Rich Cocoa Cream Base

Weekly DIY

Rich Cocoa Cream Base

Explore creating your own thick, nourishing cream base with a rich cocoa scent, designed to be customised for the face, body or hair. It is intentionally made extra rich and structured, so you can stir in a few additional ingredients afterwards and transform it into a more personalised cream.

Preservative: 1 teaspoon Geogard 221

15 minutes
Beginner
Concerns
General DrynessBarrier SupportCustomisable Skincare
Benefits
Rich MoisturisationAdds Rich NourishmentEasily CustomisableAdapts To Skin Or Hair
Format
Thick Cream
Shelf life
Approximately 3–6 months with proper storage. Discard if the smell, colour, texture or appearance changes.

What You'll Need

Cocoa Butter
2½ Tablespoons
Deeply softens and nourishes dry skin and hair while giving the cream its rich, velvety, dense body and naturally chocolatey aroma.

OliveM 1000
2 Tablespoons
A premium emulsifier that creates a strong, structured cream with a rich, cushiony feel, helping this base stay thick and stable enough to handle a few additions later.

Cetyl Alcohol
1¼ Tablespoons
Strengthens and thickens the cream, giving the base more body and stability so it can better handle a few additions without becoming too thin - while still being silky.

You'll Also Need:
1 teaspoon Geogard 221, 1 mug freshly boiled distilled water, any extra ingredients you’d like to add, a 750 ml–1 litre microwave-safe jug, an immersion blender, a microwave, and a clean 500ml jar or tub.

How to Make

  1. Add the Cocoa Butter, OliveM 1000 and Cetyl Alcohol to a large microwave-safe heatproof jug.
  2. Pour over 1 mug of freshly boiled distilled water and stir well.
  3. Microwave in 15–20 second bursts, stirring thoroughly between each. Cocoa Butter can take a little longer to melt than the other ingredients, so continue only until all of the butter, OliveM 1000 and Cetyl Alcohol have completely melted and no waxy pieces remain.
  4. Begin emulsifying immediately. Use an immersion blender for 1–3 minutes at a time, or whisk vigorously by hand. Continue mixing as the cream cools rather than stopping while it is still very hot. Once it has cooled considerably and is beginning to thicken and hold together, you can reduce to occasional stirring.
  5. Allow the cream to continue cooling, stirring from time to time. Once it is below about 40°C/comfortably lukewarm, stir in the Geogard 221 thoroughly.
  6. Leave to cool completely before judging the final consistency - the Cocoa Butter, Cetyl Alcohol and OliveM 1000 will continue to set and thicken as they cool. Transfer to a clean jar or tub and keep tightly sealed.
    NOTE: You can emulsify this cream by hand, but an immersion blender generally produces a smoother, more uniform base with less effort. Do not stop mixing immediately after everything melts - keeping the emulsion moving as it cools helps the oil and water phases establish a stronger, more cohesive structure and reduces the chance of separation. If the finished cream separates after cooling, gently reheat and repeat the emulsification process.

How to Use

Guidance

Spoon out the amount of cream base you’d like to use, add your chosen ingredients and mix thoroughly until completely smooth and evenly combined. An immersion blender can make additions much easier to incorporate and helps create a more uniform finished cream.

Keep total additions to around 10% of the amount of cream base being customised, unless an ingredient has a lower recommended usage rate. This is best measured by weight, as oils, powders and extracts all weigh differently by teaspoon. Melt solid oil-soluble additions separately first and allow them to cool slightly before blending them into the base. Powders should generally be dissolved or dispersed appropriately before adding rather than stirred in dry.

