Homemade Eye Cream

Last updated: September 2026

Shea butter eye cream: a water-free balm for the skin around your eyes

Three plant oils, no water. Baraka's shea butter eye cream is a soft, water-free balm for dry skin around the eyes, made with shea butter handmade by the women of the Konjeihi cooperative in Ghana's Upper West Region. It blends unrefined shea butter with baobab oil and shea oil, so it melts on contact and spreads without dragging, and it needs no preservative because it contains no water. You make about 2 oz (60 g) in 15 minutes.

Shea butter gives the balm its body, and it has a long record of traditional use on dry skin, lips and hands. The two liquid oils thin it into something light enough for the most delicate skin on the face. What you end up with is a small jar of cream-coloured balm that you pat, rather than rub, along the bone around each eye.

In This Recipe:

• What This Recipe Is For
• Why Make This Yourself
• DIY eye cream: what changes when the skin is this thin
• Why These Ingredients Work Together
• Ingredient by Ingredient
• Homemade eye cream: ingredients and equipment
• Directions
• Eye cream recipe: the ratio and what changes if you change it
• Troubleshooting
• Storage and Shelf Life
• Scaling and Substitutions
• Customisation Ideas
• Essential Oils
• Frankincense eye cream: how to add it safely
• Application Tips
• What We Know and How We Know It
• The Impact of Your Purchase
• Shop the Baraka Ingredients in This Recipe

What This Recipe Is For

Dry, tight skin around the eyes. This balm is a plain moisturiser for the area around the eyes, gentle enough for daily use. People make it for:

• Softening dry, flaky patches under the eyes in cold, windy or air-conditioned weather.
• A night-time eye balm for skin that feels tight after cleansing.
• An eye cream with no added fragrance, for people who react to scented products.
• A thin layer on the outer corners, where the skin around the eyes often feels driest.
• A small homemade gift, packed in a tiny jar beside a larger body butter.

Why Make This Yourself

Beginner level, one small batch. This is a beginner recipe: you melt, stir, cool and pour, with no emulsifying and no special equipment beyond a kitchen scale. It makes about 2 oz (60 g) by weight, which fills two or three small jars and lasts one person a long time, because you use so little at each application.

The honest comparison with a shop-bought eye cream is one of composition. Many commercial eye creams are emulsions, water and oil held together by an emulsifier, with a preservative to protect the water. Some also carry active ingredients such as retinoids, peptides or vitamin C, which a dermatology review of products for the eye area discusses in detail. This balm is the oil phase on its own: it moisturises and softens, and that is the whole of its job.

So the choice comes down to what you want. If you want an active ingredient, a tested commercial product is the right route. If you want a short ingredient list you can read in full, can make in a quarter of an hour, and can adjust to your own skin and climate, this recipe is built for that.

DIY eye cream: what changes when the skin is this thin

Thin skin, simple formula. A DIY eye cream is simple to make at home when it stays water-free, keeps added scent low or absent, and is patch tested before it goes near your eyes. What sets it apart from a face cream is the skin it goes on: eyelid skin is the thinnest on the body, and it sits right beside the eye.

A review in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology describes eyelid skin as the thinnest in the body and advises caution around it because of how close it is to the eye. A review of under-eye dark circles adds that the lower lid has little or no fat beneath it, which lets what lies underneath show through. Published measurements vary from person to person, but all of them put this skin at under a millimetre thick.

That thinness makes the area quick to react. A 25-year study of eyelid contact dermatitis found that the triggers there overlap with those elsewhere on the body, fragrances and preservatives among them, and that the thin eyelid skin and frequent hand-to-eye contact play a large part in sensitisation. Three habits follow.

• Keep it light. Heavy creams and ointments are a recognised cause of secondary milia, the small, hard white bumps that often appear around the eyes; Cleveland Clinic and standard dermatology references both list them. This recipe leaves out beeswax and uses about 40% liquid oil so the balm stays soft, and a very small amount covers both eyes.
• Keep scent low. The base recipe has no added fragrance. Frankincense has its own section further down.
• Test before you use it. Patch test every new batch, as set out below.

