I’m in LOVE with these sugar scrub cubes! They are so easy to make, smell incredible, and leave my skin feeling silky smooth. Here’s just a few of the reasons I’m addicted to these little sugar scrub cubes:
exfoliating– Sugar is a gentle, but powerful, exfoliator that polishes my skin, sloughs away dead skin cells, and leaves it feeling soft and silky smooth.
moisturizing– These little cubes have a triple punch of moisturizers- shea butter (one of the best moisturizers out there), jojoba oil (amazing for skin), and glycerin (which helps to keep all that great moisture trapped in my skin).
antioxidants– nourish skin and helps fight premature aging
single use— Each little sugar scrub cube is good for one use. Just grab a cube on your way into the shower. It couldn’t be easier.
color and scent them any way you want– Because you’re making these yourself, you can customize them however you want. Make a batch sea blue and use a lavender, lime, and spearmint essential oils for a calming and uplifting aroma that smells like a sea breeze. Or color them yellow with a mix of rosemary and lemon essential oils for an energizing scent that makes you looks forward to your morning shower. Or color them a light purple and scent with lavender and cedarwood essential oils for relaxing sugar scrub to use before bed.
super cute for gifting- You can wrap up each cube individually or package up an entire jar. Either way, your friends will love this thoughtful (and very useful) gift!
What’s in These Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes?
melt & pour glycerin soap: Not only is this soap moisturizing, it’s what makes “exfoliating sugar scrub cubes” solid. The soap turns it from a traditional sugar scrub into individual cubes that hold their shape.
shea butter: Intense moisturizer for dry skin, high in vitamins A and E as well as essential fatty acids. note: unrefined shea is best, but be careful of which brand you buy. Many brands of shea butter can have a strong unpleasant smell. click here for the shea butter I buy. It’s creamy, moisturizing, and has a nice, subtle scent. Other brands of shea butter can have a strong, kind of “funny” smell, not this one. If you’re not a fan of other shea butters, give this one a try. I think you’ll love it! I do.
skin-nourishing liquid oil (pick ONE of these): jojoba oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rose hip seed oil, apricot kernel oil, or sunflower oil
vitamin e oil: A great antioxidant, helps fight premature aging of skin, restores and rejuvenates dehydrated skin
essential oil: Scent and great therapeutic benefits. Depending on which essential oils you choose, you can make sugar scrub cubes that will be energizing, calming, soothing, fight cellulite, and more.
organic cane sugar: Sugar is what provides the gentle, but power exfoliation. Sugar sloughs away dead skin cells, polishes the skin, and leaves it feeling soft and smooth.
mica powder: Mica powder colors soap. It comes in lots of wonderful colors!
How to Make Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes {with essential oils}
step 1: cut up 1 bar (1/2 pound) of melt & pour glycerin soap into small chunks
step 2: add the soap to a large glass measuring cup or glass bowl
step 3: melt soap using a double boiler or melt in microwave (cook for 30 seconds, stir, then if needed, cook again for 30 seconds)
step 4: add 1/4 cup of shea butter and stir until it is completely melted and well mixed
step 5: add 1/2 cup of jojoba oil (or you can use another skin-nurturing oil like avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rose hip seed oil, apricot kernel oil, or sunflower oil)
step 6: add a few drops of vitamin E oil
step 7: add 30 drops of essential oil {use your favorite essential oil or see below for recipes for essential oil blends you may want to try– there are recipes for calming, uplifting, energizing, relaxing, and help improving cellulite}
step 8: add 2 cups of organic cane sugar
note: once you add the sugar, the mixture will start to set up very quickly. Make sure that you have your coloring and mold all ready to go so that once you add the sugar, you can add the coloring, mix well, and scoop into molds before the mixture sets up too much.
step 9 (optional): add 1/4 teaspoon mica for coloring
step 10: stir well, making sure in get down to the corners and the very bottom
step 11: scoop sugar-scrub mixture into mold and smooth out with the back of a spoon
I used molds which are 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch tall (find them here or here). You’ll see in a later step that I cut each large square into 9 little cubes which end up being 1 inch by 1 inch by 1 inch. I think this is the perfect size for these solid sugar scrub cubes, but you can use any silicone mold that you have and cut them into a similar size.
step 12 (optional): sprinkle a little extra sugar onto the top of each mold to give the sugar-scrub a little extra shimmer and sparkle
step 13: let sugar-scrub cool completely and then unmold- you can speed up the cooling by popping the sugar-scrub into the freezer for about 30 minutes
step 14: cut each sugar scrub square into 9 little squares. To do this you’ll make 4 cuts in total, 2 cuts on each side.
