Homemade Lip Balm Recipe with Organic Cocoa Butter
This homemade lip balm recipe can be made with regular or organic ingredients, depending on your preference and budget.
It turned out too soft the first time, so I remelted it and added more beeswax.
A lip balm recipe may look fine after it has become solid at room temperature, especially when you live in a cold area. That is – until you start using it. If you carry the little tubes in a pocket close to the body, the content warms up a bit. You still want to be able to push the balm out of the tube and press the stick to your mouth without ending up with half the content on one cheek! Even if you hold the stick in your pocket. I can’t say how this lip balm recipe’s proportions react in the summer, or in the tropics. For a chilly European fall it is perfect and I will be using it all winter long.
Ingredients
Organic Beeswax 7.9 gr (0.28 oz)
Organic Cocoa Butter 10.1 gr (0.36 oz)
One or more vegetable oils 8.1 gr (0.29 oz)
Stevia for sweetness (optional) 5-8 drops
Organic flavor oil or essential oil to taste – 5-8 drops of Spearmint essential oil for example
As vegetable oils I used half blackcurrant seed oil and half calendula infused oil.
This tiny batch makes almost an ounce of lip balm and fills about 4 eco-tubes of 0.25 oz. I enjoy experimenting with different flavors, oils andbutters too much to make a lot at once! However, I’ve made the calculations in case you want to make a larger batch.
The same lip balm recipe, three times as much.
23.7 gr or 0.84 oz of Beeswax
30.3 gr or 1.07 oz Cocoa Butter
24.3 gr or 0.86 oz Vegetable Oil
10-15 drops of Stevia
10-15 drops of Essential Oil
Organic cocoa butter is the key ingredient for this homemade lip balm recipe.
I love the brand Aura Cacia, because they sell essential oils, vegetable oils andbutters and are very mindful of fair trade commerce and sustainability. Another nice aspect of Aura Cacia products is that they have a range of organic essential oils, but also a range of non-organic essential oils. In an ideal world everything would be organic, but in the mean time sometimes you just want some oil at a friendlier price. At Aura Cacia, I trust that their products are good quality and even the ones that are not organic will be as natural as can be.
Cocoa butter is superb for chapped lips. No petrochemicals, no mineral oil, no artificial flavors or other toxic ingredients in this organic chap stick – and I’ve had the softest mouth since using my delicious (edible) homemade lip balm recipe!
Steps
First, melt the beeswax and cocoa butter in a double boiler.
Add the vegetable oils last, after taking the mixture off the heat.
When everything is melted and blended, continue to stir regularly while letting the mixture cool a few minutes before adding the remaining ingredients.
With a steady hand, pour the lip balm recipe mixture in the tubes and let it harden a few hours.
Tip: You don’t have one of those fancy trays for easy positioning and pouring of lip balm tubes? Neither do I. Be sure to have a close look at the pictures below though… A bowl with dry lentils, rice or peas will do the trick!
Adding the vegetable oil after removing from the heat, which is what you should do “officially”, to preserve their properties. The cold oil sometimes ends up solidifying the mixture around it, preventing proper blending. If that happens, just pop it back in the hot water for a minute.
It takes some getting used to finding the exact moment for adding the stevia, essential oil and/or fragrance. Too soon the mixture is still too hot, which alters the essential oils properties – too late and the drops will not blend in because the mixture is not hot enough to melt them anymore. I that case, you will have to reheat it all in the double boiler, essential oils or not.
Enjoy!
Where To Find Supplies for your Homemade Lip Balm Recipes?
If you’re willing to try an less known brand, the organic cocoa butter in pieces or ‘pellets’ from Dr Adorable (also through Amazon) is a bit cheaper. Please note: these will only arrive in pellet-form, if they are not exposed to heat through transportation though… order them in the winter, or be at peace with the fact that you might receive a large chunk of melted butter. The cocoa shouldn’t be any less delicious for it. Just slightly less practical.
From Nature With Love is a great one-stop shop for ingredients and packaging supplies. You can find cocoa butter in various quantities, organic as well as regular cocoa butter, and even a sample pack of six different butters – fun to experiment with! All butters, including cocoa, are right here., and lip balm tubes are here. Just browse the site for many other jars/tins/ingredients in various amounts and sizes.
Reviews of many natural, organic skin care products – and some not-so-natural ones as well. Have you ever wondered if what you’re using is really the best thing for your skin? Me too! Read about some of my greatest finds (ahem, and also my most harsh critiques…) here: Organic Skin Care Reviews
