lotion making secret

For Christmas, I received kiwi scented lotion from Brooke and Micah and Jr. It smells awesome! I have wanted to capture the smell so I could have it longer that just that one bottle. It is one of those consumables that I don't use because as soon as I begin to use it, it is gone. But, I end up never enjoying it because I know the enjoyment will dissipate too quickly. It is a personal conundrum and I am getting over it.
The feeling reminds me of traveling. I would hate the beginning of a trip because I knew it would be over before I was ready for it to end. Sitting in our family van, leaving the driveway, knowing all too clearly that I would see that driveway again before I was ready to see it. I would almost ruin my adventure in the anticipation that it was going to end. So, I would tell myself, "Obviously, it will end! Why not enjoy it?" Then, in vain attempts at enjoyment in trying to experience everything, I would overdo it and forget to actually enjoy myself! Again, I repeat, I am getting over it!
Back to lotion, I decided to make the lotion recipe from my mom and use the kiwi lotion instead of baby lotion. WOW! It totally worked! The vitamin e skin care cream behaves like an unscented base (knowing that, I am going to try small amounts of essential oils next). Now, I have triple the amount of the good scent and even got to add a few extra ingredients.
I added 1 tablespoon each of vitamin e oil, castor oil, and solid cocoa butter and broke out the stick blender. (I mean, come on! A stick blender is just so fun to use and there isn't enough cooking reasons to use it.) After whipping it up to a nice, thick fluff, I began packing it back into the cream pots. What a messy situation; hands all covered in lotion as I scooped it in the containers. While doing this, I felt bits of solid cocoa throughout the mixture. That was not going to work! Argh, put all the lotion back into one of my many plastic, arthritis approved Folgers container and think of a solution. Ah ha!
It was so easy, and I was so glad to be using that coffee container! I got my big craft-use stainless steel stock pot and heated some water. Into that went the lotion in its container. Best part, the plastic container floated on the water perfectly and the depth of the stock pot kept it upright. I could stick blend up the mixture as it approached body temp.
Once the cocoa butter bits were melted, I prepped to pack the final pots. Even better: the temperature made it just thin enough to easily pour, plus it didn't stick to the container! The Folgers container and stick blender cleaned each other with a bit of dish detergent and water.
I love it when a problem turns into a new, better way of doing future projects.
All future lotion projects will now be done with my Folgers bain marie!