Try as I might, with an arsenal of lip balms in every purse and desk drawer, winter always manages to dry out my lips in the most uncomfortable ways. Even with frequent applications of my best beeswax lip balm, I need more. I need exfoliation. This scrub does the trick beautifully.
The exfoliation mixture I use (salt, sugar, and olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)) is great, but I doubt it would taste very nice. Also, it’s usually pretty runny, which is fine for all-over body use, but for an area as small as the lips, something a little more solid is better; that way you can make sure you’re getting all the ingredients in one little scoop.
I chose gingerbread as the theme because I knew I wanted to use brown sugar and cinnamon. Brown sugar is a great exfoliant, and cinnamon is not only a nice exfoliant, but it also helps draw blood to the surface of the skin. And they both taste awesome. Combined with some coconut oil, molasses, and a few other tasty treats, you’ve got yourself an awesome, moisturizing lip scrub.
Gingerbread Lip Scrub
1 tbsp coconut oil
10 drops kukuinut oil (optional)
5 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) (optional)1 tsp vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) (optional)
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
A few drops of vanilla
Pinch of each nutmeg, allspice, and cloves
½ tsp ground cinnamon2 tbsp dark brown sugar, more as needed
Melt together the coconut oil, kukuinut oil, and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada). Whisk in the glycerin, molasses, and vanilla. Stir in the spices, and then the brown sugar. Add enough brown sugar to absorb the moisture. It should clump up and not ooze very much oil.
To use, take about half a teaspoon of the mixture on your fingertip and rub it into your lips over your sink. Rinse off the residue with some water, and enjoy the smoothness!
Can I sub cinnamon EO for the dry herb?
Usually you could, but I wouldn’t recommend it here. Partially because the ground cinnamon provides some exfoliation, which the EO wouldn’t do, but also because cinnamon EO is so strong that I wouldn’t want it around my mouth. But hey, ground cinnamon is super cheap and very useful 🙂
A great easy way to exfoliate your lips sans mess is to brush them with a toothbrush. What I do is after I brush my teeth, but before spitting or anything, use the leftover toothpaste and spit (gross, I know) mixture. Brush your lips with the toothbrush as you would your lips. Rinse off with the rest of your toothpaste, and say hello to silky smooth lips. Put a lip balm over it 🙂
This is a fantastic & practical tip, even if it is a little gross, lol 😛 The best thing about it is that you’d remember to do it 2x a day!
Hi Marie!
I recently discovered that a natural makeup company I love has a lip scrub in the form of a little stick. This intrigued me, and when I stumbled across this post just now, it got me thinking. What if one made a lip scrub like this, except a bit more solid, so it could be stored in a lip balm tube? If you were going to make something like that, how would you go about it?
Thanks for posting all of these great recipes. It’s really inspiring. 🙂
Something like this? 😉
Yuuummmmm, could this be thickened with cetyl alcohol or stearic acid?
It’s like you’re reading my mind on future posts, haha. I’ve found stearic acid is nicest in lip balms and you don’t want to go 100% stearic; keep some of the wax 😉
Hi Marie,
I’m making some Christmas gifts & I have some gingerbread-loving friends who’d enjoy this. Just wondering if this would keep ok (for at least a month or so) or am I better using the lip scrub in a stick recipe if it’s being given as a gift?
Thanks for all the great recipes 🙂
I’d recommend sticking to a 100% anhydrous one since you never know how your recipients will treat it 🙂