Frosty morning
Frosty morning

My hubby was working a 10 hour shift so I spent my New Years Day working on various projects.  We had around a foot of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday and even though Ken had spent two evenings plowing to make things passable there was still clean up to do which is much easier in the day light.  After doing a couple of hours on the tractor with the plow and taking care of the chickens it was time to refill my supply of lip balm and try a new lotion recipe.

I have been making this lip balm for about a year now.  I tweeked it once because the original recipe was a little stiff and I wanted it creamier.  This time I tried one other new thing.  I made a couple tubes with tinting.  Everything that I have read said to just put some old lipstick pieces into the mixture and melt it to get tinting but I didn't want to do that.  Much of what is contained in commercial cosmetics is so bad for you.  So I finally read somewhere a suggestion to use Organic Beet Root Powder.  it is a beautiful shade of pink.  I only used a small amount because I wasn't sure how dark it would be.  I filled 4 tubes first with the plain mixture then added about a 1/8 teaspoon of the beet powder.  The final product turned out a bit light so next time I'll try a little more.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Here are the ingredients, see the pretty color of the beet root powder.  The stuff wrapped in plastic in the center is shea butter.  It has a wonderful smell.  The canning jar is filled with bees wax pellets.  We haven't produced enough of our own bees wax yet to use but hopefully in the future.

Double boiler
Double boiler

This is how I melt my ingredients.  The 1/2 pint jelly jar with the straight sides make it easy to clean when you are finished.

Peppermint Lavender Lip Balm

  • Yield: 6-8 Tubes

Ingredients

  • 4 tsp. beeswax pellets
  • 2 tsp. shea butter
  • 3 tsp. almond oil
  • 1 tsp. coconut oil
  • 5 -8 drops peppermint essential oil
  • 3 -4 drops lavender essential oil
  • 8 lip balm tubes

Instructions

  1. Add 2 inches of water to a saucepan or slow cooker. Put saucepan on medium high heat. If using a slow cooker use hot water to start and turn to high
  2. In a glass jar put bees wax, shea butter, almond oil and coconut oil. Put the glass jar in the water in either the saucepan or slow cooker. Stir occasionally as everything melts.
  3. Once everything is melted turn off the burner. Add the essential oils and stir. I use a ration of 2:1 peppermint to lavender.
  4. Now the tricky part, filling the lip balm tubes. I have found that a straw works well. I use clear ones so I can see the level of the liquid. I actually suck up the hot liquid. I can't stress enough to not go beyond about half the length of the straw. Hold the upper end closed then release the liquid into the tube. It may take two or three times to fill each tube. Round out the top of the tube by a drop or two but don't overflow. When the mixture cools it shrinks to level with the top of the tube. Make sure the jar stays in the hot water while you work so the mixture doesn't start to solidify.
  5. Once all the tubes are full let them sit for an hour or so to cool. Do not cap until completely cool.
  6. Feel free to try other essential oils. Wild orange makes a fun creamsicle lip balm.

This recipe it easy to make and once you have the ingredients only takes a few minutes to have a healthy product without any artificial ingredients.  The other great thing is that the ingredients have natural SPF so this lip balm has sunscreen powers too.  You can find these ingredients at your local health food store or online.  I always try to use organic.

Cooled lip balm and lotion
Cooled lip balm and lotion

This is the first time making the lotion so I'll let you know how I like it.  If it turns out to be great I'll share that recipe with you in the future.