How to Make a Fragrant & Colorful 5-Minute Sugar Scrub

7 Materials
$12
5 Minutes
Easy

Find the easy steps to make a sugar scrub that’s fragrant and pretty too. Ready to gift or use in just five minutes!

This DIY Sugar Scrub can be customized using the fragrance and colorant of your choice. It’s also affordable to mix up for wedding shower or bridal party gifts, ‘thank you’ gifts for teachers or to share with friends, family and neighbors. Your dry skin and feet will thank you and appreciate a little TLC from this moisturizing and exfoliating sugar scrub too!

This sugar scrub recipe starts with granulated sugar and coconut oil. I used fractionated coconut oil, which remains in a liquid form and is fragrance-free and moisturizing. Alternatively you could use olive oil, avocado, sunflower or grapeseed oil to mix up a batch of sugar scrub if that’s what you have.

The standard recipe and ratio of a sugar scrub is 2:1, sugar to oil. Example: 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of coconut oil. I prefer a scrub that’s a bit more ‘sugary’ in texture with slightly less oil, so I used 1/3 cup of coconut oil to 1 cup of sugar, which is still plenty moisturizing.

Here’s the fun part, customizing your sugar scrub with fragrance and color! Add some essential or fragrance oil and colorant, a few drops at a time and mixing until you reach to your designed shade and fragrance. I used some Lavender and Rosemary Oil and colorant that I had leftover from my DIY Bee-utiful Soap.


About 6 – 8 drops of oil was all I needed for a fragrant scrub, along with 4 – 5 drops of colorant. Oils and colors vary so mix sparingly at first, as you can always go back and add more. I added a teaspoon of dried lavender buds to the sugar scrub to add some additional fragrance and pretty texture. Note: Make sure any colorant or fragrance you use is designated as safe to use on your skin.

To make an easy and pretty label for the jars of sugar scrub, I used some note cards I found at Dollar Tree, tracing around the lid and placing the pattern under the outer band to screw on the jar tops. Scrapbook paper or wrapping paper would also be an affordable way to add some pattern and decorative design to your jar tops.

I mixed up several batches for gifts in an assortment of sizes, filling pint, half pint, and 4 oz. mason jars. My inner gardener did a little happy dance when I found these shovel spoons.

I thought they would would make a cute addition for a just a few dollars each, tying them on to the pint jars for my gardener friends. Both fun and functional to scoop out the scrub and nod to gardening season! Click the "go" button below for more photos, details and sugar scrub supplies.

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Mary @ Home is Where the Boat Is
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Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • SoUncool SoUncool on May 14, 2021

    Does the food color stain your skin though?

  • Lollipop Lollipop on May 14, 2021

    After scrubbing and rinsing some of the oil goes down the drain. Won’t it clog the drain after a while of using?

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  • Em Em on Jun 02, 2021

    I have found that sugar scrubs with any oil make the shower floor very slippery.

    • Brenda Brenda on May 16, 2023

      True. I would not sacrifice what is good for my skin just because I had to do a little cleaning afterwards. I find that using a squeegee pushing most of the residue down the drain along with the water.

  • Ramona Ramona on May 12, 2023

    I love making scrubs and the girls in the office looked forward to getting them. I like the notecard idea.

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