This DIY face moisturizer is the purest and most natural skincare product ever. It is a nutrient rich whipped tallow face cream that delivers the ultimate hydrating, soothing, and anti aging benefits.
Tallow face and body cream
When it comes to pure and natural skincare products, 100% grass fed tallow takes the cake. You can’t get more pure, biocompatible with our skin, or natural than tallow. This DIY face moisturizer brings all of that primal goodness in the form of a tallow face cream.
I share all the facts about grass fed tallow benefits in this ultimate guide to tallow skin care. In this post, I share all the reasons why skin loves grass fed tallow.
This tallow face cream is similar to the recipe in my post on how to make tallow balm, but here I’ve tweaked it a bit to make it into the perfect DIY face moisturizer.
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What is tallow? What is tallow cream?
Basically, tallow is rendered beef fat. Render just means to cook animal fat down.
I talk a lot more about what tallow is here. I show how to make tallow in this post on how to render tallow here.
On its own, tallow is pretty stiff and hard to spread on skin. To make tallow face and body cream, you mix a little bit of liquid oil (like olive or jojoba) with some melted tallow. That makes a cream with the perfect spreading consistency.
Tallow cream can be plain, or you can add some essential oils to it. Adding essential oils with anti aging benefits makes tallow face cream into the ultimate DIY face moisturizer.
You can either whip tallow face cream, or leave it as a solid balm. My favorite is whipped, because it is just so light and fluffy, and fun to use!
Easy tallow face cream recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup organic, grass fed tallow
- 1/4 cup liquid oil (carrot seed, avocado, olive, argan, rose hip seed)
- 48+ drops essential oils
Instructions:
- Melt tallow until liquid.
- Add liquid oil and stir to combine.
- Allow mixture to chill in freezer until just barely solidified, not liquid and soft enough to easily whip.
- Whip with hand mixer until fluffy.
- Add essential oils and whip to combine.
- Store in a glass jar.
Why use tallow on your skin? Is tallow good for skin?
What are the benefits of tallow? Like I mentioned before, I have written quite a lot about how amazing tallow is for our skin in other blog posts. You can check them out here and here.
I’ll give a quick summary here. 100% grass fed tallow is incredible for skin, because it is so biocompatible with our skin cells. You can tell the moment you put some on your skin – it seems to instantly recognize it drink it right in! Bison tallow also has similar benefits for skin.
100% grass fed tallow is wonderful as a face cream, because of the rich and wide variety of skin friendly nutrients it contains (source). Here are some of the beneficial nutrients in grass fed tallow:
- Vitamins A, B12, D, E, and K are extremely nourishing for skin. This particular combination of beneficial vitamins is only found together in animal products.
- Alpha linoleic and linoleic acids in almost a perfect ratio of 1:1. These are also known as omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, and they maintain the structure and barrier function of skin. They are also helpful for anti inflammatory and immune responses in skin, including eczema and rosacea.
- Stearic acid and oleic acid are fatty acids that are found in the outer layer of our skin, and in our sebum. They are softening, moisturizer, regenerative, and anti inflammatory. Stearic acid helps to repair skin, improve the flexibility of skin, improves skin’s barrier function. Oleic acid helps the various beneficial nutrients penetrate deeply into skin.
- Conjugated linoleic acid or CLA has powerful anti inflammatory properties, and is also antimicrobial.
- Palmitoleic acid is a very active antimicrobial in our skin. It is also one of the basic building blocks of our skin, but it decreases as we age.
- Palmitic acid helps improve the smoothness of skin, and helps with skin’s barrier function, and decreases as we age.
Is tallow good for your face?
It sure is! Let’s look at some of the things 100% grass fed tallow does that are beneficial for the skin on our face:
- Tallow is a very healthy fat. It contains a wide array of all the beneficial nutrients that our skin needs to repair itself. It is the best moisturizer to use if you want healthy skin.
- Many of the nutrients in grass fed tallow help to promote youthful skin by providing substances that our skin naturally loses as we age.
