Remember when I shared with you a list of my beauty essentials, like deodorant, shampoo bars, tooth powder, foundation powder, dry shampoo? Well, I forgot one!
This tried-and-true, super easy lip balm recipe moisturizes and protects with beeswax, natural cocoa butter and your choice of moisturizing oil. While it’s very soothing to chapped lips, it’s also light enough to be worn year-round.
If you’d like to whip up a batch to give as thoughtful (yet inexpensive!) gifts, here are the sticky labels I used for this project that you can customize with your “company name.” I go by Potamus & Co., but you can use your last name, a nickname, the name of a place that is meaningful to you (Such as Nashville Co. or Raleigh Co.), or any other word you desire.
Tip: Labels tend to peel away easily from lip balm tubes. To help them adhere better, I suggest wrapping a rubber band around the label after application and leaving it on overnight. Once the rubber band is removed the labels should stay put.
Homemade Lip Balm Recipe
Makes approximately six .15 ounce tubes – the ones I use come in packs of 50 and packs of 100.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons grated, packed cocoa butter (where to buy cocoa butter)
- 2 tablespoons tightly packed grated beeswax (where to buy beeswax)
- 1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon coconut, olive, sweet almond, or jojoba oil (where to buy olive oil, sweet almond oil, or jojoba oil)
- up to 30 drops essential oil (optional – spearmint, peppermint, sweet orange and tangerine are good options)*
- 1/8 teaspoon vitamin E (optional – where to buy naturally derived vitamin E)
* Not all essential oils are recommended for lip balm. Certain ones are phototoxic, while others may cause reactions such as irritation or sensitization. When selecting an essential oil for this recipe, I recommend sticking with ones that are known to be gentle.
Instructions
- In a double boiler (or a stainless steel bowl set inside a pot of boiling water), melt cocoa butter and beeswax.
- Add in the olive/almond, or jojoba oil and stir until thoroughly melted.
- Remove from heat and – if you are using them – stir in essential oils and vitamin E.
- Pour liquid into lip balm tubes or tins and allow to cool. (Tip: Transferring the liquid to a measuring cup with a spout makes pouring much easier.)
Suggested Expiration Date
One year from the time it is produced.
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Then I’d love to give you a free copy of DIY Body Care Gifts Made Simple – my step-by-step guide to making gorgeous handcrafted gifts without stressing yourself out – as a gift for signing up for my newsletter. I’ll show you how to make vintage labels, luxurious lotion bars, lip balms, sugar scrubs, body sprays and more like a pro. Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be redirected to the download page immediately!
Maggie
This came at the perfect time. I love giving these handmade gifts away as Christmas presents, so much better to have them made by hand.
Louise
Great idea for Christmas! I am having trouble with the downloadable template every time I click on it it comes up then disappears.
Heather
I believe that means it is automatically downloading into your download folder. Maybe check there and let me know?
Lena Martin
I really like the simplicity of your formulas, ? What does 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of which oils? can you clarify further THANK YOU!
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon coconut, olive, sweet almond, or jojoba oil (where to buy olive oil, sweet almond oil, or jojoba oil)
Heather Nygren
Measure 1 tablespoon and then 1 teaspoon. Good luck!
Anagha
Hi Mommypotamus,
This is Anagha, from India.I made your recipe today with little changes of my own. I added few drops of vanilla fragrance to the recipe. Somewhere in above comments I read that it turned out to be hard, on the other hand with me, it turned out to be softer than expected. I think 2 factors must be considered. Firstly, climate. Here in India, temperatures are nearing 30-35 degrees. Secondly, amount of wax Vs. amount of butter + oil. It will be great help if you can share the measurements in grams.
I must admit, Overall results are satisfying. Thanks.
Gibby
1 Tablespoon = 15 grams
Carina
Hi, I was wondering if you knew of another brand that sells lip balm tubes, because those ones don’t ship to Canada and are really expensive from Canadian Amazon.
I was also wondering if I could use Shea butter instead of cocoa butter.
Thanks so much for the recipe!
Heather
Hi Carina, your best best is probably to search lip balm tube on Canadian Amazon and look for ones that hold .15 ounces. And yes, shea butter will work 🙂
Carina
Thanks!
Kathy
Hi Carina,
I am from Huntsville Ontario and I use a place called Saffire Blue or Canwax, the first in Southern Ontario, the other in Huntsville. They both sell these tubes and are very economical…. hope this helps.
Karen Moar
I use Saffire Blue as well and I’m in Edmonton, Alberta.
Zahra
Hi.
A timely useful recipe for winter and Christmas. I always use olive oil and coconut oil for winter lip care. But it was uneasy for me to carry and use oils with me when I go out of home.
So I use lip balm like maybelline (though I don’t like them for their artificial ingredients)
You solved my problem now.
Thank you.
Maggie
Hi, I am having trouble with the template. When I go to the link it just shows a bunch of symbols and “gobbledegook” (that is a highly technical term :-)). Is there another link I could try?
