A recent (and rare) trip to the mall informed me that berry toned lips are in (as are some pretty poppin’ eyes, if Sephora is to be trusted). I’d been thinking it was high time to blend up some new lipstick shades for a while, and said mall visit proved to be just the thing to get me mixing up pots of colour in my kitchen again.
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Today’s shade is Black Plum—a rich, blue-tinted red tone that’s not-quite-purple, but is sort of thinking about it. It’s not as richly pigmented as some of my other lipsticks, meaning you can layer it up for more of a colour punch, or apply one layer for a lighter tint. I’m enjoying the versatility.
The colour comes from a blend of red iron oxide and blue ultramarine. The FDA hasn’t approved ultramarines for use around the mouth, but apparently the EU has, and I find the EU is generally more conservative with their approvals than the FDA, so I’ve decided to go with the EU on this one. It’s a pretty minute amount of the blue in any event, especially when you consider it on a per-use basis. If you don’t want to use blue ultramarine I’m afraid you’re out of luck for this shade—I know of no natural, oil-soluble or insoluble pigments that will do the trick.
As with all my lipsticks, this one comes together easily (though the clean up is a bit of a pain). While the oils melt, blend your pigments together. Then, mix and mash everything together before filling your tubes. Voila!
Black Plum Lipstick
7g | 0.25oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
9g | 0.32oz safflower oil
1g | 0.03oz magnesium stearate4g | 0.14oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
½ tsp red iron oxide
1/8 tsp blue ultramarine (I use these tiny measuring spoons for tiny measurements like this)
1/16 tsp oil-soluble titanium dioxideCombine the unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada), cocoa butter (USA / Canada), safflower oil, and magnesium stearate in a small saucepot and melt everything together. We’re leaving the beeswax out at this point because it browns at about 85°C, but magnesium stearate doesn’t melt until ~90°C. So, we’ll melt the magnesium stearate first, and then drop the temperature and add the beeswax.
While everything is melting, measure out your pigments (don’t get distracted, though—keep a close eye on your oils so they don’t scorch!).
Once all the oils have melted, add the pigments and stir and mash everything together with a good, flexible silicone spatula. You want to be super sure you’ve smashed up all the bits of oxide so the final lipstick is nice and smooth.
When you’ve got everything blended together beautifully, pour your lipstick into tubes or tins. This will fill four or five 4.5g lip balm tubes.
I have not experimented with any alternatives to magnesium stearate at this point and cannot recommend any, sorry. I do not recommend eliminating it unless you enjoy “skiddy” lipstick 🙂
Feel free to add a few drops of your preferred lip-safe essential oil if you like.
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Beautiful color – which red iron oxide did you use — does it have a number like 170 or 180? If no number, is the undertone yellow or blue? I have about 5 red oxides.
I really like your blog – you do so many interesting posts, and the info I derive from your site is some of the best I have found. I have been doing DIY cosmetics, soaps and lotion for about 10 years. Thanks.
Hi Susan! The red oxide I used is this one from NDA. No number, but the photo there is quite accurate.
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
I really need to get a scale! This is an absolutely stunning shade on you! The second pic of you is so stunning! I actually have everything for this (minus scale!) but I do have a question about the red oxide. Is this the average red or are there any other oxides added? I have two red oxides, one was blended with small amount of ultramarine Blue and it makes a lovely mauve/berry blush. I might have to split the recipe in half and try this one on part of it. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Ashlynn! Your bluish red oxide might do the trick for the entire recipe, though you may find you want to add a touch more ultramarine blue to get the hue you’re going for 🙂
Is the mag stearate necessary? If it can be subbed, what would be a good sub for it? I’ve never used it before and don’t know what it does for the recipe to know what to sub it with if anything if possible. Love this color!
Hi Cynthia! The magnesium stearate is for slip and adhesion, and I do not know of any adequate replacements for it. I’ve tried making lipsticks without it and I’ve found them to be quite “skiddy” and unpleasant to use. If you do give it a go you may want to drop a gram or two of wax to try and counter that, but I can’t speak for the results.
Hi sweety! very nice recipe (as always!)….mmmm! usualy i don’t like dark lipstick…but this is nice ! and very autumnal ! bravo ! very nice!…Athanasia.
Thanks 🙂
I absolutely love this color!!! And it looks really flattering on you! I did some calculations and made my own batch with my own lipstick formulation and I’m in love! Thanks so much for sharing this color, Marie!
Hi pretty lady! I found an “approved” substitution as in approved by the FDA but it’s not natural. I personally am ok with not using 100% natural ingredients in my products as long as they aren’t horrible carcinogens and they are not used at high % levels. If I’m making something for me than I’m ok with experimenting but for resale, I need to stick to “FDA approved”. Although I agree that EU tends to be more conservative, they are faster to approve ingredients.
Anyways, I used FD&C Blue No. 1 Lake and it was fine!
Thank you for consistently inspiring me. I’m getting caught up on your recent posts and their is some PSL lotion in my near future and probably psl lip balm too!
