I decided to have my own cold weather project and make some beeswax lip balm…which ended up being more of a gloss.
Just a little something to remedy those dry cracked winter lips:
These are my son’s. He won’t let me moisturize his lips or his face until it starts to hurts. 🙂
The ingredients are simple and it really doesn’t take much time. I made mine while I was prepping for dinner at the same time.
Gather your supplies {most of them are picture here but not all}:
Coconut oil
Sweet Almond oil
Beeswax
cheap cheese grater you will use only for grating beeswax
containers – I found mine at Dollar Tree in the craft section, you can also use old lip balm containers or order some online in bulk
essential oils – you can gets these online, but I got mine in the organic supplement section at my supermarket
medium sized cooking pot
small metal/pyrex glass bowl
* I list amounts in the directions below and a simple recipe for a small batch at the end of this post.
Here are a few notes about some of the ingredients:
The Coconut oil I use is the kind you can also cook with.
Sweet Almond oil …
This is a special oil you will likely have to buy from your organics section at your grocery store…and probably near the essential oils. You can also use cocoa butter, olive oil {but the flavor/smell is strong and savory at least to me}, sunflower oil…that is all I know of but if you do research you can find more.
Beeswax
I got mine from a local beekeeper. Many beekeepers sell their wax, or if you are lucky some will give it to you for free. You can find beekeepers at farmers markets or in the phone book. If they are not listed then you can contact your local bug exterminator and they should know a good bee keeper to contact. Often pest control companies will have a local bee keeper remove pesky beehives for them so that the beekeeper can relocate them to their own land.
Now here’s what you do:
*This recipe makes A LOT…enough to fill about 20 of the small containers pictured above.
1.Grate your beeswax. Make sure you don’t use your nice cheese grater. Once you take the beeswax to your grater it will forever have wax stuck to it.
2. Place a metal or pyrex glass cup or bowl in a pan filled with 1-2 inches of water and heat on medium.
3. Add about:
          10 TBSP. coconut oilÂ
          5 TBSP. of beeswax shavings {lightly packed into the spoon}
4. Melt until all the beeswax flakes are melted. It takes a while. About 15 minutes. Stir with a wooden skewer or a wooden spoon that you will only use for make lip balm.
5. Add about 3 TBSP. of sweet almond oil.
6. Add your essential oils and pour into containers.
I divided my batch up into three parts so I could flavor each part differently. You don’t have to do this but here is what I did:
I poured some into a cup and added lavender essential oil. About 10-15 drops. Then I quickly poured the mixture into my containers.
I also added some lavender blossoms to add some extra scent and character.
Then I added peppermint essential oil to rest of the batch still in the pan. About 15-20 drops because there was more.
I then divided the remaining batch. I kept one half peppermint only and poured it immediately into containers.
I then took the rest and melted in 4 semi-sweet chocolate chips. It melts quickly. I stirred well and poured into containers.
***However you decide to flavor your gloss, just make sure you add essential oils at the end because they will evaporate during cooking.
7. Now let them set at room temperature until opaque and hardened. You can also set them into your fridge to speed up this process.
8. Add a label if you desire. I just cut circles out of mailing labels and doodled away.
You are done!Â
Apply and enjoy!
If you want the lip balm to be less glossy and more firm add more beeswax and less sweet almond oil.
Play with the ratios to get what you want. You can mess with the essential oil amounts as well.
Here is a simple small batch recipe similar to what I did:
1-2 TBSP. grated beeswax
2-3 TBSP. coconut oil
1/2 TBSP. sweet almond oil
5-10 drops of essential oil {added off heat}
Not Martha has a great tutorial here as well. She has more information than I provide here and she also shows you how to add lipstick to make a tinted gloss.
*PLEASE NOTE: this recipe is for personal use. If you want to make lip balms to sell, I suggest you find a more specific and precise recipe.
I have made this before and it lasts for about a year. As you near the year mark you will notice that it gets a little grainy in texture. This doesn’t mean it’s bad but you probably didn’t melt it to the exact right temperature {again if you want to sell it you should do more research than I provide for you here}…but you can still use it for a little while longer after you notice the graininess. And how well {not too much or too little} you melted it will determine how soon you will notice the graininess.
