Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

3 Feb 2017

5 DIY Floral Body Polish Recipes

Tagsexfoliate, floral body polish, salt scrub, sugar scrub

“The earth laughs in flowers”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Flowers are delightful, bringing joy to a weary soul. Savor the beauty of flowers and enjoy a bit of summertime in your self-care routine with a floral body polish. Filled with the goodness of flowers, a floral body polish offers sensuous fragrance and beauty while bringing the beneficial properties of these gorgeous blooms right in our own home.

You can use your new floral body polish to exfoliate from head to toe! Body polishes are a wonderful part of any self-care routine and are great for flakey winter dry hands and also for getting feet sandal-ready! Try using fine or brown sugar, which is less abrasive than salt, in your polish and add bit more oil to make your scrub face-friendly.

Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

A Basic Recipe for Floral Body Polish

Use this recipe as a foundation for your own lovely blends!

Ingredients

2 cups sea salt, fine Himalayan salt, Dead Sea salt, white sugar, or brown sugar
Up to ½ cup dried flower blossoms and petals (see below for suggestions)
1 cup + high quality carrier oil like apricot kernel, sweet almond, grapeseed, avocado, or olive oil.
15 to 30 drops of essential oil. Great choices include lavender (Lavandula angustifolia, L. latifolia) German chamomile (Matricaria recutita), ylang ylang (Cananga odorata), rose geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), helichrysum (Helichrysum angustifolium), neroli (Citrus aurantium var. amara), jasmine (Jasminum officinale), and rose (Rosa spp.). Learn more about essential oils with our Ultimate Essential Oil Guide. Some oils can cause photosensitization and caution should be used with these oils.

Directions

Put your chosen flowers in a food processor or blender and pulse to gentle break the flower petals and blossoms into small pieces.
Place the salt or sugar and your flowers in a bowl.
Add the carrier oil and essential oils.
Stir well to combine everything thoroughly.
If your scrub seems too dry, add more oil until it is a consistency you like.
Spoon your scrub into jars or containers and label.
Please note that scrubs will make the shower or tub slippery because of the oil content.

Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

Six Flowers to Include in the Body Wash

1.Chamomile flowers (Matricaria chamomilla)

These delightful apple-scented flowers offer wonderful benefits to the skin and are used by herbalist to cool inflammation, aid in skin repair, and ease pain.

2. Calendula petals (Calendula officinalis)

These beautiful flowers are well known as an herb for the skin, helping to encourage tissue regeneration, soothe irritation, and reduce inflammation.

3. Lavender blossoms (Lavandula angustifolia)

Perhaps most beloved for its use to soothe emotional duress, lavender’s fragrance-filled blossoms are also wonderfully cleansing, antimicrobial, and analgesic making them a great choice for skin care.

4. Elder flowers (Sambucus nigra)

Lovely, creamy white elder flowers are used to lighten the skin and ease inflammation. Mixed with yogurt, they also make a delightful soothing facial pack!

5. Rose petals (Rosa species)

The lovely rose is cooling, helping to soothe away the inflammation of acne, burns, and rashes. It also helps to astringe and tone tissues all while providing an uplifting emotional component!

6. Linden flowers (Tilia europaea)

The delightfully fragrant linden flowers uplift the emotions and providing cooling benefits to the skin. Demulcent and anti-inflammatory, the flowers are wonderful in skin care for soothing irritation.

Lovely Variations to Play With

Get ready to have fun and let those creative juices flow! Your floral body polish can be customized in the most beautiful ways! Below are a few ideas to get you started.

