Time needed: 15 minutes.
Do you love lip balm, feel like you are spending too much on these little tubes of joy, and wish there was an alternative? Well, there is. The satisfaction of making your own beauty products at home is alluring, but where to start? I have gathered up these lip balm recipes for you to choose from and I hope you enjoy these homemade beautifiers.
Welcome to a short guide on how to make lip balm at home. This easy homemade lip balm recipe will help soften lips in minutes while reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles on the surface. You can use this easy homemade lip balm recipe to create an effective non-greasy, natural lip moisturizer that leaves your lips feeling smooth and comfortable.
My homemade lip balm recipe is one of the easiest things you can make at home. It doesn’t involve any complex techniques and it sure won’t take up much of your time. All you need is 4 ingredients and 15 minutes, and you are good to go.
Lip balm is one of the easiest DIY beauty products to make at home. For those with sensitive skin or who want to avoid certain chemicals found in commercial lip balms, DIY lip balm remedies at home are a godsend. Here’s how to make your own recipe.
You probably spent a lot of money on lip balm. Now you can make it at home for free!
What you need:
Beeswax
Coconut oil
Colored Chapstick
Vitamin E
Flavor
- Beeswax
The first step to making your own lip balm is to measure the beeswax. The ratio that I like to use for lip balm is 1:1. So if you want 1/2 a cup of product, then you’ll need 1/2 a cup of beeswax. As you can see in my picture I fill one of those 5g plastic cups with 5g of beeswax pellets and then pour it into my pot.
The basic lip balm recipe requires no cooking and can be assembled in less than a minute. The beeswax acts as an emollient, helping to prevent the evaporation of precious oils. Again, the specific measurements don’t matter too much for this project, provided you use a consistent ratio of beeswax to oil.
As you pour the ingredients into the container, continue to stir them together. As you do so, it’ll turn a bit more solidified and begin to look like lip balm.
Adding beeswax is beneficial for keeping the lip balm from being too watery. Beeswax also helps heal dry cracked lips, and restore moisture.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Add coconut oil
In the second step, you will be adding coconut oil with beeswax to the lip balm. You will need approximately half tablespoon for this recipe. The reason why you add coconut oil is because it helps your skin retain moisture. Beeswax has a similar function and also adds 16 fats and minerals.
You can also use sweet almond or grape seed oil. The ingredients should be at room temperature before starting to avoid cracking the hardening lip balm later on.
You’ll need to measure the coconut oil and beeswax, as well as your essential oils. It’s super simple to do and will prevent any last-minute mishaps. You’re also going to want to choose containers that your lip balm will be packaged in.
If you are new to making homemade lip balm, the process of adding an essential oil will seem a bit daunting. I assure you, however, that this is the easy part. The hard part is actually waiting for your finished lip balm to solidify! As it turns out, when you add coconut oil (especially virgin coconut oil) to beeswax, it takes quite a bit of time for the two components to melt together.
The coconut oil will help your lips retain moisture. Plus you get the added benefit of adding in virgin coconut oil which can help tame frizz and improve hair health in general.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Melt
Now that you’ve got the dry ingredients together, it’s time to melt your coconut oil. If you’re using a microwave, heat it in 10-second increments for about a minute. If you’ve got a double boiler, get the water simmering and add the coconut oil to the top half of the pan.
Melt coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. You will first need to melt the coconut oil so it blends with your other ingredients along with making it easier to mix. Microwave on high for about 30 seconds, or until the oil is melted. When you start, just zap it once. This will loosen the coconut oil up enough to thoroughly stir it. It’s okay if some solid chunks remain in the melted oil; this will lend a creamier texture to your balm instead of being completely liquid (this will also help contribute to the long shelf life).
Use a medium sized microwave safe bowl. It should hold the amount of lip balm you’re melting comfortably. If you’re melting more than 2-3 batches at once, use a larger bowl or double/triple the recipe. You can also melt on the stove if you prefer but this method (using the microwave) will save you time and effort since once your ingredients are melted, there is nothing else for you to do while they cool down. So gather your supplies and get started!
If you don’t have a microwave, you can use a double boiler instead. Let’s get started! (Take note: the ingredient amounts that I mention in this tutorial are for a 2-ounce container of lip balm. If you’re making lip balm in another container size, keep that in mind when making your own recipe.)
