I am quite smitten with this glossy, fragrant London Fog Lip Balm. Inspired by the lovely latte made with Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, and vanilla syrup, it conjures up memories of misty days wandering cobblestone lined streets with a woolen jacket and a chunky scarf. Perhaps you’re wearing a pair of knee-high boots and carrying a worn leather bag carrying a favourite book and a stamped postcard in need of a postbox. There’s a café in the square up ahead where you’ll warm up with a London Fog and do some people watching from a booth in the corner. There’s something just lovely about misty cities.
The base is a smooth blend of beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter (USA / Canada), and sweet almond oil (USA / Canada). It melts wonderfully on contact with the skin, but has proven itself stable in my pocket. There’s just enough beeswax to help the lip balm stick around and do its job, but without being tacky on your lips.
For essential oils, mellow vanilla-like benzoin mingles with the deep, tea-like scent of palmarosa and a hit of bright bergamot. My friends are constantly surprised by how much these three essential oils smell like a lovely tea latte, and I think you will be, too. It’s a great lip balm—give it a go 🙂
London Fog Lip Balm
4g | 0.14oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
6g | 0.21oz virgin coconut oil
5g | 0.17oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
10g | 0.35oz sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)2 blobs benzoin essential oil
4 drops bergapatene-free bergamot essential oil
4 drops palmarosa essential oilWeigh the beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter (USA / Canada), and sweet almond oil (USA / Canada) out into a small heat resistant glass measuring cup. Place that measuring cup in a small saucepan with about 3cm/1″ of barely simmering water in it, and melt in that double boiler (this will take about five to ten minutes).
Once everything has melted, remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the essential oils using a flexible silicone spatula.
Pour the melted mixture into five lip balm tubes, and let them set up before capping and labelling (I use these labels). Enjoy!
Don’t have some of the oils called for in this recipe? Read this for information on making substitutions!
Hi Marie! Could I use vanilla extract instead of benzoin essential oil? The alcohol will burn off, right?
I’ve covered this in the FAQ 🙂
Looks wonderful! Where do you get those cute brown labels? Thanks!
Labels!
I have had terrible luck getting white Avery labels to stick to lip balm tubes. They start to peel after a brief period of sticking/false hope. Are the brown ones any better? I always have to use satin-finish tape to stick them down, which seems rather silly…
I’ve found even the slightest hint of oil on a tube or jar will cause a label to pop right off, so I tend to aggressively buff my lip balm tubes down with paper napkins or paper towel before applying labels, and that helps immensely. I think the kraft labels are about the same as the white ones in terms of stickiness, but if you’re going to be using tape anyways, you might as well strike out and use some properly exciting paper products!
I decided to actually order labels this year to save myself the hassle of taping. I was ordering Christmas cards anyway, so it was no big deal to do, and they turned out soooo much nicer than my previous versions of years gone by. I feel so fancy 😉
Yay! I love upping my DIY packaging game 😉 Looking back at my old projects that used the white labels makes me sort of sad haha.
This has got to be the most creative name for lip balm I’ve ever heard. There is a brand of cosmetics with your name out there in your future, I have to guess. I’m preparing my first order for raw materials now to get started on some of these. This site is inspiring.
Thanks, Judi! I look forward to hearing how your DIY adventures go 🙂
You’re amazing.
Thanks, Kathie!
Dear Marie,
You are such an inspiration for me! I’ve been doing my own natural cosmetics for some time now but I have never been so courageously innovative as you are, and your blog has given me a wonderfully colorful and creative push! THANK YOU!
Not to mention the beautiful pictures you post. Can’t wait to see more!
Lots of love from far away Zagreb, Croatia!
Marina
Thanks, Marina—I’m so thrilled to be inspiring you 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
Hi! I was curious, why do you use bergapatene-free bergamot essential oil? thx 🙂
Hi Laurence! I’ve covered this in the FAQ 🙂
oh, Marie, you are not only making yummy, tempting recipes, you also describe them so well, sometimes like a mini essay 🙂 All vined so organically in one – my applauds to you, dear 🙂 Thank you for being so awesome!