Infuse your carrier oil – Add even more lovely floral aspects to your body polish by infusing your carrier oil with flowers (and herbs too!). Learn how here.
Adjust the texture – Add oil to make your floral body polish more emollient and soft. Less oil will create a polish with extra exfoliation power.
Sweeten it up – Include some honey in your scrub recipe! Honey is wonderful for the skin with humectant and antibacterial properties.
Add some zest and zing – Mix a teaspoon or two of freshly zested ginger or organic citrus zest from lemon, lime, or oranges into your floral body polish.
Make it fruity – Rich in enzymes and antioxidants, fresh fruit offers a great boost to the skin, so consider mixing in a few tablespoons of your favorite fruit. Fresh fruit will cause your body polish to spoil quickly, so be sure to use it up fast and store any extra in the fridge.
Vanilla beans and extract – Vanilla imparts a lovely scent. Scrape the tiny seeds out of a bean or add a splash of extract to your scrub.
Make it decadent and chocolaty – By adding a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder.

Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

Four Floral Body Polish Recipes to Enjoy

The sky’s the limit when it comes to making your own floral body polish. Grab your favorite flowers and other goodies then have fun whipping up something lovely. Find some inspiration with some of my favorite recipes!

Floral Bouquet Body Polish

For a feeling of floral immersion, enjoy making and using this luscious scrub!

Ingredients

1 cup sea salt
1 cup fine Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon each chamomile flowers, lavender blossoms, rose petals, linden flowers
1 cup high quality carrier oil – apricot kernel or sweet almond are good choices
Zest of one lemon or orange
15 drops rose geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) essential oil
10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia, L. latifolia) essential oil
5 drops ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) essential oil

Directions

Break up the flowers in a food processor or blender.
Place the salt, flowers, and citrus zest in a bowl.
Add the carrier oil and essential oils.
Stir well to combine everything thoroughly.
Spoon your scrub into jars or containers and label.
Please note that scrubs will make the shower or tub slippery because of the oil content.

Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

Lovely Lavender Scrub

If you love lavender this scrub is for you!

Ingredients

1 ½ cup sugar
½ cup fine Himalayan salt
½ cup dried lavender blossoms
1 cup high quality carrier oil or make your own lavender infused oil to use!
20 drops of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia, L. latifolia) essential oil
2 tablespoons honey, optional

Directions

Break up the lavender blossoms in a food processor or blender.
Place the salt and blossoms in a bowl.
Add the carrier oil, essential oil, and honey.
Stir well to combine everything thoroughly.
Spoon your scrub into jars or containers and label.
Please note that scrubs will make the shower or tub slippery because of the oil content.

Roses & Chocolate Scrub

Love roses and chocolate? Me too!

Ingredients

1 cup sea salt
1 cup fine Himalayan salt
½ cup dried rose petals
1 to 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup + carrier oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 to 10 drops rose (Rosa spp.) essential oil, optional

Directions

Break up the rose petals in a food processor or blender.
Place the salt, rose petals, and cocoa powder in a bowl.
Add the carrier oil, vanilla extract, and essential oils.
Stir well to combine everything thoroughly.
Spoon your scrub into jars or containers and label.
Please note that scrubs will make the shower or tub slippery because of the oil content.

Chamomile Creamsicle

This creamy combination of vanilla, citrus, and chamomile is reminiscent of a favorite childhood treat.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar or brown sugar
¼ cup dried chamomile flowers
1 cup + apricot kernel or sweet almond oil
Scrapings from one vanilla bean scraping
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Juice and zest from one orange
10 drops sweet or blood orange (Citrus sinensis) essential oil

Directions

Process the chamomile flowers in a food processor or blender.
Place sugar and your flowers in a bowl.
Add the carrier oil, vanilla bean scrapings, vanilla extract, orange zest and juice, and orange essential oil.
Stir well to combine everything thoroughly.
Spoon your scrub into jars or containers and label.
Please note that scrubs will make the shower or tub slippery because of the oil content.

Now wasn’t that simple? With a few ingredients, many of which you may even have on hand, you can make your own lovely floral body polish to enjoy! Happy polishing!

Love creating your own body care with flowers? Find more inspiration below!

Tips For Creating A DIY Floral Body Polish | Herbal Academy | Exfoliate from head to toe with a DIY floral body polish! Let's have fun and let the creative juices flow!

REFERENCES

Gladstar, Rosemary. (2014). Herbs for natural beauty. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.