- Tallow is extremely compatible with the oil that our skin naturally produces. It actually shares a similar biology. That’s one of the reasons why our skin is able to use tallow so effectively.
- Compared to plant based oils, tallow provides skin with very intense moisture. You will recognize this immediately when you put it on your skin. There is nothing better than tallow for soothing and hydrating dry skin.
- Tallow is not only great for repairing skin, but it also helps to prevent damage to skin. All of those skin friendly antioxidants and other nutrients keep skin healthy and strong.
- The natural antimicrobial properties in tallow help to prevent acne and breakouts. Tallow also contains powerful anti inflammatory properties (source).
How often to use tallow face cream
What if skin is too dry or too oily? How do you now how much to use? This really depends on your skin type and what your skin needs right now.
For dry and mature skin, you’ll probably want to use your DIY face cream twice a day. For oily skin, once a day, once every other day, or even less often than that might be best.
It’s important to experiment and see what your skin likes best. Also, a little bit of tallow face cream goes a very long way! This can be something to get used to at first.
If you accidentally use too much, no worries. Just use a dry towel to wipe off the excess, and you’ll be good to go.
Will tallow clog pores?
No, tallow is noncomedogenic (source). Since it is so compatible with how our skin is made and our skin’s natural sebum, tallow works with our skin to moisturize, soothe, and repair it without clogging pores.
If you think tallow is giving you any issues with your pores, you’re probably using too much. A little goes a long way! Use just enough, and it will be perfect.
Does tallow contain collagen?
Not exactly, but several of the antioxidants found in tallow do help with collagen production and maintenance in our skin. This helps keep skin firm and smooth.
Two powerful antioxidants, vitamin E and vitamin A are both found in grass fed tallow. Vitamin E helps to prevent the breakdown of collagen, and vitamin A encourages the production of collagen in our skin(source).
Which is better: lard or tallow?
Sometimes people want to know if they can use lard for skin like you can use tallow for skin care. You can, but tallow is a much better choice.
Lard from free range, naturally raised pork does contain a nice amount of vitamin D, but that’s about it. On the other hand, as we saw above, tallow contains a wide array of fat soluble vitamins and and an abidance of other nutrients. Tallow is the clear winner when it comes to skincare.
Also use it as a whipped tallow facial cleanser
That’s right, this DIY face moisturizer also doubles as an oil cleansing balm. In fact, it’s my absolute favorite thing to use when I do the oil cleansing method.
You might be wondering: What is oil cleansing? If you’re new to what the oil cleansing method is and all the benefits it provides, be sure and check out my post on oil cleansing with tallow here. It’s incredible!
Another way I love to use tallow is as a deep conditioning treatment for my hair. Read all about how I use tallow for hair here.
More tallow skincare
What are your favorite oils for skincare?
Let me know in the comments!
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Organic, 100% grass fed tallow
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DIY Face Moisturizer
This DIY face moisturizer is the purest and most natural skincare product ever. It is a nutrient rich cream that delivers hydrating and anti aging benefits.
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic, grass fed tallow
- 1/4 cup liquid oil (carrot seed, avocado, olive, argan, rose hip seed)
- 48+ drops essential oils
Instructions
- Melt tallow until liquid.
- Add liquid oil and stir to combine.
- Allow mixture to chill in freezer until just barely solidified, not liquid and soft enough to easily whip.
- Whip with hand mixer until fluffy.
- Add essential oils and whip to combine.
- Store in a glass jar.
Can I use jojoba oil instead?
I would think you could. That’s what I’m going to use. Why doesn’t she answer any questions on here? She surely knows there’s been questions asked.
This is more kind of butter not a cream. Cream contain destilated water and emulsifire. I have hard time to find any recept for the face or body cream with tallow.
My tallow hardens in the fridge, does not solidify in room temperature. It does not whip fluffy, mostly runny body lotion consistency. I used regular beef fat from butcher and rendered using wet method and the water was clean on 2nd render. Is there any way I can get it to whip fluffy?
What can I successfully use as a substitute for tallow that is not an animal product? I will be making lotions and creams.
Many thanks.
