My Homemade Natural Lip Balm - Your new favorite!

I love lip balm like some women love shoes.  Minty, luscious lip balm. Lemony lip balm. I love it all.  You could say that I'm a bit of a lip balm connoisseur.  I'm finicky about my lip balm and I want luxurious, ultra moisturizing and tingly, good smelling coverage. When I go out on a run, taking lip balm is a necessity. All that inhaling, exhaling, breathing and panting and my lips get pretty dry. So dry that my lips feel like they're going to fall off about a mile or two in.  

When I found out I could make my own lip balm with doTERRA oils, my love for doTERRA was forever sealed.

The combinations are endless and there's nothing weird or hard to pronounce that goes in it.  You're going to love the rich, smooth, deliciousness of this recipe. Making lip balm is easy and once you have your ingredients handy, it only takes about 15-20 minutes.



To make 20 standard size tubes of lip balm, 
here are the ingredients you'll need:
1.5 oz of beeswax (4.5 tablespoons). (The pellet kinds melts quicker.  I get mine here.)
1 oz coconut oil (2 tablespoons) 
1/2 ounce shea butter (1 tablespoon) (I like this one.)
1/2 oz cocoa butter (1 tablespoon) (I used this one.)

20 drops of doTERRA essential oil (Order from yours truly.)

(Tip: When I include doTERRA peppermint essential oil in my lip balm, I use about 15 drops extra of peppermint because I like the extra freshness and tingle.)

At least 20 standard size lip balm tubes (I find mine on Amazon here.)

Equipment:

Large skillet/saucepan with water
A 1-2 cup sized glass dish or bowl (for melting the wax mixture in the pan)

Disposable plastic pipettes or a medicine dropper (You can find them here.)
Measuring spoons

Label maker and labels (optional)

Hint:  If you'd like a tint to your lip balm, add a pinch of tinted mineral blush powder.

Hint hint: You can also add 1 tablespoon of zinc oxide for every 1/2 cup of balm liquid for a 20 spf sunscreen benefit, but you'll want to use non citrus oils like doTERRA lavender, cinnamon or peppermint.  Here's a reputable brand of quality zinc oxide powder.

Start by heating water in your pan.  You'll want the water about 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep.

Next, measure (or weigh) the wax, oil and shea and cocoa butters and place them in your glass dish or bowl.

Here are my friends Edee (and Carol) doing the measuring and giggling.

Note:  You can use a Pyrex glass measuring cup like this one, if you like.  Since I made lip balm with a couple of different doTERRA essential oil combinations, so I divided the melted product up into smaller bowls. (See below.)

 

Next, using a popsicle stick or metal spoon, heat the wax/butter mixture until it melts and looks like this. (While your mixture is melting, now is a good time to check your lip balm tubes to make sure that the twist stick is all the way down in the tube.)   Now remove the mixture from the hot stove and after a minute or two (not too much longer but just to cool slightly), and add tinted mineral powder for a hint of color (or leave it out for that manly man who will be slathering on your lip balm). Now add doTERRA oils you prefer.  (Lots of possibilities here!)

Now you'll use your pipette or medicine dropper to extract the heavenly melted lip balm mixture into your lip balm containers. 

Tip: working over newspaper or wax paper is helpful to catch any drips while filling your lip balm tubes.  If the balm mixture starts to harden in your pipette, just squeeze your pipette so the balm mixture drops back into your bowl to remelt.

[Another] Tip (I'm full of 'em today):  When filling your lip balm tubes, try to fill the tubes all the way up to the complete top to make prettier lip balm and get more use from your tubes.  As the balm hardens, a little dip may form at the top. Come back around a time or two and add a few more drops to the top of each tube.

Here's my lemon peppermint. (I use a label maker to label my lip balm tubes.  It's pretty smudge proof and waterproof.)

And then I made a few more after that.....  This batch included some with rose colored mineral powder stirred into the melted mix ahead of time for a bit of tint. Pretty, aren't they?  It helps to let them cool at least 15 minutes before you put the caps on.

Here they are - all labeled and ready to go.  This oughta last us a month or two.

Here's the quick video tutorial that I put together as evidence that this really is quick and easy in case you don't believe me.

