Natural Lip Balm Recipes: Different DIY Lip Balm Formulas for Different Consistencies
I’ve been making natural skincare for a while now (and still lots to learn!) and one of the things I took some time to get my hands dirty on was lip balms, believe it or not.
I was actually formulating complicated emulsions (using co-emulsifiers and making products like facial cleansers as well as other facial creams) and still hadn’t given lip balms a try, not sure why. Lack of time, most probably.
Also there was something else. The consistency. I knew it wasn’t just a matter of getting right on to making the natural lip balms. I needed to know PRIOR to getting started what the lip balm was going to feel like in terms of solidity.
This isolated factor delayed my project for around 3 to 5 months. That’s a long time! I was just too busy to look at experimenting with the different consistencies regarding amount of beeswax vs the other ingredients.
I also had to look at the butters I was going to add. Was cocoa butter better for the balm than shea butter? Should I add both for the right consistency/benefits? Which oils were best… was coconut oil the better option?
What about essential oils? Should I/shouldn’t I add them? (Formula Botanica insists we shouldn’t add essential oils to products that will be applied to delicate areas like lips or around the eyes, like eye contours) but then they have published lip balm recipes which do have essential oils as part of the formulas; check here (mandarin essential oil at 0.2%), and on a formulation given at their course they added grapefruit essential oil as the suggested aromaceutical, so there you go…
I’m not sure why they suggest citrus types of essential oils for lip balms, I personally would have thought vanilla or mint would be more appropriate but maybe I need to do some more research around this to be honest.
The best thing is to keep it safe in my opinion. Either add a tiny little amount of essential oil or none at all. More on that below, anyway.
Different Natural Lip Balm BASE Formulas
My natural lip balm formulas incorporate beeswax in them, so if you’re looking for a vegan recipe these won’t be any good for you. I’m assuming candelilla wax can replace beeswax for the recipes but I’m not sure about the percentages so please check elsewhere.
With that out of the way, let’s have a look at the ingredients you’ll need to make your homemade lip balm recipe.
I was given different formulas at my Naturally Thinking Cosmetics Course, but we only created one of the formulas which is the one I decided to make at home in the end.
Here are the different formulas:
1. An effective formula using stearic acid as the thickener
- 10% stearic acid
- 50% butters (cocoa, shea, mango, etc)
- 40% liquid oils
I admit I haven’t done the formula above but I’m very interested in making it at some point to see the difference between the results. I’ve seen some of the lip balm recipes by Marie Rayma from Humblebee & Me use stearic acid as the thickener.
2. Here’s a formula similar to the texture of vaseline (thin)
- 60% butters (cocoa, shea, mango, etc)
- 40% oils
This would be thinner than most lip balms but worth giving it a try to check out consistency.
3. Average Homemade Lip Balm Recipe with Beeswax
Here’s the percentages I was given regarding amount of beeswax vs the other ingredients (butters and oils):
- 30% beeswax
- 30% butters (cocoa, shea, etc)
- 40% oils
But I must admit I find that this is too hard as an end product. Especially if you’re using cocoa butter! Other beeswax lip balm recipes I’ve seen use around 20% beeswax (see more recipes below).
**That’s the reason I took so long to get going with finding the perfect lip balm recipe (at least for me). I knew the formula I had been given was too ‘solid’ and I didn’t fancy spending hours/days finding the perfect consistency. So I ended up spending months instead. Ouch.**
Formulas from Other Trusted Websites
Before venturing into finding out the perfect consistency for me I checked out other trusted websites (Formula Botanica, Humblebee & Me, Majestic Mountain Sage, etc).
Here’s the base for a lip balm recipe from Formula Botanica:
- 20% beeswax
- 39% shea butter
- 40.5% avocado oil
- 0.5% essential oil (no more!)
Link again here.
Homemade DIY Lip Balms Recipes from Humblebee & Me:
Here’s the page where you find all of Marie’s (very diverse!) recipes for lip balms (including vegan, colourful balms, lip balms with maple syrup and more): here.
DIY Lip Balm Recipe from Majestic Mountain Sage:
- 20% beeswax
- 25% soft butter (coconut oil, shea butter, etc)
- 15% solid butter (cocoa butter)
- 40% liquid oil (sweet almond, olive, avocado, etc)
Here’s the link.
(A vegan version of the above:)
- 10% candelilla wax
- 30% soft butter (coconut oil, shea butter, etc)
- 20% solid butter (cocoa butter)
- 40% liquid oil (sweet almond, olive, avocado, etc)
Lip Balm Recipe with Honey from Majestic Mountain Sage:
- 45% sweet almond oil
- 15% cocoa butter
- 10% coconut oil
- 10% lanolin
- 20% beeswax
- 1.5% honey, liquid
(I added the percentages which ends up being 101.5%, their recipe is given in grams but I prefer to have the percentages here.) Here’s the link to their recipe with instructions.
Lip Salve Recipe with Aloe Vera and Coconut Oil from Soul Salve:
This recipe is a little bit more complicated, but I love Blake Manion’s products and website. Blake lived in Spain where he learned about plants medicinal properties in an organic farm. He now makes beautiful salves, check out his products here.
Interesting what he says regarding the difference between salves and balms:
The difference between balm and salve is that balms are typically fragrant and hydrating, but are not made with the intention to “mend” a topical ailment. The beneficial properties of a salve will come from the herbs infused into the oil, the plant extractions added, and the essential oils used that otherwise may not be incorporated into a balm.
