These days it somehow seems even drier than usual. It might be the stronger, more frequent chinooks we get as spring starts to think about heading our way, but I’ve found my lips are more parched than they usually are, so I set out to create an ultra moisturizing unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) lip balm.
I started with unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada), which I’ve always found to be an excellent moisturizer, and especially good for unhappy, dry skin. Next I added avocado oil, which is thick and rich—perfect.
Then calendula infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada), for the moisturizing benefits of the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and the healing boost from the calendula. Cocoa butter and beeswax round it out.
I chose a few drops of cardamom essential oil for its bright, uplifting scent, and because it’s not spearmint or peppermint. It also compliments the smoky earthiness of unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) really nicely.
The final result is a beautiful lip balm that glides on and delivers a blast of long-lasting moisturizing power to your parched lips. Enjoy!
Intensely Moisturizing Shea Butter Lip Balm
4g | 0.14oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
3g | 0.1oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz calendula infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz avocado oil
A few drops of Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (I used cardamom)Weigh the beeswax, unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada), cocoa butter (USA / Canada), calendula infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada), avocado oil, and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) out into a heat resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in a pot of barely simmering water to melt the oils.
Stir in the essential oil using a flexible silicone spatula. Pour the melted lip balm into four or five lip balm tubes and let cool. I like to use these labels to label my projects.
Don’t have the carrier oils called for in the recipe? Read this for a guide on how to choose appropriate alternatives.
If you don’t love the smokey-ish scent of raw unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada), refined shea butter (USA / Canada) will also work brilliantly.
I am not a fan of the natural scent of Shea butter. Have you found an essential oil with a fragrance that masks it well?
I’ve found that a blend of cardamom and grapefruit essential oils do a really nice job of brightening up the scent of raw shea butter, but I’ve left the grapefruit EO out of this recipe as it causes photo-sensitization (along with all citrus EOs) that would likely cause your lips to get a sunburn (ow!). Anyhow, in this recipe the shea butter only comprises about 25% of the recipe, and with the scents of the natural beeswax and cocoa butter, you can’t really smell the shea at all.
Hi Marie, I would love the grapefruit with the cardamom eo for the winter, what ratios would they be for your recipe? Thanks, can’t wait to try this!
I’m afraid if it isn’t noted here I certainly don’t remember—it’s been years!
Hi Marie!
Do you remember if this balm makes your lips a bit shiny like your formula in your book, Naked Lip Balm? I know castor oil gives it the shine but, maybe the avocado oil does in this formula? I know this formula is from a while back so not sure if you would remember
It’s been almost a decade, so I wouldn’t swear to this in court LOL, but I think it was less glossy than Naked Lip Balm—not totally matte, but not super glossy?
Where do you buy vitamin E oil? And Thank You so much for your beautiful posts.
Maureen—I buy my vitamin E oil (and most of my other supplies) from New Directions Aromatics. You can also usually buy vitamin E oil at the grocery store or pharmacy, in either straight oil or in little capsule form, which is likely to be more expensive, but it’s not necessarily worth buying online if you aren’t getting enough to make the shipping costs worth it.
Thank You for the Vit E oil info. It will be very helpful to me.
I’m in love with Shea butter, to use in creams, foot scrub, and directly on my skin as a moisturizing. The other day I scored some avocado butter on sale! It’s divine. Perfect for elbows, knees and heels.
I’ve got avocado butter in my shopping cart right now… there’s only ~$400 of stuff in there… I definitely don’t have a problem. No siree. I need to delete some stuff, but I want it all! And so it will sit there until I can make a decision 😛
When I go pick up my orders from Creations from Eden in Edmonton, there is always a “sale table” set out. They don’t have a storefront, you have to order online, no big deal for me. When I go to pick up my stuff it’s very rare that I don’t come away with things from the sale table! Any bottle or jar that’s been opened for whatever reason is on that table, as well as some essentiel oils and herbs or whatever that the owner is trying to get rid of because they have too much of it. Works for me!