How to patch test

The American Academy of Dermatology suggests putting a new product on the same quarter-sized spot twice a day for seven to 10 days, somewhere it will not be rubbed or washed off, such as the underside of the arm or the bend of the elbow. If there is no redness, itching or swelling by the end, you can go ahead. Shea butter and shea oil are tree nut materials, so this step matters most if you have a tree nut allergy.

Test the frankincense version on its own, because a clear result for one version tells you nothing about the other. If an eye product ever stings, turns the skin red or makes your eyes water, stop using it. A dermatologist can run formal patch testing to find the cause.

Why These Ingredients Work Together

A solid butter, softened by two light oils. Shea butter is solid at room temperature and melts on contact with skin, which gives the balm its body and a soft cushion on dry skin, but on its own it is firmer and richer than most people want around the eyes. Baobab oil and shea oil are both liquid at room temperature and absorb more readily, which is why they suit facial oils and serums. Blended at about 60% butter to 40% oil, the three give a balm that holds its shape in the jar and turns clear the moment it touches a warm fingertip.

All three are anhydrous: they contain no water. That is what lets the recipe go without a preservative. A paper in the Journal of Cosmetic Science on European cosmetic rules lists anhydrous products among those that need no chemical preservation system, and the testing laboratory Eurofins notes that removing water lowers the microbial risk rather than removing it, with the danger shifting to what gets into the jar after it is opened. The protection holds only while water stays out, which is why the storage section asks for dry hands and a dry spatula.

Ingredient by Ingredient

Shea butter

The base, about 60% of the balm. Shea butter is solid at room temperature, melts on skin, and is traditionally used on dry skin, lips, hands, feet and hair. In this balm it provides the cushion and the slow, even melt. Baraka's is unrefined: strained and filtered only, with no refining, bleaching or deodorising.

You can see and smell that difference. Unrefined butter keeps a natural colour somewhere between cream, ivory and pale yellow, and a mild scent people describe as nutty or earthy. Refined butter is white and has no smell. Colour varies naturally between batches, with the nuts and the season, so treat it as one sign among others rather than proof of quality; the certificate of analysis for a batch is what can be checked.

Baraka's shea butter is made by hand at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Wa, in Ghana's Upper West Region, where Baraka has worked directly with women producers for over 15 years. The nuts are cracked, roasted, milled to a paste, kneaded with water and boiled so the fat separates, then cooled and filtered, with no solvent at any stage. Every batch Baraka sells is tested independently by the Ghana Standards Authority against the national standard for unrefined shea butter, using ISO methods, and the certificate of analysis is available on request.

Baobab oil

The quick-absorbing oil, about 25%. Baobab oil is pressed from the seeds of the baobab tree, pale yellow to golden, with a mild, faintly nutty smell, and it absorbs quickly without the heaviness of a richer oil. In this recipe it thins the butter so the balm glides instead of dragging. The fruit ripens and falls from wild, uncultivated trees in Ghana and is gathered from the ground by women in the communities where the trees stand.

Shea oil

The lighter side of shea, about 15%. Shea oil is the liquid fraction of shea, separated from the butter so it stays pourable at room temperature. It is lighter on the skin than the whole butter and absorbs more readily, and it softens the balm further while keeping it in the shea family; its colour and smell vary a little between batches.

Frankincense essential oil (optional)

Optional, and not a Baraka ingredient. Frankincense is a resin from trees of the Boswellia genus, and its essential oil is distilled from that resin. It appears only in the scented variation, at a very low level, and the frankincense section below explains how much and where.

Homemade eye cream: ingredients and equipment

Three ingredients, one small batch. A homemade eye cream needs only unrefined shea butter, baobab oil and shea oil, weighed on a kitchen scale, melted together and cooled quickly. This recipe makes about 2 oz (60 g) by weight and takes 15 minutes, plus about 30 minutes to set.

The whole recipe rests on the shea butter, so the butter is the ingredient worth choosing with care. The unrefined shea butter Baraka makes by hand in Wa is the butter this balm was written around, and even its smallest size covers several batches.

