formula it is probably not a great choice for anyone with very sensitive skin. If sensitivity is a concern, you can omit the essential oils and use our Vanilla Spice Plant-Based Fragrance Oil instead. Our natural, Plant-Based Vanilla Spice is usually used at around 2-5%. You may also want to consider substituting plain distilled water for the chai tea infusion if sensitive skin is a concern.
Sweet Chai Body Lotion
Makes about 210 grams (7+ ounces)
- 12 grams mango butter
- 12 grams shea butter
- 12 grams camellia oil
- 8 grams emulsifying wax
- 6 grams stearic acid
- 5 grams natural vitamin E 400 IU oil
-
1 gram liquid germall plus
- 10 drops fresh, sweet ginger essential oil
-
5 drops sweet fennel essential oil
-
2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
-
2 drops clove bud essential oil
-
150 grams distilled water
- 1 teabag chai tea
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) whole milk powder
- Steep tea bag in 200 ml of boiled water for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In double-boiler, melt stearic acid and emulsifying wax. Once completely melted, add mango and shea butters and heat until fully melted.
- Remove from heat and add camellia oil.
- Measure 150 grams of steeped and strained tea. (Add additional water if necessary to reach 150 grams). Combine with whole milk powder in small beaker or bowl. Whisk together, making sure to break up any lumps.
- Combine oil and water phases together and whisk by hand or with electric mixer for at least five consecutive minutes. Make sure liquids are fully blended and combined.
- Whisk slowly until emulsion cools to 120 F (50 C). Add fragrance oil, essential oils, and preservative, then whisk again until well blended.
- Carefully transfer to sterilized containers. Allow product to cool to room temperature before placing lids.
Usage & Packaging
- To use, simply slather dry skin with lotion and massage gently until absorbed.
- Sweet Chai Body Lotion is quite thick so does best in jars or squeezable tubes. We packaged ours in crystal clear PET Jars and they looked fabulous!
- While this formula does contain a natural preservative it has not been challenge tested for true shelf stability. Professional artisans should always have formulations professionally lab tested or safety and stability prior to offering them for sale.
Shelf Life & Stability: Please note that the formulations featured here on The Natural Beauty Workshop have not been challenge tested for stability or shelf life, and may not be suitable for commercial use as-is. For more information on shelf life, stability, and working with preservatives, check out the following article from our Information Library.
Hi! Is there any other thing to replace the whole milk powder?
Sure can! Instead, substitute any of our milk powders; Buttermilk Powder, Goat’s Milk Powder, Yogurt Powder or our dairy-free Coconut Milk Powder.
I just discovered your blog and I love it ! I am in Morocco at the moment and but they don’t have chai. Can you advise me some alternatives? Thanks
Hello Alexie, We’re thrilled you found us and are enjoying our content! The suggested essential oil was specifically formulated to capture the essence of the Chai aroma without the Chai tea infusion. Feel free to omit the Chai tea and still enjoy your lotion!