DIY Natural Rose Face & Body Cream Recipe

DIY Rose Face & Body Cream Recipe

I created this DIY natural rose face and body cream as a gift for my mom. She absolutely adores all things roses and the color pink, so I think she’ll love this!

(Update: I never can wait to give gifts to people & already gave my mom some of this. She LOVES it. Success!)  :)

Rose Petals Infused in Hot Water

There are a few things to remember when making this homemade cream:

  • Use the utmost care in cleanliness. I use the sanitize cycle in my dishwasher to pre-wash all utensils, bowls, jars, everything!
  • Use clean fingers, or better yet a sterile spoon, to scoop out your finished cream, avoiding any “double dipping.”
  • If you don’t add a preservative, it will be quite perishable and have a short shelf life of around 1 week, when stored in the refrigerator between uses. (See * below for more information.)
  • This cream is thick and rich and is best suited for those with dry or mature skin. If you have oily skin, you may be happier with a lighter cream such as Basil Anti-Aging Face Cream.
  • It may take a few times to get the hang of making creams with beeswax. Don’t get discouraged if the first batch doesn’t turn out quite right. Make sure to follow the directions and beat for a full 10 to 15 minutes. The cream will thicken up more once it settles into the jar.

For a cream that uses emulsifying wax and comes together more easily – check out Basil Anti-Aging Face Cream HERE.

For an in-depth resource about making lotions and creams from scratch, plus loads of helpful information about the best oils, butters, essential oils, herbs, flowers, and other natural ingredients to use for your skin type and needs, be sure to check out my Handmade Lotions & Creams eBook Collection!

image for handmade lotions and creams ebook collection

Some links on this site are affiliate links; I only recommend products I personally use and enjoy. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Rose Face & Body Cream Recipe made with real roses!

DIY Natural Rose Face & Body Cream

You can buy all of these ingredients at Mountain Rose Herbs, or you may be able to source them locally.

Step 1:

Place a generous handful of rose petals into a small heat proof jar. Pour simmering hot water over them, cover with a saucer and let this steep while you gather your ingredients together.

Step 2:

Weigh out 2.5 ounces of sweet almond oil into a heat proof measuring cup. I infused mine with dried rose petals several weeks ago in anticipation of this recipe, but you can skip that part if you’re crunched on time.

Add the mango butter, beeswax pastilles and stearic acid. Set the cup into a saucepan filled with a few inches of water and heat on medium-low heat until everything is melted.

Step 3:

Remove the cup from the pan, let the hot mixture cool a bit, then add the 0.5 ounce of rosehip seed oil. Pour into a mixing bowl, then let it cool further until around body temperature.

Strain the rose petals from the water and measure out four ounces of liquid. (Any leftover rosewater makes a nice hair or face rinse or addition to your bathwater.) Make sure it’s roughly within 5 degrees of the oil mixture.

Step 4:

Using a hand mixer, turn the beaters on low and slowly drizzle in the rose water. As the oils start to thicken, increase the speed to high.

Add alkanet root to rose face and body cream for a pinker color

Beat on high for a full fifteen minutes. Don’t skimp on this part or you may end up with a runny cream.

I used alkanet-infused olive oil that I keep on hand for making lip balm to add a pale pink tint to the cream. If you don’t have the time to make this up, just thoroughly mix a pinch of alkanet root powder with a bit of olive or sweet almond oil and use the resulting paste to color the cream, a few drops at a time. (If your rose water is a dark enough pink, you may find that’s sufficient enough to tint the cream.)

You can add color at any point during the mixing, so it’s better to start out with less then add more if needed.

Step 5:

During the last minute of mixing, add the rose and/or geranium essential oils to your scent preference.

Once your fifteen minutes of mixing is done, scoop the cream into clean jars (don’t use metal tins for recipes that contain water or they could rust), leaving as little air space as possible. Once completely cool, cap tightly.

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

I’m currently a fan of using NataPres (made from a radish root ferment filtrate with honeysuckle and aspen bark extracts) at a rate of 2% or Leucidal Liquid SF at 2 to 4% (I prefer to use closer to the full 4% amount).

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. If using Leucidal Liquid SF, use the same amount (for 2%) or up to twice as much (for 4%). Lotioncrafter has a variety of other preservatives and their usage rates listed on their site, so don’t feel limited to using one of these, just because I do.

For more preservative options, check out my article:

10 Natural Preservatives for Homemade Skin Care

DIY Rose Face and Body Cream Recipe made with fresh roses, beeswax and rosehip seed oil.

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59 Comments

  1. Pingback: How To Make A Rose Face and Body Cream
  2. Your mom is one lucky lady! I really liked the idea of this recipe and even started adding the ingredients to my ongoing shopping list at Mountain Rose Herbs – that is until I came to the rose essential oil. Holy cow! You weren’t kidding about the high price tag! I think I need to win the lottery before I can make this!

