DIY Beauty: Dorami-chan’s all-purpose moisturizer

My son and I love Dorami, the little sister of Doraemon. Don’t know who is Doraemon? Oh, never mind. But that’s Dorami, the little yellow figurine you see in the picture. And today, she’s going to introduce you to her new all-purpose natural moisturizer. Yes, all-purpose and you can use it on your face, your body or just your hands.

Aloe Vera is a great skincare ingredient
A good moisturizer I’ve learnt, should contain both water and oil. So in place of water, the main ingredient in this moisturizer is Aloe Vera, a common base widely used in skin care products. Because the extracts contain many active components including vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids plus enzymes, Aloe Vera is great for healing, soothing, and moisturizing. Even though it is said to be a humectant, I don’t really like to use this ingredient on its own because I actually find it tightens my skin too much. But it does make my skin soft and supple afterwards.

Mix with olive oil
For this recipe, I added equal parts of pure Aloe Vera gel and olive oil with one capsule of vitamin E. The mixture is about right for moisturizing and I don’t feel it makes my skin too greasy. The smell of pure Aloe Vera gel isn’t great and so if you like, you can add a few drops of essential oil of your choice. I made a small bottle of it to use it for my hands but this is great for various moisturizing purpose as well.

Best stored in dark bottles
The Aloe Vera gel may sort of settle down after awhile and when that happens, just give the bottle a gentle shake. Oh, storage for natural ingredients are best in dark bottles but for the purpose of picture taking, I have it in a clear bottle here. Anyway, this clear dropper bottle is useful too.

Comments

  1. Audris says:

    Good tip. I find aloe vera gel by itself too tightening too and used to mix it with jojoba oil (just a few drops) to apply after swimming in the sun.

  2. sesame says:

    It’s soothing but I dislike the tightening feel that bothers on dryness. Good mix with oil and that’s what a moisturizer should have – water component & oil.

  3. Lucia says:

    Hi, Sesame. I found this video on youtube. Please check it out. Would like to know your thoughts on it. ?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n69F-qMfW8s

    Thanks!

  4. Carrie says:

    This is an interesting tip!! Thanks for sharing!! I have both aloe vera gel and olive oil at home~~ Just wondering, how long would this recipe last before the whole product goes off??

  5. EcoBeauty says:

    i think this can be modified a bit to form a moisturizing hand sanitizer ?

    btw, this is OT, but wondering how long it took for your skinactives packages to arrive in sg? did you go for registered or first class mail? i finally ordered some goodies!

  6. sesame says:

    Hand sanitizer? Think would need quite a different formula cos will have to add alcohol and witch hazel to make it work like a hand sanitizer no?

    The skinactives will take around 2 weeks…I opted for first class I think…it was the one which cost around $10.

  7. sesame says:

    I think it’s safe for up to a month with the vitamin E but I try to make a smaller batch still and use in two weeks cos of the aloe vera.

  8. sesame says:

    She’s into DIY skincare! So looks like Vitamin C is the magic ingredient for her right? I’m sorry…only watched half the video. I have no patience to watch lengthy ones with lots of monologue.

  9. Lucia says:

    To summarize the video, she mixes vitamin C powder w/ purified water and applies the mixture on her face, eyes, neck and the back of her hands. She says she’s been using it for years and credits it for her wrinkle-free skin at the age of 56 (if i’m not mistaken). She also mixes the same powder with ordinary vaseline lotion. What do you think of vitamin c powder mixed w/ purified water for the face? Do you think it’s worth trying? I don’t know if she’s just blessed with really good genes but the woman has great skin! no crow’s feet! haha! I just found it rather weird that she uses vaseline HAND cream as her daily facial moisturizer.

  10. sesame says:

    I’ve tried it before and wrote about a homemade version here: https://www.vivawoman.net/2008/10/15/diy-beauty-homemade-vitamin-c-serum/. It’s quite good and that was when I started noticing that vitamin C really works wonder. The only thing is vitamin C degrades very quickly and so you must use it with care too cos once it’s oxidized, it’ll create more free radical problems for your skin. I’m quite curious about her bottle of vitamin C powder…we don’t see such things here. I stopped using this homemade serum cos I became lazy…hahaha…but you can mix it with only water each time. Use it at night and in the day, use sunscreen diligently.

    For Vaseline, many people use it on their face…she’s one of those with good genes, etc so she can basically afford to use this. Sounds like she doesn’t have much of a sensitive skin either. Plus, maybe her diet is very good?