Ingredients

• 1.2 oz (35 g) unrefined shea butter
• 0.5 oz (15 g) baobab oil
• 0.35 oz (10 g) shea oil
• For the frankincense version only: 6 drops frankincense essential oil, about 0.5% of the batch

Equipment

• A kitchen scale that reads in single grams
• A small heatproof bowl or glass jug, and a saucepan it can sit over
• A small spatula or teaspoon for stirring
• Clean, completely dry jars with lids, holding about 2.5 fl oz (75 ml) in total
• Space in the fridge for the jars to stand upright

At a glance

• Yield: about 2 oz (60 g) by weight
• Prep and make time: 15 minutes, plus about 30 minutes to set
• Skill level: beginner

Directions

1. Wash the jars, bowl and spatula, then dry them completely, because any water left behind ends up in the balm.
2. Weigh the shea butter into the heatproof bowl.
3. Set the bowl over a saucepan holding a little gently simmering water, with the bowl clear of the water, and melt the butter over low heat.
4. Once the butter is fully liquid with no solid pieces left, keep it over the heat for two or three minutes more, stirring gently.
5. Lift the bowl off the heat and wipe its base dry so no water can drip into the jars.
6. Weigh in the baobab oil and the shea oil, and stir until the mixture is even.
7. For the frankincense version, let the mixture cool until it is just warm, then stir in 6 drops of frankincense essential oil.
8. Pour the mixture into the jars.
9. Stand the open jars in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes, until the balm is set and opaque.
10. Let the jars come back to room temperature with the lids off, check that the rims are dry, then close them and label each jar with the date and the version.

Eye cream recipe: the ratio and what changes if you change it

About 60% butter, 40% oil. This eye cream recipe works at roughly 60% shea butter to 40% liquid oil by weight, a balance that sets firm enough to hold in a jar and soft enough to melt on a fingertip. Changing that balance is the simplest way to fit the texture to your climate and your skin.

• More butter: the balm sets firmer, feels richer and spreads more slowly. It suits a cold, dry winter, but it is also heavier on thin skin, so use less of it.
• More oil: the balm turns softer and glides further. It suits skin that dislikes heavy textures, but it may go very soft in a warm room.
• More baobab, less shea oil, or the reverse: the texture barely changes. What shifts is how quickly the balm sinks in and how it smells.

Adjust in steps of about 0.2 oz (5 g) and keep the total weight the same, taking from one ingredient what you add to another, so you always know the proportions you are working with. Weigh rather than spoon. Solid butter packs unevenly into a measuring spoon and oils differ in density, so a recipe measured by volume drifts from batch to batch in a way a weighed one does not. Write down any change that works, so the next jar comes out the same.

Troubleshooting

Most problems are texture, and texture is fixable. Because nothing in this balm is emulsified, almost every fault can be put right by melting it again and changing one thing.

• Grainy or gritty texture. Cause: the butter was not fully melted, or the balm cooled slowly, which lets larger fat crystals form. Fix: melt the whole batch again, keep it liquid for two or three minutes, then cool it quickly in the fridge. Graininess is a texture change, not spoilage.
• Too hard to scoop. Cause: a cold room, or too much butter for your climate. Fix: melt again and add about 0.2 oz (5 g) more of either oil.
• Too soft or runny. Cause: a warm room, or too much oil. Fix: melt again and add about 0.2 oz (5 g) more shea butter, and keep the jar somewhere cooler.
• Feels greasy or sits on the skin. Cause: usually too much at once. Fix: use a smaller amount and pat it in, or shift the next batch slightly towards baobab oil.
• Small, hard white bumps appear around the eyes. Cause: these may be milia, and a rich product can contribute. Fix: stop using the balm on that area and do not try to squeeze them; a doctor can confirm what they are and remove them if needed.
• Stinging, redness or watery eyes. Cause: product too close to the eye, or a reaction to an ingredient. Fix: rinse with cool water and stop using it. If you were using the frankincense version, wait until your skin settles, then patch test the unscented base before trying again.
• Smells sharp or stale. Cause: the oils have gone rancid, often after heat, light or long storage. Fix: throw the jar away and make a fresh batch.

Storage and Shelf Life

Cool, dark, dry and closed. Store the balm in a small, closed jar away from heat and sunlight, and take it out with a clean, dry spatula or dry fingertips. Kept dry and cool, a water-free product like this typically lasts 12 to 24 months. Shea butter on its own keeps 2+ years when stored properly, but a finished balm is only as durable as its most delicate ingredient and the way it is handled.

