THREE Calendula Skincare Recipes Using Homemade Calendula Oil (salve, lip balm, and bath bombs)

We’re going to be having a bit of fun today and I’m going to be showing you how to make three super simple natural skincare and bath products that you can make in your own kitchen. You don’t need any really expensive equipment, just a few ingredients, some storage containers, and presto, you’ve got natural skincare that you can use on your own skin. It’s super conditioning and healing, or you can give them as handmade gifts or even start a small business. The three recipes that we’re making are a healing skin salve, a nourishing lip balm, and a fun and fizzy bath bomb.

Homemade Calendula Oil

What they all have in common is homemade calendula oil. Calendula oil is just a liquid carrier oil like olive oil or sweet almond oil that we infuse with calendula flowers, and it takes on the healing properties from the calendula. If you have finished calendula oil, you can jump in and start making the three recipes. If not, there are a few ways to make it. The easiest is to half-fill a jar with dried calendula flowers and then top it up with a liquid oil of your choice. Let them infuse for a month before straining the flowers out and reserving the oil.

Simple Healing Calendula Salve

The first recipe we’re making is a simple healing calendula salve. You only need two ingredients to make it, and the recipe makes about three containers that are about 100 ml or 3.4 oz. You can massage the salve onto minor cuts and burns, or you can use it as a gentle skin moisturizer. You start by melting beeswax on indirect heat. I float a pan inside another filled with simmering water. When it’s melted, then take the pan off the heat and pour in the calendula oil. The beeswax will harden up again when that happens, but just float the pan back in the water until it’s fully liquid again. And then when it’s liquid, pour it into cosmetic containers of your choice and then let it harden. It’ll take at least a few hours; best to just leave it for a day. Now when it comes to containers, glass jars are ideal, but I’m using metal tins here. Once you’ve made it, your salve has a shelf life of up to a year.

Homemade Calendula Lip Balm

Now that we have that recipe under our belt, the next one should be an absolute breeze. We’re going to make homemade calendula lip balm. It’s very similar to how we made the salve, but we’re going to add a couple of extra ingredients to give it flavor and conditioning. This recipe makes about six lip balms. We begin by melting beeswax and cocoa butter over indirect heat, and if you stir it together, it will help speed up the melting. Then take the pan off the heat and pour the calendula oil in. Again, the hard wax in the oil will firm up on contact, but if you set the pan back in the hot water, it will remelt again. Now when it has, take the pan back out and you can add an optional six drops of organic peppermint essential oil, and that will give it flavor and a cooling sensation. Next, pour that liquid into lip balm containers or tubes and let it cool. This is a firm lip balm, though, and I prefer using sticks with this particular recipe. These paper ones are lovely and eco-friendly too. But one thing you do need to watch out for is that if you pour the liquid in all the way to the top, you will have a hole going down your lip balm as it cools. So just fill it up 3/4 of the way, let it cool a bit before topping it up, and that way you’ll have a smooth finish.

Calendula Bath Bombs

The last recipe is a little different, but it’s also super, super easy. We’re going to make calendula bath bombs, and they have a beautiful fragrance. The recipe will make about six to seven bath bombs depending on the type of mold that you use. The first step is sifting baking soda and citric acid into a bowl using a sieve. You want it nice and fine with no lumps. Then pour in the calendula oil and the May Chang essential oil. It has a gorgeous natural lemony fragrance you’ll absolutely love it. The oil has a tendency to clump up, though, so use your fingers and your hands to make the mixture as lump-free as possible, and I really recommend that you wear gloves. Sprinkle in the dried calendula petals. Next, we need to wet it so it sticks together, so I use five mists of witch hazel and then mix it in before judging the wetness and adding five more sprays. You don’t want it too wet, but just wet enough to hold form in your hand when you squeeze it together. I used about 35 small mists for mine, but you might need more or less. Then press the mixture firmly into the cavities in a silicone mold and leave them there for at least a day. It’s the easiest way to make bath bombs and so much less fiddly than using two-part molds. If you don’t have a silicone mold, you can also use measuring cups as molds, but you’ll need to pop the mixture out immediately and let it dry on baking paper. Once the bath bombs are fully hard, you can pop them out of the silicone mold and use them right away. They fizz and smell wonderful in a warm bath, and the extra oils help keep your skin conditioned and fragranced.

Handmade Natural Skincare Products

Wasn’t that fun and pretty easy? And then at the end, you’ve got three different handmade natural skincare products that you can maybe put into a box and give as gifts or use yourself or again used to start a small business. These three recipes are actually taken from my Calendula for Skincare ebook, which goes over growing calendula flowers, choosing the varieties, how to harvest, and then use them to make healing oil and loads of skincare recipes. If you’re interested in more ways to use calendula flowers, I have a recipe and instructions on how to make calendula flower soap from scratch. It’s a cold process recipe; it’s a little bit more involved, but at the end, you’ll have all-natural gorgeous soap.