Make Your Own SPF Body Lotion!

UPDATE: This recipe I used lasted 3.5 months. It kept very well during that time.

First off, I need to explain that my recipe for body lotion is not FDA approved, and I make no claims that it will prevent skin cancer.

That said, I use two types of sun "blocking" ingredients: zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide--both in powder form. I use these because after researching, it seems that both of these ingredients are less harmful than other sunscreens out there. Anyways, I had them on hand from another project for which I bought them, so. . .into my lotion they would go.

If you want to make your own lotion, you don't have to use all the ingredients that I used. I just had them in my supply from my soap making and other little projects. Basically, if you want to make lotion, you need to have some kind of solid oil or butter and some liquid oil. Make sure to use about two to three times as much liquid as you use solid. You could even use different ingredients from what I used, so don't be afraid to experiment. Just keep in mind that if your ingredients need to be refrigerated or will likely spoil, your lotion won't hold up very long.

I am the kind of person who goes through lotion (SPF especially as I wear it every day) way too quickly, so this is why I decided to make my own. I just bought this five cup glass jar at a yard sale, so I could make lotion that would last me several weeks.

What I used: beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, pure aloe gel, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and one bottle of Bath and Body Works lotion (I'll explain why).

Whatever oils and butters you use, make sure to melt the hardest ones first. I cut up about a bar and a half of beeswax and melted it in the microwave for two minutes.

I cut up some cocoa butter and added it to the beeswax and melted it for another two minutes.

I had an already open jar of coconut oil, and I added some shea butter to it. I melted those together for about a minute.

You can see my two jars here. I forgot to mention: I wanted the jar to be big enough I could fit my hand into it. Also, I wanted it to be big enough so that I could actually make the lotion in it. This would cut down on cleaning and also cut down on product loss. The coconut oil jar I just ended up throwing away, so I didn't have to clean that one either.

Then, I added the coconut oil/shea butter to the bigger jar.

Then, using the now empty coconut oil jar, I added about 5T of zinc oxide and 5T of titanium dioxide. (I read that a good ratio for SPF is to add about 1-2T of either z.o. or t.d. to 8oz. of lotion. Since this jar is 5 cups, and 1 cup is 8oz., that is why I added 10T of the powder.)

I then filled the jar with grapeseed oil and avocado oil and stirred it up.

The jar is not quite full yet!

Okay,...this is not DIY, but I get lotion every Christmas and I hate to waste it. . .so I added the rest of an already opened bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion from B&BW. In my mind, maybe there are preservatives in this lotion that will help my DIY lotion not to go bad? I dunno. It smells good at least.

Waste not, want not.

The container still wasn't full, so I topped it off with organic aloe gel.

Then, I got out my immersion blender and blended it all up right in the jar!

The finished jar. Because it is squarish, it fits in my bathroom drawer quite nicely. I wanted to keep it out of direct sunlight, just so it keeps better.

It feels so great. It's a little greasy at first, but after about an hour it really absorbs into the skin and my skin feels super soft all day. Even my hands still feel soft. . .and I wash them like every five minutes!

The End!

Downton Abbey Inspired: The Lady Grantham Dress

Lady Grantham has two dresses that I really like. The first one is a red dress that looks like it's been hand painted on the bodice. The other one is the cream and black one pictured below:

Here is another view of it. Notice the lacy detail. I just really like the contrast of the stark black against the soft cream:

So I decided to make my own version. Unlike my other dresses that usually take between 5-8 hours to do, this one took about 15 hours.

My challenge was to make something that hinted at the original dress, but didn't look "costume-y." I used the same basic pattern as the other two Lady Mary dresses. I got the idea after seeing Lady Grantham's dress and realizing that I had off-white material (remnants of an unused Ralph Lauren bed sheet) and about a yard and a half of black lace fabric. I actually cut out shapes in the lace that I felt looked like trim. I added patent leather trim to give the whole thing an edge.

I pouffed the sleeves again. If you look closely, the lace doesn't have a finished edge. I did that on purpose, because I just liked the look. I think it looks modern.

In the original, the lace at the bottom sort of creeps up the sides of Lady Grantham's coat, so I hinted at that same "creepidge." This little detail here took me about 2 hours alone and trying to keep it all straight took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

You can see the patent leather in this picture. I sewed the bodice to the skirt and sewed the leather over it. This method is unlike The Sound of Music Curtain Dress in which I had used the belt part to actually drop the waist. I figured that sewing the belt on top of this dress would help with durability as the cream material is rather thin (I actually double-layered the material everywhere but the sleeves) and the leather was very thick. 

I'm not super happy with this side zipper as the leather is kind of bulky, but oh well. I am happy with my Huskvarna Viking sewing machine because it was able to sew through all this thickness with no problems!

The original dress had some lacey details on the sleeves, but I didn't want to overpower the whole thing with lace, so I just added this little detail to the small of the back.

This little charmer took about an hour. This is the only one I did by hand.

A close-up of the back neckline.

Someone point me to the nearest garden party!