Last weekend I made myself the most luxurious winter skin cream,
and it felt so great on my uncomfortably dry winter skin, I want
to suggest you do the same. My skin is now so soft, smooth, and
silky even my daughter told me it felt nice after touching my hand.
(She is 13, so you can only imagine how glorious my skin had to
feel for her to offer up a compliment!)

Once you have all the ingredients, this cream formula will only
take you about 15 minutes to make, and 10 of those minutes are
spent melting the wax and oils. I’ve combined two of my favorite
skin creams from my book Better Basics for the Home for this
formula—one is my basic skin cream, and the other is
adapted from the Mayan Flora de Mayo “Cream.”

The inclusion of royal jelly, from the Mayan formula, makes this
cream powerfully healing for the skin. Royal jelly is a secretion of
honeybees, and one of the most nutritious substances known.

Some notes on the ingredients:

Oils: Choose the blended oils according to what feels great on your skin. It is worth the money to buy some sample oils from the health food store and trying them to see what feels right. For my 40-going-on-50 skin type, nothing feels as great as apricot kernel oil, but if I used that alone in this cream it would be too greasy, so I combine it with grapeseed oil, a much less greasy oil, and some jojoba, a liquid wax that never goes rancid. What feels right for you is what you should choose.

Royal Jelly: Buy active royal jelly found in the refrigerator section of many health food stores.

Beeswax: Most health food stores carry beeswax. If you are not able to find any locally you can buy it online from herbalist supply companies.

Grapefruit seed extract: Used as a preservative, and available in health food stores.

WINTER SKIN CREAM
4 ounces oil (2 1/2 blended oils, 1 1/2 ounces coconut oil or cocoa butter)
1/2 ounce beeswax
4 ounces distilled water
1/3 teaspoon grapefruit seed extract
1/2 teaspoon royal jelly

Note that using distilled water is important to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination.

Combine the oils and beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat. Once the wax is melted, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, and add the water. Blend with an electric blender until creamy. Add the grapefruit seed extract and royal jelly, stir until fully blended.

Makes 1 cup. Store in a glass jar with a screw top. This formula will keep in the refrigerator up to six months, but discard if you see mold.