XX
Ruth
My wallet is lucky I don’t have access to such a sale table or I would be in trouble!
I’m on a budget or I would probably buy up the whole table! As it is it’s hard to decide between a couple of things. The day I bought the avocado butter I had to decide between that, shae butter, and some really dark african cocoa butter that looked intriguing.
My husband and a friend of us play this game every now and then “If I won the lottery”. One of the things I would do is invest a tonne of money in natural beauty supplies, maybe take some classes, open a store front, then do the same with miniatures, then take more classes in painting, graphic design, creative writing, pottery. Do you ever feel like there is not enough time to pursue all the artistic endeavours you’re interested in? Or is that just me 😛
I understand the temptation—my New Directions cart is almost $400 right now! I need to pare that down before I can check out to be SURE! Ich. But… I want… everything. Sigh.
I definitely play the “if I won the lottery” game as well! I don’t have enough time or money to do all the things I want to do. Sigh. I would travel, explore, learn new things, and take on at least 15 new hobbies!
Yeah, after I wrote that list I realized that not only had I left out stuff like travel, but a modest house (who needs all that space to clean?), buy a dog, buy a yacht (that’s for my husband, his dream is to buy a yacht and travel around the world with some of our best friends). I also realized I’d not only have to clone myself to do all this stuff, I’d probably have to have 4 or five Ruth’s running around. Oh well. It’s fun to daydream. Adults don’t do enough of it.
I think I started my list of things to buy with my lottery winning when I was about 7… at that point in time I think I wanted a Walkman, some candy, and a phone line that ran into my room. Needless to say, the list has grown since then and become a bit more ambitious 😛
I miss those simpler days..I had a walkman. White with purple and pink accents. Can we say child of the 80s? I think, if pressed, I would have added a wish to visit Disneyland. (I got there when I was 17).
Mine was just plain grey—a Sony one. I remember listening to books on tape on repeat (well, chunks of them, at least) for long car rides, and traveling with pounds of cassette tapes. Good thing there were fewer carry on restrictions then!
I have a tonne of books on tape on my ipod! 😛
I have a quite a few as well, they’re great for road trips. Podcasts, too! I love being able to catch up with all my favourite radio shows (CBC’s Under the Influence!) whenever I like. Before Twilight became big (and I had no idea how poorly written it is) I tried to listen to it as a book tape. There are only so many times you can hear some disembodied voice say “smouldering eyes” before you have to give up for the sake of your sanity!
where do you get the lip balm tubes? this sounds great –
I get my tubes from New Directions Aromatics, where they’re $0.18 each if you buy them one at a time, or $0.15 if you get 100 at a time. I’d recommend staying away from craft stores like Micheal’s, where they are WAY more expensive!
THis sounds fab!! thanks for sharing gonna give it a try
Enjoy it! My lips love this balm 🙂
Oh this lip balm sounds so lovely…I can’t wait to make it, I just need to buy avocado oil… And calendula infused olive oil, is this just calendula mixed with olive oil?
You can read about how to make caleundula infused oil here 🙂 It’s super easy and great for lots of other recipes!
Looks great. Where did you get those cute labels?
I actually just wrote them out by hand on bits of mailing labels—I’m thrilled you like them, though!
This sounds like a great recipe! My only concern is taking all these wonderful healthy ingredients, and the pouring them, while hot, in plastic. Anything heated in plastic makes it leach all it’s toxins out. I don’t do it with food, and I think this would be the same, no?
You’re right, but the nice thing here is that the liquid lip balm really isn’t that hot. It’s formulated to melt at body temperature, so it will still be liquid around 42° C, which isn’t very hot at all 🙂 If you’re worried about it, though, you can use metal tins, which are always a super cute alternative! I just ended up switching to tubes because I wasn’t always washing my hands before applying the lip balm and was getting grossed out thinking about how many germs I was mixing into my lip balm.
Is the calendula infused olive oil absolutely necessary? If you leave it out, will it drastically change the consistency?
