Blue Chamomile Face Cream

Blue Chamomile Face Cream Recipe for dry or mature skin

This rich face cream contains an assortment of flowers and herbs, along with precious blue chamomile essential oil – which contains a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, chamazulene.

It’s most suited for dry and/or mature skin types.

Before starting, make sure to sterilize all utensils, bowls, beaters, and jars – I use the sanitize cycle on my dishwasher.

Because this cream contains herbal teas, the shelf life will be much shorter compared to store-bought creams. If you store this cream in the refrigerator between uses, it should stay fresh for around 1 week.

To ensure a much longer shelf life, I like to add a nature-derived preservative (more on that below.)

a jar with assorted fresh herbs

First you’ll want to gather some of the following herbs to create an infusion, remembering you can substitute ingredients or change the amounts or use dry/fresh depending on what you have on hand. I like growing as many of these as I can, but for ones I don’t/can’t, I like to buy from Mountain Rose Herbs. You’ll want a teaspoon or so of each (dried) or a generous pinch of each (fresh). Some herbs that work well in this cream:

  • lavender buds
  • plantain
  • calendula flowers
  • comfrey leaves
  • lemon balm leaves
  • chamomile
  • rose petals
  • violet leaves

Place these items in a mason jar and pour simmering hot distilled water over them. Immediately cover with a saucer to retain the vapors. Let this steep while you gather and prepare the rest of the ingredients. I find that about 45 minutes to an hour is a sufficient time to get the benefits, without too strong of a scent, but you can steep this overnight if you wish.

a cup of melted oils on a scale

Place the following in a heat-proof measuring cup with ounce markings:

Then add enough sweet almond oil or infused olive oil (I used half sweet almond, half violet leaf infused olive oil for this batch) until it measures 3 ounces.

Add 1 1/2 ounces of shea butter. (You can add chunks of it into the liquid oil until it is pushed up to the 4 1/2 ounce mark if you don’t have a scale.)

Next add 1/2 ounce beeswax pastilles (again, add until liquid oil is pushed up to 5 ounce mark on measuring cup if you don’t have a scale) and 2 Tablespoons of stearic acid.

Set the heat-proof measuring cup with all of these in it into a pan of almost simmering water until melted.

Remove from the pan and let cool to body temperature. (Test with clean finger.) While the oil is cooling, strain the herbal infusion into a heat proof glass and set it down in the pot of water that has been removed from heat. This helps it warm up to body temperature.

freshly whipped face cream

Pour 4 ounces of the slightly warmed herbal infused water slowly into the oil while beating with an electric mixer. Mix on highest speed for about 15 minutes, adding the following essential oils during the last 30 seconds or so:

  • 2 to 6 drops of Bergamot (optional – for scent only; also avoid this oil if you will be using as a day cream since bergamot can make your skin more sensitive to the sun)
  • 15 drops Balsam Peru
  • 15 drops Lavender (add a bit more for stronger scent if desired)
  • 4 to 8 drops Ylang Ylang (optional – for scent only, add more or less as desired)
  • 5 drops Carrot Seed
  • 20 drops Blue Chamomile

I buy high quality essential oils for facial care products at Mountain Rose Herbs.

The cream will start to emulsify after about five minutes, but will still be runny – keep beating! By ten minutes, it will look nice and thick, but still drop off of a spoon. You will need to beat another five minutes and by then you should have a nice, thick cream that stays on the spoon even when you turn it upside down. NOW, it’s ready!

Spoon into jars leaving as little air space as possible and cap tightly.

* If you don’t add a preservative, store this cream in the refrigerator and use within 1 to 2 weeks. To make it last longer though, try adding a nature-derived preservative.

In this cream, I used Natapres (made from a radish root ferment filtrate with honeysuckle and aspen bark extracts) at a rate of 2%. To figure the amount needed, add up the weight of the ingredients – which are 267 grams in this recipe – then multiply by 2% (.02) to get 5.24 grams needed, which I would just round to 5 grams of NataPres for this recipe. I also like Leucidal SF Max (at 4%) combined with AMTicide Coconut (at 2%) for a stronger preservative combination. You can find these types of preservatives at Lotion Crafter or Formulator Sample Shop.

This cream is best suited for dry or mature skin. (If you have oily skin or want something lighter, try Basil Anti-Aging Face Cream.) When you first put this cream on, it seems a little thick – just rub it in and give it a few minutes. It will soak it and leave your skin so smooth and soft. This is definitely one of my most loved items!

Blue chamomile Cream

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31 Comments

  1. Pingback: Blue Chamomile Face Cream Recipe | The Nerdy Farm Wife
  2. Thanks for the recipe! My daughter and I will make our batch this weekend. Great pictures and the tutorial is very clear and understandable.

    Kristin

  3. As always, Jan, the numerous photos and detailed instructions really help to make the duplication of your products possible for those of us who are very new to it!

