Here’s what you need to get your lotions and creams light, fluffy, yummy.

1. Kitchen Tools: I have two kitchen gadgets that I like to use for this process. The first is of course my 15 year old Kitchen Aid mixer. I also prefer the paddle attachment for creaming. The other tool is a Kitchen Aid handheld immersion blender (mine has three different attachment heads).

2. Ice packs. Yep, I said ice packs. With larger batches of body butter, you need to actually keep the temperature of the Shea butter and other oils from melting too much. I have one that I bought with Velcro and straps -pretty sure it was originally purchased for my broken elbow. It wraps around my Kitchen Aid bowl perfectly. Comes off easy too.

3. Patience. Lots of patience. I love to bake. Baking takes patience as well. I remember the first time I tried to cream butter. That dessert did not come out well because I stopped the creaming process too early. So be prepared to whip, cream, and mix your concoction for at least 10 minutes if not more.

4. Order of ingredients matters. A Lot! Cream and beat the base butter (usually Shea) until it looks like frosting. Then slowly add your other base oils, like grape seed or jojoba. If you do this too soon, you will have lumpy lotions.

5. Lotions. These require a different mix of ingredients and proportions of liquids. Think of lotions as salad dressing that we put on our bodies- you don’t want the dressing that has the oils and vinegars separated, believe me. You have to emulsify the ingredients in order for the oils bases to not separate from the water based ingredients. So whipping the ingredients is very important. All the ingredients also need to be the same temperature.