Red Velvet cake is one of those things people can get quite particular about, and with its striking red colour and bright white frosting, it’s hard to blame them. This red velvet lip balm is inspired by this decadent dessert.
This indulgent, glossy lip balm uses a blend of dark cocoa butter (USA / Canada) and red iron oxides to get that deep, russet red tone that Red Velvet Cake is famous for. Dark cocoa butter (USA / Canada) is just like the white stuff except for one obvious difference—the colour, which is dark and chocolatey from leaving the cocoa solids in the butter. It can leave a bit of a dark tint on the skin in higher concentrations, but here it leaves just a hint of colour. If you don’t have dark cocoa butter (USA / Canada), try using unsweetened dark baking chocolate instead.
I chose cocoa absolute to scent the lip balm with for the maximum chocolatey experience (and the stuff I used from Saffire Blue is amazing), but you could use peppermint if you prefer tingly, minty balm. You could also add a bit of benzoin for a lovely, vanilla-y note. Mmmm.
I am so in love with this lovely lip balm, and I think you’ll be, too.
Red Velvet Lip Balm
10g | 0.35oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
6g | 0.21oz virgin coconut oil
13g | 0.46oz dark cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
18g | 0.63oz sweet almond oil (USA / Canada) oil14 drops cocoa absolute
1/32 tsp red iron oxide (I use these spoons to measure small measurements like this)Combine the beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter (USA / Canada), and sweet almond oil (USA / Canada) in a heat resistant glass measuring cup and melt over a double boiler.
Once melted, remove the measuring cup from the heat. Stir in the cocoa absolute and red iron oxide with a flexible silicone spatula. You’re looking for a slight hint of red, as the mixture will be quite inky-dark to start with. Be careful not to add too much red or you’ll end up with a final product that leaves your lips much redder than you’d intended (feel free to do a swatch test on your wrist as you go, especially if you want to add extra oxide). Once everything is blended together, pour the lip balm into lip balm tubes (if you see any sediment in the mixture, leave the last few drops behind to avoid gritty lip balm). Let it set up before using.
Fills ten 4.5g (0.16oz) lip balm tubes.
Oh my gosh! It’s gonna be hard to resist the temptation to eat these. They truly look YUMMY.
Enjoy 😉 😛
I just recently found your blog, and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I have been trying to find a good resource for learning to make my own all-natural products, and I definitely think I have found it!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us. I look forward to experimenting!
Hi Melissa! I’m so glad you found my little corner of the internet 🙂 Have fun reading, and if you’re new to DIY, be sure to check out this post for lots of recommended reading and easy starter recipes 🙂
I don’t have dark cocoa butter so I will have to sub regular cocoa butter. Since I don’t have the dark cocoa butter, how much cocoa powder would you add to this and what would you add and how much of it to compensate for that addition? May I please ask how much a nip is ? Is it one of those teeny tiny lil mica spoons that’s like 1/16 or something? I have to say I love your recipes ! Thanks for sharing them 🙂
Hi Cynthia! Sorry for taking a while to get back to you—I wanted to actually take the time to try this before replying 🙂 I melted together about 4g cocoa butter with 1/32nd tsp cocoa powder, stirred to combine, and popped the dish into the fridge to cool. That worked quite well, though even that small amount of cocoa butter did start to settle out of the cocoa butter. So, I’d probably start with about 1/16–1/4 tsp of cocoa powder for this recipe, no other adjustments needed. I would, however, stir the lip balm as it cools and wait until it thickens up a wee bit before pouring it into lip balm tubes to keep the cocoa powder from settling out.
I’ve got a guide to the different tiny spoons/measurements in the FAQ 🙂
What is a ‘nip’? You use it to describe how much iron oxide to use, but this is the first time I’ve heard that term used in measurements.
Hi Kelsie! Read this 🙂
This looks AMAZING! As soon as i get my hands on some dark cocoa butter i’ll make this! Do you recommend working with smaller batches when making lip balms, say cut this batch in half, or it would be difficult to mix the oxides and work with?
I’ve had decent luck halving Marie’s lip balm recipes so that I’m only making 2 tubes at a time, but this definitely requires a good quality scale that measures in the hundredths of a gram (easy to find on Amazon). That, a tiny bowl (I use prep cups from the kitchen store), and some of the miniature measuring spoons that measure in drop, scant, pinch, etc. and you should be good to go!