The calendula infused part is not necessary, but a liquid oil definitely is. Feel free to use any liquid oil you have on hand (more avocado would do nicely). If you leave out the liquid oil (which is about 40% of the recipe), you will have a lip rock, not lip balm 😉
Yum-o! Making these straight away, for my year-round chapped smoocher!
😀
Muah 😉 I carry this one around in my purse all the time, I love it!
Hi Marie! I love your blog and plan to pass the word around. You’ve inspired me to try making this stuff on my own. I have a question about the beeswax….white or yellow?…..beads or brick? I want to stay economical but don’t want a balm with improper consistency…
🙂
Cee
Oh….and I also have to ask….how much space have you ended up using with this craft? I’ve cleared out a little bit of cupboard, but I feel like I might end up needing a second fridge and a giant toolbox…the big steel ones you see here in Calgary carpenters’ pick up trucks XD….
Oh dear… confession time, eh? I’m lucky enough that the house I live in has an extra kitchen (or parts of one, at least) in the basement from the 1960’s when the house was suited. All that’s left in this “kitchen” are some cupboards, a sink, and some sad looking linoleum counter top. I’ve pretty much taken over the cupboards completely. I think there’s one that I haven’t gotten into yet… but I will… 😀 So, yeah, that’s about 3 good sized cupboards filled with goodies, plus part of the vintage fridge. I have a problem, I know, haha.
Hi Cee! When it comes to beeswax I always recommend going both natural and local (the consistency doesn’t change, but the scent sure does!). You want to buy the beautiful, golden stuff that smells wonderfully of honey (the white stuff has been bleached 🙁 ). You’ll probably have to buy it in bricks as the stuff in pellets is usually from China. In Alberta I generally pay about $13/lb for a brick of beeswax, and that’ll last me close to two years—it’s a lot of beeswax! Farmers markets are always a good place to look—every one I’ve ever been to has some kind of a bee stand with candles, honey, and bricks of beeswax. Have fun with your lip balm!
I just found a place steadmans in silverdale wa that sells anything to do with beekeeping and different types of honey and bought 1 1/2 pounds of beeswax nice yellow color for around 15.00 dollars and tried 9 different kinds of honey two of my three kids were with me and loved it this is my first time buying beeswax so was not sure if it was good price we are loving the blackbery honey in our teas during this cold snap 11 degrees right now
Your find sounds just divine, Judy 🙂 $15 for 1.5lbs of beeswax is quite a good price—in these parts 1lb goes for about $17 🙂 I generally pay around $10/kg (~2lbs) for raw honey, but I have paid up to 2–3x that (for smaller quantities, of course) for more premium stuff.
I feel you on the cold snap—it was -40°C here with windchill when I woke up yesterday, so hot tea & honey is DEFINITELY in order! BRRRRR!
Hi Marie,
thank you for sharing with us your recipes, I love your website (and love how you Canadians use the metric system! it makes it so much easier for us in Europe!). I’m willing to try this as my first recipe ever for DIY cosmetics, but given I don’t have avocado oil, what would you recommend to substitute it with? as I am just starting, I have available thses oils: jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil, vitamin E oil and…that’s pretty much it 🙁 is it absolutely necessary? thank you so much for your time,
greetings from Italy!
He Francesca! Thanks for appreciating my metric system 🙂 I love how wonderful and simple it is—silly Imperial system 😛 Avocado oil is a very thick, liquid oil, so I would recommend olive oil as the closest substitute out of the ingredients you mentioned. Jojoba and sweet almond both absorb quite quickly, and you wouldn’t want to use Vitamin E as a carrier oil as it is rather expensive and very sticky 🙂 Have fun!
Hi, can I substitute all the oil to olive oil and place shea butter only? I mean:
4g beeswax
8g shea butter
8g olive oil
Saw your wonderful blog and intended to try them since I just order shea butter. My country has limited supply on shea butter and beeswax. I used whole week to search for supplier. Essential Oils are also extremely expensive too. I am trying to keep everything as simple as possible.