And…Over time I noticed that the essential oils started to bead to the top after the lip gloss hardened. This is fine, you can just smooth them over…but expect it.
I love that all the ingredients are completely natural and good for me. Unlike other chap sticks, this one really does help my lips get healthy so I don’t have to use as much. The beeswax provides a tiny bit of sun protection naturally but not enough to replace a sunscreen lip balm.
Have a great day! Mwah!
One of the best tutorial in blogland!
Thanks for that.
Beautiful pictures
Very awesome. Your pics are always so beautiful–and you've got great lips :)!
I linked to this tutorial from my blog under my "Helpful Links" button… I have been wanting to try this for some time now! Thanks for the fabulous tutorial!!
How clever! I'd love to make some, I hope I manage to find some beeswax!
I can't wait to try this. I am a chapstick girl and feel like I always have to have it with me. I would love to replace it with this!
Genius! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I linked to this on my facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/mommagoround
this is awesome delia. I can't believe you made this while prepping for dinner. now that's multitasking! 🙂
This is awesome! Is your son going to use it all-the-time now since it's home made by mama? =]
Just Better Together is having a $25 gift certificate giveaway!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful tutorial! I added this to the "must make" file! ~tai @ taidye original
i can't wait to try this! thank you!!
oh my goodness, you're so cute!
On a scale of 1-10 how hard would this be for a person who really sucks at cooking?
Don't know if it would be too challenging for me or not- but LOVE the idea. Burts is my favorite, but it gets expensive.
Super bisey bu .Good idea .
Sevgilerimle.Love.
HATS OFF TO YOU DARLING,
this is such a wonderful thing for you to do, My lips are chapped all winter. This will help Mothers with children it is worth doing when you have a family. I just stick to chapstick. The coconut might be good for my feet. Thanks so much for this informative and lovely post.
come visit. yvonne
Castor oil is also great to use in lip balm in case you can't find sweet almond. It's also pretty cheap. You find it in any pharmacy-type area near stomach remedies.
what a great idea! beautiful pics all of them and your lips are gorgeous! haah. is it weird to say that? 🙂
This looks awesome! I'm constantly buying chapstick and lipgloss (usually because I lose one then find it 6 months later) spending oodles when I could make several and have them on hand! great idea! ps–my husband's just like your son. I don't understand how anyone can live in UT and hate lotion and chapstick! They save my life!
I make my own lip balm and it's just so wonderful… I will never buy another tube of lip balm at the store..
WHen I give these away as gifts I tell them if you bring it back to me empty I'll refill it for you. Some people actually do this.
Have a tiggeriffic day~! ta ta for now from Iowa
This is awesome & I have some beeswax, from local bees even! I don't have any other ingredients though.I'll have to work on that.
What a fun idea to give as valentine's gifts!!
Hello gorgeous lips! You look like a lip model. And that recipe looks easy enough that even I might succeed in making it. Thanks!
Is there a substitute for almond oil? I have a child that has nut allergies and I'm afraid that the smell may set off a reaction. Would like to try this.
Angela
Thanks for this fun idea. I tried it this morning(I changed the recipe a bit) and it turned out muey fabulous. You are a gem.
Thanks for the tutorial. This is something I've never tried, but you make it look so easy I just might have to! 🙂 Lavender… ahhhh I love lavender 🙂
I aspire to have great pictures with my tutorials like you do. Great tutorial. I have the supplies for making the lip balm (I bought them before Christmas with the intention of making gifts…so didn't happen). I was a bit intimidated about trying it, but your tutorial makes it look like a breeze! Can't wait to try it.
Thanks so much for posting this. It looks rather simple. I can’t wait to give it a go. If you have time-could you tell me if this works in chapstick tubes? That’s the kind I would like to make. I am assuming it would, but just thought I would check.
Thanks!
Rebekah-www.potholesandpantyhose.com
i like thisrecipe
i have a question, so i am making a gloss business and im going to use the beeswax and oil porportion method instead of the expensive base brand. my question is after the melting,if i put enough oil will the wax stay in a more thick liquid state or lip balm hard and wouldn’t be able to squeeze out of a tube?
Great question. The more beeswax you use, the more it will harden at room temperature. So if you want it squeezable you will probably have to have more oil than beeswax. I hope that helps. Best of luck with your new business!