    1. Hi Tricia! I’m so glad you mentioned that – I used a diluted version of Rose Absolute oil from Now Foods. They are a reputable company that I like and I was very pleased with the end result. I can’t afford pure essential rose oil myself! I updated the post to reflect that there is an economical alternative. ( https://amzn.to/ThIF3i )

      Thanks for the reminder! :)

    2. Try looking on Ebay for bulgarian rose otto essential oil. I won 10ml for 26.59. This is pure theraputic grade from Sun Pure Botanicals. This is the best price I’ve found yet.

  3. Hi have been following your thread re the scent of your rose oil fading, just add one drop of geranium oil to your blend will slow this down and increase the rosey smell.
    You can get plant derived steric acid if it is the chemical sourced you are trying to avoid.
    Hope this helps.

    1. Hi Elizabeth, thanks for the tips! That is great to know about geranium oil; I’ll be restocking essential oils soon and I’ll add it to my list. I use stearic acid from Mountain Rose Herbs; it’s palm derived (they source only sustainable palm ingredients.) I really love the texture it lends the cream!
      Also, your site is lovely!

  4. This sounds amazing! My mom loves rose scent and we are doing homemade holidays this year! I will have to make her some.

    Thanks for sharing on Natural Living Monday! As always your post is one of my favorites.

    I am excited to see what you have to share this week!

    1. You were featured on Natural Living Monday! I guess I should have included that ;)

  5. This is lovely! I love making creams! Thanks for sharing with Natural Living Monday! You are one of our featured posts!

  6. Pingback: Natural Living Monday #12 « Mama Rosemary
  7. What a thoughtful gift, I’m sure she’ll love it!
    Thank you for linking up with the Clever Chicks this week; I hope you’ll join us again!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick

  8. Pingback: Rosa Rugosa Soap Recipe (Palm Free) - The Nerdy Farm Wife
  9. can you substitute anything else for the mango butter…I am allergic to mango

    1. Hi Tara! :) You can use something like shea butter or cocoa butter instead Any solid type “butter” should work in a similar fashion.

  10. Sounds good; I must try this recipe. I love the sent of roses and have made my own cream with that in mine for years now. I find that if you use rose water instead of distilled the sent lasts to the bottom of the jar without expensive rose oil.

  11. Getting ready to make this with my Kitchen Witches herbal exchange group tomorrow. We are doing large batches at once. Can you tell me how much in ounces this recipe produces? I was thinking 8 ounces? Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Shea! You are right; it is around 8 ounces. I can fill *almost* four of the two ounce glass jars with one batch.
      Sounds like a fun gathering – I hope you have a great time! :)

      1. Thanks Jan!! I will let you know how it turns out. We are using this recipe along with your blue chamomile recipe and putting our spin on it. LOVE your blog thanks for sharing, inspiring and helping us learn. Creating my own body products is my new favorite hobby. Can we share a picture of our group tonight? Thanks again :)

  12. I’ve made a similar cream to this but your recipe looks much better. I’m going to try it since I love making home made bath and beauty products. Thanks for the continuing inspiration :)

  13. Just found your site and have been reading several posts. Love the post on soap making and then saw this about making the creams. This looks like a lot of fun but the ingredients seem so expensive. How long do they last and how many batches do you get out of the one purchase. I see where you say a batch makes 4 two ounce jars but if you purchase the ingredients like you have listed how many batches would that make. I am very cost conscious at this point and am thinking of the holidays so if you can give me any idea I would appreciate it. I do have some lavender essential oil already but this one is roses so I would have to start from scratch with all the ingredients. Also what types of jars are you using. Are they canning jars or specific for creams and lotions.

    1. Hi Kathy! The cost will really depend on where you buy your ingredients from. I often buy some items in bulk online, but some other things from my local health or grocery store. I like to support local, but some things can only be found online or are so much cheaper that way.

      One good way to calculate the price is to see how much an ingredient costs then divide it by how many ounces it contains. So, say you buy 1 lb of mango butter for $15, that comes out to .94 cents per ounce. However, if you order online – shipping is expensive! It will add a few more dollars to the cost so your mango butter might be something like $1.12 per ounce. Since you need 1 1/2 ounces for this recipe, then it will cost you $1.68 just for the mango butter. You should have about 14.5 ounces left over for future projects. Then go through and figure your other ingredients that way. It’s A LOT of math and it does get a little mind boggling sometimes, but that’s the only good way I know of, to get the best idea of how much a project will cost you to make.

      Sweet almond oil is on the expensive side. If you want to cut costs, you don’t have to use that. Sunflower oil is an excellent substitute and you can usually find that in your local grocery store. Rosehip seed oil is a nice, luxurious addition, but since you don’t need a lot of it, you can think about leaving that out and putting in more plain oil instead. Stearic acid is a must in this recipe. It won’t set up correctly without it. The rosemary antioxidants are super expensive, considering you only need a few drops. If you are making this right before giving and if the person can be trusted to refrigerate their cream, then you could leave the rosemary antioxidants out with the caveat that the shelf life might be shortened a few weeks. This is something that no one in my family minds about, but that might not be true for others.

