This tutorial is going to start you off with a lip balm recipe from scratch. It uses a basic formula that you can use to come up with your own custom formulated lip balms! Because this is a bit more advanced, to learn the basics of measuring out your ingredients and adding flavor oils and micas, check out the How to make Lip Balm tutorial and the Making Lip Balm with Micas tutorial first.
Lip Balm Recipe Supplies and Equipment Needed
Spoons or butter knives
Rubber gloves
Glass measuring cup
Measuring Spoons
Digital Scale
Disposable pipettes
0.15cc scoops
Mini-Melting Pot (optional)
Microwave (if no melting pot)
Lip Balm Tubes
Malted Milk Ball Flavor Oil
Lip Balm Sweetener
Lip safe Micas in Sienna Fine and 24 Karat Gold
Beeswax pastilles
Sweet Almond Oil
Shea butter
Cocoa Butter
Coconut Oil 76°
A simple formula to help guide you in lip balms formulations:
20% Beeswax
25% Butters/Oils that are solid at room temperature. These butters are on the soft side.
15% Butters that are hard at room temperature. These butters are on the brittle side.
40% Oils that are liquid at room temperature
These percentages should equal 100%.
Calculating your amounts:
Figure out how much lip balm base you would like to make first. This recipe will make 2 ounces of base. To calculate the amount of each ingredient, take the total amount of base and multiply by the percentage to get the weight of each ingredient.
For example: To calculate the 20% of beeswax for this recipe, take 2 (base) x 0.20 (percent) = 0.40 oz of beeswax that you will need.
Making the Lip Balm:
Step 1: Weigh out all of the ingredients ahead of time. Place the glass container on your scale and tare out the container (zero out the scale) and measure out each ingredient one at a time and put to the side.
For 2 ounces of lip balm base you will need to measure out the following:
0.40 oz Beeswax (20%)
0.30 oz Coconut oil (15%)
0.20 oz Shea butter (10%)
0.30 oz Cocoa butter (15%)
0.80 oz Sweet Almond Oil (40%)
Step 2: Add the beeswax, cocoa butter, coconut oil and shea butter to a microwave safe container.
Step 3: Slowly melt the wax and butters in a microwave for 30 seconds at time. Do not overheat! I usually take the container out of the microwave every 30 seconds and stir it slightly to let the heat melt it naturally. If you have Mini Melting Pot, add your ingredients to this pot instead of the microwave.
Step 4: When halfway melted, add in the Sweet Almond oil and repeat Step 3. Stop when almost completely melted and stir slightly to let the heat melt the remaining wax and butters naturally. This prevents you from overheating your base.
Step 5: Let the base cool slightly before adding in the flavor oil.
Step 6: Flavoring and sweetening:
Add the Malted Milk Balls flavor oil to the melted balm using a disposable pipette. Start with 1% and if necessary, work your way up to 3%. I chose to use 3% in this tutorial. You can add up to 3% of flavor oils to the lip balm base.
To sweeten the lip balm, add 2% of the sweetener to the base – you can add up to 3% of this sweetener in your lip balm. Stir slowly until fully incorporated.
For 2 oz of balm:
12 drops = 1%
24 drops = 2%
36 drops = 3%
TIP: How to test if your lip balm is flavored or sweet enough. Take a clean pipette and drop one or two drops onto your palm and let it set (within seconds). You can then test this small amount on your lips to see if you need to add more flavor oil or sweetener. Do not exceed recommended maximum percentage.
Step 7: A super easy way to add a nice hint of shimmer color to your lips is to add lip safe Micas to the lip balm base. I mixed two Micas to come up with a nice deep rosy color with a hint of sparkle. Add 8 scoops of Sienna Fine and 4 scoops of 24 Karat Gold (this is about 1/4 tsp). You can add up to 1/4 tsp to one ounce of lip balm base.
Step 8: Stir the base very well, making sure all the Mica is suspended in the mixture.
Step 9: Taking a clean disposable pipette, slowly fill each tube to the top. You will be able to make 10 tubes of lip balm with 2 ounces of base.
Step 10: Allow to set and cool completely before capping.
You can experiment with these percentages. If you like a harder lip balm, up the beeswax and lower some of the butters. If you like a softer lip balm, do the opposite. To add a bit of shine and slickness to the lip balm, add a little Castor Oil. Take good notes so you can repeat your recipe!