  4. I thought lavender causes sunburn. Since I’m ultra sensitive to the sun, can I just leave it out? Thanks.

    1. Hi Jennifer! Lavender is not phototoxic (it’s also a really good sunburn soother), however bergamot could be. I only have the 2 drops in there for scent (my mom likes the smell) and since she usually applies it at night, I didn’t think about that aspect. Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll make a note of it in the post for people to avoid if they will be using this as a day cream. Also, mango butter provides a small amount of natural sun protection, so you might want to try that in place of the shea butter.

      These are the phototoxic oils you’ll want to avoid applying if you’ll be heading out in the sun:

      ( From https://candleandsoap.about.com/od/fragrancesandaromatherapy/a/toxicEO.htm )

      angelica root
      bergamot (unless it’s specified as “bergaptene-free”)
      cassia
      cumin
      ginger
      lemon
      lime (just the cold expressed oil, not the steam distilled)
      lovage
      mandarin (possibly)
      orange (unless it’s a “folded” orange – luckily, most are)
      verbena

    1. Hi Kimberley! The ingredients are targeted to help dry, aging skin – my mom and several relatives use it as a face cream at night, I like to use it for my elbows & feet and any dry spots that crop up. (I have dry skin, had bad eczema as a child, and it’s still on the sensitive side – this cream is very soothing & skin-smoothing.)

  5. Pingback: How To Make Blue Chamomile Face Cream
    1. Hi Mollie, that’s a good question. I’ve never tried freezing it. My thoughts are that the texture might become weird and separated when thawed, but I’m just not sure. I plan to make some in the next week or two and I’ll set aside a little in the freezer and see what happens to it! It would be nice if it works well!

  6. Hi! I would love to try this cream, but my skin tends to trend a bit on the oily side (not dry at all) because I have PCOS, and I am also breakout-prone around that time of the month. I would, however, love the anti-aging benefits of this cream. I stopped using my Clinique (which I loved…sniff, sniff) abruptly when I started becoming aware of ingredients and chemicals and I am searching for a new one! What do you think? If you don’t recommend this one, do you have a recipe you’d recommend? Thank you :)

    1. Hi Andrea! This cream is very rich and moisturizing, so it may be a little heavy for your skin type. I wonder if you’d be better off making a lotion more than a cream? And maybe adding the anti-aging ingredients such as blue chamomile and carrot seed essential oil. Tamanu is an amazing oil and you might want to use that in your formulation. This link tells of all the benefits that tamanu oil offers: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/oilprofile/tamanu.php It is AMAZING stuff. I use it in everything I can. I’ve not worked a lot with lotions to feel confident to give you a tried and true recipe, but I’ve heard a lot of great reviews about this one: https://frugallysustainable.com/2011/12/non-greasy-homemade-moisturizing-lotion/ If it were me making it for you, I’d use grapeseed oil (very light and slightly drying so ideal for oily skin) rather than almond oil (which is better for dry skin), throw in a 1/2 tablespoon of tamanu oil and I’d be cautious with the added cocoa butter. A subset of people react to cocoa butter with skin irritation. They keep applying more to help, only it aggravates the problem and they get stuck in an irritated skin cycle. If you keep red, irritated hands and use cocoa butter a lot, that’s a good sign that it’s bothering you. Anyway, back to your recipe! I like mango butter better for anti-aging, this link tells a bit more about it: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/butter/mango.php For essential oils I’d go with tea tree and blue chamomile, possibly carrot seed essential oil (which is a bit strong smelling so you might want lavender or rose for a pleasing scent plus both of those are soothing to skin.) Anyway, that’s what I’d do – take a recipe that has had a lot of positive feedback and make it work for you! Good luck and let me know if you try anything, how it works! :)

  7. Pingback: 15% Coupon Code | The Nerdy Farm Wife
    1. Hi Leah! I’m not sure on plastics – I’ve recycled one or two that someone gave me to fill up with cream for them, but otherwise use glass containers from specialtybottle

  8. Hi there,

    I just made this cream tonight and followed your instructions exactly, or so I thought. But, towards the end the cream started separating from the water. I added the water very slowly, it took 10 min to get it all in. No amount of beating brought them back together.

    What did I do wrong? Is there a way to fix this and re-emulsify?

    Thank you?

    1. Hi Christine!

      It sounds like your water cooled a bit too much over the ten minutes. I drizzle mine in slowly, but usually it’s all in the bowl within a minute then the rest of the time is beating. You want the oil & water to combine when they are both around body temperature (or give or take a bit around 100 degrees F.) Then as the mixture cools, it should turn creamy & start setting up. Once it starts firming, it’s not going to accept any more water.

      Next time, you could also try adding the oil to the water – some people prefer that way over the other, though I get the same result no matter which I add first.

      To salvage it: Is it a lot of water and completely separated oils or do you have some cream and some water? If you have completely separated oils & water, you could strain off as much water as possibly and reheat the oils then try agin with less water, incorporated in while still warm. If you have some cream and some water, you could strain off the water as much as possible and then stir the remaining cream as well as possible & store in the fridge to keep it firm. It might have a different texture, but your ingredients won’t have to be wasted & it should still moisturize nicely. If it fits another description, just let me know and we can brainstorm some more ways to try!

