If you’ve been wanting to learn how to make a DIY lip tint, this is such a lovely little recipe to start with. It sits somewhere between a balm, a gloss and a cream blush, giving a soft wash of color without looking heavy or overly made up.
We designed this natural lip and cheek tint to feel lightweight, nourishing and easy to wear every day. It melts beautifully into the skin, adding a healthy looking tint to both lips and cheeks while still feeling comfortable and moisturising.
Because the formula is completely oil based, there’s no need for a preservative, making it a wonderfully simple homemade lip tint recipe with a lovely natural feel.
Watch It Being Made
Benefits Of This DIY Lip Tint
- Soft, natural looking color for both lips and cheeks.
- Lightweight balm texture that blends beautifully into the skin.
- Adds colour without looking heavy, cakey, or overly glossy.
- Nourishing oils and butters help keep lips soft and comfortable.
- Great for mature skin thanks to the soft, natural finish.
- Easy to customize with different mica shades and pigment levels.
- Multi-use product that works as both a lip tint and cream blush.
- Completely oil based formula with no preservative needed.
- Beginner-friendly DIY beauty recipe that’s simple to make at home.
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- 1 grams Arrowroot Powder, 0.1 grams Zinc Oxide, 0.65 grams Red OxideWeigh the powdered ingredients into a small mixing jar or container.
- Add around 3g of the castor oil to the dry powders and mix until completely smooth, with no lumps remaining. This step is key for creating a smooth, even tint. If needed, you can add a little more oil to loosen the mixture, just remember to make a note of how much extra you use and reduce that amount from the remaining castor oil later in the recipe.
- In the Heatproof container/ beaker weigh the remaining Castor Oil, the jojoba oil, and both the butters and the waxes.
- Stand the container or beaker containing the oils in a shallow saucepan with a couple of inches of water. Place over a low heat and allow the waxes and butters to melt gently.
- Once the oils are fully melted remove them from the water bath. Add a little of the color paste to the oils and stir well. Continue doing this until all of the color paste has been incorporated into the oils. If you notice the oils begin to thicken, pop the beaker back into the water bath and re melt.
- Now we can add vitamin E. Place the beaker back on the scales, press tare and stir in the vitamin E. once again if it begins to thicken pop it back into the water bath.
- Whilst the tinted oils are still warm and fluid, pour them into your container and leave to solidify. This will usually take around an hour or so.
New to DIY skincare?
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Spotlight on Ingredients
Castor Oil
Castor oil is one of the ingredients that really helps give this lip and cheek tint its beautiful texture. It has a naturally thick, glossy feel which helps the tint glide smoothly onto both the lips and cheeks, giving that lovely soft balmy finish rather than feeling dry or waxy.
It also does a fantastic job of helping disperse the powdered colours, making the tint look smoother, richer, and more even once applied. Without it, the tint would feel a little draggy.
Jojoba Oil
We chose jojoba oil to help balance the richness of the castor oil and keep the balm feeling soft and comfortable on the skin.
Jojoba has a lovely silky feel and is often used in lip and cheek products because it absorbs nicely without leaving the skin feeling overly greasy. In this recipe it helps improve glide and blendability making the tint easier to work into the cheeks, while also keeping the overall finish feeling lightweight.
Shea and Mango Butter
We decided to use a combination of shea and mango butter to give our tint a soft and creamy balm feel. Shea butter brings a rich, nourishing feel to the recipe and helps give the tint a lovely cushiony texture when applied to the lips and cheeks.
Mango butter helps balance things out by adding a silkier feel. It is slightly lighter than shea butter which helps stop the tint from feeling too sticky. Together, the two butters create a really nice blend of creamyness yet lightweight enough for everyday wear.
Beeswax and Berry Wax
The wax is what gives our tint stability and viscosity, without it the balm would be too soft or oily. We have chosen to use bees wax because of its amazing protective and nourishing benefits.
We have chosen to use white bees wax as we think it helps produce a more red finish, the yellow giving a slightly more terracotta finish.
Adding a little berry wax brings some softening richness to the balm, helping with glide and creaminess. Together they help bring a firmness to the balm, but soft enough so that can still be applied with finger tips.
The Pigments
The pigments are what give this DIY lip tint its soft, wearable color while still keeping the finish natural and lightweight. We’ve used a combination of red oxide and pale pink mica to create a rosy tint that works beautifully on your lips, but also on your cheeks.
The red oxide provides the main depth of color, it helps give the tint a more natural look rather than a bright cosmetic finish. That pale pink mica softens and brightens the tone a bit, and also adds a healthy glow.
We’ve also included some little arrowroot powder and zinc oxide. Without these the oils would make the tint almost completely translucent on your skin. They also provide a slightly more velvety feel on the skin.
Final Thoughts
This DIY lip tint recipe is one of those products that feels effortless to wear and surprisingly versatile once you start using it.
The combination of some lovely nourishing oils, creamy butters and soft waxes helps create a balm-like texture that blends beautifully into the lips and cheeks without looking dry, cakey or overly glossy. It gives just enough color to brighten the skin while still keeping everything looking soft and natural.
It’s also very easy to customise. You can deepen the color, switch the mica tones, or adjust the texture slightly depending on whether you prefer more balm, more gloss, or more colour payoff.
A simple, wearable natural lip and cheek tint that feels lightweight, flattering and easy for everyday use.
