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Hello Readers! My name is Gabby and I am SO excited to be sharing this DIY Peppermint Cocoa Lip Balm with you. I love reading Diana’s blog so it is particularly exciting that I get to be a part of the awesomeness going down here 🙂
After a lot of thought, I decided that this guest post is the perfect opportunity to make a confession to you all:
I am a slave to my Minty Kiss by Victoria’s Secret lip gloss. It’s true–I cannot get enough of it! In the last month and a half I have–no joke–gone through almost four tubes. Four. However, I have recognized I have a problem and that is the first step to recovery, right? So as of today, I am buying lip gloss no longer!
Instead, I’m making balm 🙂
Let me just take a moment to stop and say one word very loudly: YUM! I. Love. This lip balm. Packed with only natural ingredients {none of that Polyethylene Terephthalate nonsense in the Vicky’s lip gloss}, this balm does the trick when it comes to actually moisturizing my still Boston-winter-dry lips.
So why else should you give this luscious lip balm a try? At $1.10 an ounce {or less, if you’re more patient than I am and purchase your ingredients in bulk online}, this stuff is cheap without feeling cheap. Compare that to paying upwards of $9 a tube for only half an ounce at Victoria’s Secret, only to leave your lips feeling sticky and dry when the gloss wears off!
So let’s get this lip-balm-making party started, shall we?
First, gather your ingredients:
I also used a few splashes of peppermint essential oil in this because half–no, all–of what was so addicting about the Minty Kiss gloss was the Minty part. Who doesn’t like that little tingle on your lips?? In case you don’t, however, there’s no reason you couldn’t put another essential oil in this–lavender or perhaps vanilla.
As for specific measurements of each ingredient, that will depend on how much mix you want to make and how big your lip balm containers are. It’s really more of an art than a science. I had three 1oz containers, so to make things easy I used a 1:1:1 ratio of beeswax to cocoa butter to coconut oil. Specifically, I used one ounce of each ingredient plus two capsules of Vitamin E and peppermint oil to taste–er–smell. All of these ingredients can be purchased online {see affiliate product links above!} or in a natural health store.
Please note that using a 1:1:1 ratio will produce a stiff balm, one that would be excellent in a chapstick tube but not necessarily in a lip balm tub. If you want a softer balm, add more coconut oil to the mix {i.e. more like a 1:1:2 ratio}. I prefer stiffer balms, so that’s what I made. If you don’t like the stiffness of your balm, you can always dig it out of the container, re-melt it, and add more coconut oil until the balm is to your desired consistency.
Next, pull out your double boiler! Double boilers are used to cook delicate sauces or melt foods {like chocolate} that can easily burn if they get too hot too quickly. Don’t have a double boiler?
Take a small saucepan and place a metal or glass bowl over it. Voila! Double boiler. Fill the saucepan with water such that the when the water is boiling on super low, it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Make sure that steam cannot easily escape from under the bowl, either–you don’t want condensation seeping into your lip balm!
Next, on very low heat melt your ingredients one by one, starting with the beeswax, then the coconut oil. You don’t want to expose cocoa butter to too much heat or it can scorch, so I melted it last just to be safe.
While it was melting, I cut open two capsules of Vitamin E and squeezed the contents out into my mixture. I also put in a few splashes of peppermint essential oil, possibly the equivalent of, say, 20 drops? I really like peppermint, so this may be too much for you. Add it until you feel your balm is adequately pepperminty. When everything is melted, turn off the heat and pour your beeswax into the container of your choice. I purchased these 1 oz. glass jars for a dollar each at a local natural health store. I really like glass ones because I can reuse them later:
Carefully pour your balm mixture into your containers and let them cool to room temperature. Resist the temptation to touch them before they’re completely dry if you want that pristine, freshly-poured look! Seriously, step away for an hour if you need to. Then, come back to this:
Don’t forget to wipe out your balm mix bowl with a paper towel immediately after you’re done pouring to make cleaning up easier, and never pour leftover balm mix down the drain!
Now, all that’s left to do at this point is enjoy your balms! Don’t these just look lovely??
I would love to hear how things go if you make this lip balm, so feel free to leave me a message on my blog, Essentially Eclectic! If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy my post on making Lavender Lotion Bars or Diana’s post featuring 15 Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipes. But the fun doesn’t end here! Sometimes all this DIYing makes me hungry; if you’re the same way, why not try some Parmesan Zucchini Crisps? Or, if you feel your sweet tooth calling, Diana’s amazing Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies?? And if you need a place to write down these delicious recipes, I got you covered.
Thanks for reading this post, and a huge thanks to Diana for giving me the opportunity to share it with you! Feel free to drop by Essentially Eclectic anytime to check out what I’m up to 🙂 Hope to see you there!
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