There are few skincare products that are as deeply hydrating and conditioning as my homemade lip balms. They keep our lips free of chapping, cracking, and flaking. Winter can be a time when lip balms are needed most. The cold wet air sucks the moisture from the skin and leaves it feeling dry and stiff.
But some people need balms all year round, especially if you are prone to seriously dry skin. So I wanted to formulate a lip balm recipe with shea butter that would keep the lips looking beautiful and healthy all year round.
Introduction
My shea butter and peppermint lip balm looks, smells, and feels incredible on the skin. It’s formulated with lovely natural ingredients, all synergized to soothe and repair damaged skin, as well as keep healthy lips looking their best.
It’s a wonderfully rich, creamy homemade lip balm – and the pigments and fragrances we’re using are all natural too!
Let’s Talk About The Ingredients
Let’s take a look at the ingredients needed for this lip balm recipe with shea butter.
Cosmetic Wax
We’ve chosen beeswax for our cosmetic wax. This is because there is no better wax for a lip balm, as it’s intensely nourishing, protecting, and soothing for the skin. Beeswax also has some good anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties to it. Perfect for compromised lips.
Waxes form a protective barrier on the skin, sealing it away from the atmosphere. This stops any moisture loss, preventing skin from becoming drier, but also keeps it feeling more supple and soft – the way skin should feel.
However, the only problem with this wax is that it’s not vegan. Beeswax is harvested from the hives of various species of bees. Therefore, if you’re vegan, you’ll need a different recipe. Take a look at our all vegan lip balm recipe if you’re interested in this.
Cosmetic Butters
We’re using two different butters for this recipe. The first is shea butter, the best of all the butters at hydrating and moisturizing the skin. It also lends a creamy texture to the product that makes the whole thing feel more luxurious.
Furthermore, it’s fantastic at smoothing and softening the skin. It’s also wonderfully healing, and great at helping to fade blemishes and scars.
However, my only issue with shea butter is the smell it has. Unrefined shea butter smells a little like sour milk, which can transfer into a product.
If you’re not liking the sound of that, consider buying the refined version. It’s deodorized, so smells way better, and still provides some good moisturizing benefits.
We’re pairing this with some kokum butter, to help balance out some of the greasiness of the shea butter.
This little-known butter is much drier and lighter in weight than shea butter. It provides great moisturizing benefits but penetrates the skin very fast. It’s fantastic at soothing sore lips too, so perfect for our balm!
We also wanted to chat about our lanolin, which isn’t technically butter but comes close. It’s fantastic in this recipe, as it conditions the skin and provides excellent moisturizing benefits. It really pushes this balm to the next level and I wouldn’t make this recipe without it.
Carrier Oils
We’re using castor oil in this recipe. Lots of balms contain this ingredient because it really helps to prevent drag in a balm. You want as little drag as possible, as it will be easier to apply to the lips if it has some slip and glide.
However, we’ve also used some avocado oil, which provides some amazing benefits for the skin. It sinks in fast, is anti-inflammatory, and soothes damaged skin. It also gives this balm a bright yellowish-green color that looks super natural.
OK Let’s Make Shea Butter Lip Balms
Lip Balm Recipe With Shea Butter & Peppermint
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Ingredients
- 10 grams Beeswax
- 12 grams Shea Butter
- 8 grams Kokum Butter
- 5 grams Castor Oil
- 13 grams Avocado Oil
- 1.25 grams Lanolin
- 0.5 grams Vitamin E Oil
- 0.25 grams Peppermint Essential Oil
- 5 Lip Balm Tubes (or container)
Video
Instructions
- Place the beeswax, shea butter, kokum butter, Lanolin, and castor oil into a heat-proof beaker.10 grams Beeswax, 12 grams Shea Butter, 8 grams Kokum Butter, 5 grams Castor Oil, 1.25 grams Lanolin
- Place the beaker into a water bath or bain marie. You can create a water bath by filling a saucepan with a couple of inches of water and bringing it up to a gentle simmer. Let the beaker sit in the simmering water until the wax and butter have melted.
- Once the wax and butter have melted, remove them from the heat but keep the water bath close by as you may need it again.
- Add your Avocado oil and stir until well combined. If it starts to become solid and cloudy you can pop the beaker back into the water to gently re-melt it. We are trying to heat our avocado oil as little as possible so that we do not lose all of its wonderful skin-loving potency.13 grams Avocado Oil
- Add vitamin E and pepermint essential oil and stir again. If the oils start to solidify, you can pop the beaker back into the water to gently re-melt it0.5 grams Vitamin E Oil, 0.25 grams Peppermint Essential Oil
- Transfer to lip balm containers, leave the lids off and put them into a cold place to solidify. A fridge is a perfect place for cooling them quickly, they shouldn't take much more than 30 to 60 minutes. Once they are completely solid and cool, remove them from the fridge and pop the lids on.5 Lip Balm Tubes
Notes
How To Use
Using this shea butter lip balm couldn’t be easier. Simply massage into the lips, using circular motions to help speed up absorption.
You can use this as often as you like, but we don’t think you’d get much benefit from applying more than once every 1-4 hours. Try not to add too much at once, as this can make your face feel and look very shiny or greasy.
However, remember that balms don’t just need to be used on the lips. The knees, elbows, and feet can often use a bit of love too. Consider dedicating a balm for your body and a balm for your face – this should make sure your lip balm remains clean and safe to use on the lips.
How To Store
If you know your balms, you’ll know that this one is way too soft to use in a wind-up lip balm tube. Those are super cool, but not useful here, as the product will just clog the mechanism and it won’t wind up properly.
So go for a small, PET plastic, glass or aluminum cosmetic pot with a screw top lid. These give you direct access to the product and can look beautiful too if you experiment with different pigments.
Your balm should last a minimum of 6 months before you’ll need to throw it in the trash. You’ll get longer if you use very fresh oils that haven’t been sitting in your pantry forever… It’s okay, that happens to us too from time to time.
Final Thoughts
We’re enjoying this balm. It’s one of my favorites so far and will be using it a lot this winter. It’s so soothing and hydrating, and the peppermint essential oil feels wonderful on chapped skin. Very cooling, in fact!
If you have trouble with this balm, let me know in the comments below. We’ve tried and tested this balm a lot, so we don’t expect you to have many problems. But we can troubleshoot together if you have any trouble.
Also, let me know what you think about the recipe. Does it feel good on the skin? What would change? I love to know what you think, and if you’ve managed to make this recipe even better while substituting and experimenting!
Hi! I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I was wondering if I could tint this with beetroot powder? if yea, how much for the 1x recipe and would that change up the ratio of other ingredients? Thanks so much for sharing your vast knowledge and gift of natural skincare and beauty!
Hi Barb,
As much as I’d love to tint it with beetroot powder as well, it’s not the best choice here. Beetroot powder is only water soluble, so while it works great in gel moisturizers and emulsions, it doesn’t sit properly in a all oil (anhydrous) products. Therefore, I would take a look at mica for this recipe. It’s a naturally occurring mineral pigment found in various types of rock, and works better in anhydrous formulations. While it won’t fully disolve, you shouldn’t get any separation.
Hope this helps!