I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever outgrow glitter. I don’t particularly want to, but I also didn’t want to realize the special effects in some of my favourite childhood movies are painfully bad. Sometimes these things just happen. One of my strongest glitter memories is from musical theatre in the tenth grade. I was fifteen, and my ensemble character, in true musical theatre fashion, wore a leotard and a truly staggering amount of glitter all over my skin and throughout my hair. Our performance was in early December, and I remember I was still finding glitter on myself on Christmas Day. I may have used too much. Anyhow, difficulties removing it aside, I still love the stuff. So, when I paid a visit to Windy Point a couple weeks ago to find Michele and Kate positively sparkling from packing up some brand new Iridescent Super Sparkle Glitter, and Michele was kind enough to send me home with some, well… my imagination went wild. This Fireworks Lip Gloss is the first thing I’ve made with it, but it certainly won’t be the last!
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Because I really wanted the glitter to shine, I made sure the base of this lip gloss would be white, not tinted yellow or green from using yellow or green oils. White cera bellina and babassu oil, clear castor, and very pale safflower oil create the bulk of the base, and the touch of vitamin E that’s in there isn’t enough to impact the colour. You can make a few substitutions (see the list at the bottom of the recipe), just be sure to choose other ingredients that are also white or clear to maintain the snowy white + glitter effect.
Speaking of the base; this one gets its glossy, gelled consistency from the use of cera bellina, a very groovy modified beeswax that creates oil gels. If you don’t have cera bellina I’d recommend using one of my other lip gloss base recipes instead, and dressing it up to match this recipe. I’d recommend this one with glycerin. This one with lecithin is also great, but the lecithin is dark orange will contribute an orange note to the gloss in the tube. There’s also two lip gloss base recipes in my book, including a vegan one!
When we’re working with concoctions we want to be creamy, we need to stir as they cool—otherwise they’ll set up solid. Ice cream making is a good analogy—if you put plain ol ‘custard in the freezer you’ll have a block of custard the next day, but if you put it in an ice cream maker, which continually stirs it as it freezes it, then you’ll have creamy ice cream. That’s the only slightly fussy part of this project, and the amount of fuss is mostly dictated by your batch size, as larger batches will take longer to cool, and so will need to be stirred for longer. Be sure to watch the video to see how it goes!
Now, let’s chat about the star ingredient: the iridescent glitter. While you could use a plain silver/white glitter, the iridescent stuff is what really gives this gloss its fireworks-y kick. It’s just so darn pretty! Depending on the light and the angle you’ll catch flashes of dozens of different colours—click here for a high resolution photo to see what I mean! Turquoise, magenta, lime green, navy blue, hot pink, yellow, lavender, and so many others colours pop in and out of view as the light shifts. This fleeting rainbow gives the gloss an incredible dimension that’s unmatched by non-iridescent glitters. Swoon. I can’t wait to use it in other projects!
You’ll probably notice there’s both pink and white gloss in the photo; that’s because I couldn’t make up my mind, so I made one of each! You can definitely split your batch or do all of one and all of the other—it’s up to you ✨ Gotta love DIY for that! Now, let’s make some Fireworks Lip Gloss 😘
Want to watch this project instead of read it?
Fireworks Lip Gloss
15g | 0.53oz cera bellina (USA | Canada)
20g | 0.71oz castor oil (USA / Canada)
20g | 0.71oz babassu oil
44g | 1.55oz safflower oil
0.5g | 9 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)1g | 5 “blobs“ benzoin essential oil
Iridescent glitter, as needed
Silver-white mica, as needed
Liquid carmine dye, as needed (optional)Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh everything except the micas, glitter, and benzoin into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
Once you have a thoroughly liquid mixture, remove it from the heat. Stir it occasionally as it cools. Once you start noticing some bits starting to opacify around the edges, be sure to scrape those down and re-incorporate them to get a nice, creamy end product rather than a hard top and a liquidy under-bit.
When you’ve got yourself a translucent oil gel, you’re ready to start adding micas and glitter! I ended up adding about 1.25 tsp of iridescent glitter, 5/16 tsp of silver, and 10 drops of carmine dye. I recommend testing between additions to see what level of colour your like; you might surprise yourself! Watch the video for a better idea of how to add and test, and to see where I got and what I did 🙂
Once you’ve got yourself a beaker of pretty, shimmery gloss, use a syringe to transfer it into some lip gloss tubes—and Canadians, rejoice! Windy Point now has squeezy lip gloss tubes so you don’t have to order from abroad anymore! I much prefer the squeezy tubes to the ones with wands, but either will work. I’d stay away from open pots if you can as you will likely get glitter absolutely everywhere if you’re applying this with your finger!