Cool, thanks for sharing! Saffire Blue sent me a gift box a few months ago and included a baggie of FD&C Blue No 7 Lake that is the same shade of carmine, but significantly cheaper, and works beautifully in lipstick. I did some research and it’s not too “evil”, but definitely not natural. Hmmm. Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
Marie, I just want to thank you so much for sharing all of your DIY recipes with us! I truly enjoy making these and seeing new recipes, and you have inspired me to go on and make my own recipes with the knowledge you so generously share. Thank you! When I found your blog one year ago now, searching for a DIY mineral foundation, I found my new hobby and something I take great joy in and can share with others. I can’t wait to see what you have in store in the future and I always enjoy DIY-ing with you! Much love!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Ashlynn 🙂 I’m so glad to have helped you dive into a new hobby and start going all natural and awesome 😀 Spread the joy! 😀
Hi Marie, could I substitute zinc oxide for titanium dioxide in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it, and while zinc oxide for titanium dioxide isn’t always a good idea, I think it should work here 🙂
Hi!
Thank you for your amazing recipes! I tried to make red lipstick using this recipe (I only used 2g of red oxide) and it looks a little bit orange on my lips instead of red… Is it a common issue or I did something wrong? Thanks!
Hey! If you mean that you dropped the blue and the titanium dioxide (the white), this sounds about right. The most commonly available red iron oxide is a fairly reddish brown colour that tends towards a coral colour, especially when used on its own. If you want a brighter pin-up type red, you’ll need carmine (c’est $$$$$ haha, about $40 USD/oz).
I forgot to mention that I also added titanium dioxide, but I purchased the regular one (I don’t know if it is “oil-soluble” as the one in the recipe, I can’t tell the difference). Maybe that also was a problem?
It’s unlikely that’s the problem, I think the oxide is just a bit yellower than you were hoping 🙂
I will try to get some Australian red reef clay to try other recipes 🙂 Thank you so much!
Hi there there is a blue red oxide that is pretty much that shade if you want to avoid the ultramarine. Also you can use silk powder or silica to produce adhesion and slip.
I ended up finding some blue shade red oxide a few months after publishing this recipe, and it is great! Since silk powder is water soluble it would be gritty in this since it’s 100% oil based, so I’d probably avoid that, but silica is lovely! I would be slightly concerned about it being drying to the lips, though, as silica is incredibly absorbent and fantastic for oil control. Have you tried it? What percentages worked?
That color suits you perfectly! I’m way too addicted to lipstick — I’ve barely put a dent in my super-vintage-style ones (I love the way they stick around all day and the beautiful tubes they’re in! http://besamecosmetics.com/collections/lipstick) AND YET I keep staring at your lipstick recipes wondering what shade I can make for myself… I think I need help! Hello, Lipstick Addicts Anonymous??
One thing I do worry about with making my own lipstick, though, is the staying power. The only thing I’ve found that defeats my current brand of lipstick is salad dressing (because it’s oil based and like dissolves like) and (obviously) kissing. Does your lipstick recipe have good hold once it’s on? I’m probably going to make a tiny batch once my oxides are delivered, but I just thought I’d find out straight from the source as well.
Thanks, Sarah! I definitely understand your lippy addiction; developing all the different blends for the book has left me with a crazy collection of lipstick!
I can promise that the lipsticks in my book have fantastic staying power. There are two lipsticks and a lip paint, and the long wear lipstick and lip paint have insane longevity. I think this one is a bit soft to stick around for too long, but I have really run the book blends through the wringer and they are remarkable!
I made this today and I am just loving the way my lips slide over each other! The colour is brilliant!
I do have to say, that I was so confused when you said to let the stearate melt. I couldn’t figure out how to tell if it had melted, then my thought bulb saw it happen and the ohhhh moment started.
I ended up scortching my first batch as my only small pot is a Paderno with those amazing bottoms for gas stoves. So when I turned off the flame, I forgot I was still cooking the oils. Lesson learnt! Cleaned up and tried again. This time, just as the stearate was melting I turned off the heat and threw in the beeswax and then put the pot on a cool towel to force it to cool down a little.
I so need to buy a small pot.
The colour combo you came up with is perfect just the way it is.
Woohoo! And definitely a good lesson on the scorching—it happens to all of us. I definitely did it a few times working on the book and was able to determine that it definitely adversely effects the performance of the cosmetic 😛 What you can do is pour the melted oils into a new (smaller) bowl to blend in the pigments; that way you make less of a greasy mess and you don’t have to worry about scorching anything!
I have a small beaker I used for the colours and did exactly that the other day when I made a more pinky lipstick. And yup. Scorched another batch too.
I’m planning on trying out some other recipes you have that call for the stearate and using an old dish to hold all the scorched oils! My cleaning woman just raises her eye brow at me and mutters, “foreigners!”. Makes one wonder what other foreigners do.
Those darn scorched oils! I’m still working on “safe” (aka “do less damage if I screw it up”) methods for incorporating mag st into things. The losses are so sad 🙁 Tip #1: don’t add pigments until the base has safely melted!
Lol!