Thanks, Veronika!
When I found your blog, I thought that you look very English 😉
Ha, thanks! My ancestry is mostly Scottish, but the two are pretty close (geographically, at least).
Love your site . . . . .I have more of your ideas pinned than anything else!! Just curious though . . .what DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE CHAPSTICKS YOU MAKE? I can never use that many!!!
Hi Bonny! My girlfriends are generally well supplied with lip balm 😉
I have to stop everything I’m doing and make this one right away! London Fog is my absolute favourite drink! Brilliant as always, Marie!
Awesome! I look forward to hearing what you think of it 🙂
Of course I was desperate to make this but soon realized I only had one drop of bergaptene free bergamot left. I restocked and finally made this recipe and it’s exactly what I hoped it would be! Love the scent, Marie. It’s become my new favourite lip balm!
Awesome! I’m so thrilled 😀 I’m totally infatuated with this lip balm as well 🙂
Hello Marie, Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with us! I have two questions about this one: I have Benzoin but have not used it yet. Mine is thick but not totally blobby. Are your blobs about a half teaspoon maybe? I don’t have a feel for working with this yet. And, could I add 4-5 drops of pure Vitamin E Oil to this? Would that be the proper ratio? Thank you so much.
Hi Michelle! With this recipe and the benzoin, blob away until you are happy with the scent 🙂 Blobs and drops are hardly measurements, they’re more guidelines 🙂 And yes, you could add a couple drops of Vitamin E oil, 4–5 is fine 🙂
This turned out to be perfect. I love earl greay tea and this lip balm is fantastic.
Can’t wait to share it with my girlfriends.
Thank you Marie for another excellent recipe 😉
Awesome! I’m so glad you love it 😀
I LOVE your blog! I’m inspired to make lip balm before delving into the soap making process.
Our son has as an extreme allergy towards tree nuts, so we are completely nut-free in our home. (Actual nut products, not our sanity ; ) )
Is there a comparable substitute for sweet almond oil?
Check out this article 🙂
How long will this lip balm be “good to go”? I was always under the impression that homemade balms don`t last for very long? Thaks
Hi Mark! Check out my FAQ article on shelf life 🙂
Couldn’t you use vanilla essential oil or maybe vanilla powder instead of benzoin?
Nope—solubility becomes a problem here. Vanilla EO is water soluble, so it doesn’t play with lip balms, and vanilla powder is insoluble in my experience, so it would make for an awful, gritty lip balm 🙂
Hi Marie! I love your projects! I noticed that you use benzoin quite a bit, so I bought some to DIY along with you… and then discovered (the hard way) that both my daughter and I are allergic to benzoin. In your FAQ there is a “do not use vanilla extract” post, and I noticed above the comment about vanilla eo not playing well with others… do you have any suggestions for a suitable replacement for the benzoin in your recipes?
Hi Sherry! Oh no 🙁 Keep an eye out for peru balsam EO, it has quite a sweet, vanilla-like scent 🙂
I’m homeschooled for the past two years, and in eighth grade. This year as a part of my science classes, my mother and I decided to make some homemade cosmetics. This was the fIrst project we did, and it’s amazing. It smells great, and makes my lips amazingly soft! So thank you so much for this resource and great recipes!
Yay! I’m so happy to be involved in your science class 🙂 DIYing is a great way to learn about solubility 😉 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
After using the benzoin my hands were super sticky, but when I rubbed my hands on some spilled balm on the table, the stickiness went away. Do you know how that could happen?
This happens because benzoin (like tree sap) is oil soluble 🙂 It dissolves into the oil in the balm, and is diluted enough to lose its stickiness so it can be absorbed into the skin without notice or washed away. Cool, no? I love this trick when I’m camping and get sap on my hands!
Where did you get that adorable small silver scale?
It’s from Lee Valley 🙂
Have you ever tried “steeping” tea in carrier oil? I know you’ve done coffee, but was curious if tea-infused oil could work here in lieu of the palmarosa EO I’m lacking 😉
yes! this is the exact question I want to know! i’ve made Marie’s mocha balm and it is delicious. I’m wondering if we can pull a similar trick with infusing actual tea into oil.
