The Ultimate Creamy Vanilla Cinnamon Body Butter

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Last updated on September 10, 2026 by Jess Healey
Originally published on March 25, 2019

There is something about cooler weather that makes me want to put body butter on absolutely everything.

This creamy vanilla cinnamon body butter has been a Pronounce favorite for years, and for good reason. It’s rich and buttery, whips into the dreamiest texture, and has that warm vanilla-cinnamon scent that feels especially perfect for fall and winter.

This body butter is made primarily from rich plant butters and oils rather than a traditional lotion-style water phase. Vanilla botanical extract and a touch of cinnamon leaf essential oil give it its cozy scent…with the cinnamon essential oil completely optional if you prefer to leave it out.

And yes, we’ve made one small change to my original recipe. I’ve left out the ground cinnamon I used years ago. The cinnamon leaf essential oil provides plenty of warm, spicy character on its own, and simplifying the formula makes more sense to me these days.

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What Makes Body Butter Different From Lotion?

Body butter and lotion can both help moisturize your skin, but they’re formulated differently.

Lotions are typically emulsions made with both water and oil-based ingredients. This particular body butter is anhydrous, meaning there’s no water phase… it’s made primarily from rich plant butters and oils.

That gives it a thicker, richer feel and makes a little go a long way. I especially love using body butter on hands, feet, elbows, knees, legs, and anywhere else that tends to feel dry.

If you’d like to geek out a little more about the different types of plant butters, how they behave, and how to choose one for your own DIY skincare recipes, head over to my Understanding Body Butters and How to Use Them in Skincare guide.

Key Ingredients

Shea butter makes up part of the rich, creamy base of this recipe. It’s a solid plant butter that softens easily with body heat and helps create the heavier, more protective feel we expect from a body butter.

Combined with cocoa butter and coconut oil, it gives the finished recipe plenty of richness without requiring a long ingredient list.

Cocoa butter is firmer than shea butter and helps give this whipped body butter structure.

It also brings its own naturally warm, slightly chocolatey aroma to the recipe, which happens to play very nicely with vanilla and cinnamon.

Coconut oil softens the blend of solid butters and helps create that smooth, melt-on-contact texture.

At cooler room temperatures it’s generally solid, but it melts readily against warm skin. That makes it especially useful here, where we’re trying to create something rich enough to scoop from a jar but easy to spread once you start applying it.

There’s only a small amount of sweet almond oil in this recipe, but it helps soften the finished texture and makes the heavier butters easier to spread.

It’s one of many carrier oils you can use in DIY skincare, and if you’d like to learn more about how different oils behave in formulations, my How to Choose Carrier Oils guide goes much deeper.

Small safety note: Sweet almond oil is derived from almonds. Anyone with a known almond or tree-nut allergy should talk with their healthcare professional about appropriate topical products and substitutions.

Vanilla botanical extract gives this body butter its sweet, creamy vanilla scent—and honestly, that’s its entire job here. It smells really freaking good!!

Unlike the culinary vanilla extract used in the original version of this recipe, we’re using a vanilla botanical extract intended for topical body care. It pairs beautifully with the natural chocolatey aroma of cocoa butter and the warm spice of optional cinnamon leaf essential oil.

The result is cozy, warm, and just a little dessert-like, which is exactly what I want from a fall-and-winter body butter.

Note: Vanilla extracts can vary depending on how they’re produced, so be sure the product you choose is intended for topical use and follow the manufacturer’s recommended dilution guidelines.

Cinnamon leaf essential oil adds the spicy cinnamon note to this body butter, but it’s completely optional.

Cinnamon leaf essential oil can irritate or sensitize skin, which is why I use only a small amount in this recipe. If you have sensitive skin, haven’t used cinnamon leaf essential oil before, or simply prefer to leave it out, skip it. You’ll still have a lovely vanilla body butter.

Patch test the finished product before applying it more broadly, and discontinue use if you experience irritation.

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Creamy Vanilla Cinnamon Body Butter

Jess Healey
This rich, whipped body butter combines shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and sweet almond oil with warm vanilla and optional cinnamon leaf essential oil. It’s especially lovely during the cooler months when you’re craving something a little richer for dry skin.
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Equipment

  • 1 Double boiler — I make my own with a glass bowl over a simmering pot of shallow water.
  • 1 Whisk
  • 1 Hand mixer
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • 1 Spatula
  • Clean, dry airtight container(s) – this recipe makes approximately 16 oz.