Check out his recipe here. Below, ingredients and amounts:
- .35 oz coconut oil
- .15 oz beeswax
- 2 drops vitamin e oil
- 3 drops aloe vera gel (fresh or processed)
- 2 drops apple cider vinegar, unfiltered
- 3 drops lemon balm extract
I haven’t done the maths properly in terms of percentages for the above recipe but the amount of beeswax seems to be approx. 30% of the total amount. Note that he doesn’t use butters, only coconut oil, which does go solid at room temperature. Interesting to see how the salve ‘behaves’ within different temperatures (summer/winter/inside pocket/inside bag/left in car/etc).
I’ll give this recipe a go at some point in the near future. His mix is very interesting indeed, and I like the fact that he adds plant extractions. I find this VERY interesting indeed.
**I love the way he wants you to ‘kiss the salve’ as the perfect application method and also he thinks you should keep it in your pocket, which gives it your body temperature, making it the ‘perfect’ application. Sweet!
**A little treat from Blake: check out his coconut, clove and aloe vera salve here.
SwiftCraftMonkey:
SwiftCraftMonkey is now under membership so I can’t really say (you’ll have to pay to become a member) but Susan does have a lot of interesting posts on lip balms. That’s all I can say : ) Oh, and the link is here.
Other Resources:
Will add more as I find them, but so far I liked this one here.
Which Lip Balm Recipe Then??
I’m not sure how to proceed to be honest. I’ve tried different beeswax percentages (same formula, you’ll se below) and I can’t settle with one.
I’ve tried with beeswax at 20% and I find it a little too hard.
At 15% beeswax the lip balm is a little soft to the touch which I think is absolutely lovely (this also works for children because they can feel they’ve got product to apply to their lips). The downside is that it feels a little on the oily side once applied to the lips. You know, that ‘little bit too oily’ for my liking.
I finally created the recipe at 17.5% beeswax. I like it. Softer to the touch than at 20% beeswax but not too oily when applied on the lips. I think I’ll stick with that one. See all the recipes below in case you’d like to try them all.
Homemade Lip Balm Recipe at 20% Beeswax (this is the ‘standard’ according to many, but I find it too hard for my liking)
Beeswax (Foundation) 20%
Shea Butter (Foundation) @ 25%
Cocoa Butter (Foundation) @ 15%
Sunflower Oil (Additive – Healing Oil) @ 17.30%
Almond Oil (Additive – Softens Lips) @ 10%
Castor Oil (Additive – Adds Gloss) @ 10%
Calendula Oil (Additive – Soothing Oil) @ 2%
Vitamin E (Delays Rancidity) @ 0.5%
Homemade Lip Balm Recipe at 15% Beeswax (too oily on the lips for my liking)
Beeswax (Foundation) 15%
Shea Butter (Foundation) @ 30%
Cocoa Butter (Foundation) @ 15%
Sunflower Oil (Additive – Healing Oil) @ 17.50%
Almond Oil (Additive – Softens Lips) @ 10%
Castor Oil (Additive – Adds Gloss) @ 10%
Calendula Oil (Additive – Soothing Oil) @ 2%
Vitamin E (Delays Rancidity) @ 0.5%
**I bumped up the amount of shea butter to compensate as I didn’t want to bump up any of the liquid oils instead (it would have been too oily then for sure I think!)
Homemade Lip Balm Recipe at 17.5% Beeswax (Perfect!)
Beeswax (Foundation) 17.5%
Shea Butter (Foundation) @ 27.50%
Cocoa Butter (Foundation) @ 15%
Sunflower Oil (Additive – Healing Oil) @ 14%
Almond Oil (Additive – Softens Lips) @ 13.50%
Castor Oil (Additive – Adds Gloss) @ 10%
Calendula Oil (Additive – Soothing Oil) @ 2%
Vitamin E (Delays Rancidity) @ 0.5%
On this last version (my favourite so far) I tried to equal the amounts of sunflower oil and almond oil. It made more sense to me although I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
A Few Notes:
- I played around with the other amounts a little when changing the percentage of beeswax. You’ll see that they don’t follow a ‘rule’, but it was good enough for me to test solidity, which was what I was after.
- I don’t add essential oils because you need to add them when the mix cools down a bit so they don’t evaporate and the smells tends to disappear. Also people have different tastes so no essential oils, no problem.
- The lip area (as well as the under eye area) is delicate so I prefer not to play around with essential oils. Just an ol’ plain balm that will protect my lips.
- I use organic cocoa butter (unrefined) and pure shea butter. They both give my lip balm a strong smell which I love but it might not be of everyone’s liking. If so, you can get refined versions of the same.
- I find that the mix of shea butter and cocoa butter works well for me although I haven’t tested using only one of the butters.
- I think that’s it!
Essential Oils for Lip Balm
I’ve checked a few recipes from trusted sources and the essential oils people seem to use the most are lime, mandarine and peppermint. As explained above, I wouldn’t add essential oils but you’re free to explore the options and make up your mind around this (and please don’t get me wrong – I LOVE essential oils. Just not so sure about them on the lips as this is a delicate area).
There You Go!
I’m done with this post. There’s no recipe instructions here for you to follow as I just wanted to discuss percentages and solidity of a lip balm. I might write another blog post at another time.
Cheerio for now : )
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