I made a much smaller batch of this—100g is a TON of lip gloss, but smaller batches gave very odd numbers, requiring a scale that measures down to at least 0.1g, if not 0.01g. I made a 20g batch. You can easily re-calculate this recipe by turning the “g” in “%” and then scale up or down as required! My 20g batch used 1/4 tsp glitter, 1/32 tsp silver, and 2 drops carmine dye (though the carmine was just for half that, so more like a 10g batch—watch the video to see what I mean!).
Substitutions
- If you don’t have the cera bellina, look at some of my other lip gloss recipes like this one with glycerin, or this one with lecithin. Keep in mind that the lecithin will contribute an orange note to the gloss so you won’t get the white + glitter effect
- You can use a different lightweight oil for the liquid oil, just be sure to choose something that is clear as coloured oils like grapeseed or jojoba will tint the final gloss
- You can use virgin coconut oil instead of babassu oil
- You can use a different essential oil or lip-safe fragrance/flavour oil instead of the benzoin, or leave the gloss unscented
Ooohhhh! Exciting! Not so long ago I threw out some clear lipgloss with iridescent glitter. It had to go because it must have been over five years old but it broke my heart. Thank you so much – looking forward to more glitter recipes too!
Woo! I just did a similar purge, it felt sooooo good! I’m ashamed to admit I was chucking lip balm I made in university. Eeep!
They are both gorgeous! Thanks for such a beautiful recipe Marie!
Thanks, Belinda! 🙂
I still cannot find iridescent glitter and I really really want it.
Aren’t you loving cera bellina in lip stuff? It’s made lip glosses so much more fun to wear. I agree with you, I too much prefer the lip gloss tubes as you get a ton more product and I find it is not as messy.
Great recipe and love the name!
I’m so in love with the lippie squeeze tubes you sent! I love how they’re a bit smaller than the other ones I have so I can do more different things 😛 They’re still plenty huge, too! We need to find you some glitter…
I’m trying to find something about half the size of what I sent you. That’s a heck of a lot of lip gloss! I’m still working on the same tube of your Winter Wonderland Lip Gloss I made after you posted that recipe! That’s way too long to be using the same tube of lip gloss!
And yes. I do need some glitter. Pronto. Stat. Can I have yours?
It really is! Less than my TKB tubes, but still a massive amount considering I always seem to need to make another one to play with another colour blend 😛
Looks so pretty Marie. I only have powdered carmine. Will that blend just as well as liquid? And any idea how much is equivalent to 2 drops? Thanks!
It won’t blend as well as the liquid, so be sure to mash and stir very thoroughly! It might be 1/64 tsp, but I would recommend to start small and work up, and stop when you like the colour you’ve got 🙂
Quick question-are all essential oils safe for lips at recommended usage rates? I know certain colors, oxides etc, aren’t safe for lips or aren’t safe for eyes, but was wondering if there are any such concerns with essential oils in lip balm or gloss.
It depends! Like the plants they come from, there’s a huge variety. Some are lip safe, and some really aren’t. You should research each individual one. Tea tree, wintergreen, and birch are three big ones to avoid, while the mints and benzoin are fine 🙂
Ooh pretty
Thanks, Maggie! 🙂
Love your diy
Thanks for reading!
Marie, I tried to find Cera Bellina, and the only places that had it were lotion crafter, Aussie soap supplies and bramble berry, and they have a really expensive shipping price, where did you get yours?
Mine is from Windy Point Soap Supplies—it’s the Canadian link in the post 🙂
Hi Marie! This looks great and you make me eager to start doing DIYs! Wish me luck 🙂
Have fun! I think the only luck you’ll need will be luck not to get too addicted to DIY too quickly 😉
Hi Marie,
love what you do. Can shea butter be used instead of coconut oil?
You could try it, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Shea is drier/tackier than coconut oil, which is glossy/slippy—what we want in a lip gloss 🙂
I know someone mentioned that they had only powdered carmine. So do I. I know you can make certain of the powdered dyes liquid by mixing them with castor oil. Does that go for the carmine as well?
Yup! Aim for 50/50 by weight 🙂
Hi Marie. Everytime I make lip gloss in the squeeze tubes, I have a hard time getting it out. I squeeze and squeeze but nothing – and usually the top pops off and I make a mess. Anyone have this problem? You would think it’s that the lip gloss is too thick but that’s not it since I make sure it’s very thin. It almost feels like there’s air in the tube. Anyone have a solution for this? I fill them to right below the neck so not too much.
Odd! Does this happen with multiple types of squeeze tubes?
i would love to know where you got your syringe tube filler set up….. the holder and the syringe