Julia
I made these lip balms tonight and they came out perfect. I do have to say they are more moisturizing and longer lasting than Burts Bees! I probably added a smidge too much pepperment EO though 😉
Jessy
How much did you add. I put in 20 drops and it’s resting now
tara
When I go to the link it just shows a bunch of symbols and “gobbledegook” (that is a highly technical term :-)). Is there another link I could try?
Chaitanya
Hi Heather,
This is my first time visiting your website. I can not say in words how much I love it. It’s like I got addicted and I keep on reading all your posts. They are so wonderful. I have an enhancement question to this lipbalm. Can we add some color to this lipbalm like natural color from beets like that!
Heather
Welcome, Chaitanya! I had the same thought about tinting this lip balm and tested beetroot, alkanet root and a few other option. None worked well – the color didn’t come through well unless I added a lot, but if I did that they were gritty. I’m planning to test this recipe with mica powders sometime in the future. Not exactly sure when yet, though. 🙂
Chaitanya
well, thank you ..I will be looking forward to it then. 🙂
Juliana
Hi! How could I replace the beewax? I’m vegan, so… Would it make that much difference if I just took the beewax out? Or does it really need to be replaced? Thanks!
Heather
It’s a necessary component. You could replace it with carnauba wax, but carnauba is harder and so you’d need to play with the ratios.
evie
Hi, i am also a vegan and i’ve just made these using plant wax, called candelilla sth, I got it online. Good luck!
Natasha Green
Hi
Instead of using essential oil, can i ise lip balm flavouring (from Aussie Candle Supplies) and just add Stevia Powder (natural sweetening) in these lip balms?? Also i odeered Almond oil instead of Sweet Almond oil, can i still use it in lip balms ??
Johnna Buntin
Hello, I downloaded the template and porchased the labels that you linked to. Not sure how to use these little things in my printer.
Thank you,
Johnna
Jennifer Salaz
Hi Heather!
I have made and love many of your recipes! One quick question: I can’t seem to download your lip balm and other templates. Would it be possible for you to put them up on your site again or email them to me? I love the labels! Very vintage-cool!
Thank you.
Jennifer
Arlene
Hello Heather how many lip balm tubes will this make?
Lisa Gatfield
Has anyone had any issues with the essential oil in the lip balm eating away at the plastic tube?
Joanna
Hello !How are you?
I have a question. You mentioned that not all oils are recommended for lip balm. Can you elaborate??Am actually specially interested in citrus oils. Are they safe for lip balm?
Jesika
Hi Joanna,
Just happened to be scrolling and saw this. The response is a bit late, but a lot of citrus peel oils could possibly cause a phototoxic reaction. They might be okay to use if they’re steam distilled versus cold pressed, but proper dilution I would think is a huge part of safely using them. It’s tricky to answer what would and wouldn’t be good to use because that will vary depending on your personal reactions. I would suggest reading about safely using essential oils in order to make the best informed choice for you. Outside of that, I would also stick to food grade oils if you’re putting them in lip balm. For marketing purposes they’re often labeled, “therapeutic grade.”
Adrielle
I can attest to the photo-sensitivity issue. I regularly use a coconut oil blend as a facial moisturizer and avoided citrus for years because I had heard it could cause vague undefined problems.
I made a blend with a tiny little bit of lemon or orange essential oil (very likely a MML big-name brand, that was mostly what we had then) to use as a hair conditioner and right before a trip I ran out of facial blend and used the hair blend on my face… One long car ride later the skin on the lower half of my right cheek was rough with teeny tiny hard bumps! Not visible to the naked eye of others, but it felt like I had paper glued over my skin and wasn’t feeling things right, I kept patting my face for days very weirded out by the strange sensation! It took a while to heal. It felt dead.
I think I was lucky it was a very small concentration, don’t like to think about what a stronger application at the seaside would have done! 0.0;;
That was a long comment just to say, “yeah that might cause a rash or skin-layer die-off or some vague and undefined problem..” >.<
aida
Hello. I have a problem lining my natural lipstick for the production of sweet peanut butter, cocoa butter, honey and vitamin E
But the colors I use are colors that are water soluble. How can I add color to oily streaks?
Please guide me
Gina
Hi Heather.
Great lip balm recipe. Was wondering….I like to make lip balms in large batches, do you think if I quadruple the recipe to make about 24 lip balms, would turn out ok?
Thank you for your time
GinaB.
Carrie
Hi Heather,
I love the scent of vanilla lip balm and wondered if I could use vanilla essential oil or pure vanilla extract to get that amazing vanilla scent?
Thanks so much!
