Homemade face cream
I enjoy making things from scratch, but for years, homemade face cream has felt like a no-go. Too complicated, too risky, too mysterious. However, this past summer, I found myself with a bumper crop of calendula blossoms that needed to be used up and I decided it was time to try my hand at making a batch.
A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
I think the reason why I hesitated to make my own face cream for so long is because the store-bought product is mostly unrecognizable and deliberately shrouded in mystery by clever advertisers. No part of it looks or smells like anything I’ve seen or worked with before. The ingredient lists are made up of all kinds of things I’ve never heard of, don’t understand and can’t pronounce. And they cost a bazillion dollars for every little jar. (A figure that jumps exponentially every time you progress into the next age group.)
Dermatologists in crisp white coats brag about secret patented formulas developed and approved by world-renowned chemists. The roster of minerals, acids and fats they have managed to extract from nature and its beasts is nothing short of miraculous. It’s no wonder we are willing to pay top dollar for these elixirs that can reverse all signs of ageing from our faces.
But really.
Why is it such a sin to age? I have no problem with taking pride in your appearance, but must that mean an endless quest for youth?
Unlock the Secrets of Ageless Beauty
…or Don’t
At the risk of sounding outrageous, I’ll let you in on the true formula for ageless skin: don’t laugh, don’t cry, don’t get angry. Do not feel the sensation of stress. Don’t go out in the wind or the rain or (heaven forbid!) the sun. Don’t touch your face. Don’t let others touch your face. Don’t consume sugar, alcohol or fried foods. And be sure to stick to a calming twice-daily skin care regime using the best products money can buy.

And when all of that fails and you one day wake up with wrinkles (which with the passage of time you inevitably will) you can beat yourself up for that one summer you didn’t wear sunscreen when you were 16, for that bag of fried mini doughnuts you devoured in one sitting at the fair last summer and washed down with a cold beer, and curse yourself for laughing so hard your face cramped up that one time with your best friend…
Or, you can say eff that! Live your life. Feel the sun and the wind and the rain on your face. Smile when you’re happy. Let a child touch your cheek with his or her grubby little fingers. Relish it. Let yourself age with grace. Wear your skin with pride – let each line be a reminder of every funny, sad, infuriating thing that has happened and shaped you into the remarkable human you’ve become. Look at those wrinkles as etchings marking the map of your life. Be grateful if you can count more smile lines than frown lines (but also be grateful for the frown lines – they came from important lessons).
And then, once you abandon the quest for the holy grail of eternal youth, you can decide if you want to keep buying those fancy face creams, or perhaps try making one for yourself.

Ageing with grace
My 40th birthday present to myself was to age with grace. So, around that time I decided to use up all my fancy serums and creams and to not replace them with big brand ones. It was my own little ‘eff you’ to the cosmetics industry and their unattainable standards of beauty.
Armed with my bumper crop of calendula blossoms, I embarked on a quest to make my own homemade face cream that I actually liked. And, after several months of trial and error, I’m pleased to report I have found some success!
Have I earned a place rubbing shoulders with the giants of the cosmetics industry? Nope. But I can whip up a batch of homemade face cream that moisturizes my face, doesn’t make my eyes burn, and smells nice in a matter of minutes with ingredients I have around the house.

If you’d like to save some of your hard earned money and spend it on…literally anything else, give this recipe for homemade face cream a try.
Will it reverse the signs of ageing? No
Will you never get another zit again? Also no, unless you didn’t get zits before.
Will your skin look as plump and fresh as a 21 year old’s? Only if you’re 21.
Will it moisturize your skin, not involve killing animals and smell nice? Yes!
I tried to keep my recipe as simple as possible, using ingredients you can find in the grocery store, pharmacy and/or health food store.

Recipe for homemade face cream
Ingredients:
1 or 2 empty, clean face cream jars
¼ cup shea butter
1 ½ Tbsp grated beeswax
2 Tbsp fancy oil such as: calendula oil*, jojoba oil or rosehip oil
1 tsp vitamin E gel
A few drops of essential oils that you enjoy.
My two favourite combinations are:
- lavender, sweet orange and key lime or,
- lavender, rosemary and spearmint
But feel free to use whatever scents you enjoy.
Instructions:
Melt the beeswax over a double boiler
Add the shea butter and stir until it’s also melted and combined with the beeswax
Remove the bowl from the double boiler and stir in the fancy oil, the vitamin E gel and the essential oils.
Stir until they’re all combined and then pour the mixture into your clean glass jars.
Let cool for several hours.
Use and enjoy!

This face cream will keep for several months and there is no need to refrigerate it.
* Last summer I made my own fancy oil from a bumper crop of calendula blossoms, which you might also wish to try.
How to make your own calendula oil

Start by growing a swack of calendula flowers in pots or in your garden. Then, every few days dutifully pick the sunny blossoms and air dry them. Be sure to relish the stickiness their pollen leaves on your fingers and their delicate, gentle smell.
The more you pick the more they blossom. So, by the end of the summer, you should have a half a quart jar full of the dried blossoms ready to go.
From there, simply pour a bottle of grapeseed oil over the blossoms and allow the mixture to steep for three to four weeks. Then, strain the flowers out and use the oil for face cream and/or homemade body lotion.
Obviously growing your own calendula blossoms, drying them and soaking them in oil for a few weeks is somewhat time consuming. And while the task was really, truly enjoyable to me, it might not be for everyone.
If you’re like most normal people, don’t hesitate to just buy some fancy oil you like the sound of.

About the author
Jessica Johnson runs a small, traditional Bed and Breakfast from a vineyard in the Similkameen Valley of British Columbia, Canada.
Raised to be a strong, independent career woman but now a vigneron’s wife and stay-at-home mom on a fledgling homestead, she is clumsily yet happily establishing roots in her new landscape.
An expert at almost nothing but curious about nearly everything, Jessica writes about her adventures in rural B.C. where she raises her son and other wild creatures and is learning the old ways to preserve and grow food.