Homemade Natural Peppermint Lip Balm
Thursday, November 03, 2016
If there is one cosmetic product that I can't live without, it would be a non-tinted peppermint lip balm. Why specifically peppermint? It's because I love beauty products with cooling effect since I live in a tropical country where the summer heat is very scorching. Since I use lip balm every day, it became a big concern with me when I read about how most commercial lip balms are made out of petroleum jelly - a byproduct of petrol that we use to run our cars. Although petroleum jelly has low toxicity score of 1 (according to the Environmental Working Group), I'm still not at ease thinking that I use a petroleum-based lip balm and tend to lick my lips often. It's like consuming little amount of petrol every day, ewww!
This is the reason why I chose to make an all-natural homemade peppermint lip balm as my first DIY beauty recipe project. I found so many lip balm recipes on beauty blogs and on YouTube which are very helpful for a first-timer like me. After some experiments, I finally have the recipe that would produce lip balm with the consistency that I like - not too waxy and not too firm since I'll be storing it on tin cans instead of lip balm tubes.
This lip balm recipe only uses 4 ingredients - coconut oil, beeswax, vitamin E and peppermint essential oil. I use coconut oil because of its moisturizing and antibacterial properties, not to mention it's also abundant and cheap in the Philippines. Coconut oil also has a natural SPF of 4 which will protect our lips from sunburn. Beeswax acts as emollient and humectant (drawing moisture to the skin and sealing it) which is a good treatment for dry, chapped lips. I also add Vitamin E because it contains natural antioxidant and also prevents the coconut oil from going rancid. Lastly, peppermint essential oil adds a cooling effect to the lip balm.
Ingredients
(Makes two lip
balms on 15g tin cans)
3 tsp. extra virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. beeswax pellets
4 drops of peppermint essential oil
1 capsule of Vitamin E
Instructions
1. Combine the coconut oil and beeswax pellets in a
double boiler. Over low heat, stir until the mixture is completely melted. If you don’t have a double boiler, then you can just improvise by placing a heat-resistant container over a small pot of boiling water.
2. Remove from heat then add the Vitamin E
(puncture the capsule and squeeze out the oil) and peppermint essential oil.
Mix well to evenly distribute the oils.
3. Quickly transfer the mixture to lip balm containers and wait for it to solidify at room temperature before covering the containers.
Where to buy the
materials
·
I bought both the beeswax pellets and the 15g
aluminum tin cans from ISLAS Aromatics.
·
The extra virgin coconut oil can be bought in
any supermarket. I bought mine from Landmark Makati.
·
I bought the peppermint essential oil from GIGA Naturally.
· Vitamin E capsule can be bought from any drugstore. I bought mine from Watsons pharmacy.
Conclusion
The above recipe produces a medium-firm lip balm, just the
right consistency to make it spreadable and easier to scoop out from a tin can.
If you’re going to use lip balm tubes, then I recommend to add a little bit
more beeswax to make the lip balm firmer. Try to experiment with the ratio between coconut oil and beeswax until you achieve the consistency that you prefer. When I used the lip balm, it keeps my
lips moisturized for 6-7 hours. It has a faint smell of coconut which reminds
me of tropical beach. I also like that it’s not shiny unlike other commercial
lip balms that make your lips look oily. Aside from lips, I use the same balm
as eye moisturizer and cuticle cream – it’s so multi-purpose.
I never thought that making your own lip balm is so easy and
could definitely save you money because you could make a lot with just few
ingredients. I will definitely try other variations like tinted or flavored lip
balms.
Have you tried creating your own lip balm? If not, then I
encourage you to try because it’s so much fun to do so.
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