I’ve been using this face cream for almost a year and I love it. I don’t add oil because it’s too hot and humid here year round and it just stays oily and won’t whip if I do. I must have soft fat because no matter how long I let it sit, oil still separates into the bottom of my jars. Any recommendations?
Mine is doing that too! I live in Arizona. It hardens in the fridge. I wonder if there’s something else we can add to salvage it for something? I was thinking beeswax?
Great recipe! FYI – this tallow, white color, was awesome in making a nice soft smooth texture of face cream. It did not have that strong tallow smell however I did use a little more EOs to enhance the fragrance. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IN68842/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This tallow, yellow color, is better for cooking, not face cream. Has a very strong beef tallow smell. You’ll have to use 2-3 times the essential oils to mask the smell, but you can mask it. https://thousandhillslifetimegrazed.com/product/tallow-premium-cooking-fat/
I bought some Epic Beef Tallow and just can’t get over the smell (and I eat a fair amount of beef). Thank you for linking a less pungent option.
I haven’t been able to get my hands on any leaf fat to render myself so I purchased tallow from Amazon. The label says 100% grass fed/finished. It’s super soft, not firm at all. Should I skip adding the liquid oil (olive oil) and just add the essential oil?
Hello, I was wondering if you had a tallow cream recipe that included manuka honey? Or do you think this one would work and just simple adding a small amount or would it mess up the consistency? x
Does this need to be kept in the refrigerator?
Thank you!
Wondering how to store it after making the whipped face cream.
Hello! Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve made it once and am ready to make my second, however, we live in a cold climate so first batch hardened most of the time and even formed little hardened beads I’d have to rub between my fingers a lot to melt. Have you heard of this happening or did I not whip it long enough to properly emulsify it? Hoping to fix in this next batch!
This also happened to me and I’ve made it both in cold and warm climates. What oil did you use? I used avocado both times.
This happens to us too. Because it is an animal product, it can greatly vary in consistency due to the breed of cow, time of butchering, etc. I use more than said olive oil (I have also used avocado), and soften slightly before whipping. I have also pressed it through a strainer, to be sure there are no lumps.
Hi Rebekah, this happens to me. I am wondering what you mean by soften slightly? Like after you combine oil and fat it says to let harden then whip. I always let mine harden on counter. It doesnt get super hard, just like solidifies. Its at room temp. How would i soften it more for chunks or grittiness not to happen?
Leaf fat (from around the internal organs) is much harder. To prevent the gritty texture, I make the tallow solidify very quickly, in my deep freezer. This prevents the fat molecules from separating out and making the gritty texture, which is what happens when the tallow cools slowly. Hope this helps!
We have the same problem, and softening it before whipping usually fixes it!
It has to do with the breed of cow, time of butchering, types of fat, etc.
Hi there. I’m new to your site and can’t wait to check out all your recipes. Are there still benefits if the tallow is not from grass-fed beef? Also, how do I purify it even more and perhaps get some of the smell out? It was fat from around the kidneys and organs.
Hi! I accidentally added the eo’s before I cooled down the oil, is that ok or does the heat destroy the essential oils beneficial properties?
Hi Marisa, is the liquid oil just the carrot seed or is it a combination of all the things that you listed?
Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful recipes! I started out looking for a traditional tallow soap recipe but when I found your website I felt like I’d found a gold mine. I have ended up making so many of your recipes and love all the creative products you’ve created using tallow. I love this face moisturiser. I made my own tallow (purifying it according to your method) but it had some trim fat in it so my tallow was a little softer than normal. As a result I decided to add a little bees wax and the moisturiser worked out perfectly.
Hello. First of all, I love you content and thank you so much for doing this. Its impossible to find good tallow info these days.
I have a question. If I am adding butters (cupuacu and murumuru) how much do I put in if I am doing a cup of tallow? Also- with the essential oil is it 48 drop in total if I am using a variety of essential oils or 48 of each individual one? I want to use Helichrysum, frankincense and rose Otto.
Thank you so much!