  11. Taryn says:

    I just re-discovered your blog and am really enjoying it. Most importantly, I had no idea Doraemon had a sister! I live in the US and can only get volumes 1-10 of the bilingual manga, and it never featured a sister. Oh to be able to read Japanese!

  12. chenyze says:

    aha, Sesame, you’re too cute!

  13. sesame says:

    Oh the volumes you have did not feature Dorami? I don’t understand Japanese but I sometimes watch it with Chinese subtitles. Dorami is very cute! #k8SjZc9Dxk#k8SjZc9Dxk And she’s technologically more advanced than Doraemon.

  14. sesame says:

    Haha…you mean Dorami right? ?

  15. LA Aes says:

    What a good DIY skin care recipe to try! Not only are the ingredients simple and pretty easy to find, it will surely do wonders for your skin as well. This works on all skin types right?

  16. Jo Peck says:

    just wondering if you mix in the bottle or in a bowl first? also if you need to add the vit E capsule?

    I’m just trying out a batch now in a bottle and the aloe and oil just don’t mix well… am wondering what I’m doing wrong.

  17. sesame says:

    I mixed directly in the bottle. But I used a stirrer… Try turning the bottle up and down a few times gently.

    The vitamin E helps to preserve the moisturizer longer since you probably won’t keep it in the fridge.

  18. Jo Peck says:

    thanks… yup not keeping in the fridge but it is in a dark glass bottle… will see how my skin responds.

  19. sesame says:

    In that case, make a small batch and don’t keep it for too long. The aloe needs some preservative to last longer.

  20. Santhi says:

    Where do you get vit E from?

  21. sesame says:

    You can get vit E capsules from the pharmacy or you can get cosmetic grade vit E.

  22. Jubilation says:

    May I ask which aloe vera gel product you used? I want to ask because it seems like we don’t sell natural aloe vera gel here, and I can only either make them myself (and that’s really messy and unsanitised) or buy the aloe gel from Nature Republic (a brand from Korea, but that product has this fragrant, cosmestic smell and I don’t think it’s all-natural)

  23. sesame says:

    It’s a 100% pure aloe vera gel. Where are you based?

  24. Lanie says:

    you mean you buy the aloe vera leaf and scrape the gel out of it? I usually buy aloe vera leaves from Carrefour and blend it with mango (and drink it – bits and all).. just wandering if the actual gel from the leaf itself is the one you used for your DIY moisturiser.. thanks in advance for your response
    Lanie last post is: Oats and Rye Bread in Gerson Therapy

  25. Sesame says:

    For this recipe, I got 100% pure aloe vera gel. If you scrape out the aloe vera from the leaves, you’ll need to blend and extract the juice so it’s kinda troublesome.

  26. Lanie says:

    where can I buy the Aloe Vera gel? I am based in Singapore

  27. Sesame says:

    The store I bought from is no longer in operation but you can try this source, which also supplies DIY ingredients. http://www.milagrotrading.com. I think I’ve seen aloe vera gel sold in pharmacies but they’re not the pure grade types. Otherwise, you’ve got to join sprees and get them from Garden of Wisdom.

  28. Lanie says:

    hi sesame thanks for the immediate response.. lots of good stuff available at milagrotrading… how do I join sprees? sorry quite new here..
    Lanie last post is: Oats and Rye Bread in Gerson Therapy

  29. Sesame says:

    Hi Lianie…read my article about sprees here:
    https://www.vivawoman.net/2009/03/08/join-a-spree-and-shop-with-breeze/

    There are a few links of where to join.

  30. Cheesa says:

    I’m a big fan of Doraemon and in fact was been addicted to it. It’s both pleasing for you and for your child since they had encloses a fun stuff like Dorami toy which can greatly attracts you and other women since they will surely got curious why they had it when it’s purely moisturizer and not a stuff for kids.
    Cheesa last post is: aloe vera acne treatment

  31. Sesame says:

    The toy is cute and adds a visual appeal. I love Doraemon and Dorami.

  32. Suu Suu Linn says:

    Do you mind if I share your DIY skincare recipes? I’m gonna translate them into my language but I will make sure to give you credit and mention the source. So that your site will be promoted in a way.

  33. Sesame says:

    No please don’t translate my article and use my pictures. The right way to do is to link back with a summary in your language.

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