Hi Mei Mei! You should start off by reading my article on carrier oil substitutions to get an idea of the types of changes you are trying to make. In short, you probably could do this, but it’s likely going to be too soft, and quite sticky. Using olive oil instead of the other liquid oils is fine, though the scent, flavour, and absorption speed will change. Shea butter is not a good substitute for cocoa butter, though (read the article to see why). You may want to use a bit more beeswax to compensate for the loss of the cocoa butter, but if you use too much, the lip balm will “skid” and not feel nice on the skin. So, basically, if you make these changes you are not making anything close to the original recipe. With the measurements you have mentioned you will likely end up with a fairly soft, olive oil/shea butter scented balm. Good luck!
I have tried to understand your article. Correct me if I am wrong, means cocoa butter actually firm it so that it can stand in the tube. And 4g of olive oil is more oilier compare to any other equivalent quantity of carrier gram. So, adding more beeswax to my previous measurement can help to stand in a lip tube but it wont glide easily on the lip because the absent of cocoa butter? And this lip balm wont have the shine as Olive oil absorb fast to skin.
And the link for New Directions Aromatics, I been having dead link, even I Google and still I got a dead link for it.
Um… yes. Sort of. Basically, all those oils have different properties, and you cannot just replace or remove them without the final product changing significantly. You can try it, of course, but you won’t be making this recipe anymore. Also, I think your country or ISP must be blocking New Directions Aromatics, as the links all work perfectly fine for me. Bummer 🙁
I’m waiting on a shipment from NDA to make this (your Peppermint Cocoa Lip Balm is fantastic btw!) and I was wondering what your thoughts on lip balm flavors was. NDA has some tasty sounding ones that have good reviews. Have you tried any?
Thanks! And awesome 😀 I do lurve that peppermint cocoa lip balm 🙂 Stay tuned for some more lip balm recipes in a few weeks 😉 I made one up yesterday and I’m super happy with it. As for lip balm flavours—I’ve never tried any from NDA, but I did grab a few (vanilla, coconut, and honey) from Canwax back when I first got started because they sounded awesome. I was rather disappointed 🙁 They both smell and taste quite chemically and fake. I imagine this is a result of my re-sensitized sense of smell from removing all the artificial fragrances from my life. So, even though I have some left, I’m sticking to EOs since I find I just can’t stand using lip balms made with them. Bummer, eh? But hey, if you try the ones from NDA, let me know how they are, k?
Did you use unrefined shea butter? Is it okay to use refined shea butter? Would there be a big difference?
I always use unrefined ingredients when I can get them. I’m sure refined would work just as well as unrefined in this recipe, especially since it comprises a relatively small percentage of the final product 🙂
I’m rather later on commenting here but just wanted to thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I’ve just made a double batch for the second time as it has become my absolute favourite recipe for it’s consistency, glide and the fact it doesn’t melt in my pocket on hot days. I left it plain the first time but added mandarin oil this time – yum!
Thanks again
Julia
Thanks so much, Julia 🙂 (and there’s no such thing as a late comment, haha, I’m still getting comments on my first entry!). I’m so thrilled you love this recipe—I’m a big fan as well. We’re in a super cold snap (-40°C with windchill), so it’s extra cold and dry, and I’ve almost polished off a tube of this lip balm. Yipes!
Just a quick FYI, citrus oils can be photo-sensitizing, so do be careful out in the sun with your mandarin lip balm 🙂
Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
Im so interested in making DIY body and face care especially this shea butter lip balm. But I always wonder about about the expiration date. Will it last for more than 6 months?
Concoctions that don’t contain any water last a good, long time (things like lip balm and body butter). I store lip balm in the fridge before I start the tube, but once I start it, I treat it as I would any other lip balm, and I’ve never had a tube go rancid on me. Oils won’t mold, they’ll start to smell awful. I’ve had tubs of body butter last upwards of 2.5 years (and still going) so yes, lip balm will definitely last upwards of 6 months 🙂 Have fun!
