How to Package and Label Your Handmade Lotion
So you’ve made this wonderful lotion and now you are ready for the fun part. Giving it to your friends (or selling it to your customers)! You can’t just hand them your pyrex cup full of lotion though. You need some swanky containers with fabulous labels! Believe it or not, if you are just wanting to make a few lotions for your friends, you can get some pretty nice bottles with flip-top caps at Walmart in the travel-size toiletries area of the Health & Beauty section. However, if you are ready to start selling to customers, you’ll need more than just a few bottles.
Here are some of my favorite container resources if you need more options (I have ordered from all of these before):
Bayousome.com in GA
SKS Bottle in NY
Majestic Mountain Sage in UT
ED Luce Packaging in CA
Jody’s Soap and Creations in IL
Once you have your containers, you might be wondering how to get the lotion from the pyrex cup into the small opening of your bottle. Easy! I recommend using a ziplock freezer bag (quart or gallon, depending on the size of your batch). Just snip off a corner, and squeeze it in! If you are selling your lotion, be sure to weigh the amount that goes into the bottle so you can put that number on your labels.
About labeling. You could go to the office supply store and get some labels. But they probably won’t hold up very well. My all-time favorite place to order labels from is called Labels By the Sheet because it’s just what it says. Need one sheet of labels? Then order one sheet! Need a whole case of labels? You’ll get a better price. They have every size, every color, inkjet or laser, waterproof or non-waterproof. Inexpensive shipping. What more could you possibly want?
Another thing about labeling. If you plan to sell your lotion, there are some rules about what information needs to be on your label. Marie Gale has a wonderful book with easy-to-understand information about how to be legal about your labels called Soap and Cosmetic Labeling.
Need someone to help you with a label template? I have a couple of sources for that too! Pam at FC Designs does wonderful work and is very helpful and friendly. I would also recommend checking out the label service at Majestic Mountain Sage. You can see what the owner drew up as an idea for a label, and what the label service came up with here.
Finally, I will reiterate that if you are planning to sell your lotion, you should have it challenge tested to be sure there aren’t any nasties in it, and your preservative is effective. Again, I can recommend Dr. Cindy Jones of Sagescript Institute to test your lotions for you.
This post is the final part of our lotion making series. If you missed the tutorial, you can start with the introduction, and work your way through. Comments are appreciated, so if this information has been helpful to you, please let me know!
May 21st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I always wanted to have my lotion tested but didn’t know where to start. Thank you for all of the helpful links!!
May 21st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
You are welcome!!
May 21st, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I got the butter! It is so smooth and smells yummy. Thank you again. I am going to write about it in a post coming up.
I was wondering how you packaged it, lol.
Midwest Mommy’s last blog post..Sometimes It’s Hard
May 25th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Sorry if this gets posted twice. Lost connection the first time!
I just wanted to thank you for the great tutorial. I also wonder if you can help me out. I had tried to make a couple batches of a recipe I had found. I would be mixing my lotion, at first just for a couple minutes, but then constantly while it cooled, and everything would look great. But as the emulsion cooled, the liquid simply came crashing out of solution. The result was about half the quantity of water being left over, and a nasty thick lotion glob floating in it. Do you know why this would have happened?
.5 oz shea butter
.5 oz beeswax
1 oz jojoba
6 oz water
+ additives and preservative
Thanks so much!
Rindle
May 25th, 2010 at 11:41 am
From what I understand, beeswax is not a stable emulsifier on its own. I’ve seen recipes that combine beeswax and borax as a system, and even those can be tricky. If you really want great results and easy lotion, I HIGHLY recommend using emulsifying wax. In fact, you could sub it straight out for the amount of beeswax you have been using, and have a really nice thick lotion.