  9. thank you for this recipe. I have a question-I have allot of the wild chamomile here and from reading I have learned that all the medicinal properties are in the flower heads-I am drying some now. can I infuse these in oil too like you did with different herb leaves to draw out the benefits-instead of making the tea with distilled water? thanks much Kathy

    1. Hi Kathy, Yes, you sure can infuse the flower heads in oil. It’s really nice in all sorts of body care recipes. Chamomile oil makes for a nice soap too. I made some with a strong chamomile oil infusion and a strong tea and it turned a pretty buttery yellow (though it faded a bit over time.) A hint of the chamomile scent carried through as well.

  10. thanks so much Jan, I have learned so much from you already-more than in my books-my local friend here just took me out in my woods and found me a patch of goldenseal-I am so excited-I am drying the roots now and some leaves, and rest of the leaves in an alcohal tincture

    1. How exciting to have fresh goldenseal to work with! I planted some a few years ago, but lost where I put in in our woods. Need to replant and mark the spot this time!

  11. I’ve had this bookmarked forever and may actually put your wonderful information to use! I love your posts!!

    I made lots of whipped body butters for holiday gifts and have a jar or two or the leftovers from each batch. I’m planning to add some of your listed yummy skin-loving oils to them to create a bedtime face butter…..much heavier than a cream, but no water issues. Have you tried something like this before? Any thoughts?

    1. Hi Leslie! I have fiddled around with that before. My mom even uses this as a night time face cream: https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/wild-rose-body-butter/ (and so have I, though I have a new favorite Rosehip & Honey one I recently posted.) That’s still something I want to experiment with more too – I think it would be lovely with some blue chamomile oil and other goodies. I like the no water aspect since that’s a tricky area for some. I’d like to tinker more and see if I can make it even lighter though since butters are on the heavy side. (Great for dry skin like mine, but I’d like options to offer too.) So yes, I think you have a great idea! :)

  12. I have a question, what is the ph for this cream? Also, adding the preservative, as you recommend, how much shelf life do I have? Thanks for the recipe, by the way.

    1. Hi Olga! I need to buy a new supply of test strips in order to determine the exact pH, so I’m not sure on that. I’ll order some and let you know what the results are.
      Going by my microbial tests – the NataPres is showing no signs of mold or bacteria (visibly in the jar of lotion OR on the test strips) and it’s been 3 months now. I believe it will be longer than that, but I’m still observing to be sure!

  13. Hi Jan,
    You know I’m a fan of your skin cream recipes. I’ve been looking forward to making this one – albeit my poor ol head is aching from a head cold that won’t go away. Anyhow, I thought I could distract myself from my ailments by getting stuck in with this lovely sounding recipe.
    I’ve started foraying into CP soap making and love the precision of the measurements, so thought I’d get the grey cells working and convert your recipe to percentages first. That way I can make whatever amount I want and weight in lovely precise grammes. A bit fiddly, as I had to weigh out each ingredient and convert by turn, but I was feeling quite pleased with myself for having done it.
    So, I made the recipe. :-( I hardly needed to mix it for 5 mins before it was plenty thick enough. And spooning it into the jars wasn’t too easy. Then it sat there in the jar solid and dry looking like something you would use to put tiles up with. I felt gloomingly disappointed. I went back through the recipe that I had noted down, yep all my percentages and conversions to grammes were right.
    So I started to blame the stearic acid. It had to be the reason.
    A few days later, my head a bit clearer (my throat not!), I decided I’d write to you and see if you had any ideas what may have gone wrong. Prior to tapping away on the keyboard I ran through your online recipe one more time checking it against my notes.
    Ahem… I had omitted the shea butter.
    So I recalculated, tried it with one jar first, melted the appropriate amount of butter, stuck the full jar in the hot water for about a minute to help ease the tile paste out. Then beat them together. And Bingo, what do you know. I now have a nice face cream. Slightly off proportions due to my error – but nice all the same.
    I hope I haven’t damaged the EOs too much.
    It feels lovely on the skin and I think the others who are getting the remaining jars will love it.
    I couldn’t get it to look especially blue though, just a teeny hint.

    1. Hi Wendy, Thank you for sharing your experience! Having helped my husband with tile work before, I can imagine the texture of the first iteration of your cream! I’m so happy that you were able to salvage it with the shea butter. What I’ve been doing lately, is trying to jot down metric conversions as I make a lotion or cream, but I hadn’t thought about doing that consistently with percentages – that’s a great idea! Blue chamomile just doesn’t give much of a tint unless I splash in too much and then when it does, it seems to go a little greenish on me. I’d try indigo powder in it, but I think it’d end up staining skin, so haven’t followed through on that idea. (I probably will one day with a mini less-expensive cream recipe though, just to see what happens!) I hope that your throat is feeling better now!

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