Now that our lip balm goodness is complete, here are some highlights from my week...

Cleaned out the old dead foliage...

The before.

And the after.  All better.

Here's another. I always plant geraniums by the front door.  They remind me of grandma with open arms of warm welcome.

On Friday Honey took in a nice long nap.

And a Saturday football game for Noah.

And later, I took a nice easy run.

Honey and I are super excited that you stopped by.  

Charlene

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Did you eat Jell-o as a kid? What was your favorite kind?

What's the best meal you've had this week?

I'd love to hear from you.  Leave a comment below...

March Highlights and My Quick and Easy DIY Foam Hand Soap Recipe

March came and went.

I held some babies.. Charlotte is getting so big!

And began clearing last year's plants to make way for the new.  Maybe I'll get to the new planting this weekend.

We built a cat den for Abby and Derek's feline family members.  The cats will love being outdoors in the warmer weather!

Then there was the trip to Florida to visit Dennis's family.

                 

Where we rode roller coasters.

And ate.

And ate some more.  (That's my funnel cake with strawberries, chocolate syrup and powdered sugar.)

Then I attempted to stave off the 16,000 extra calories by running.  I loved all the green, the mild temperatures and the low humidity in Jacksonville this time of year.

There was the beach.

Wished I had spent a little more time there.

In my spare time, I whipped up some do-it-yo-self foaming hand soap.  You won't believe how easy it is.

You need to make this.  Let me count the reasons why:

• It's more cost effective than buying hand soap
• You'll know what's in it
• It will be void of harmful toxic chemicals that enter your body through your skin
• It's easy
• It's much cheaper than buying.  Oh.  I already said that.

 Here's what you'll need:

• A soap dispenser with a foam-type pump (approximately 8-10 oz in size)
• 2 tbsp castile soap (such as Dr. Bonners sensitive/unscented)
• 1 tbsp fractionated coconut oil (or almond oil)
• 1 tsp vegetable glycerin
• 15-20 drops of doTerra essential oils (approximate). You can always add less if you prefer.
• Purified, filtered or tap water (more info below)

Some helpful hints:

• Citrus doTerra oils work great for this hand soap because citrus tends to be fresh and clean smelling.
• We go through hand soap pretty quick in our house.  (At least 1 dispenser every two weeks.)  If you need your soap to last a little longer, you can use filtered or purified water to keep the soap fresh.  Also add 2-3 drops of doTerra melaleuca essential oil.  Adding filtered or purified water and melaleuca should keep your hand soap lasting 6-8 weeks.
• Depending on your water and other factors, the oil in your soap may separate to the top.  Mix all the oils together in the dispenser first followed by the glycerin and castile soap and then the water.  If you still experience separating, cutting out the coconut oil (or almond oil) will also help. These oils are used as a moisturizing component, but given you'll have added essential oils to your soap, moisturizing may not be an issue.
• Depending on how strong a scent you want from your soap, you may want to double the amount of drops for citrus essential oils. A minimum of 15-20 drops will work best and I wouldn't add more than 40.
• You can use a plastic dispenser as long as your soap is used frequently.  Otherwise, if the soap is going to sit for a while (more than 6-8 weeks), opt for a glass dispenser.  Here's one we found on the internet made from a canning jar.

Here's the how-to video for making your own DIY Foaming Hand Soap.

Finally, here are a few great doTerra essential oil combinations to try with this recipe:

Great for the kitchen

Peppermint/Lemon 

Peppermint/Lavender

Lemon/Lavender

On-Guard Blend (immune support, protects against environmental threats)

Lavender/Rosemary

Citrus Bliss/Peppermint

Great for the bathrooms/utility rooms

Melaleuca/Peppermint (Melaleuca is an antibacterial, antiseptic and anti-fungal)
Lavender/Lemongrass
On-Guard Blend
Peppermint/Lavender
Lemon/Lime
Grapefruit/Peppermint
Grapefruit/Wild Orange
Citrus Bliss/Peppermint

You can come up with just about any combination that works for you.  Essential oils each have many benefits.  Find the combinations that you love most!  For essential oil ordering information, use the "Shop My doTerra" link above.

I hope you've enjoyed this article.

Until next time,

~Charlene