Heather
Vanilla oleoresin won’t disperse evenly and vanilla extract that is alcohol based will have the same issue, but vanilla essential oil that is sold in a base of jojoba oil will work 🙂
liarda ballolli
hi Heather! i was wondering if this lip balm also works on cold sores. if not is there any additional ingredient i could use? thank you
Heather
I haven’t researched this topic but from what I understand any balm that is rubbed against the sore may pick up the virus and then accidentally reinfect the area once it has healed. I would probably dab the area with something like this: https://www.planttherapy.com/blog/2016/08/18/lip-sore-spot-treatment/
mary
just to let anyone know that is looking to make lip balm with cacao butter.. fine grating cacao butter is extremely inefficient! it flys everywhere in a weird static driven way, is impossible to pack into a measuring spoon, melts when you touch it when it is finely grated. end up wasting my precious cacao butter. I will now be looking for a recipe for the correct ratios that uses WEIGHT instead, so I can just use my scale to make stuff like this.. typically the way easier and generally less messy more streamlined way to do things. just my opinion. otherwise seems to be correct ratios and probably a great recipe!
vanessa
You can usually Google weight from volume online. For instance 1 TBSP of Cocoa Butter is 13.63 grams. This should be helpful when you find a recipe without weights given,
Rachael
Hi. Could I use macadamia oil in this recipe?
How many tubes of lip balm does this make and how long does it last?
Emily
How many tubes does this make? I’m thinking about doing this as a classroom project. Thanks!
Heather
Hi Emily, it approximately six .15 ounce tubes.
Dulce
Hi, I was wondering what do you recommend for a hot temperature location. I find that with most diy recipes my products (lip balms, deodorant) end up melting. They are still usable but not in the desired consistency if traveling in my purse for example. Any thoughts?
Heather
It would take some experimentation to find the right ratio, but increasing the amount of beeswax used in a recipe would make the final product much less prone to melting.
Yohanna
Hello! thanks for this great post, I want to do this recipe but I’d like to avoid the bees wax for environmental purposes. Do you think that soy wax would work as a substitute? or is there any other ingredient that would work?
Thank you!
Heather
Carnauba wax would be the best substitute but it is harder than beeswax so you’ll probably want to reduce the amount used by a little.
Meg
Do you have any recommendations for the scented oil brands/scents to use in the lip balms? I’ve been sticking with Young living and doterra and doing orange and peppermint, but I would like to branch out beyond those two flavors. I just get nervous that some of the other brands/scents might not be safe to use in a lip balm.
Heather
I use Plant Therapy.
Geraldine
Hi
I have been enjoying your blog with all of your DIY ideas. I was wondering with all the talk of hyalonic acid lip balm, if you had a diy using it?
savhera
Hi Thanks for sharing the information about the homemade lip balm recipe
Cynthia K.
Mommypotamus!!!! Wow! Thank you. This was hands down the best recipe I have ever used! Better than any purchased lip balm too. I didn’t have the vit. e on hand and I think it was jojoba oil I used. Peppermint e.o. gave it a perfect balance with the coco butter. Yippi! I’m making a new batch tomorrow and was so happy I found your site again in my web browser from last time. WONDERFUL site you have provided! Thank you, thank you, thank you! <3 <3 <3
Cynthia
Helen Clare
Hi Heather, I have been using expensive natural (as possible) lip balms for years now, but I tried this recipe and by golly it’s the best lip balm I have ever used, with completely natural ingredients and and costing just penny’s, I flavoured mine with Mandarin essential oil, my partner likes it too, although he has asked me to put peppermint essential oil in the next batch I make, I must point out one thing though (nothing bad, far from it 😀) when I made it, I got 9 x 15ml tube’s, and I spilled some (whoops), so I suggest getting ready more than 6 tube’s, just in case, it really does make a fantastic lip balm, Thank you 😄.
Jacqueline Lukaszewicz
I followed this recipe step by step and I feel like there was a lot of waste. When pouring it would harden to the side if the pan. I used larger containers and I feel as though when I was done I scraped off a great deal of waste from my pan. Any thoughts on this? Thank you
Cynthia
Hello Jacqueline, I purchased a glass turkey baster (with a rubber bulb, of course) and used this to fill mine. Don’t fill the baster too full or there will be waste if it sticks higher up in the glass. Keep the mix warm in the water bath and the baster warms up too when needed.
kathleen timmins
Too hard. Can’t apply.
Esther
Hello! I have been making this lip balm for years now and absolutely love it. I however switched the beeswax I was using to beeswax pellets for easy use. I don’t think I’m getting the measurement right because the end result is dryer and I am trying to pack 2 tablespoons of the pellets as best I can. Do you know what the equivalent measurement would be for beeswax pellets vs grated beeswax?
Patricia
Is there a link for the label template
J. C
Made some last year and am going to again this year. I’ve never had a lip balm work so well, not even the more expensive organic ones. My lips are naturally more pink, which is great because I stopped wearing makeup up years ago. Every one I’ve given one to loves it as well. Thanks for this great recipe!
Leticia
Can you use sunflower oil instead of olive, almond or avocado?