Easy DIY Homemade Lip Balm

Pamper your lips with this simple, custom, homemade lip balm!

For the printable recipe click here.

​Why should you make your own lip balm?

There are so many choices for personal care products like chapsticks and lip balms on the market today, and many of them are pretty clean.

However, the best ones can be pretty pricy, and nothing beats knowing exactly what's in the stuff you put in and on your body.

This DIY lip balm recipe contains 4 simple, natural ingredients, plus essential oils or add-ins for flavoring, and it makes dry lips feel AMAZING!

What is in this homemade lip balm recipe?

The main ingredients in this natural lip balm recipe are cocoa butter, beeswax, sweet almond oil, and extra virgin olive oil.

I prefer to use organic lip balm ingredients when I can so that the final product is as much of an organic lip balm as possible.

You could use entirely sweet almond or extra virgin olive for the liquid oil component, but I like the combo the best. The sweet almond oil has a more neutral scent, which is why I use a greater proportion of it. However, if you wanted to be able to smell more of the olive oil, you could adjust its proportion accordingly. Avocado oil would work well in this application as well.

Some lip balm recipes call for jojoba oil, but jojoba is not as good for ingestion, and I like to keep my recipe a little more ingestion-friendly since it goes on my lips.

Note: This is not a vegan lip balm because it contains beeswax. To make this lip balm vegan, you could try to substitute candelilla wax or carnauba wax, but I have not personally experimented with that yet.

Flavoring your DIY lip balm

A general rule of thumb is that you can easily make any type of lip balm you desire by adding about 50 drops of your favorite essential oil to the base recipe.

I like to divide the base recipe in half and make two flavors per batch.

When considering which essential oils to add, think about 3 things:

1. Pick a scent you would actually want on your lips--you may love floral perfume, but you may not like a floral flavor if you lick your lips.

2. Use oils that are safe to ingest. This is such a controversial topic, but I like to use Young Living Vitality essential oils because everything in the Vitality line is specifically marketed as safe to ingest when used as directed.

3. Be aware of oils that cause sun-sensitivity. Some oils, especially citrus oils like lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, and tangerine, can cause your skin (or lips) to burn or incur sun damage when they are exposed to sun within 12 hours of application. Just something to think about if you'll be toting this lip balm along on your next beach trip!

Extracts such as vanilla, almond, or coconut are also a great way to flavor your lip balm.

​Can you color your lip balm?

Absolutely! And in fact, I definitely recommend it if you plan to make more than one flavor at a time.

The great thing is that there are so many great natural options for coloring your lip balm.

For instance, in the flavor recipes below, I color the peppermint variety with matcha powder to make it green and lend a hint of earthy green-tea flavor that compliments and slightly softens the assertive peppermint oil.

This is helpful so that you can easily tell which scent is which in the final product without having to open and sniff each one.

You can even get a swirled effect by pouring a little of each flavor/color into each container!

Beyond matcha powder, beetroot powder, blue spirulina powder, and turmeric would each make a great addition. I will caution, however, that some colors are best in moderation. Too much blue in your lip balm, and you might end up looking like you've been in out in the cold for too long.

Too much of any of these powdered additions could also make the texture of the lip balm too gritty. No bueno.

Steps and special equipment

​While this is a fairly simple recipe, there are a few things you will need to consider.

1. You will need a double boiler set up to melt the ingredients. I use a heatproof bowl rested over a small pot of simmering water.

2. If you will be splitting the base into two (or more) flavors, you will want to have extra bowls or something like Pyrex mixing bowls warming ahead of time so that when you divide the base mixture into them, they are warm enough to keep the mixture from setting too soon. I suggest filling a roasting pan about a third of the way up with boiling water and resting your extra bowl(s) there till ready to use, or you could simply place your extra bowl (s) in the oven set to the "proof" or "keep warm" setting till ready to use.

3. Think about containers for your final products.

I recommend getting a setup like the one below with lip balm tubes, a holder, scraper, and lids. This set comes with 50 lip balm containers, which is actually not enough for this recipe. Small tins or any other sort of relatively small container will work as well.

​If this lip balm is exclusively for your use, you really could keep it in larger containers, but small, cute containers make this lip balm a great gift.

Here's what you'll need:

Lip-Balm Base

• 3 oz cocoa butter

• 3 oz beeswax

• 5 oz sweet almond oil

• 1 oz extra virgin olive oil

Lavender Spearmint Blend:

• 25 drops lavender essential oil

• 15 drops spearmint EO

• 3 drops Roman chamomile EO

Peppermint Matcha Blend:

• 1 tsp matcha powder

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 8 drops peppermint EO

Here's what you'll do:

1. If you will be dividing this recipe in half to make two flavors, place a small-medium heatproof bowl or Pyrex measuring cup in an oven set to the “keep warm” or “proof” setting (or its lowest setting), or fill a roasting pan about 1/3 full of boiling water, and set the extra bowl in there till ready to use.

2. Combine cocoa butter, beeswax, sweet almond oil, and extra virgin olive oil in a larger heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir gently for about 10 minutes, or until everything has completely melted. It may feel like you have to wait a long time, but the beeswax pellets WILL melt eventually.

3. If you are making two flavors, carefully remove the smaller heatproof bowl from the oven and the larger heatproof bowl from the double boiler, and transfer half of the melted mixture to the smaller bowl.

4. Working quickly so the mixture doesn’t start to set too soon, stir in desired flavor additions.

5. Quickly pour the mixtures into lip-balm tubes or desired containers. To create a swirled effect, pour mixtures of two different colors into the same container. Allow to set for at least an hour before placing lids on.

For the printable recipe click here.

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