Hi Marie
With the help from your awesome blog, I have been experimenting with my own concoction of lip balm ingredients! It has been a hit and miss every time i use shea butter, in my lip balms and my body butters. I use mango butter, shea butter, hemp oil, jojoba, castor, canauba and candelilla wax in my balm and it came out grainy. Is there a way to prevent this from happening apart from substituting the shea butter?
I’ve experienced the same hit & miss as you, Tammy. I’ve got a body butter I made with shea 2+ years ago and it’s still perfectly smooth, and I’ve got lip balms I made a few months ago that have gone grainy on me while I wasn’t looking. Point of Interest has an interesting blog on the topic, though it doesn’t really come to any conclusions, either :/ Sorry I can’t be of more help! I need to do some experiments of my own—it’s on the list… it’s a long list, lol.
Do you know what the difference between cocoa butter and cacao butter is? I have cacao butter for making chocolate so I used this instead. The lip balm came out great I was just wondering if you knew the difference. Thanks!!
I think it’s just spelling 😛
Hi Marie
Have been following your posts and turning out great lip balms. I am facing 2 issues right now
1 – Tried food flavor oils but they sweat out after few days, have fixed this with adding lil emulsifying wax, but not sure if its safe in lip balms
2 – Really miss the sweetness of a commercial lip balm, have tried both honey and stevia however not seen good results. Commercial lip balms (lush for eg.) claim honey in ingredients but it wont add in my home creations, have you tried something to sweetend lip balms?
Thanks
1) Have you looked at lip balm flavour oils? Those are probably a better choice 🙂 The safety of the ewax will depend on the specific ewax, I’d recommend doing your own research there.
2) Check this out!
Just wanted to drop a line to say thank you! I found this page on a google search. I make my own products, and had to modify to remove salicylates. I just made this lip balm recipe (with a modification), and I wanted to let you know it’s utterly fantastic. Mimics a balm I groan and pay $5 for. It isn’t often you find recipes that work great without a lot of futzing! Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I take a lot of pride in only publishing recipes I’ve actually tried & tested so my readers can feel confident in their DIY endeavors 🙂
Hello Marie,
I was wondering if I could use calendula extract instead of infusing it? And if so, how much would you recommend for this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Yasemin! Do you have a link to the calendula extract? If it’s water soluble you can’t use it as it won’t mix in.
Sorry! Yes I think it’s fractionated coconut oil based 🙂
https://www.brambleberry.com/Calendula-Extract-P3836.aspx
Yup, that looks like it’ll work! Just replace the infused liquid oil with it 🙂
Thank you! That’s fantastic, I’ll try that out ASAP! Love your site 🙂
Thanks! 😀
Have you ever used shea oil in lip balms? I haven’t successfully made lip balms with shea butter that haven’t gone grainy, even with tempering. Any help appreciated thanks!
I’ve never used shea oil in anything—I’ve never even seen it for sale from any suppliers I shop with. Have you check out LisaLise’s shea butter e-book?
I’ll check it out thank you!
Hi, I tried to make these lipbalms but there is a problem… After I pour my lip balm and it has settled, I twist it up to use it. When I try twisting down, the lip balm separates from the mechanism, so it doesn’t go back down. What am I doing wrong?
The twisting down is the problem; you aren’t supposed to do that. Just twist up enough that you can use it, so perhaps 1–2mm sticks out of the top. The lid is what protects the balm, not screwing it back down (I’ve never heard of anybody doing that with lip balm—lipstick, sure, but that’s very different packaging and doesn’t rely on the screw through the centre of the product to grip it). That’ll just create a giant hole in the middle of the lip balm. Hope that makes sense!
Hi,thank you for your recepies. Can I replace avocado oil with sweet almond oil?
