Homemade Lip Balm: Part 2

This afternoon, I made lip balm – and it was so easy to do!

Cocoa Vanilla Lip Balm:
1 oz Candelilla wax
1 oz shea butter
0.75 oz lightly-scented cocoa butter
2 oz olive oil
A few drops of Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Vanilla essential oil

I started off by measuring my ingredients on a food scale.  In one container, I measured the candelilla wax, and in the other I combined the shea butter and cocoa butter
(I rounded up to 0.8 oz for the cocoa butter).

 I melted the waxes/oils in the microwave.  The amount of time this takes will vary between microwaves.  The candelilla wax took longer to melt, so I’m glad that I kept it separate until it softened.

Once the waxes/oils softened, I added olive oil, Vitamin E, and vanilla essential oil.  I liquefied the ingredients all together, then stirred.

Then, all that was left was pouring the mixture into each lip balm container.

It only took a few minutes for the lip balm to cure.  For a personal touch, I added labels 🙂

Price Breakdown & Comparison:

Burts Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm = $3.99 for 0.15 oz
Chapstick Naturals Lip Butter = $2.99 for 0.15 oz
Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm = $2.99 for 0.15 oz
Homemade Vegan Cocoa Vanilla Lip Balm = $0.64 for 0.20 oz

I hope to see a change in the health of my lips, this winter.  I plan to keep some of the balm, and gift the rest!  If you try this recipe, let me know how things turn out!

Homemade Lip Balm: Part 1

For a while now, I’ve been interested in making homemade lip balm, particularly because my husband has an unhealthy addiction (you rarely find him without some in his pocket).  But, I never knew where to start.  So, last week, I scoured the internet to find a recipe.  I had two criteria in mind when I started my search.  First, I needed a vegan recipe.  No, I’m not a granola-eating, mountain-climbing, health nut on a mission to save the animal kingdom…;).  I’m just allergic to bees.  Ultimately, I also wanted to be sure that this would be a moisturizing formula, because winter is on its way.  With those two things in mind, I began my search.

This is the basic formula I decided to use.
1 oz hard wax (candelilla, soy, etc)
1 oz solid-at-room-temperature oil (coconut oil, avocado oil, mango butter, or shea butter)
0.75 oz hard-at-room-temperature oil (cocoa butter or palm oil)
2 oz Liquid oil (jojoba oil or olive oil)
A few drops of Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Essential oils, maximum 8 drops for each lip balm

I adapted that formula, and will be trying this…

Homemade Vanilla Lip Balm:
1 oz Candelilla wax
1 oz shea butter
0.75 oz lightly-scented cocoa butter
2 oz olive oil
A few drops of Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Vanilla essential oil

“BULK-BUY” BREAKDOWN

1 lb Candelilla Wax = $13.35 + 8.53 shipping = $21.88
16 oz 100% Organic Shea Butter = $18.99
4 oz Organic Cocoa Butter (AuraCacia) = $7.99
0.5 oz Vanilla Essential Oil (AuraCacia )= $24.99
1 pt Olive Oil  = $7.99
4 oz Vitamin E oil = $5.25
30 Bead Sorters for Lip Balm Containers = $9.99
________________________________________________
$97.08

Once I have a better understanding of how many lip balms this recipe yields, I’ll give a “recipe-cost” breakdown.  I’ll also be posting the good-bad-and-ugly of the process, so stay tuned!