I am beginning to sympathize with the people who name things like paint and lipstick for a living. There are infinitely more colours than I can adequately and creatively name without straying into bizarre nail polish brand territory (you will know I’m there when I publish a lipstick recipe named after a car part and a cut of meat). Anyhow, I settled on Fall Leaves as a name for this one as it reminds me of the beautiful reds I’m seeing as the leaves change this autumn.
The colour comes from a combination of white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada) and deep, deep red Australian red reef clay. The kaolin does a fantastic job of softening and brightening the deep red of the Australian clay, making the shade easier to wear than my Red Rose lipstick.
As with all my lipsticks, it comes together quickly and easily. Once the lipstick has set in the tube, I find it best to apply it with a lip brush as that gives you the most control over not only where the colour goes, but how strong it is.
Fall Leaves Lipstick
4g beeswax
7g unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
4g cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
9g camellia seed oil
1g magnesium stearate1.5 tsp Austalian red reef clay
1 tsp white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)5 drops peppermint essential oil (or another you like)
Melt the beeswax, unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada), cocoa butter (USA / Canada), camellia seed oil, and magnesium stearate together. Stir the clays together in a small cup, and pour in the melted oils. Stir to combine, adding the essential oils.
Once the mixture has cooled enough to be thick enough to support the clays (but not so thick that you can’t pour the mixture), decant it into 4 standard size lip balm tubes. Enjoy!
It’s so cheerful and lighten her face .
Thanks 🙂
Hi Marie! Since you suggest applying your lipsticks with a lip brush, would they perhaps be better poured into little pots?
Cheers and keep up the good work!
You definitely could—the reason I prefer tubes is it makes for easier touch-ups later on. I don’t generally care enough to carry a lipstick brush in my purse, so once I have a good, neatly applied coat, I can generally touch it up with a bit of dabbing from the tube 😛
How awesome this would be for a gift! I was wondering, I remember reading how certain things don’t work for lip stains/sticks at some point on your blog.
Was it the beetroot/hibiscus/rosehip powder stuff(it was one of them I believe) that didn’t work for lip sticks?
Does it have to be a clay? Or perhaps could someone get away with using kaolin clay for texture with beetroot powder for color?
Thank you!
I think you’re talking about my quick guide to solubility. Anywho, the basic gist of it is that anything that’s water soluble (i.e. all the beetroot/hibiscus/rosehip powder stuffs—anything plant based, really) makes totally shit lip stick and lip balm. It’s just chunky, lumpy, and gross (and yes, I have tried it with smaller amounts of the powder—still shit). So, yes, it has to be either clay (a fine clay at that) or an iron oxide, both of which are insoluble. So, pretty please, do not waste your money and ingredients on a kaolin & beetroot lipstick… I have already wasted them for you 😛
I just made this. The fist thing from your site! YAY! I forgot the essential oil… Whoops. I only have rosemary and cinnamon, which I don’t think would be all that good anyway in a lip balm. I hope it turns out! Thank you!!!
Awesome! No worries on leaving out the EO, in things like this it’s really just there to spice things up a bit 🙂 Let me know how it works for you!
How did you get such a brilliant red with australian red reef clay. I bought some and it is mostly brown in color. Even if you add the white clay..its like a light brown. Did you add mica or red oxide to the mix?
It seems to be a combination of light (natural seems to bring out the red the most, as in these photos—it’s darker/less saturated inside, though still pretty red), the white clay (which really does help brighten it up… for me, at least), application (using a brush and layering up has been far more successful for me than simply spreading it on from the tube), and the batch of clay itself. If yours is more on the brown side, feel free to perk it up with some red oxide 🙂
thanks! I think I will do just that 🙂 I got some bayberry wax today, and I am going to try out the vegan lip balm, and maybe some lotion too. My brother loves the manly winter lotion by the way.
Oooh, bayberry wax 😀 What do you think of the scent of it? Thrilled to hear your brother is loving the lotion as well 🙂
will it work even without the kaolin clay? don’t have that.
If you don’t use the kaolin clay you’re basically just making this recipe instead 🙂
So pretty! Your makeup recipes are amazing, and you always look so cute, too. Can I leave out the magnesium stearate? I know you say it will slip a little bit more with it, but without, is it still okay? Not clumpy or grainy or anything? If it won’t work without it, do you have any suggestions for other similar ingredients? Thanks for your help and your always lovely blog! 🙂
Thanks, Meghan! You can leave the magnesium stearate out, though you may find it’s not quite as slippery/smooth as the original. It’ll still work, though, and it shouldn’t clump 🙂 You might consider dropping the amount of beeswax by a smidgen in future recipes if your first batch is a bit stiff as well. Thanks for reading & have fun with it!
Hmm. I swear my red reef clay is darker than yours.. Maybe I heated too much? I’m pretty sure my kaolin clay is darker. It’s not white at all. More like off white. Whatever I did wrong, I got a lovely brown lol. Not too bad. I’m sure some people it’ll work for. It shows red on flash photos lol, I’ll have to try outdoors. But I wanted a pretty red. Idk how I keep messing your recipes up girl, but I’m about to just admire your work!!