The thing that shortens its life most is water. Wet fingers, a damp shelf or steam from a shower bring moisture into a recipe that has no preservative to deal with it, so keep the jar out of the bathroom if you can. Throw it away if it ever smells sharp or stale, or shows spots or fuzz. A balm that softens in summer and firms again later is fine; if it turns grainy after softening, melt and cool it again as described in Troubleshooting.

Scaling and Substitutions

Scale by weight and keep the ratio. To double the batch, use 2.5 oz (70 g) shea butter, 1 oz (30 g) baobab oil and 0.7 oz (20 g) shea oil, which makes about 4 oz (120 g), with 12 drops of frankincense for that version. Halving is not worth it: the amounts get too small to weigh reliably, and the full batch is already small.

• No baobab oil: use 0.9 oz (25 g) shea oil in total. The balm absorbs a little differently but sets the same way.
• No shea oil: use 0.9 oz (25 g) baobab oil in total.
• Firmer balm for a hot climate: replace 0.2 oz (5 g) of the shea butter with cocoa butter, which is harder than shea and melts at close to body temperature. It keeps the chocolate smell of the bean, which some people notice near the nose and eyes.
• Coconut oil in place of a liquid oil: it absorbs quickly, but it is solid below about 75°F (24°C) and liquid above it, so the balm's texture will move with the temperature of the room.
• Beeswax: left out on purpose. Adding it makes the balm firmer and heavier, which is the opposite of what the eye area needs.

Customisation Ideas

Small changes, same base. The base takes a few simple variations without changing its character.

• Pour the batch into two jars and add 3 drops of frankincense to only one, so you have an unscented jar for the eyelids and a scented one for the outer bone.
• Fill small 0.5 oz (15 g) tins or jars for travel, or as gifts with the ingredients written on the label.
• Make a softer summer batch and a firmer winter batch by moving 0.2 oz (5 g) between butter and oil, as set out in the ratio section.
• Keep one jar beside the bed, since night-time is when a rich balm is easiest to use.

Essential Oils

Unscented is the default. This recipe works completely unscented, and the unscented version is the one to use on the eyelids. The only essential oil we suggest is frankincense, at a low level and on the bone around the eye only. Other essential oils are not part of this recipe.

Frankincense eye cream: how to add it safely

Six drops, outer bone only. A frankincense eye cream is this same shea butter balm with a very small amount of frankincense essential oil, about 6 drops in the full batch, or roughly 0.5%. Research on frankincense oil and skin is still mostly laboratory and animal work, so choose it for its scent, and apply it only along the bone around the eye, never on the eyelids.

What the research shows

A study of frankincense essential oil on human dermal fibroblasts, skin cells grown in the lab, reported effects on markers linked to inflammation and tissue remodelling, and its authors called for further research. A study of the oil in rats exposed to UVB light noted that its anti-ageing effect on skin remains unclear. A 2025 Frontiers in Medicine study of a cream made with frankincense resin extract was limited to lab tests, and its authors called for clinical trials. None of this work tested frankincense on the skin around the human eye.

How much, and why so little

The Tisserand Institute gives 0.2% to 1% as the dilution range for skin that is reactive or has an impaired barrier, and places the face and other sensitive areas at the low end of its ranges. AromaWeb, drawing on Tisserand and Young's reference work Essential Oil Safety, gives 1% as the limit for children and older adults. Dilution charts put 1% at about 6 drops per 1 fl oz (30 ml) of carrier, so 6 drops in this batch of a little over 2 fl oz (60 ml) comes to about 0.5%. Droppers vary, so count carefully and never round up.

Where it goes, and where it does not

Essential oil safety guidance is clear that essential oil must never get into the eye. The Tisserand Institute's safety guidelines warn that undiluted oil in the eye causes a chemical burn, and NAHA, the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy, advises wiping the closed lid with a fatty oil and flushing with cool water if it happens. The Tisserand Institute allows diluted oils close to the eyes. We take a more cautious line here, because fragrance ingredients are among the known triggers of eyelid dermatitis.