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Tbsp Shea butter
  • 6 Tbsp Cocoa butter
  • ½ cup Coconut oil
  • 1 tsp Sweet almond oil
  • 2 tsp Vanilla botanical extract – suitable for topical use*
  • ¼ tsp Cinnamon leaf essential oil – optional*

Instructions
 

  • Melt the butters. Add the shea butter and cocoa butter to your double boiler and gently heat until melted.
  • Add the coconut oil. Stir in the coconut oil and continue heating just until everything is completely melted. Whisk gently to combine.
  • Add the sweet almond oil. Remove from the heat and stir in the sweet almond oil.
  • Chill. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for about one hour, or until it has firmed up but isn't completely solid. You're looking for roughly the texture of softened butter.
  • Whip it. Remove from the refrigerator and whip with a hand mixer until the body butter becomes light and creamy.
  • Add the scent. Add the vanilla botanical extract and, if using, the cinnamon leaf essential oil. Whip again until thoroughly incorporated.
  • Jar it up. Spoon the finished body butter into clean, completely dry airtight containers.
  • Let it set. The body butter may seem a little soft immediately after whipping but will continue to firm as it rests.

Notes

  • Vanilla botanical extract: I’m using a vanilla botanical extract specifically intended for topical use rather than the culinary vanilla extract found in the original version of this recipe. The product I use recommends a 2–3% topical dilution. Vanilla products vary, so check the directions for your specific product before substituting. This ingredient is optional.  Plant Therapy Cinnamon leaf essential oil
  • Cinnamon leaf essential oil can cause irritation or sensitization, so keep the amount low and don’t substitute cinnamon bark essential oil—the two have different chemical compositions and dermal-use limits. Cinnamon leaf EO has a recommended dermal maximum of 0.6%. Tisserand Institute
  • Patch test the finished body butter before using it more broadly, particularly if you have sensitive skin or are using cinnamon leaf essential oil for the first time.
  • Prefer vanilla only? Simply omit the cinnamon leaf essential oil. You’ll have a creamy vanilla body butter instead.
Tried this recipe?Let us know all about it!

How to Apply Body Butter

Body butter is rich, so start with a little… you can always grab more.

Scoop a small amount from the jar and warm it between your hands until it begins to melt. Massage it into your skin anywhere you’d like a little extra richness, especially hands, feet, elbows, knees, arms, and legs.

One of my favorite times to use body butter is right after a shower or bath, while my skin is still slightly damp. Applying moisturizer to damp skin helps trap some of that water before it evaporates, which is especially nice during the dry fall and winter months. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends this approach for dry skin, too. American Academy of Dermatology

Because this recipe is made primarily from butters and oils, expect it to feel richer than a typical lotion. Give it a minute to melt into your skin, and remember, you really don’t need much.

Tip: If you’re using the cinnamon leaf essential oil, patch test your finished body butter before applying it more broadly.

vanilla cinnamon body butter ingredients - Pronounce Skincare & Herbal Boutique

Storage & Shelf Life

Store your body butter in a clean, dry, airtight container away from excessive heat, direct sunlight, and moisture.

Because this recipe doesn’t use a traditional broad-spectrum preservative, be especially careful not to introduce water into the jar. Use clean, dry hands or a small cosmetic spatula when scooping out your body butter, and avoid leaving the container open in a steamy shower or bathroom.

The FDA notes that cosmetics can become contaminated through storage conditions and everyday use, including dipping fingers into a product, and specifically recommends keeping cosmetic containers clean and not adding water.

Watch your body butter for changes over time. If you notice an unexpected change in smell, color, texture, or appearance, or any sign that water or contamination has made its way into the jar, discard it and make a fresh batch.

Body Butter FAQs

Absolutely. The cinnamon leaf essential oil is included for its warm, spicy aroma, not because the body butter needs it to work.

Simply leave it out for a creamy vanilla body butter. This is also the option I’d choose if your skin tends to be sensitive to fragranced products.

I don’t recommend it.

The original version of this recipe actually did use culinary vanilla extract, but I’ve updated the formula to use a vanilla botanical extract intended for topical body care instead.

Vanilla products vary considerably depending on how they’re made, so check the manufacturer’s directions for the specific product you’re using and make sure it’s intended for topical use. Plant Therapy’s Vanilla Botanical Extract is my fav.

Because I don’t think it needs to be there anymore.

My original recipe included both ground Ceylon cinnamon and cinnamon leaf essential oil. The updated version leaves out the ground cinnamon and uses a small amount of cinnamon leaf essential oil for the warm cinnamon aroma instead.

It’s a simpler formula, and the one I prefer today.

Same ridiculously creamy body butter… slightly wiser recipe!!

Usually, it’s a temperature issue.

