Get ready for summer with Bright One, a DIY body cream

Brighten your days with Bright One!

Like many of you, the Coop Coco team has been awaiting summer with unbridled enthusiasm. Incidentally, we dreamt up this recipe on a freezing day in February when we were missing the sun and summer particularly acutely. And so, from gloom, cold, and snow, a Bright One was born: a homemade summer body cream!

Thanks to this cream’s beta-carotene-rich ingredients, radiant skin is on its way. This body cream recipe was designed to give your skin a healthy glow and to get it ready for sun exposure. Plus, with its added mica, it seems to reflect light. Just what you need for a beautiful start to a beautiful season!

So the next time you’re bored on a rainy day, you know what you have to do: make your own summer body cream, and you’ll have turned a grey day into a Bright One!

How to make body cream

Ingredients

Oil phase

• 3 g (3%) sea buckthorn oil
• 2 g (2%) rosehip oil
• 15 g (15%) sweet almond oil
• 5 g (5%) extra virgin coconut oil
• 6 g (6%) Olivem 1000

Aqueous phase

• 30 g (30%) carrot seed hydrosol
• 34 g (34%) demineralized water

Cooling phase

• 2 g (2%) elderberry extract
• 1 g (1%) vitamin E

Mica

For sparkling skin

• 2 g (2%) gold leaf mica

OR

For a slightly bronzed shimmer

• 1 g (1%) gold leaf mica
• 1 g (1%) summer sand mica

Scent (optional)

For a woodsy scent

• 0.4 g spearmint essential oil
• 0.3 g ylang ylang essential oil
• 0.3 g ho wood essential oil

OR

For a floral scent

• 1 g spring blossoms aromatic essence

Tools

• 2 small stainless steel bowls
• Components to make 2 double boilers
• 2 ramekins
• 1 mini silicone spatula
• 1 scale, accurate to 0.1 g
• A few pipettes
• 1 mini-mixer with frothing attachment (the small wheel)
• 1 thermometer
• A few spoons
• 1 basin filled with water (to make a cold water bath)
• 1 amber glass jar

Good to know!

• Sea buckthorn oil and rosehip oil were chosen for their revitalizing and skin-brightening properties. They are rich in beta-carotene, which gives skin a healthy glow and helps prepare it for the sun’s rays.
• Carrot seed hydrosol has a strong smell. You can replace it with another hydrosol or with demineralized water. Keep in mind, however, that it’s the ideal product for giving your skin that sun-kissed glow!

Steps to follow

1. Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
2. In the first bowl, weigh the aqueous phase ingredients. Heat on a double boiler to a temperature of 70–80°C.
3. In the second bowl, weigh the oil phase ingredients. Heat on a double boiler to a temperature of 70–80°C.
4. In a ramekin, weigh the vitamin E and elderberry extract. If desired, weigh and add the scents using the pipettes. Mix together.
5. When the aqueous phase and oil phase have both reached a temperature of 70–80°C, pour the oil phase into the aqueous phase while mixing with the mini-mixer.
6. Place the bowl in a cold water bath and continue to mix with the mini-mixer for a few minutes.
7. When the emulsion has cooled to 45°C or less, remove from the cold water bath. Add the contents of the ramekin (containing the vitamin E, elderberry extract, and scents, if using). Mix with the mini-mixer until the cream is homogeneous.
8. In a second ramekin, weigh the mica. Pour the mica into the emulsion. Stir with the spatula first, and then combine with the mini-mixer.
9. Pour the cream into the container and allow it to cool. Voilà! Your homemade summer body cream is ready!

Use and conservation

This homemade body cream was specially formulated to hydrate skin and to prepare it for sun exposure. It is suitable for all skin types.

When made in optimal sanitary conditions, it will keep for at least three months.