Hello,
I’ve made this recipe today and it seems quite greasy, is that normal? I didnt use any essential oil, just a plain tallow and olive oil. Is there a way to make it less greasy? Many thanks Sarah
Hi did you ever figure it out? I just made this today and followed the exact recipe but mine also seems overly greasy. I tried adding a couple teaspoons of activated charcoal (I hope that’s okay lol) and it’s helped a tiny bit but I’m only going to use as a spot treatment and as a lip balm as it still seems too greasy for my face and body. I fear it’ll clog my pours..
I add arrowroot powder. It helps to absorb some of the oil.
Olive oil is a heavier oil so it will make it feel more greasy. Almond oil, grape seed oil, avocado oil, safflower oil are all lighter oils and won’t make it feel as greasy since they will absorb faster.
I can’t thank you enough for this face cream recipe. I’ve been making your recipe for the last year. Comes out perfectly every time. I’m 55 and was dealing with extremely dry skin, head to toe. It worked so well on my face and neck I decided to help the rest of my body. In the course of doing this I have found it to completely protect my skin from the sun. (I do use it daily which may be the reason) My husband and I worked for 3 full days out in the hot sun with NO sunscreen and to my complete surprise I didn’t burn at all. My husband did the first day then used sunscreen. We are visiting CA and was all day in the sun hiking. NO BURN. Barely any tan. I’m stunned. I follow your recipe above to the letter. I add no other ingredients. This is a game changer for our family. Healthy! No chemicals!! So grateful to have found you and your recipes. LOVE your site! Blessings to you❤️
Hi Karen did you use non nano zinc oxide too?
Hello!
Is tallow good for a dull complexion – one that is also slow to heal. The scars just won’t go away…
Thanks.
Yes, I have found it very helpful for those situations!
Hi! Thank you so much for the recipe! Do you have any other suggestions for a good place to buy/order good quality beef tallow? The one you linked is out of stock. I would like to make some face cream. I wanted to order from White Oak Pastures, but shipping is a lot 🙁 Thank you!
You can try this one: https://grasslandbeef.com/?affId=217057
Good morning Marisa,
First let me say what a fantastic site you have and what a blessing to others. Thank you for sharing and caring. I want to make whipped tallow for skin issues, I have recently changed my way of eating to a very clean animal product one.
I don’t want to render the tallow myself, and order the FatWorks one, but when I got it, it definitely smells like beef fat.
Did I order the wrong one? (link to fat words tallow)
and if so, is there a way to “clean” it up to use for my precious whipped moisturizer?
Thanks in advance, Deb Neyland
Thank you so much! Yes, FatWorks tallow is meant for cooking, and will have some beef smell. You can try a purification step (search for my tutorial on how to render and purify tallow) and that may help, but if it got too hot while rendering, you may not be able to remove all the smell. Adding essential oils to the finished balm really helps 🙂
My tallow was a bit softer, and melts at room temp even after whipping… how can I salvage this batch – I still want it to be soft and whipped, and the oils are already in it. Should I melt a bit of beeswax like maybe 2 tablespoons add in the re-melted mix (I followed your recipe) then cool and try whipping again? Is beeswax even okay for face moisturizer?? (I recently mentioned you in my lotion bar post on instagram <3 those turned out perfect)
Thank you so much! It sounds like you have soft trim fat. You can add some beeswax, I’m not sure how that works for the face, but I haven’t heard of anything negative.
This is probably a stupid question but could you use this as a makeup primer?
I think you could!
Hi there! I followed your beef tallow recipe (unwhipped) and it’s hard as a rock. I stumbled on your whipped beef tallow recipe and am wondering if I can whip up the hard beef tallow I currently have. Because right now it’s pretty unusable (it flakes up when I try to get some from the jar). Thank you!!
I’m happy to help! It sounds like you have nice hard leaf tallow 🙂 If you’re making tallow balm, adding a liquid oil helps it be spreadable: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/how-to-make-tallow-balm/
Hi! Thank you so much for posting this. Your article on purifying was particularly helpful. I’ve been wanting to make my own tallow cream for a long time, and finally got around to it! I do have a question though: for some reason my whipped tallow cream is leaving behind kind of a filmy residue. Not visibly, it just doesn’t feel like it’s totally being absorbed by the skin. I’ve used whipped tallow cream in the past and that’s never been the feeling afterwards. Do you think adding more oil would help? Thanks!!
