In case you hadn't noticed I am all about essential oil these days. It was my one goal for 2014 — to learn about essential oils and start to apply their use in my everyday life.
Adding essential oils to DIY beauty products has many benefits — first and foremost though — you are avoiding the toxins found in your varied commercial beauty products when you make your own.
From head-to-toe, the beauty industry is riddled with toxins masquerading as the latest greatest magic lotion or potion. I am not down with that.
So, while there are healthy, alternative, natural and non-toxic beauty products available on the market (the Skin Deep Database is an excellent resource), it is equally as easy to make a few of the everyday staples like lip balm.
Just about every DIY beauty recipe includes some combination of a few common ingredients, shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax and carrier oils like coconut, jojoba, sweet almond or my favorite avocado oil. I have stocked up once and have been using up my supply as I create, test and try out new recipes I find.
DIY Lip Balm
Ingredients
- 1 part Beeswax Pellets
- 1 part Shea Butter
- 1 part Avocado Oil (or Coconut Oil)
- Essential Oil (I like Lavender)
Directions
- Fill a small saucepan with water over medium heat.
- In a wide-mouth half-pint mason jar, add beeswax, shea butter, and avocado oil.
- Place the jar in water and let beeswax pellets slowly melt.
- This will take about 20 minutes.
- Stir a few times during the melting process.
- Remove from heat and let cool about 10 minutes or until it starts to just solidify.
- Stir in a few drops essential
oil and then spoon into lip balm container and let completely harden.
Notes
I make this using 0.5 oz. (weight on my kitchen scale) of each ingredient and then 12 drops of lavender essential oil.
This fills 6 of these cute little purple lip balm containers and then I keep them in my purse, in my coat pocket, in my gym bag, in my bathroom drawer, etc.
I like to use avocado oil in this recipe for a few reasons. First of all, it is high in vitamin E which naturally preserves the fats in DIY beauty recipes.
Second, it is known to lend regenerative and moisturizing properties — it has a high skin penetration and rapid absorption. Which means in body butter recipes and lotions, it doesn't leave you feeling greasy.
Looking for another easy peasy DIY recipe? Try my recipe for sugar scrub. It's super simple.