      I use little 2 ounce glass jars from SpecialtyBottle.com (since they were the cheapest I could find) but I also sometimes use the little mason jars intended for canning jelly. They are really cute when decorated up and then the jar is more likely to get reused by the person getting the gift.

      If you already have lavender essential oil, you can use this same recipe and make a lovely lavender cream too. In that case you could just use plain water (or infuse the water with lavender buds instead of rose petals, if you have any.) Instead of rosehip seed oil, just add more plain oil. Leave out the alkanet color and add lavender essential oil instead of rose oil. You can also substitute shea or cocoa butter for the mango butter, if mango butter is harder to obtain. This will likely be a lot more inexpensive, but just as lovely a gift!

      I hope that helped answer your questions, but let me know if you have more! :)

      1. Thank you for your response. I really want to get started on making some body and face creams as well as soaps but have been busy with research and watching a lot of videos to gather more information. I am hoping to get started soon but the thought of purchasing all that I need is a little overwhelming. I’m trying to start a small business since I had to retire early due to a medical issue and need some additional income. I’m not sure if this is the way to go since it seems the market is flooded with people making soaps and creams. I do appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions since many people say they want to help but never reply to the comments. Any suggestions you have on books or reference materials especially on starting up a business would be helpful. I will check out where you bought your jars and see if that works for me.

        Enjoy your week and again thank you so much for your help.

        1. Hi Kathy C! I agree that the market is crowded, but if you can find your own niche in it – it can be a fun way to earn a little extra money.
          We have an extremely tight budget as well, so I had to wait until we got a tax return a few years ago and invested a chunk of it into materials & supplies. From there, I was able to make items, sell them, and reinvest the returns into more supplies. It’s not an easy quick money thing because a lot of time is involved, but it does help the budget out sometimes for sure!

  14. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe! I am going to try this with Vitamin E so that it stays longer on the shelf. Any suggestions for prolonging the scent of Rose would be great as I love that fragrance.

    1. Hi Lisa, I’m glad you like the recipe! I think the best way to prolong the rose scent is to anchor it with some geranium essential oil. I’ve found that all of the various batches I’ve made have kept the scent nicely though, even ones I did a rush job (for last minute gifts!) on.

  15. What do you think about sustituting hibiscus for the alkanet ? Would it turn it a red color, or a pink color ?

    1. Hi Surati! The color in hibiscus is water soluble and won’t come through in oil. So, if you do try it, make sure it’s added to the water portion, or infused in water first (like a tea.) I haven’t tried it, but I like the idea & hope it works for you!

  16. I really am looking forward to trying this recipe. I have sensitive skin. I was wondering if this cream could be used on the face? Or just hands/bodies?

    1. Hi Toireasa! Yes, you can use this rose cream for your face. It’s thick and rich, so probably best suited for dry skin. I have skin that’s slightly dry & sensitive to the fragrances and additives in commercial lotions, so I try to make all of my recipes very mild so I can use them too! :)

  17. Could you show some lotion recipes include green tea powder or green tea leaves ^^ i love your recipes and still look forward to seeing your new recipes with various kinds of flowers and herbs. Thank you for sharing with us such helpful and beautiful recipes <3

  18. ok I made this yesterday and a couple of things I need help with. Thank you for the idea of adding a little more oil as my was very thick and I think that will thin it out. On my face it is magic.

    The other problem I have not resolved yet is that there are small tiny little chunks in my cream. It is not a continuously creamy texture.

    1. Hi Donna! Usually little tiny chunks in your lotion comes from the butter portion.
      Here’s a good article on why that happens and how you can try to help keep it from happening.
      https://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/library/sheabutter.asp
      I’ve found too that unrefined butters seem to be more likely than refined to develop graininess.
      I’m glad that adding extra oil helped and that it feels nice on your face! It’s one of my favorites to help winter-dry skin!

      1. Thank you. I might try again today. I have been using the grainy stuff and I love it anyways.

        1. Thank you. I did it and it worked perfectly. I took the temp to 175 degrees for 20 min. Like the link said no grainy pieces at all. Yay.

  19. I forgot to mention the alkanet root power did not dissolve in oil, it left powdery pieces so I couldn’t use it in the cream.

    1. Hi Donna, I’m sorry that the alkanet root powder didn’t dissolve completely! Another idea is to mix it with some oil, and then let it infuse in a small jar for several days (or weeks), and use that red-colored, infused oil in the recipe. (Just pour and measure it out carefully, so any speckles are left in the bottom of the jar. You could additionally try straining it through a coffee filter (messy!) or a few layers of cheesecloth (also a bit on the messy side.) You won’t need a lot to add a light pink tint to your cream.

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