Making your own face moisturizer comes down to three building blocks: a butter or wax for richness, a carrier oil for absorption, and, optionally, a few drops of essential oil for scent and skin benefits. Get that ratio right and you can skip the long ingredient lists on store-bought creams entirely. Below are eight recipes built around that formula, along with the skin-type cautions that most DIY guides leave out.
What Goes Into a Homemade Moisturizer
Shea Butter (or Cocoa or Mango Butter)
Shea butter is the most common base for a reason: it forms a protective barrier that helps skin hold onto moisture, and it carries antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (Cleveland Clinic, “6 Shea Butter Benefits for Skin”). One caution worth repeating that most DIY guides skip: dermatologists note it can clog pores for some people, so those with acne-prone skin may want to patch test before using it across the whole face. Cocoa butter and mango butter work as substitutes with a slightly different scent and texture.
Carrier Oil
Jojoba, argan, sweet almond, avocado, and rosehip oil all add nourishment without the richness of a straight butter. Jojoba is the closest in structure to skin's own natural oil, which is why it shows up in most of the recipes below.
Essential Oil (Optional)
A few drops of lavender, frankincense, rose, chamomile, or tea tree oil add scent along with some of their own skin benefits. Lemon and other citrus oils are the one to watch: they're phototoxic, meaning skin treated with them can react to sunlight, so save citrus-scented blends for nighttime use (Tisserand Institute, “Phototoxicity: Essential Oils, Sun and Safety”).
8 DIY Face Moisturizer Recipes
1. Ultra Light Face Moisturizer
- 1 cup floral hydrosol
- Jojoba oil, 3/4 cup (sweet almond oil works too)
- 1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
- 4 tablespoons cocoa butter
- 2 tablespoons aloe vera gel
Whisk the aloe vera gel and hydrosol together in a bowl and set it somewhere warm. Separately, melt the beeswax, cocoa butter, and jojoba oil in a double boiler (or microwave in short bursts), stirring until smooth. Pour the melted mixture into a blender and let it cool to room temperature before blending on the lowest setting for about ten seconds. With the blender still running, slowly add the aloe and hydrosol mixture and keep blending until it reaches a lotion consistency. Store in a pump bottle in a cool spot; it keeps for up to three weeks, since there's no preservative in this one.
2. Soothing Moisturizer for Irritated Skin
- 1/2 cup argan oil
- 2 tablespoons sweet almond oil
- Carrot seed oil, 8 drops
- Chamomile oil, 5 drops
Combine the argan and sweet almond oil in a container, then blend in the carrot seed and chamomile oil. Store somewhere cool and dark. This one is the gentlest of the eight, which makes it a reasonable place to start if your skin reacts easily to new products.
3. Day Cream for Dry Skin
- 4 tablespoons sweet almond oil
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon sea buckthorn oil
- 10 drops essential oil of choice
Mix all the oils together and store in an airtight container, shaking before each use. A few drops massaged into the skin goes a long way. Sea buckthorn has a deep orange tint, so don't be surprised if this one stains light fabric.
4. Anti-Aging Moisturizer
- 2 tablespoons argan oil
- 1 tablespoon rosehip oil
- Carrot seed oil, 10 drops
- Lavender essential oil, 5 drops
- Rose essential oil, 5 drops
Mix everything in a container, store in a cool, dark place, and shake before use since the oils will separate over time. Rosehip and carrot seed oil are the two ingredients doing most of the work here.
5. Rose-Hibiscus Moisturizer
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup argan oil
- 2 tablespoons organic hibiscus powder
- Organic rose petals, chopped (optional)
- Rose essential oil, 5 drops
Melt the coconut oil in a double boiler, stir in the argan oil, then add the hibiscus powder and rose petals if using. Let the mixture sit for two hours or overnight, then strain it through cheesecloth into your storage container and stir in the rose essential oil. One thing worth flagging that the original version of this recipe didn't mention: coconut oil has a comedogenic rating of 4 out of 5, meaning dermatologists consider it fairly likely to clog pores, particularly on oily or acne-prone skin (Advanced Dermatology, P.C., “Is Coconut Oil Good for Your Face?”). It's a better fit for dry skin than for breakout-prone skin.
6. Moisturizer for Smooth Skin
- 1 cup aloe vera gel
- 3/4 ounce beeswax
- 1/4 cup almond oil
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- Grapefruit essential oil, 10 drops
Melt the beeswax with the coconut and almond oil, then pour into a blender and let it cool for one to two hours. Separately mix the aloe vera gel with the grapefruit oil, then blend it into the cooled oil mixture, starting slow and increasing speed as it whips into a fluffy, cream-like texture. Same coconut oil caution as above applies here.
7. All-Natural Daily Face Moisturizer
- 1/2 cup organic coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter (or shea butter)
- Frankincense oil, 7 drops
- Roman chamomile essential oil, 5 drops
- Vitamin E oil, 1 teaspoon
Melt the cocoa butter and coconut oil together, remove from heat, and let cool for twenty to thirty minutes. Stir in the frankincense, chamomile, and vitamin E oil, then refrigerate for about ten minutes until it's partially solid. Whip for a few minutes until it reaches a butter-like consistency. Stored in a cool, dark place, this one holds up for six to twelve months, longer than most of the others here since there's no water content to spoil.
8. Homemade Face Lotion for Night
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup shea butter
- Lemon oil, 2 drops
- Lavender essential oil, 4 drops
- Tea tree oil, 2 drops
- Frankincense oil, 2 drops
Melt the shea butter and coconut oil together until fully liquid, then let it cool for fifteen to twenty minutes before stirring in the oils. Refrigerate for about ten minutes to help it partially solidify, then whip with an electric mixer until it reaches a lotion-like texture. This one is genuinely a night-only cream: the lemon oil is phototoxic, so this needs to go on before bed, not before you head outside.
Why Make Your Own Moisturizer
• It's fast. Most of these recipes take fifteen to twenty minutes of active time, mostly spent waiting for something to melt or cool.
• You control every ingredient, which matters if you're avoiding a specific allergen or preservative.
• It's genuinely cheaper per ounce than most department store creams once you've bought the base ingredients.
Related Reading
For more on building a DIY skincare routine, see DIY recipes for skincare, and for a deeper look at pairing oils with butters, how to use essential oils in body butter. If you want a primer on carrier oils specifically, the Skin Care with Carrier Oils guide breaks down which oil suits which skin type in more depth than we cover here.
Final Takeaway
A homemade face moisturizer really comes down to a butter or wax, a carrier oil, and an optional essential oil for scent. Shea butter and coconut oil are the two most common bases, but both carry a real caveat dermatologists flag: shea can clog pores for some people, and coconut oil's comedogenic rating makes it a better fit for dry skin than acne-prone skin. Whichever recipe you start with, patch test first and keep citrus-oil blends for nighttime use only.