After melting the ingredients, the mixture needs to cool until it’s firm but not completely solid before whipping. I look for something around the texture of softened butter. That’s also how I described the sweet spot in the original recipe.

If it’s still mostly liquid, chill it a little longer. If you’ve let it become rock solid, allow it to soften slightly at room temperature before whipping.

Body butter is temperature sensitive because we’re working primarily with plant butters and oils.

A warm room can soften it considerably, or even melt it, while cooler temperatures can make it much firmer. Neither necessarily means you’ve done anything wrong.

If your body butter melts, allow it to cool and firm again. The texture may not return to exactly the same fluffy whipped consistency, but the ingredients themselves haven’t suddenly stopped being body butter.

Nope…and we’ve been having this conversation since 2019. Haha!!

This particular recipe is forgiving enough that I’m comfortable using tablespoons, teaspoons, and cups. When a formulation requires greater precision, I absolutely want a scale, but this isn’t one of those recipes.

I formulated this as a body product, and that’s how I recommend using it.

It’s rich and fragranced, especially if you include the cinnamon leaf essential oil. I’d save it for areas like your hands, arms, legs, elbows, knees, and feet and choose a product specifically formulated for your face for facial skincare.

Shelf life depends on the formulation itself, ingredient freshness, storage conditions, packaging, and how the product is handled. FDA similarly notes that cosmetic shelf life varies based on the product, its use, and storage conditions.

Keep your body butter tightly closed, protect it from excessive heat and moisture, and use clean, dry hands or a cosmetic spatula. If you notice an unexpected change in its smell, color, texture, or appearance, discard it. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

What Others Have Said

A readers who made this recipe was raving about it! Here is what they had to say…

“I can’t stop sniffing myself!”

One reader, Crystal, came back after making this body butter and said:

“Just made this! I can’t stop sniffing myself! I made a batch for my mama for Mother’s Day!”

And honestly, I don’t know that I can provide a better review of my vanilla cinnamon body butter than that.

A Gentle Safety Note

This recipe is shared for educational purposes only. Always patch test before use and discontinue if irritation occurs. For persistent or worsening skin concerns, consult a qualified dermatologist or healthcare professional.

💝 Make It, Love It, Share It!

If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment, share your tweet, or tag @scratch.mommy on Instagram. Want more DIYs like this? Be sure to grab my free e-book and join my Scratch Mommy community, too.

If you enjoy thoughtful, ingredient-driven DIY skincare like this, you may want to join the Pronounce Skincare newsletter. I share recipes, updates, and behind-the-scenes notes as I continue building new resources and courses.

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Founder + Publisher + Head Cook + Chief Scientist + Handcrafter + Owner behind Pronounce Skincare® and Scratch Mommy®.

Mom to her spunky son, Ollie. Wifey to Nicholas. Loves music, food, being creative, concerts, dogs, deep conversations, camping, and summer.

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14 Comments

  1. I want to try this but am not very fond of cinnamon so can I omit both the cinnamon oil and ground cinnamon. If I do so will I get the same results?

    Reply
  2. Pingback: DIY Detangling Spray (Perfect for sensitive heads) • Pronounce Skincare & Herbal Boutique

  4. Just made this! I can’t stop sniffing myself! I made a batch for my mama for Mother’s Day! Oh I know she is going to love it. Thank you so much Jess!

    Reply

    1. Oh my goodness…that is an awesome gift to give. How sweet! I hope you made some extra for you. 😉 I’m glad that you love it and I”m sure mom will, too.

      Reply

  7. This sounds amazing. I can’t use any of the “commercial” lotions or body butters, and I’d love to try my hand at making my own. Thanks for giving me the confidence to try it!

    Reply

  8. Hi, I would like to know why you haven’t used a weight measurement as in previous recipes. I’m sure you have said that it’s more accurate to weigh ingredients and I prefer that method as well.

    Reply

    1. Hi Sharifa! Great question. I also prefer using ounces or grams and measuring with a scale, but to make DIYing more relatable and doable for the masses (if you would) sometimes I think it’s a-okay to use simple teaspoon and tablespoon measurements.

      I think most people have access to t and T utensils, and honestly…for a recipe like this you don’t really have to be perfectly exact. Just being close in measurement is great for a recipe like this. Now, for sunscreen, foundation, and a few others…I really, really prefer more exact measurements and using a scale. But…writing this recipe like this I thought was helpful to make the recipe more accessible for all. If anyone wants to, there are loads of free measurement converter calculators online (I use one almost daily). Great question, and happy DIYing for you!

      Reply

  9. Holy moly, I don’t know whether to put this on my skin or just eat it! The scent sounds amazing. I need to make it asap!

    Reply

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