An all-natural recipe to make at home

I’ve been gathering St. John’s wort flower blossoms over the past few weeks on biodynamic flower days on dry sunny mornings when the pollen is ready to be released and the bees are humming about. The herb is a midsummer flower and one of the many so called ‘St John’s Worts’ – herbs that flowered around the time of St. John’s day and the summer solstice. In Culpeper’s words ‘it is a singular wound herb’, and has a very long tradition for use within preparations for skin care.

Using almond oil as the fixed oil solvent the flowers are infused in the oil over a period of weeks and the oil gently turns a beautiful red pink as the chemicals within perform their special magic.

The oil can then be used in various preparations at home.

Here’s my oil infusion from last year and I’ve used it to make a fresh face cream for myself.

The recipe also contains rose water - floral water obtained by process of distillation of rose petals gathered in the herb garden. Don’t worry if you haven’t this in your store chest, you can buy floral water or make a herbal tea infusion from rose petals or hips.

Ingredients :

20ml vitamin E oil

40ml St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) oil

30ml safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) oil

15 grams beeswax (sourced from happy bees)

2 teaspoons plant based emulsifying wax (if you use beads its easy to add a bit more if required for a thicker consistency)

120ml Rose petal hydrosol

Rose geranium pure essential oil – approx 10 drops

Frankincense pure essential oil – approx 8 drops

Method:

place the oils and waxes in a heatproof container within a Bain Marie and gently heat to melt the wax.
Place the hydrosol in a separate container within another Bain Marie and gently heat to a similar temperature as the oil and wax.

3. Allow both to cool a little and then slowly, using a hand whisk, combine the oil/wax liquid into the hydrosol (floral rose water).

4. Once combined but not solidified, add the pure essential oils and continue to whisk.

5. As the cream begins to thicken up pour it into sterilised glass jars. It should fill 2 x 120ml containers.

6. Label, date and store in the fridge.

And there you have a daily moisturising cream full of ingredients formulated to feel great, nourish your skin and make your heart sing.

If you are interested in workshops then please do get in touch via out contact page above, or directly via sarah.frances@zen.co.uk. You can also follow what we are up to over on instagram @herberandco

Please note: Always do a 24hr patch test with any homemade external recipes to test against skin reactions.

Rose & Hypericum 'Homemade natural moisturising cream'