Escentials of Australia Pty Ltd - pure essential oils, fragrances and cosmetic ingredients

ESCENTIALS OF AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Lip Balms

Recipes

Calendula Lip Balm

13 grams beeswax
10 grams macadamia nut oil
10 grams shea nut butter
10 grams cocoa butter
5 grams calendula oil
5 grams jojoba

Fills 10 x 5 gm pots or tubes.

This is a great recipe for a winter lip balm as the calendula oil is soothing to lips chapped by harsh weather conditions. Good also in summer for those who swim a lot.

The calendula gives this lipbalm a "herby" taste which is a little difficult to mask with flavour or essential oils. The herby taste is nice though so don't be put off from using this fabulous oil.

Coconut Lip Balm

20 grams grapeseed oil
10 grams beeswax
10 grams virgin coconut oil
10 grams cocoa butter

Fills 10 x 5 gm pots or tubes.

The virgin coconut oil gives a fabulous natural flavour to this lip balm. Definitely yummy!

Although you don't need to add any additional flavours, because the virgin coconut oil is so nice on it's own, you can do so. I find that for a bit of added zest you can add 24 drops of distilled lime essential oil or 6 drops of lemon myrtle essential oil (this oil is so strong you only need a very small amount). These essential oils give the lip balm a lovely summer flavour.

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Basic Method

In a pan on the stove warm some water. You'll be using this as a "double boiler" to melt down the ingredients.

Measure your ingredients and place them (bar any essential oils or specialist flavour oils) in a jug (glass works well as it holds the heat a little longer, allowing you more time to pour into pots or tubes).

Place the jug into the pot of warmed water and stir occasionally as it melts to combine the ingredients. When all the ingredients are liquid, take off the heat and give a thorough stir. If adding essential oils or flavours you do so now. You will need to stir these in well, else they can settle to the bottom.

Pour into pots/tubes and allow to set before capping.

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Tips and Hints

Some essential oils work great as a flavour for your lipbalms. Do check first though to ensure that the essential oil isn't photosensitising. Uneven pigmentation may occur in those who have sensitive skin if they go out in the sun after applying a "leave on" product which contains a photosensitising essential oil. For example many pressed citrus oils are photosensitising although the distilled citrus oils tend not to be.
When making up your own lipbalm recipes a good trick for quickly testing to see whether or not it will be firm or soft enough, is to dip a teaspoon (which has been in the freezer for half an hour) in the melted blend. The blend sets quickly on the frozen teaspoon and you can then test it to see if it suits your needs. Saves decanting your blend into pots or tubes only to find out it isn't firm or soft enough to use with ease.
Specialist flavour oils are available to give your lipbalm that great lip smacking taste. Start off with 5 drops per 5 grams (some flavours are strong) and then add more if needed to achieve your desired taste.
Lip balm tubes can be tricky to fill. But using a jug with a fine spout helps enormously. You can also steady the tubes by tightly packing them upright in a flat bottomed mug. Also don't fill to the top in the first pour. You will find that as the balm sets in the tube it caves in slightly. As it starts to set you then top up the tube and this gives a nice smooth top.
Depending on where you live you may need to have a summer and a winter recipe. Softer recipes will melt more easily in summer which can prove quite messy. A 1:1:1 ratio of wax, oil and butter works well for summer recipes. A 1:2:1 ratio works well in winter.

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