I have to admit, I am a lip balm snob. I like just a certain consistency and feel, as well as liking my lip balms to last on my lips for a while. Originally from my book Naked: Botanical Recipes for Vibrant Skin and Healthy Hair, this is a wonderful and versatile recipe to make your own lip balm. You can play with it to create your own blend by adding different fixed vegetable oils, butters, or essential oils. You can also add mica for a little shimmer, an herbal colorant such as alkanet or annatto, or even mineral oxides to make your own lipstick! You can also get a free download of my flower lip balm labels.

You can download the recipe card.

Ingredients:

Measure by volume:

• 3 ounces almond oil

• 1 ounce jojoba oil

• 1 ounce castor oil

• ½ teaspoon Vitamin E oil

• ½ teaspoon essential oils such as rosemary, lavender, peppermint, or spearmint

Measure by weight:

• 7 ounces coconut oil

• 2 ounces cocoa butter

• 3 ounces beeswax

Optional:

• .75 ounces (by weight) alkanet root (for a rosy tint)

• 1 ¾ teaspoon (by volume) sericite mica powder (to make your lip balm shiny if desired)

• mineral oxides: start with ½ teaspoon and go up from there to your own tastes

You Will Need:

• Lip balm containers or tubes

• Double boiler

• Metal spoon

• Small funnel to pour the oil into the lip balm tubes if desired. I prefer just using a glass Pyrex measuring cup with a spout.

• Glass Pyrex measuring cup

• Rubber band to hold lip balm tubes upright in a group

• Plastic pipettes can also be useful for putting the oil into lip balm tubes. Glass droppers will not work as they cool the oil too quickly, causing clogging.

• Labels and clear packing tape.

Directions:

1. Melt the beeswax in a double boiler.

2. Once the beeswax is melted, add the almond, castor, jojoba, and Vitamin E oils.

3. Stir with a metal spoon until beeswax and oils are both totally melted.

4. Remove from heat immediately and stir in mica or mineral oxides (if desired) and essential oil.

5. Pour into your containers. Using a Pyrex measuring cup works best.

6. If using lip balm tubes, you can avoid creating a hole down the center of the tube by first filling the tubes 2/3 of the way up. Let them cool and then finish filling the tube. I like to hold my tubes upright by grouping them together with a rubber band.

7. Cut the labels out. Cut the clear packing tape into 3" segments. Lay the tape on the counter, sticky side up. Position the label, printed side down, so that the words run perpendicular to the short side of the tape. Lay the label on the tape and press well. Apply the label to the lip balm tube.

8. This is a large recipe. Keep any extra lip balm in a glass jar in the refrigerator. When your lip balm is all used up, you can reuse your lip balm containers by melting the extra and pouring it into your old well-cleaned lip balm containers.

I hope you enjoy your lip balm!

© Elaine Sheff, Clinical Herbalist, RH (AHG)