Adventures in Apothecary, Part 2

Tiger Balm is great stuff. I love the way it smells. As a derby girl, I often have sore muscles, and Tiger Balm is my go-to sore muscle rub. But its base is the dreaded petroleum jelly. Yuck! It also comes in an obnoxiously tiny jar, making it difficult to use.

I found a recipe for homemade Tiger Balm! I had to invest in some essential oils I didn't already have (camphor, eucalyptus, cinnamon and clove), and I found some 4-ounce mason jars at Target that turn out to be the perfect size to hold one batch of this recipe. Score!

I decided to use olive oil as the carrier oil, mainly because I had it on hand and it doesn't smell like coconut.

I used my microwave to melt the beeswax. Next time, I think I will try a double boiler (or a makeshift double boiler, at least), as the recipe suggests. My balm isn't as fragrant as I would like, and I suspect that's because the wax was too hot when I added the essential oils. (It smells stronger now that it has cooled.)

The balm is also firmer than I would like, now that it's cooled. Its consistency would be great for a stick, but for a product that I want to scoop out of a jar with my fingers, it's too hard. Next time, a little more oil.

Adventures in Apothecary

Lip balm: awesome. The petroleum jelly base that many commercial lip balms contain: not awesome. Screw that! I bought some beeswax and some empty lip balm tubes, and I was off!

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?