Thank you! That’s interesting, I haven’t heard of a sort of film before. You might have hard leaf tallow, which is great! You may have used balm made with softer tallow in the past. More oil would probably help it be softer and easier to work into the skin 🙂
Wow – I never knew about tallow skincare but I may be hooked! I had tallow on hand and was in the market for a natural moisturizer so figured “why not”. One application of this stuff has ERASED my stress induced itchy neck eczema after a full month of nothing else working. The red dragon-dry skin is GONE. I can’t wait to see how my skin reacts after a month of using it!
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is a WONDERFUL moisturizing cream!! I’m 55 and had never been dryer in my life. I’d been using straight Argan oil on my face which was good but didn’t last very long. I would need to reapply 3-4 times a day. And it was too expensive to consider covering my whole dry body in. I made my first batch of your recipe. Turned out fabulous! I can’t get over how my skin feels. AND that chin, the one I saw starting to sag a tad, well now IT”S BACK IN PLACE!! Woot Woot! Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe!!
I’m so glad you like it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hello, I followed the recipe exactly like you wrote it but after I whipped it I felt a gritty texture. Why is that ?
Thank you in advance
I’m happy to help! That can happen when you use softer trim fat (instead of leaf fat). It is the fat molecules separating out while it cools. To make it cool quickly and not let this happen, try letting it solidify in the freezer 🙂
Hello! as Aj I would also love to know if it’s smart to make a large batch or not! thank you!
Yes, you can make a large batch, I find this lasts around 12 months at room temp, so if you want to make more than you’d use in that time, you can store it in the fridge or freezer 🙂
Hello! I wanted to say thank you for sharing this recipe. It has worked wonders on my face and at this point my whole family is using it. I do have a question- with some essential oils, when I want more fragrance, is it safe to add more drops? I know it says 48+ in the recipe but is there a ratio I should be using for creams or does it all depend on the persons sensitivity? I used frankincense recently and it is very strong smelling, I’m worried I used too much, is there such a thing as too much essential oil in a batch?
Thanks for your time and expertise!
Thank you so much, I’m so glad you like it! Yes, the amount of essential oils in this recipe is for a 1% dilution, but depending on what oils you’re using and how strong you want them, you can go up to a 5% dilution. It is important to take sensitivity into consideration, and there is definitely such a thing as too much essential oils. Usually, somewhere between 1-5% is good for adults, but sometimes you want less, if it is a strong oil. Hope that helps!
Thank you! This does help. For your recipe how many drops would 5% be? I am assuming the 48 drops is the 1% ratio?
Yes, 48 drops is for a 1% dilution in this recipe. 5% would be 240 drops 🙂
Hello again! I hope you are doing well.
I finally got brave and tried a recipe for whipped tallow lotion. It turned out watery, so I’m not sure what I did wrong… but the reason I’m writing is to ask why my hands still feel dry after applying it three times? It was too much to rub in at first, so after 20 minutes I wiped the excess off. A short time later (maybe 5 minutes) my hands felt dry, and I applied another, smaller amount – and a few minutes later, repeat that process. My hands feel softer, but not hydrated (perhaps the best way to word it) like they do with commercial moisturizers. Will this get better with continued use?
Thank you very much for all your assistance.
Rain
Hmm that’s interesting! I have never experienced the tallow being drying on skin. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with other ingredients used in the balm. Tallow should absorb right in and leave hands feel very hydrating. If you let me know what recipe you followed and what ingredients you used, I’m happy to help further!
Wondering if tallow that has been pressure canned may be used, or does the canning process remove nutrients?
As far as I’m aware it should still work fine!
This is fabulous, thank you! I’m wondering, how long does the tallow moisteriser last in order to know whether to make a large batch or a smaller one? Does it go rancid, or is it best kept in the fridge? Thanks in advance!