Hmmm. I have heard of this happening, but it’s always disappointing 🙁 The cost of using all natural ingredients, I suppose. For truly dependable results, iron oxides really are the way to go (I use them in my coral lipstick). You can also try applying this lipstick with a brush—I find working up to it can help you get a shade you like better. I’m so sorry you aren’t having much success 🙁 Have you tried some lip balm? That’s pretty much fool proof 🙂
Problem with earth clays and recommending them is no two batches are ever alike, the shades vary and can be drastically different. Kaolin clay is sold in a few different shades, some are off white, some are medium’light brown and some are more yellow. I highly recommend going to a website that specializes in pigments if you want particular shades of an oxide or clay. Sadly a lot of makeup ingredient supplies are as descriptive with exact colors in the way a company like kremer pigments would be.
Dear Marie,
I made this lipstick after getting the supplies yesterday. It has turned out great . I just tweaked the beeswax as I stay in India or it will melt. I love this lipstick .
Now I just wanted to say something this is the most natural lipstick in terms of colour and ingredients that I have used and am in love with it. Mac has a lipstick called velvet teddy and mine is rosier and sweeter version of it using a bit of oxide so Mac Velvet Teddy and I are breaking up , I found my perfect match and freakishly wierd but in India we don’t experience fall all that distinctly so I have named my lipstick Sweet Coffee.
Thank you . I ❤ DIYing with you .
Hi Trisha! I’m so thrilled you love the lipstick 🙂 This is such a wonderful, versatile colour and I’m thrilled it’s your new go-to! Thanks so much for DIYing with me 🙂
Excuse me, “Stir the clays together in a small cup” , Stir with water or with oil. Thank you ^^ !!!
Just stir them together as they are with a spoon, and then blend in the melted oil mixture.
Thank you for your wonderful recipes.
I would like to know if the tsp in your recipes is a regular teaspoon or the mini scoop?
They’re proper teaspoons, it would be rather silly if I called them teaspoons and made up my own definition 🙂 You’ll see “pinch”, “dash”, “smidgen”, or “nip” for smaller amounts—learn more about those here.
Hi there; I used magnesium stearate (purchased from TKB Trading) in a tweaked version of this base–21% beeswax, 25% brittle/hard butters (cocoa butter and Shea), 15% coconut oil 76, and about 38% liquid oils–and got a really strange result. Once I added MS (about 1 g in a 32 g batch) my balm/lipstick went from firm and glossy to extremely soft and somewhat oily. It’s about the consistency right now of softened coconut oil 76, even though the temp in my working area is between 65 and 70 degrees F. Has this happened to you previously?
Yup, that’s perfectly normal. It does sound like yours is a bit softer than mine, but that is likely because of the changes you made. The magnesium stearate really helps the lipstick stay creamy and apply nicely despite the addition of the powdered pigments, and it also helps it stay on longer. The lipsticks I’m developing for my book are pretty high wax to compensate for this 🙂
I did make an additional test batch at the same time with about 5% candelilla added to the beeswax. That batch appeared to be firmer, so I suppose my next step will be adding candelilla in a higher percentage.
I’m curious–have you worked at all with soy wax? I know it’s usually used in candlemaking, but I recently found a source that appears to be suitable for balms. Was wondering how it compared in your experience with candelilla and other vegan waxes.
Thanks so much for the information!
I haven’t worked with soy wax, so I’m afraid I can’t offer any insights there 🙂
I was wondering if one can use French Red Clay in lieu of Red Reef clay as I can’t seem to find a store nearby that sells it. My French Red clay is pretty red,almost like blood when wet. Also is the magnesium stearate absolutely neccesary for lipstick? Having trouble finding a local store that carries it.
Hey Lily! I would really recommend purchasing my book and making the lipstick recipes in there instead—they are much better! Magnesium stearate offers improved slip and adhesion and I highly recommend it if you want to make high-performance cosmetics… if you just want to make lipstick to say you did it and don’t really care if it stays on well you can probably drop it 🙂 In general, though, you really should purchase all your ingredients online; I’ve compared online prices to in store prices here in Calgary and most things are AT LEAST 4x the cost! Yikes!
Hey Marie, love this recipe…except when I accidentally licked my lips, the balm tasted bitter.
Do you have similar experience?
Any suggestion on how it could taste better?
Happy Christmas xoxo
Hey Diane! Is there a chance you scorched the oils while heating them to melt the magnesium stearate? That’s the first thing that comes to mind.
I’m thinking magnesium stearate may be something good to add to my creamy lip balm recipe. Just not sure of how much to use. I’ve scaled that recipe up to make 20 balms. I’m thinking 4 grams of M.S.?? Uggghhhh, this stuff is so confusing – so many questions I really need to take a course!
I wouldn’t add Magnesium Stearate to a pigment-less product—there are many other ways to get something to be creamier without it, and Magnesium Stearate is more for adhesion + slip. I really like incorporating liquid lecithin, as I did here 🙂 You certainly can try it, but I’d recommend experimenting elsewhere 🙂 Happy making!
Ya know, I have to say, I have spent the better part of my formulating time unsuccessfully trying to make a lipstick – failure after failure after failure – too hard, too soft, not enough color, doesn’t set………. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried – to the point where it became an obsession……… and i FINALLLY realized what the problem is. MAGNESIUM STEARATE. This stuff does not allow lipsticks to set properly. Every single time I have used it I have had grainy, clumpy lipsticks that break immediately upon use – this is even at .5% melted in the oils. I finally, one one of my trials, left it out and whammo. Perfect stick. My dream is a lipstick that is hard but deposits color beautifully and wears all day long, does not come off on my coffee cup and does not dry out my lips. I finally got it. I cannot tell you how many I have converted to gloss due to the issues of not setting and how much research I have done. That darn magnesium stearate is the culprit!