I actually found a way that could (fingers crossed) work well long term. I have Paderno pots so the base is very thick to keep the heat and to spread the heat out. I found working with such small amounts of the lip chap the base doesn’t cool fast enough. So I tossed in a stainless steel tiny pot into the Paderno making sure that the bottoms have as much contact as possible.
This way, as soon as everything is melted I can immediately remove it and toss it on the counter or into some cool water to reduce the temperature wicked quick. And reduce the scotching that seems to happen to me because the pots don’t cool fast enough.
So far I’ve had good success with this method! Once everything is melted up and mixed, I put the oils into my beakers or Pyrex and those into a water bath and go to work on colours.
Ahh, good call! Tiny batches do present interesting and unique challenges. I’ve been finding melting the mag st isn’t as necessary if you’re making a large enough batch that you can pre-blend your pigments with it in a coffee grinder—obviously with small batches you lose so much pigment that it’s impractical, sadly.
Hi Marie, in the video you use mango butter, but it is not listed above as an ingredient. I don’t have mango and was hoping to stick with Shea and cocoa as listed? Thanks!
I used mango in the video to show that it is easily used instead of shea; either will work.
Have you ever developed any recipes for shaped lipstick in a lipstick tube instead of a lip balm tube? I love the convenience of throwing it on without a mirror.
I haven’t—lipstick molds are really expensive. If you’d like to buy me one so I can experiment, you are more than welcome! 🙂
I have used several of your recipes for lipsticks – both from here and from your book, and they turn out with a hard, chalky texture. I checked all my ingredients, and see that I have micronized titanium dioxide. Could that be the trouble? Should I be adjusting the amount I use, or should I just get another kind? Thank you so much for all you do!!!
Hmm. Maybe? It could be that the finer particle has more surface area and is more absorbent, so it’s soaking up more of the base than normal TD, but that’s just a hypothesis as I’ve never worked with micronized TD before. Are you doing everything with a good scale?
I think so – it’s newish as well, so it isn’t off or anything. Do you think there is something different I should do?
You could try getting some calibration weights for your scale, but honestly I’d probably try non-micronized TD first since we know that’s different from what I use.
Hi Marie,
I’m commenting under this post because it is lipstick and I have a question based on the lipstick recipe in your book. In the instructions for making the base you have us put the ingredients all in a small saucepan in lieu of the water bath…my question is any small sauce pot efficient or do I need to consider if the pot is stainless steel or non stick or? Also would you consider this an item once used for lipstick making to be a dedicated diy item or is it easily cleaned to go back in the cupboard for other uses? Anyhow my apologies if this question has been asked and/or answered elsewhere! Thanks so very much for your insight! I am totally enjoying my new DIY craft!
Disregard!!! I figured it out and made a super awesome lipstick! Wooo love the book and blog and videos!!!
Woo! 😀
A small saucepan that you already own is just the thing, and it can happily continue to be used in your kitchen as all it’ll come clean pretty easily—it’s the pigment that makes a really big mess, haha!
Hi Marie,
I love all of your DIY soo much, I have one question, which ingredients should I use to make Lip liquid? I have usu beewax, coconut oil,aloevera gel, jojoba oil, foundation and some pigments.
If you’re interested in making cosmetics I’d recommend checking out my book—it’s all about makeup and is packed with recipes!
Hi,
My name is Destiara I have some specific question about lipstick I have bought your book and seen your lipstick recipe on youtube and its kind of different, the problem is I have try your recipe long wear lipstick from your book and I didn’t put it to normal lip balm tube but I pour it into mould aluminium lipstick and ended up too creamy and it break or too hard and both situation it doesn’t really give color and its so weird. So I would love to if you tell me or make a new video about lipstick making with aluminium mould and warm the magnesium stearate in a direct fire? (from your book) thanks, I love to make all the stuff you have made.
Hey! Thanks for buying my book 🙂 None of the lipstick recipes I’ve created have been designed or tested for use with an aluminium mould, so I’m afraid I can’t help you. I try to keep everything as accessible as possible, and those moulds aren’t terribly accessible (I’ve never found them in Canada, and they are typically at least $50USD, and up to hundreds of dollars).
I’m not sure how interesting a video on melting magnesium stearate would be… just put it over low heat and it eventually melts? What precisely do you need clarification on?
Hi Marie
Your posts inspire us. I made this lipstick but it is very soft and does no stay long. I live in a Singapore and it can get hot here. Any ideas what I can do. Thanks in advance
The lipstick recipes in my book are much better, I recommend checking them out!
Hello, i purchased your book and i want to know for the creamy vegan lipstick base…. i know you said you like to use a pot but have you actually tried molding it in a lipstick mold without it breaking?
I have tried it, yes. Without breaking—definitely not!
hello, i love your recipes so much! i want to ask if i can use liquid oil soluble ( dispersed in fatty alcohol (octyldodecanol) ) titanium dioxide as i’ve heard about the hazards of using it in powder form, Thanks!
I’d recommend giving this a read 🙂 I do not recommend using a liquid version of something in a formulation that calls for the solid/powdered version unless you want to re-develop the formula to account for that change. Happy making!