step 15 (optional): roll sugar scrubs in a bowl of sugar to add more sparkle and shimmer
step 16: store in an airtight container
Here’s the Recipe for Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes {with essential oils}
1 bar (1/2 pound) of melt & pour glycerin soap
1/4 cup of shea butter
1/2 cup of jojoba oil (or you can use another skin-nurturing oil like avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rose hip seed oil, apricot kernel oil, or sunflower oil)
a few drops of vitamin E oil
30 drops of essential oil
2 cups of organic cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon mica for coloring
And Here’s a recap of the Step-by-Step Instructions
step 1: cut up 1 bar (1/2 pound) of melt & pour glycerin soap into small chunks
step 2: add the soap to a large glass measuring cup or glass bowl
step 3: melt soap using a double boiler or melt in microwave (cook for 30 seconds, stir, then if needed, cook again for 30 seconds)
step 4: add 1/4 cup of shea butter and stir until it is completely melted and well mixed
step 5: add 1/2 cup of jojoba oil (or you can use another skin-nurturing oil like avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rose hip seed oil, apricot kernel oil, or sunflower oil)
step 6: add a few drops of vitamin E oil
step 7: add 30 drops of essential oil {use your favorite essential oil or see below for recipes for essential oil blends you may want to try}
step 8: add 2 cups of organic cane sugar
note: once you add the sugar, the mixture will start to set up very quickly. Make sure that you have your coloring and mold all ready to go so that once you add the sugar, you can add the coloring, mix well, and scoop into molds before the mixture sets up too much.
step 9 (optional): add 1/4 teaspoon mica for coloring
step 10: stir well, making sure in get down to the corners and the very bottom
step 11: scoop sugar-scrub mixture into mold and smooth out with the back of a spoon
I used molds which are 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch tall (find them here or here). You’ll see in a later step that I cut each large square into 9 little cubes which end up being 1 inch by 1 inch by 1 inch. I think this is the perfect size for these solid sugar scrub cubes, but you can use any silicone mold that you have and cut them into a similar size.
step 12 (optional): sprinkle a little extra sugar onto the top of each mold to give the sugar-scrub a little extra shimmer and sparkle
step 13: let sugar-scrub cool completely and then unmold- you can speed up the cooling by popping the sugar-scrub into the freezer for about 30 minutes
step 14: cut each sugar scrub square into 9 little squares. To do this you’ll make 4 cuts in total, 2 cuts on each side. This recipe makes 36 cubes; that’s enough for 36 showers.
step 15 (optional): roll sugar scrubs in a bowl of sugar to add more sparkle and shimmer
step 16: store in an airtight container
How to Use Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes
Use one cube per shower — Wash hair and skin as normal, then before leaving shower, rub a sugar scrub cube over skin using small circular motions. Focus efforts on arms, legs, and back. After scrubbing for a minute or so, I smoosh the cube in my hand. This exposes more of the sugar and increases the exfoliation.
rinse well to remove all traces of sugar from your skin
pat skin dry with a soft towel
Ideas for Colors and Essential Oil Blends for Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes
color them sea blue and use a 12 drops lavender essential oil, 12 drops lime essential oil, and 6 drops spearmint essential oil for a calming and uplifting aroma that smells like a sea breeze.
color them yellow with a mix of 10 drops rosemary essential oil and 20 drops lemon essential oil for an energizing scent that makes you looks forward to your morning shower.
color them a light purple and scent with 20 drops lavender essential oil and 10 drops cedarwood essential oil for relaxing sugar scrub to use before bed.
color them pink and scent with 12 drops grapefruit essential oil, 4 drops cypress essential oil, 12 drops juniper berry essential oil, and 4 drops rosemary essential oil to help improve cellulite
color them peach and scent with 10 drops orange essential oil, 10 drops bergamot essential oil, 5 drops ylang ylang essential oil, and 5 drops lavender essential oil for an uplifting aroma
Where to Get Supplies to Make Exfoliating Sugar Scrub Cubes
silicone molds that are 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch tall — find them here or here
shea butter – This is my “go to” shea butter. I love how it makes deodorants and lotions so smooth and moisturizing. Just what my dry skin needs more of!
jojoba oil , avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rose hip seed oil, apricot kernel oil, or sunflower oil – these are the ones I use. Most are organic, all natural, and of the highest quality while still at a reasonable price.
vitamin E oil – This is the best vitamin e oil that I’ve found. While many vitamin e oils are only a tiny amount of vitamin e diluted with a lost cost, low quality oil. This one is my favorite because it is a high concentration of vitamin e (15,000 IU) in high quality, organic jojoba, avocado, and rice bran oil.
Hope you have fun making and using these sugar scrub cubes! It’s one of my new favorite essential oil DIYs, and I think it might become one of yours, too.
You might also like these other recipes and posts on using essential oils…
Soft & Silky Whipped Body Butter
DIY face serum for your skin type {dry, oily, sensitive, mature, acne-prone, and normal}
3-Ingredient DIY Peppermint Foot Cream {to refresh tired feet}
31 Genius Essential Oil Tips & Hacks
How to Make Bubbling Bath Salts with essential oils
20 Favorite Roller Bottle Recipes {with free printable labels}
DIY Sugar Scrub with essential oils {for the softest, smoothest skin ever}
Interested in more recipes, tips, and ideas for how to use essential oils?
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