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Color pigmentation
Now that your lip balm has cooled and hardened you may want to add some color or pigment. I didn’t use any because I prefer a clear lip balm, but you can use lipstick, eye shadows, or even crayons (small) to add some color. The important thing is that you melt the pigmentation first so it will mix with your lip balm instead of sinking to the bottom and ruining your lip balm on the first application.
Everyone knows you can make lip balm with beeswax and coconut oil. They even know it will be better than the stuff they were buying at the store because it contains natural ingredients and nothing else. But what they’re missing is a way to add color without spending too much time on that extra step. If you have some chapstick lying around, or any colored lip gloss for that matter, this method won’t take you long at all.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Flavouring
Now it’s time to flavour your lip balm. First off, you’ll need to find out if the flavourings you have will dissolve in the carrier oils you are going to use.
Vanilla is the classic, but there are thousands of combinations of flavours and scents that could be added to your lip balm. Be adventurous!
Every single lip balm recipe should have a flavouring. It’s entirely up to you if you want to go the sweet or the savoury route. I recommend trying both paths and seeing which one fits your brand best.
Flavouring balm comes down to personal preference, I tend to go for a mild watermelon flavour. You can also try experimenting with sweet orange, cinnamon, peppermint. Anything goes here really.
This is also where the fun in making your own lip balms comes in. Why choose between cherry, strawberry or watermelon when you can have all three?
An important part of making lip balm is flavouring. You could choose whether to make unflavoured, or use natural ingredients to flavour it. I recommend doing the latter because artificial flavours are not very easy on the stomach and tend to cause an adverse reaction in some. This is because we already get flavoured tastes from other food and other sources to satisfy our taste buds, so when I eat something that is artificially flavoured, it just doesn’t taste very pleasant.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Add vitamin E
Finally, you’re almost done! Yay! This step is all about adding vitamin E to your lip balm recipe. We don’t need to use much. Just a few drops will do the trick.
The vitamin E acts as an emollient and preservative. An emollient is a substance that soothes or softens the skin. A preservative keeps microbes from growing or developing in a substance.
You’ve almost finished making your homemade lip balm! This step is optional. Many balms contain vitamin E, and this ingredient helps prevent rancidity and spoilage of the waxes in your balm. Add vitamin E to the container using a small scoop or pipette, and stir until it’s fully dissolved.
Now that you have the base of your lip balm made, it’s time to add the vitamin E oil. Just like with the peppermint oil, this is an optional ingredient. If you don’t want or need the extra anti-oxidant, skip this step.
Vitamin E is often included in cosmetics to help bind moisture and protect the skin. Although not proven, it is often thought that it may also slow or reduce aging of the skin. This ingredient is included in many skin lotions and creams for this reason. If you desire a longer shelf life, vitamin E will help your homemade body butter and hand salve stay fresh for longer periods of time. Additionally, this ingredient is known to promote healthy skin, thanks to the antioxidant properties it contains.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara - Freeze
Your lip balm is almost done! This last step freezes it to keep it from melting and keeps the scent of your essential oils strong. I suggest using a silicon muffin tin if you have one. This way you can remove each balm from its individual cavity.
In the last step we added the essential oils. Essential oils can make your lip balm hard, so this step is to help balance that out by freezing it.
Now we have a nice, newly homemade jar of lip balm. We can stop the tutorial here, or you can add something else that makes your lip balm unique. Maybe you like to color or flavor your lip balm, or you want to add vitamins or minerals for a healthy lip balm. The sky is the limit on how far you want to take it, but for today’s tutorial we’re going to go ahead and put our tube in the freezer! This will cause the wax to solidify around the tube so it doesn’t fall out.
Now it’s time to freeze. I always leave this step until last as it isn’t required. Your balm will still work if you leave it at room temp for a few days before using, but after having tried both methods, I can say that freezing has made a significant difference for me.
This is an optional step, but helps to strengthen your lip balm. Basically, you are still making your lip balm, but you want to freeze it as soon as you add the beeswax mixture and almond oil. If you are looking for a thicker lip balm be sure to let it harden in the freezer for at least 2 hours (the longer the better).
The last step in making your lip balm is freezing. This part can be a little nerve wracking. The last thing you want to do is freeze the containers too much or it will crack. Now I know there is a bit of discomfort reading the word “cracked” in the context of food products. Trust me when I tell you I’ve done this many times and cracked containers are not a concern. The process is solid, literally, once it is done correctly, and because of that I have confidence for my customers who use my lip balms.
Credits @artaestheticsbyzara
