This light and gently spiced lip balm is just the thing for brightening your days, even if they are unbearably short right now (as mine are).
Ginger adds a hint of spicy warmth, while petitgrain brings an intriguingly dry hint of citrus to the lip balm (sans photosensitization). It’s a nice combination, and one I haven’t seen before in lip balm.
The base of the lip balm glides on beautifully and is deeply moisturizing. I’ve added a hint of buriti oil and some gold mica for a slight golden tint, but this is totally optional.
Ginger & Petitgrain Lip Balm
4g | 0.14oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz virgin coconut oil
3g | 0.1oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
8g | 0.28oz sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)5 drops ginger essential oil
11 drops petitgrain essential oil5 drops buriti oil (optional)
1 smidgen | 1/32 teaspoon gold mica (optional) (I use these tiny measuring spoons to measure amounts like this)Combine beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter (USA / Canada), and sweet almond oil (USA / Canada) in a heat resistant glass measuring cup and melt everything together by placing the measuring cup in a small saucepan with about 3cm/1″ of simmering water in it (this will take five to ten minutes).
Once melted, remove from the heat and use a flexible silicone spatula stir in the essential oils, as well as the buriti oil and mica, if you’re using them.
Pour the liquid lip balm into four lip balm tubes, let set up, label (I use these cute labels), and enjoy!
Don’t have some of the oils called for in this recipe? Read this for information on making substitutions!
Nice recipe. I made some lip balm this weekend too 🙂 I used Camphor oil to give it some tingle.
I wonder if the coconut oil can dry your lips out? It’s really cold here right now and that might be it, but I was thinking of switching the coconut oil out for palm kernel.
Any thoughts?
I use half coconut oil and half extra virgin olive oil when I make lip balm and it works well, no drying out.
🙂
Be careful with camphor oil by the mouth—it can be toxic!
I’ve never had issues with coconut oil drying out my lips when part of a beeswax lip balm, even in super dry southern Alberta 🙂 The beeswax is what provides the majority of the staying power of the lip balm.
From one Canuck to another, where do you get your buriti oil Marie? Probably not an easy ingredient to substitute?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Jan! I got mine from New Directions, and then they promptly discontinued it 🙁 For colour you can use seabuckthorn oil as a swap, or just add a wee smidge of each yellow and red oxide.
Hi Marie
This combination of EO’s looks enticing and I definitely want to give these lipbalms a go. Just one question: I bought a big bottle of Ginger EO as I love the ginger aroma, but what a disappointment when I smelt it – very earthy, dank and almost unpleasant! Is this what to expect from ginger? It is Ginger France and steam distilled. Not sure if I want to use it now:( Does yours smell more like true ginger?
Many thanks!
My ginger is the same way, I think some essential oils just are like that. I just use a tiny bit when i do use it. Certain oils I have to do this with. A few drops are heavenly(especially mixed with others that complement) in moderation. Some that I love but must do this with are are lemongrass, ginger, and even rose! I used to think I hated ylang ylang, but turns out my parents just used it straight in water in their oil diffuser and it was too strong. Your own personal tastes will vary 🙂
For any of your funky/off smelling EOs, take a look at other extraction methods 🙂 Sometimes CO2 provides completely different results than steam distillation!
Hi Birgit! That less-than-awesome scent is the fault of the steam distillation—it’s worth paying extra for the CO2 version for the improved scent 🙂 The CO2 is much more like true ginger!
What a lovely recipe! I’m struggling a lot to find it a good recipe for winter using these 4 base ingredients: vegetable liquid oil (almond or any other), coconut oil, cocoa butter and beeswax. How is working this proportion for you, as it’s rather cold there in Canada?
Greetings from Scotland 🙂
Hi Maria! I use this general formulation for all my lip balms and I adore it 🙂 The coconut oils makes for a lip balm that glides on beautifully (even when it’s -20°C!) but stays solid at room temperature.
Oh! It’s stunning! Pretty soon I will make one for myself
Thank you for the recipe, Marie
Thanks, Iryna! 🙂
Hey Marie!
In love with your website!
I’d really like to make a ginger/gingerbread lip balm for C-mas time, would you have any recommendations for a sweet ginger balm without the petitgrain? (Don’t have any on hand). Would clove/cinnamon/ginger make a good blend?
Thank you so much!
Cheers!
Hi Katie! Have you checked out my Gingerbread lip balm and my Pumpkin Spice lip balm? I bet one of those will work for you!
HI Marie, I don’t like my ginger EO either. Mine is from Mountain Rose Herbs and so was my previous bottle that smelled so much better. It almost smells like some kind of solvent!! I can’t even use it. I’ve bought a lot of oils from them and the quality has been good. Are the more expensive oils better quality or more concentrated? Or is it just a rip off to buy from Young Living for example? You’ve been satisfied with New Directions maybe I should order mine from there. What is your advice?
Hey Frann! With ginger, so much of it is the extraction method—CO2 is so much nicer than steam distilled with ginger. The steam stuff smells like socks :/ It looks like both ginger EOs that Mountain Rose Herbs sells are steam distilled, so that’ll be the culprit, rather than the quality. Mountain Rose has a great reputation and the ginger EO isn’t necessarily bad… it’s just steam distilled. By all means continue avoiding the MLMs like Young Living, they are no higher quality and are quite possibly adulterated. I love my CO2 distilled ginger root from New Directions—it smells great—and I’ve been happy with all the EOs I’ve bought from them, both in terms of price and quality.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll order CO2 distilled ginger root from New Directions next time. Since I started reading your blog, I’ve been ordering product from them and have been happy with the quality.
Great!