So pat the frankincense version only on the bone under the eye and at the outer corners, well below the lashes, and use the unscented base on the eyelids themselves. Keep the essential oil bottle tightly closed, away from heat and light, and patch test the finished frankincense balm as its own product.

Application Tips

Less than you think, patted in. Warm a very small amount between two fingertips until it turns clear, then pat it along the bone under the eye and out to the outer corner. Many people use the ring finger, because it makes a light touch easier on skin this thin. Keep the balm off the lash line and away from the rim of the eye, so it cannot run in.

• At night: apply a few minutes before bed, so the balm has settled before your face meets the pillow.
• In the morning: use an even thinner layer and give it a minute or two before makeup or sunscreen.
• If you get milia easily: use it at night only, and keep the layer thin.

What We Know and How We Know It

The use of shea butter on dry skin, lips and hands is traditional and long established. What this page says about the skin around the eyes, milia, patch testing, water-free products and essential oil dilution comes from published research and professional guidance, and what it says about frankincense comes from laboratory and animal studies. The 60:40 ratio, the melting and quick-cooling method and the application technique are common practice in the home-making community, and the ingredient descriptions come from Baraka's own product documentation. The researched sources are:

• Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, review of topical products for the eye area
• Review of infraorbital dark circles, on the thinness of lower-lid skin (PubMed Central)
• Eyelid contact dermatitis: 25-year single-centre retrospective study (PubMed Central)
• Cleveland Clinic, milia, with standard dermatology references on secondary milia
• American Academy of Dermatology, how to test skin care products
• Journal of Cosmetic Science, European cosmetic regulations and preservation; Eurofins, microbiology of waterless cosmetics
• Tisserand Institute, dilution and safety guidelines; AromaWeb, drawing on Tisserand and Young's Essential Oil Safety; NAHA, general safety guidelines
• Frankincense essential oil in human dermal fibroblasts; frankincense oil and UVB photodamage in rats; Frontiers in Medicine 2025, Boswellia sacra resin cream (PubMed Central and Frontiers)

The Impact of Your Purchase

When you make skincare with Baraka ingredients, you are buying from women's cooperatives that earn fair wages and keep traditional processing methods alive. Baraka's 2025 Social and Environmental Impact Report records income opportunities for more than 3,000 women in northern Ghana, over $100,000 invested in women's enterprise infrastructure, and equipment and fuel recovery that have cut the carbon impact of shea processing by up to 90%. At the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region, Baraka's shea butter is made by hand, and the waste left over from making it is dried into fuel blocks that fire the next batch. Baraka also offsets 100% of the carbon cost of shipping to customers. You get full transparency about what touches your skin and your family's skin, and about where it came from.

Shop the Baraka Ingredients in This Recipe

Shea Butter — Shop Shea Butter. The base of the balm, giving it body and a soft cushion on dry skin.

Baobab Oil — Shop Baobab Oil. The quick-absorbing oil that thins the butter so the balm glides.

Shea Oil — Shop Shea Oil. The liquid fraction of shea, softening the balm while keeping it in the shea family.

Browse all Baraka Butters and Oils for your next recipe.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is for general education. It reflects traditional use, reported experience and, where noted, published research. It has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. Baraka products are cosmetics and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. Always patch test a new ingredient, keep products away from the eyes and out of reach of children, and speak to a qualified healthcare provider about any skin or health condition. Individual results vary.

A note on the traditions in this post: the practices described here come from conversations with, and time spent among, the community members and cooperative partners we work with in West Africa. We share them as anecdotal, first-hand impressions — not as verified fact or expert accounts. These traditions vary from family to family and region to region, so what follows is indicative rather than definitive. We offer it with respect and humility: to share a little of what we've encountered, not to speak for these communities or claim any authority over their traditions.

About the Author

Wayne Dunn is the founder of Baraka Impact and a former Professor of Practice in Sustainability at McGill University. He holds an M.Sc. in Management from Stanford and has spent over 15 years working directly with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region to source traditionally made shea butter and natural oils. He shares DIY skincare recipes and ingredient guides designed to be made at home with real ingredients — and sourced with full transparency about where they come from.