Make It Yours

  • For A Deep Conditioner:
    Spoon out 7 tablespoons (roughly 100g) of cream base, add ½ teaspoon Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, ½ teaspoon Panthenol and 1 teaspoon Babassu Oil to transform the base into a rich hair treatment with more slip, softness and moisture. Pre-mix the Guar and Panthenol in about 1 teaspoon warm water, melt the Babassu Oil separately if needed, then blend everything thoroughly into the cream.
  • For A Rich, Tinted Green Body Cream:
    Spoon out 7 tablespoons (roughly 100g) of cream base, add 1 teaspoon Vegetable Glycerine, 1 teaspoon Hemp Seed Oil and ¼ teaspoon Panthenol for extra barrier care, softness and lasting moisture.
  • For A Smoothing, Age-Support Face Cream:
    Spoon out 7 tablespoons (roughly 100g) of cream base, add 1 teaspoon Bakuchiol Oil, 1 teaspoon Niacinamide and a sprinkle of Hyaluronic Acid Powder for hydration and brighter, more even-looking skin over time. Dissolve the Niacinamide and Hyaluronic Acid Powder in a small amount of water first before blending them into the cream.
  • For Very Dry, Stressed Skin:
    Spoon out 7 tablespoons (roughly 100g) of cream base, add ½ teaspoon Aloe Vera Liquid Gel, 10 drops Bisabolol, ½ teaspoon Safflower Oil and ½ teaspoon Gotu Kola Glycerite for extra soothing and hydration, with ¼ a teaspoon Lanolin to create a richer protective layer that helps reduce moisture loss. Melt the Lanolin and Safflower together in the microwave for 15 second bursts before mixing, and patch test first if your skin is sensitive to lanolin.

Pro Tips & Storage

  • Why is this cream base so thick? Can I make the base lighter?
    It is intentionally made thicker than a normal finished cream. The Cocoa Butter, OliveM 1000 and Cetyl Alcohol create a strong, structured base so that small amounts of oils, extracts and actives can be mixed in later without immediately turning it into a runny lotion.
    Replacing some or all of the Cocoa Butter with a lighter liquid oil will produce a softer cream, while reducing the Cetyl Alcohol will also decrease firmness. Just remember that a lighter base may have less room to tolerate later additions.

  • Can I replace the Cocoa Butter with another butter?
    Yes. Mango Butter is probably the closest choice if you still want a firm base, while Shea Butter will generally give a softer, richer result. Different butters melt and set differently, so expect the final texture to change slightly.

  • Can I use Eco E-Wax instead of OliveM 1000?
    You can make a cream with Eco E-Wax, but it will not necessarily behave exactly like this base. OliveM 1000 was chosen because it creates a particularly substantial, structured emulsion. If substituting the emulsifier, the base qualities may change.

  • Why did my cream separate?
    The ingredients may not have melted completely, the oil and water phases may not have emulsified thoroughly, or mixing may have stopped while the cream was still very hot. Continue emulsifying as it cools and begins to thicken, rather than simply blending once and leaving it.

  • How much can I add to a cream base?
    For this DIY, keep your combined additions to around 10% or less. Some ingredients have much lower individual usage limits, so always check those too. Adding too much can thin the cream, destabilise the emulsion or interfere with preservation.

  • Does customising the base change its shelf life? Do I need to add more preservatives?
    Yes, it can. The finished cream generally takes on the shelf life of its least stable addition, and water-based additions may also affect preservation. While formulations are made with customisations in mind, keep customisations within the suggested limit, don’t automatically add extra preservative, and discard the cream if its smell, colour, texture or appearance changes.
Cocoa Butter (Raw & Unrefined) - Essentially Natural

Cocoa Butter (Raw & Unrefined) - Essentially Natural

R 229.00
OliveM 1000 (O/W Emulsifier) - Essentially Natural

OliveM 1000 (O/W Emulsifier) - Essentially Natural

R 49.00
Vegetable Cetyl Alcohol (Thickener & Texture Enhancer) - Essentially Natural

Vegetable Cetyl Alcohol (Thickener & Texture Enhancer) - Essentially Natural

R 79.00

Aiden van Wyk

Aiden is an eccentric explorer of ideas, endlessly curious and always eager to share his discoveries. His mind is a maze of rabbit holes, each leading to new insights (and occasionally pure chaos). In all honesty - he's a little impulsive, he's easily distracted, delightfully scatterbrained, and unapologetically himself. But through every deep dive and misstep, his mission remains the same:

To make the world a teeny tiny little better, one lesson at a time :)