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You can make Thermomix Beauty Products?!
Have you ever thought about making your own beauty products? In Episode 96, we are joined by Nicky Gordon, author of The Beauty Mix and owner of the natural cosmetics company Maeve Botanicals. Nicky tells us why the Thermomix is made for making beauty products and gives practical tips on how you can make your own Thermomix beauty products to avoid any nasties that may be lurking in your cosmetics.
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Over the last 25 years Nicky has worked as a lifestyle photographer, writer and now magazine editor of South Coast Style magazine. It was whilst researching a story about the cosmetic industry that Nicky was drawn to the uncertain practises of the commercial brands of cosmetics, skincare and cleaning products. She dug deeper and was alarmed by the lack of government regulation and the associated health and environmental hazards of many commonplace ingredients used in these everyday products. Her concern about these questionable ingredients led Nicky on a quest to find safe, natural and ethical alternatives. When they were not easily found, she set out on a mission to make her own.
She began making cosmetics for herself, then her friends and family and soon enough people were asking to buy her products from her! That is how her line of beauty products, Maeve Botanicals, was born.
Nicky’s mother purchased a Thermomix and Nicky was amazed. With the built in thermometer, thermostat, scales and speed control, she found that the Thermomix was the perfect tool for homemade beauty products.
In this episode we talk about:
Sourcing Ingredients.
You will need an emulsifier (helps to bind the water and oil molecules and prevent your beauty products splitting) and a preservative (to make sure your products don’t go rancid, with a preservative the products should last 3 months). Your oils can be sourced from a supermarket.
Emulsifier:
A good quality natural emulsifying wax will cost around $13 for 100grams (enough for approximately 1 – 2 kilos of finished product). There are many different emulsifiers available. The one Nicky uses and recommends is a self-emulsifying wax derived from olives, Oliv Emulse (INCI Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate). It is completely safe (even for sensitive skin), is quick to absorb and adds a luxurious texture to the finished cream or lotion. Oliv Emulse can be purchased online from Aussie Soap Supplies.
Preservative:
Nicky chooses to use the natural preservative Naticide (INCI: Parfum or Fragrance), which interestingly, is not officially classified as a preservative. It is a broad spectrum preservative and approved for use in organic formulations. At $21 for 17grams it may seem expensive but as you only need to use about 0.5% of the total volume in any given recipe a little goes a long, long way. 100grams of Naticide can be purchased from Sydney Essential Oil Co for $70 or 17grams is available from New Directions. A more affordable, safe but also synthetic preservative is Phenoxyethanol and at around $9 per 100grams will give you more bang for your buck.
Sourcing Containers
The distributors in the links below will also sell containers, but you can also consider recycling the containers you have at home.
Costs Involved
Ingredients for the recipes require an initial outlay, but then the products become very cost effective. Oils are interchangeable within the recipes, which further reduces the cost. For example, you may wish to start with two good quality oils and use these in place of the oils listed in the recipe.
Free Recipe!
Nicky has kindly shared a recipe with you all in her guest post, 10 Minute Thermomix Body Lotion. Check it out!
The Beauty Mix
You can get a copy of Nicky’s beautiful book (full colour, with over 70 tried and tested Thermomix beauty product recipes) online at www.thebeautymix.com.au Check out the index below for the amazing recipes featured!
Don’t forget there will be a 20% off discount code AND 6 of Nicky's recipes in The Easter Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine for our mag readers!
Want to win a copy of the book?
- Comment on this blog post.
- Like the FB post below.
- Comment in the FB post below.
*COMPETITION THREAD* Want to win a copy of The Beauty Mix, a beautiful recipe book for beauty products made in the…
Posted by The 4 Blades on Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Have you made something other than food in your Thermomix? Leave us a note in the comments below!
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Can’t wait to make it, just bought distilled water to make a itch spray for the dogs!
What a great topic to discuss!! Love it.
