The world of soapmaking has opened up several new doors to crafts for me to try, one of which is making homemade lip balm! Lip balm is made with many of the same ingredients used in soaping, namely the various nourishing oils and butters and skin-safe (specifically lip-safe) colorants such as micas. The only other required ingredient to create a lip balm is some type of wax, such as beeswax, caranuba wax or soy wax.
So just before the holidays, I did some poking around online to find a good base lip balm recipe. I decided to start with one from the Soap Queen, although I did cut the recipe in half. I already had most of the necessary ingredients, including the coconut and avocado oils. I could have used the shea butter I already had on hand, but I wanted to use cocoa butter for it’s natural aroma. I also thought that the pretty crimson red wine mica I used in my last soap would be a beautiful lip balm color. So I checked with the manufacturer and verified it was safe for lip cosmetics. Score!
The only supplies I actually needed to order were the cocoa butter, some white beeswax pellets, and the lip balm tubes. I also chose to add flavoring to my lip balm. I used a Bavarian cream flavor oil which complements the fragrance of the cocoa butter really nicely. Note that if you use flavoring, you want to buy the flavor oils meant for candy. Any of those can be used in lip balms. Finally, I also ordered a test tube tray to hold the tubes while filling, but that is completely optional. I found all of my supplies on Amazon. I’ll leave a supply list with links at the bottom of this post.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make lip balm. It’s a quick process, and you can use the final product as soon as it sets up, in about 30 minutes. The only thing I struggled with was how quickly the mixture was setting up in my pouring container as I was trying to fill the tubes. I had to reheat my mixture several times along the way!
So, final thoughts?
I may never buy lip balm or even lipstick again (assuming I can figure out how to make matte colors). The balm feels amazing on my lips. It gave me the perfect amount of color. And I made 13 full tubes of colored lip balm with a minuscule amount of ingredients. Seriously, this was really cheap to make. As you saw in the video, I enjoyed the process so much and was so impressed with the final product that I ended up making a second, uncolored batch while I was waiting for the first to set up.
Crimson Red Wine Lip Balm
Ingredients (wax and oils measured by weight)
- 0.6 oz. white beeswax pellets
- 0.6 oz. coconut oil
- 0.5 oz. cocoa butter
- 0.4 oz. avocado oil
- 1 dram (3.7 mL) Bavarian cream flavor oil
- 1 Tbsp. Crimson Red Wine mica powder
Other Supplies
- Heat safe mixing container
- 15 lip balm tubes with caps
- Test tube tray (optional)
- Heat gun (optional)
