Natural Calendula Skin Cream Recipe

Step-by-step calendula skin cream recipe with the natural skin-soothing properties of calendula flowers, oats, and honey. Use it to nourish skin all year-round.

If there’s one skincare plant that I can recommend for all skin types it’s calendula. Most people grow it as a companion plant, edible flower, or to use in medicinal preparations but it’s also amazing for your skin — especially in this calendula skin cream recipe. The resins in the petals and entire flower heads are rich in compounds that promote healing, soothe discomfort, and infuse your skin with antioxidants. This recipe is from this guide on how to grow and use calendula in skincare.

Making this calendula skin cream recipe begins with organic calendula flowers. You first infuse them in a light carrier oil then blend them with homemade oat-infusion and honey to make a light, skin-nourishing cream. At the average beauty counter, you’ll pay a hefty premium for calendula products but they’re really very easy to make yourself.

Calendula Skin Cream Ingredients

I’ve chosen the ingredients in this calendula skin cream recipe to soothe irritated skin, to moisturize, and to promote healing. Calendula is amazing as a skin-herb and it’s also very easy to grow in the garden. Please feel free to dry and use your own homegrown flowers to make this recipe. Working alongside calendula, oat-infusion adds creaminess and glide, and to make it, you can use quick oats from the kitchen cupboard. Honey gives natural moisture and additional healing properties, and don’t worry, the skin cream won’t be sticky.

Handmade Calendula Skin Cream Recipe

Makes approx one 100ml pot, though you can double or triple the recipe if you wish. The photos below reflect making a double batch. For accuracy, use a small digital scale for measuring ingredients.

Oil Phase

• 20 g (0.71 oz) calendula-infused sweet almond oil
• 10 g (0.35 oz) emulsifying wax (NF Polawax)

Water Phase

• 70 g (2.47 oz) distilled water infused with oats

Cooling Phase

• 2.5 g (0.09 oz) honey
• 10 drops rose geranium essential oil (optional)
• A broad-spectrum cosmetic preservative such as Geogard Ultra. Read the manufacturer’s instructions.

Special Equipment

• Digital kitchen scale
• digital thermometer
• Heatproof bowls and containers
• Spoon

More Natural Skincare Recipes

• Simple Face Cream Recipe
• Honey Body Butter Recipe
• Massage Oil Candle Recipe

Step 1: Make Calendula-Infused Oil

To make calendula infused oil, fill a small jar half-way with dried calendula flowers. Pour the oil over, then seal and shake. Set in a warm but dim place for at least two weeks. Strain the flowers from the oil and discard them. Store the golden oil in a dark glass container, or a dark place, for up to a year. You’ll only need a small amount to make this recipe but you can use whatever you have left to make future batches, or in this salve recipe.

Step 2: Heat the Oil Phase

Place the oil and emulsifying wax in a heatproof container and melt them using the double boiler method. Essentially a pan set within another pan filled with hot water. When they’re completely melted, take the temperature — you need them melted and at around 150°F (66°C).

Step 3: Make Oats-Infused Water

While the oil phase is melting, make the oat infused water. Pour a cup of scalding distilled water over one teaspoon quick oats and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the remaining oats. Weigh the amount of liquid you’ll need and use it for this recipe. Keep the oat water warm by setting the container inside another container filled with hot water. You want to keep it within a few degrees of 150°F (66°C).

Step 4: Mixing the Phases

When the oils and water are at the right temperature, pour the water phase into the oil phase. Then use a spoon to stir them together for a few minutes. Set the skin cream aside to cool for five minutes and then stir again. Gently stir every twenty minutes after until it has cooled to about 122˚F (45˚C).

Alternatively, and to speed things up, you can use a milk frother instead of a spoon. Submerge a milk frother in the oil phase and slowly trickle in the water phase. Use the frother to gently stir the ingredients together. Next, turn the frother on and blend the skin cream until it begins to thicken slightly — it will take around 30 seconds. While you’re frothing, try to keep the head of the frother completely submerged so as to avoid air bubbles and foam in the skin cream.

Step 5: Cooling Phase

The cooling phase is the part of the process that heat-sensitive ingredients are added. When the calendula skin cream has cooled to about 122˚F (45˚C ), stir in the honey, vitamin e oil, and optional ingredients. If you’re using a specific preservative, the manufacturer’s directions will tell you at what temperature you can add it.

Step 6: Adjusting the pH

Now we need to test for pH. Stir a quarter teaspoon of skin cream in 2.5 tsp distilled water. Dip one of your pH papers into liquid and then compare the color to the ones on the pack. Skin creams need to match the pH of your skin or they can be irritating and affect the effectiveness of preservatives. If the pH is between 4.5-5.5 you’re spot on.

You can make the skin cream more acidic (lower the pH) up by adding tiny amounts of lactic acid or citric acid dissolved in a small amount of warm, distilled water. Make it more alkaline (increase the pH) with triethanolamine or by dissolving a tiny amount of L-Arginine or bicarbonate (baking soda) in distilled water and adding it. Pass it through the sieve and into the skin cream. Take the pH reading again and adjust again if needed.

When the pH is just tight, spoon the cream into an air-tight container and use it within a week if you have opted to not use a preservative. A preservative can extend the shelf-life for eighteen months or longer. Please also be aware that some preservatives, such as Geogard Ultra, can cause a pH drift — meaning the pH may change over time. Take another pH reading of the skin cream a week after you make it, and adjust if needed.