Sounds really interesting. Thanks for outlining not just the emulsifiers and preservatives bit showing where they can be sourced, I have a pre-TMX beauty recipe book that I never made anything from because it was too hard to find all the ingredients
Can’t wait to try these
Not beauty-related, but I grind egg shells in mine, for feeding to the dogs and using in the garden!
Can’t wait to try the recipes in the next issue of 4 blades. Exciting !!
I love making my own products can’t wait to try this one, thanks for he Recipie.
Wow I never would have thought of making non food recipes in the thermomix! Great you included ingredients sources as well ?
Great episode! Looking forward to trying out the body lotion 🙂
Sorry meant to put my whole name above 🙂
I’ve been playing around with simple stuff like body scrubs (love the coffee) but this has inspired me to try moisturisers and much more, to suit my dry skin which is prone to eczema, something for my husband that has oily skin and large pores and finally something for my son as the mozzies carry him away in summer!
There is so so many great recipes to try in this book. I wouldn’t know where to start.
This episode has totally inspired me!! Thankyou!
While I know I could have made this sort of stuff, it just doesn’t seem to register on my radar! And there are so many options!!!
I’m so looking forward to trying out making safe and healthy beauty products in my thermal cooker. Too many nasties in the store-bought, processed stuff.
Sounds like the next issue is going to be fantastic. I have started experimenting with home cleaners and would love to get into beauty products as I have four beautiful granddaughters and it would be fantastic if I could show them how to create “healthy” beauty products. I agree that the links to purchase the products is fantastic, it is often hard to find the right products when you want to start this kind of “cooking”. Absolutely love your podcasts and the 4 Blades magazine.
How wonderful to have fresh, home-made lotions and potions where you know what’s in them. Can’t wait to learn more! Thanks Nicky!
I was so excited when I stumbled across this! I am so keen to try the body lotion as I seem to react so badly to all the store bought products.
I’m rather excited about using my thermomix to make skin care products! Am a huge advocate for natural skin care and even more so for DIY. The possibility are infinite!
Can’t wait to try a few of these recipes. I have a lot of reactions to bought products.
What a terrific interview. I’ve admired the Maeve range already and have used my thermie to make my own beauty products, so would be very keen to try Nicky’s excellent recipes. Thanks guys.
This is just what I have been looking for! This book is on my Wishlist as my body is aching from working and raising three little kids, so the muscle soak is so tempting with a hair mask to help my unruly hair but I know my bath will be invaded by he munchkins especially if bath fizz is invloved
Yay- yet another fantastic use for the t-mix!! Can’t wait to try some of Nicky’s recipes to get me one step closer to a low tox life!!
funtastic podcast, I love to make my own beauty products, cant wait to try some of these recipes…. 🙂
Have been interested in making my own beauty products but wasn’t sure where to start. Thank you will definitely be giving it a go now. I have 3 daughters so this will be fantastic for them to also learn how to make healthy alternatives.
I haven’t tried making my own beauty products, so it would be lovely to win this book so I can experiment with the recipes. It will also give my TM a bit of well needed use ?
What a gorgeous book! The papaya face peel sounds great! Get on ma face and a little in my mouth too….
Ooh, I’d love to win a copy of this lovely book. I love the idea of creating beauty products for my family, friends and myself.
I use Thermie to chop up food waste for Bokashi compost (smaller particles break down quicker).
This podcast has given me a great idea for a gift for a Grand daughter who is studying to be a beauty therapist – a copy of Nicky’s book along with a gift voucher from one of the recommended suppliers.
No Dad jokes today Joe?
First up I’ll be trying the wound powder and natural insect repellant…
I have only recently stumbled across these podcasts. To be honest, I didn’t really know what a podcast was! – I know, I must have been living under a rock! But I absolutely love them, so much so that on my 45 minutes commute, to and from work, I know listen the 4 blades podcasts instead of listening to the radio. I still have many more podcasts to get through but I absolutely loved this one, as using natural products is something I’m very passionate. It’s the reason I bought a thermomix in the first place – to have my family eat as natural as possible so the thought of making natural skincare at home just blows my mind. Love your work 4 blades (& Nicky!)