I can vouch for the steeping method! It worked great with fresh (dried) Earl Grey tea. I was only slightly rushed so I put it on a metal tray on my oil-hot water rad to do a week-long very low heat steep vs a quick stovetop method or the no-heat extended version. It was fairly strong, but perfect for lip balm.
Well now I’m resolved not to do it! I got to thinking that if there were tiny bits of citrus peels in my Earl Gray that it might end up being photosensitizing, and I was better off just using the essential oils/bergaptene free bergamot oil.
That and the oil took on a greenish color with the tea in it and I’m not sure how my friends will feel about green lip balm… 🙂
Hmmm, good point about the possible photosensitizing. I never really thought of the bergamot peels that would be in the tea. Mine wasn’t green at all in the end at least! I’ll keep it for an indoor lip balm since I pretty much have to have one in each room in the house anyway 🙂
My tea was Tazo brand, if that matters. I already recycled the box so I can’t check the ingredients. I don’t even know what fruit it was, but i know there was something citrussy in there!
Thanks,Sarah!
so… I made 200 of these! a friend asked me to help her make lip balm for her wedding party and I said, “why stop there? GIVE THEM TO ALL THE GUESTS!” so now they are the wedding favors. on april 23 there will be many people with London Fog lips!
Wow! Did you use a filling tray or any other fancy accessories to make things easier/faster?
yes it was my first ever time using a filling tray. it wasn’t as magical as I thought it would be. also one of the holes leaked which was really messy. so we finished by hand.
Oh, bummer! I have often looked at them and wondered if the set-up and mess is actually worth the increased efficiency… for five to ten tubes at a time it sounds like not 😉
Hi Marie! I would love to do a london fog soap…any suggestions on eo ratios?
Thanks, jaimie
I’d probably use the same ratios I used here 🙂
Hi Marie, I love love love, reading your updates, trying out your recipes and am in awe of your adventurous use of ingredients. Are you an herbalist or aromatherapist, or simply a gal with the heart of a creator?
Hey Belinda! Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me 🙂 I’m actually a graphic designer when it comes to uni education, but after 5 years I feel like I’ve learned a thing or two in this realm as well!
Hi there! Can’t wait to start on this lip balm — I love London Fogs as much as I love mint + chocolate (by the way, Thin Mint chapstick: cocoa butter plus minty oil). My only question is in regards to replacing sweet almond oil with Argan oil: is the Argan oil too strongly scented for this? Will it make the lip balm smell less like a yummy tea latte and more like …well, Argan? Just trying to limit how many oils I buy, but if the Argan oil adversely affects the scent I’ll splurge on some sweet almond.
Hey Sarah! You should be able to use argan oil, but… why would you? It’s so much more expensive than almond oil! Like, 5x–10x the price. I would save your argan oil for somewhere you’ll actually appreciate it, and use something cheaper here. I’d call it the reverse of a splurge 😛
Made this for my trip to London – and it helped prevent the horrible chapped lips that I get on long flights. I love the scent combo and will be using it for other items.
Oooh, how lovely! I’ll be in London in a week—perhaps I should whip up a batch as well 🙂
Hi Marie! I’ve just made this lip balm with a bit of my own twist! I’ve used half Shea butter and cocoa butter instead of all cocoa. I’ve had several infused oils for my soap and cosmetic making so I’ve used mixed herb infused extra virgin OO, rose infused made of cacay oil I’ve purchased in London 😉 and calendula infused Shea and Argan oil. I know these are luxurious oils but I only used 3/4 g of each. I poured the plain just with EOs into three lip tubes but the rest I added micas and made lip tints!
It’s true it kind of smells like milk tea with a hint of cocoa from the EO blend and unrefined organic cocoa butter I’ve used!! I love the recipe!!
I’m planning to give a few to my mom along with my soaps I made for mother’s day! 🙂
I’m excited try your other recipes too 🙂 Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
Hello Ellie!
That’s wicked to hear! How does your mom like them all? What’s in your next project? And share your final projects with us on Instagram at #humblebeeandme!