Thanks, Liz! 🙂
Hi Sophie! As long as you have a scale that measures down to 0.1g, you can easily halve/divide my lip balm recipes to the point where they’ll make ~4–5 tubes of lip balm. I’ve found going too much smaller can mean the lip balm starts to set up in the melting bowl/pot faster, but it’s hardly the end of the world.
Is it possible to eat a digital photo? Haha… These look amazing! Such a gorgeous color.
Hmm… if you’re going to try I’d recommend doing it in private as people will likely think you’re a bit touched in the head if they catch you licking your screen 😉
Thanks for reading!
That looks great! I love all of your diys! My first batch of soap is drying right now. 🙂
That first batch always takes the longest to age—it’s the longest three weeks ever 🙂
Hey Marie
This recipe it’s absolutely stunning.
Only thing that concerns me is in really chilled part of the year coconut oil will be solid as raw beeswax which takes away the pristine smoothness of my balms, I am already adding olive and almond oils in all lip balm recipes but they are expensive. Do u also come across this problem? Can coconut oil be completely replaced with another colorless odourless oil?
Where I live coconut oil is always solid, and as such my lip balms (and other recipes) are designed with this in mind. I recommend reading this for info on substitutions.
Hi Marie
Love this fabulous recipe, even though i used cocoa butter instead of dark cocoa butter (couldn’t find it in my region), and replaced coconut oil with canola oil (refined oil used for cooking), and have used chocolate food flavoring oil instead of coca absolute, though i see great results even with these substitution, i am not sure if canola cooking oil is right carrier oil substitution, as i was using virgin cocnut oil before, which was making my balm grainy in cooler months. would you suggest another subsitution instead of a cooking oil in carrier base, or cooking oils (safflower, canola, olive) are just fine replacements. I read somewhere refined cooking oils can also cause sunburns.
Thanks in advance
Hi Hitesh! Have you read my article on carrier oil substitutions? It should answer most of your questions 🙂
Where can I purchase dark cocoa butter? Is there anything I need to know before purchasing it? If this is a repeat question, I apologize. I’ve looked thru your articles and couldn’t find anything. thank you in advance.
I got mine from Saffire Blue—there’s a link in the big box above the comments 🙂
What a beautiful website you have I just so glad I came across you I enjoy your posts and enjoy everything is explained in great detail thank you so much for your wonderful website
Thanks, Victoria!
I love the idea of the dark cocoa! It looks like Saffire Blue are no longer stocking it. I know you move onwards and upwards with your recipes, but have you come across it from other suppliers at all? If not I might attempt that unsweetened dark chocolate you mentioned in above comments (or somewhere else…).
Hi Jane! I’m afraid I haven’t seen it elsewhere. You could also use the white/cream coloured variety and add some brown iron oxide to fake the cocoa look 😉
Hi Marie,
I have just discovered your blog and love it! Could you possibly tell me if the company’s you use for supplies post to the UK?
I can’t wait to try some of your recipes.
Hey Pauline! Check out my big list of places to shop around the world 🙂 New Directions is the only company I use as they have a Canadian location as well, but the others have been recommended by UK based readers! Happy making 🙂
I tried this recipe last night and used ~11 grams of regular cocoa butter and ~2 grams of dark unsweetened chocolate. Seemed to work just fine.
Excellent, I’m glad to hear it! Enjoy 🙂
Made the recipe using candelilla wax (8 g) instead of beeswax (10 g). This was my first DIY lip balm, so I keep it simple. The cocoa butter smelled heavenly while I was using the double boiler. I added spearmint essential oil because I do not have cacao yet. I’m very happy with the results. It’s relatively light on the lips but it stays on for a while. The smell is light mint with a subtle hint of cocoa.
Yay! I’m so glad 🙂 Enjoy it and thanks for DIYing with me!
Hi Marie, it doesn’t look like I can buy cocoa absolute where I live (Australia). Is there any substitute? Thank you!
If you just use super fragrant cocoa butter you likely won’t need it 🙂
I have cocoa butter, but I really don’t think it’s super fragrant. If I let go of fragrance side, it should be ok? Thanks a lot!!
Yup!
Also, I now realise my problem is not cocoa absolute, but dark cocoa butter. I don’t know where to find it, and it seems contributing to the colour of this lip balm, right? Should I use brown oxide instead? How much??
Just enough to get the colour you want! Likely not much; start very small (1/64 tsp small), blend it in, and go from there.
Any tips on how to pour the mixture into the tubes (without a filling tray)?
Bundle the tubes together with a rubber band 🙂 Also, watch some of my lip balm making videos to see the pouring in action! Happy making!