Yup! Please review this for more information 🙂
I’ve been making your peppermint cocoa balm many times but decided to try this recipe as I already have most of the ingredients. I substituted avocado oil with grape seed oil. I don’t have cardamom essential oil but a bit of lemongrass oil is always a nice option (it’s not photosensitive, right?).
I just tried the balm! ^^ it glides very well and I hope it will be moisturizing enough for the cold months that are coming 🙂
Woohoo! Lemongrass isn’t photosensitive, but the maximum usage rate is 0.7% due to the high citral content 🙂
Hi Marie!
I just started making lip balms and I ADORE this recipe! What are the percentages that you use so that I can make a larger quantity? Also, what kinds of essential oils are safe for lip use? Thank you! I would love to see more lip balm recipes?
-Sabrina
You don’t really need percentages to make a larger version of this recipe. Just add everything together (whether in grams or oz) and figure out how large (volume) of a container (or containers) you want to fill. If you see my comment on the recipe below, I increased the amount of each ingredient just by 2 grams (or about .6 oz) so i could fill a 1.5 oz jar and it was just about perfect. 🙂
While it’s true that you are making more product, you’re not really making more of this recipe anymore as increasing each ingredient by 2g throws off the original ratios. It would be a bit like if you were trying to scale up a soup and used an extra teaspoon of each broth, ground beef, onion, and chili pepper. An extra teaspoon of broth is practically nothing, while an extra teaspoon of chili pepper could render the entire recipe inedible. I’m glad you’re enjoying what you’ve made, though 🙂
Awesome! I’m so glad 🙂 I’ve got a post here on how to scale any recipe that’ll help you determine the percentages 🙂
To determine lip safety you’ll want to google the name of the EO and “oral toxicity” or a similar term. Tea tree and wintergreen are two to avoid right off the bat 🙂
I do currently have 49 posts in the lip balm section of the website! Have you made them all already? 😛
I love this recipe as it is. I’ve made it twice… but most recently I adapted it a bit. I’ve been following your blog and youtube channel for a little over a year. I love how much knowledge you share and your enthusiasm is contagious!
This is how I tweaked it… I guess it should be changed to “Mango Butter Lip Balm” lol…
6g Beeswax
7g Mango Butter
5g Kokum Butter
12g Avocado Oil
1 Dropper of Vitamin E
3 Drops Frankincense Oil
3 Drops Helichrysm Oil
(I managed to cut my lip with an Invisalign tray so I have a good feeling this will help heal what other store bought lip balms haven’t)
I put this in a 1.5 oz Jar since it was a tad softer with the kokum butter rather than using cocoa butter.
I must say though… I think this is my favorite lip recipe so far!
Thank you for your inspiration!!
Woohoo! I’m so glad you’ve created something you enjoy 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
Hello Marie, I justed found your recipe, thank you for sharing with us. I have one question, hope you don´t mind. I have some infused olive oil with chamomile and calendula, can I use it? And what can I use instead of avocado oil? I know I said that it was only one question… sorry. Thank you so much for your help. You are amazing!!.
Hey Aide! You definitely can; in fact, you can use the infused olive oil instead of the avocado oil 🙂 You might like this post for more info! Happy making!
Hi Marie,
I love your videos and blog. You are so thorough and informative. I have tried a lip butter with shea butter and it got gritty after cooling. I tried it again then put it in the freezer until cooled. It was very smooth, but when I used it about half way down the tube it got gritty again. What suggestions do you have to ensure a smooth lip butter. The ingredients I used are: Sw. Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Beeswax, Coconut Oil, and Vit. E. Thank you for your help.
I’d try bringing things to trace (demonstrated in the linked formula), though that does get tricky with high wax concentrations. Good luck & happy making!
Hi Marie!
I want to put my lip balm in a pot. Lip balm tubes tend to melt or smudge too often for me. Is this recipe too firm to place in a pot? If so, what changes could I make so that I could use it easily from a lip tin or pot? Thanks!
I think it should work in a pot, though I haven’t made this formulation in over 8 years so I’m going on a pretty distant memory. Happy making!