The Ice Cream Face Cream

Weekly DIY

The Ice Cream Face Cream

This week’s DIY uses just three ingredients (plus water) to make a thick, creamy moisturiser that looks almost like ice cream! It's beginner friendly - the only real trick is using enough heat and a good blender to bring it all together.

5 - 10 minutes
Beginner - Intermediate
Concerns
Dry Skin • Tight Skin • Damaged Skin Barrier
Benefits
Hydrates • Nourishes • Softens
Format
Cream
Shelf life
Use within a week and store in the fridge.

What You'll Need

Soy Lecithin
1 tablespoon
A naturally derived emulsifier, giving the cream its thick, rich, almost ice-cream-like texture - can even be used in W/O formulas

Mango Butter
2 generous tablespoons
A vitamin rich butter that helps soften and nourish dry skin without that heavy feeling

Cucumber Glycerite
1 tablespoon
Adds a hydrating boost, helping draw moisture to the skin while making this rich cream feel more refreshing and skin-calming

How to Make

  1. Add your mango butter and soy lecithin to a heat-safe bowl or small pot. Warm gently until the butter is fully melted and the lecithin has loosened into a smooth, glossy mixture. It should be hot and pourable, not thick and sticky. If using a thermometer, aim for around 70–75°C.
  2. In a separate cup, have a cup of freshly boiled water and mix in the glycerite. Let it stand briefly while you melt the mango butter and lecithin - it should still be hot and steaming when you blend it in.
  3. Start blending the melted butter and lecithin with a stick blender or strong milk frother.
  4. Slowly add the hot water mixture a little at a time while blending. Don’t pour it all in at once - lecithin is easier to wrestle when you give it time to take up the water.
  5. Once all the water has been added, continue blending for 2–5 minutes, until thick, pale, and creamy.
  6. Stir occasionally as it cools.
  7. Once cool, add preservative if using and store in your 300g tin / jar.

How to Use

Guidance

Use as the final step in your routine, or before you apply sunblock.

Make It Yours

  • To Extend Shelf Life:
    Add ½ teaspoon geogard 221 to extend shelf life to 6 months.
  • For A More Affordable Edition:
    Switch the mango butter with shea, and the glycerite with vegetable glycerine.
  • For A Classic Glow Face Cream:
    Switch 1 tablespoon of mango butter with rosehip oil at step 2.
  • For An Extra Hydrating Face Cream:
    Add 1 teaspoon betaine at step 2.

Pro Tips & Storage

  • Important: This formula is simple, but it does need proper heat and high-speed blending. Soy lecithin can form a false emulsion, where the cream looks blended at first but separates on the skin or in the jar. Use a stick blender or strong milk frother - a spoon or fork won’t do it.

  • For scent, add a few drops of your favourite smelling essential oil. (Avoid any citrus oils for the face, as they can make skin more sensitive to sunlight).

  • If the cream looks thick but separates into droplets or feels sticky on skin, it may not have been heated or blended enough. To save it reheat the whole thing and blend again. Keep blending with a stick/soup blender until a smooth emulsion forms - may take a few minutes but it'll work :)

  • You may find it easier to clean equipment with paper and cloth than hot water, since the oil clings. Some prefer to wipe oily tools with a paper towel first, then wash with hot soapy water.

  • Made with shea butter and vegetable glycerine, this recipe works out to roughly R25 per batch when you buy the smallest available sizes. That excludes preservative, water, and packaging, but still gives you a generous jar of thick, creamy moisturiser for a fraction of the usual price.
Essentially Natural Liquid Soy Lecithin

Essentially Natural Liquid Soy Lecithin

R 39.00
Essentially Natural Mango Butter

Essentially Natural Mango Butter

R 129.00
Essentially Natural Cucumber Glycerite (Cucumis Sativus Extract)

Essentially Natural Cucumber Glycerite (Cucumis Sativus Extract)

R 49.00

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 :)