If you haven’t tried my lip balm recipe, you are seriously missing out. I recently gave a tube to a friend, and as soon as she tried it she sent me an e-mail gushing about it; its perfect texture, its slight sheen on application, and its A+ melting point. The only thing left on her lip balm wish list was a bit of a tint. Just a wee bit of colour; nothing near lipstick territory. So I set off to create the ultimate tinted lip balm.
This lip balm is essentially the same as the original recipe. The only change is the colour. I added some oil-soluble titanium dioxide for opacity, and then a mixture of red, yellow, and brown iron oxides for the colour. I decided to skip micas because I didn’t want something shimmery, but you could always add them if you want shimmer.
Tinted Lip Balm
5g beeswax (USA / Canada)
6g mango butter (USA / Canada) or coconut oil
3g cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
3g kukuinut oil
7g sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)
Vitamin E oil1/32 tsp oil soluble titanium dioxide
1/64 tsp red iron oxide
Teensy pinch yellow iron oxide
Teensy pinch brown iron oxideEssential oil of choice
Melt the wax, butters, and oils together in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and place on a heat pad to insulate the pan.
Use a rubber spatula to stir in the titanium dioxide. It will take a while to dissolve, so take the time to stir it around and mash the oxide into the sides of the saucepan. Place the saucepan back over low heat as needed.
Once the titanium dioxide is dissolved and the liquid balm is all milky looking, start stirring in the oxides, re-heating as necessary. You’ll want to work slowly, adding very, very small amounts of oxide at a time, stirring and thoroughly blending until you get the colour you want.
Pour the lip balm into empty tubes (you’ll need about four for what this recipe yields).
How do I measure the smaller tsp if I do not have the measuring spoons? I am new to all of this and was wondering what I needed to do. I made your strawberry shimmer stick and love it!!
Honestly, just eyeball it 😛 Grab your smallest measuring spoon, get a bit of the pigment on there until you figure that looks like half, or a quarter, or whatever, and roll with it. Keep going until you have a shade you like 🙂 Have fun & thanks for reading!
My daughter calls this her lip crack as she can not function without it.
I’m with your daughter on this one! I always have at least 4 tubes of lip balm on the go—one at work, one in my purse, one on my bedside table, and one at my desk at home.
Lovely recipe! But I’m a litlle concerned about the titanium oxide.. Is it safe to use?
Thanks, Annie! Titanium dioxide is perfectly safe as long as you are not snorting lines of it (aka inhaling it). You can read more here. You can also try out some of my other tinted lip balm recipes that don’t include TD.
Love, love, love your recipes 🙂 I’m working on collecting ingredients but haven’t got any kukuinut oil yet. Could I substitute a different oil like grapeseed or more sweet almond? As a total chapstick addict I can’t wait to try this!!!
Thanks, Melissa! You could definitely use more sweet almond oil as a replacement, but if you want to duplicate the wee shine the kukuinut oil contributes, castor oil would also be a good sub 🙂 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
Love this recipe and can’t wait to try it with my daughter! Can I sub cocoa butter with shea butter? Thanks!
Hi Melissa! Read this for more information on substitutions (the short answer is no, though).
Hi dear!
Could you tell me if it has good coverage like a lipstick?
which ingredients for a mat effect?
Thank you
It does not; it is a tinted lip balm, not a lipstick. I do have lots of lovely lipstick formulations in my book, though!