How to Make Peppermint Cocoa Lip Balm
In my little corner of the world, “Upper Left” USA, winter is in full swing. Dry, cracked, and chapped lips are commonplace and are the hallmarks winter’s work. Lip balms are coveted. Lotions and salves in heavy rotation. Hardly any skin is spared.
Fortunately, lip balms are easy to make; even the good ones, in fact. The hardest part is planning ahead and ordering the lip-balm tubes, but even that can be solved by using whatever small lidded containers you can get your hands on…
This lip balm recipe makes 20 tubes, and like most of the concoctions I blog about, you’ll need a simple kitchen scale
Truth be told, I think this is my fav lip balm formula to-date…
Lip Balm Ingredients
28 grams of lavender-infused olive oil
24 grams coconut oil
20 grams beeswax pastilles
14 grams cocoa butter (I use wafers, as I find them to be much easier to work with)
25 drops peppermint essential oil
15 drops benzoin resin
*For more info on how to infuse oils, visit this post.
Method
Add a few inches of water to a shallow saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
On a kitchen scale, weigh oils, beeswax, and cocoa butter and add to a glass mason jar.
Place the jar in boiling water and allow all ingredients to melt, stirring occasionally.
Once melted, remove from heat, cool slightly and add essential oil and resin.
Pour immediately into lip balm tubes or containers.
Allow to cool several hours to allow balm to “set” and place caps or lids on whatever packaging you’ve chosen.
Notes:
Beeswax is a bummer to clean. I have dedicated jar for beeswax projects, I suggest the use of a glass-jar-in-a-saucepan method because of it’s easier clean-up. After use, I wipe the jar clean with paper towels and then douse with boiling water and wipe out again. It doesn’t get it perfect, but ‘good enough for government work.’
Alternatively, a glass bowl atop of a saucepan of boiling water for a “double-boiler” method could be used.
I also use a wooden chopstick, like the kind you get from a takeout restaurant to stir. They work great for this purpose and are a fantastic re-purpose of an oft wasted tool.
A word on benzoin: Benzoin resin, Styrax tonkinensis, is a solvent-extracted resin, not exactly an essential oil. Originating from varieties of the Styrax tree, when the gum resin is extracted, the scent has a strong likeness to that of vanilla and is a great substitute for the mega-pricey vanilla absolute, which is also not a true “essential oil.” The Soap Queen explains it best in her blog post here.
And finally, If you’re not into mint, this recipe is easily customizable by adding your own essential oil blend. Just be mindful of using citrus essential oils due to their phototoxicity.
Did you make this? How did you like it? Share your thoughts in the comments with our DIY community!
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