The lip balm experiment went pretty well. I made a batch of lavender first. The recipe I used called for beeswax, coconut oil, shea butter, food grade lavender essential oil, and a bit of vitamin E oil as a natural preservative.
Lessons learned:
- Buy beeswax in pellet form next time. I bought it in sticks, and had to grate it with a cheese grater. That was a pain. Also, it's difficult to clean beeswax off a cheese grater. Oh well, it was time for a new one anyway. Now I have a craft grater and a kitchen grater.
- Skip the shea butter. It adds a weird smell, and it's not necessary.
- Trader Joe's coconut oil smells like coconut. Not really what I'm looking for in a lavender lip balm.
All they need is a cute label!
Second batch, I left out the shea butter. This one was just beeswax, coconut oil, food grade peppermint essential oil and vitamin E oil. It smells like coconut but has a nice little tingle from the peppermint. (I know that's actually bad for your skin, but I like it.)
Lessons learned:
- Don't use Trader Joe's coconut oil unless you want the lip balm to smell like coconut.
Questions:
- Do I have to use food grade essential oils? The local shop has a bergamot oil that is not food grade. Is it safe to use in lip balm? I really want to make an Earl Grey lip balm.
- How can I add color to the balm? I don't want to put lipstick in it, because then I lose control of the ingredients (who knows what's in lipstick?). Food coloring didn't work. What can I add that is natural and will work?
Next project: I'm going to take advantage of the strong scent of Trader Joe's coconut oil, and make some coconut-lime lip balm. Doesn't that sound yummy?
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