I was so excited that I got to play with our newest extracts for this little project! They don’t add any taste to the lip balm, but they do add some great skin conditioning benefits.
Collect needed items:
Ingredients Soy Lip Solutions – Extra Firm Grape Flavor Oil Green Tea Extract Sea Buckthorn Extract Beeswax Ruby Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble Blue Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble |
Equipment Microwave safe container for weighing ingredients Scale Transfer Pipettes Spoons Containers for the finished products (I’m using the I’m using the White Bottom Twist Lip Balm Tubes with Purple Caps.) Glass, Ceramic or Metal Plate A Dry Erase or Wet Erase Marker for marking the plate |
Recipe Total in the Final Product:
Recipe in ounces for 70 tubes 10.08 ounces Soy Lip Solutions – Extra Firm (1 jar) 0.56 ounces Grape Flavor Oil 0.21 ounces Green Tea Extract 0.21 ounces Sea Buckthorn Extract 1.0 ounces Beeswax q.s. Ruby Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* q.s. Blue Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* |
Recipe in grams for 70 tubes 285.7 grams Soy Lip Solutions – Extra Firm (1 jar) 16 grams Grape Flavor Oil 6 grams Green Tea Extract 6 grams Sea Buckthorn Extract 28.4 grams Beeswax q.s. Ruby Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* q.s. Blue Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* |
Recipe in Percentages 83.5% Soy Lip Solutions – Extra Firm (1 jar) 4.7% Grape Flavor Oil 1.8% Green Tea Extract 1.8% Sea Buckthorn Extract 8.2% Beeswax q.s. Ruby Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* q.s. Blue Lip Balm Color, Oil Soluble* |
Remove the lid from the jar of Lip Solutions. Microwave in short bursts until the Lip Solutions is completely melted. Once the Lip Solutions is melted, add the Grape Flavor, Green Tea Extract and Sea Buckthorn Extract. Stir until all of the additives have been incorporated. The lip balm will be very soft after the addition of the additives, so the plate test is very useful in determining when you have made a lip balm too soft or firm. At this time, you can put put away the flavor and extracts since they will will not be needed anymore. This will conveniently give you more work room. 😉 Grab your plate and drop 1 or 2 drops of melted Lip Solutions on to it. The lip balm will cool very quickly since the plate is cooler than the jar. After the lip balm completely cools on the pate, use your clean fingers to press and rub the lip balm. Once you have some lip balm on your finger, apply it to your lips. Now evaluate the lip balm. Ask yourself these questions.
- Is the lip balm firm enough to the touch for my (or my customers) preferences? Or is it too soft?
- Is the texture right or is it lacking?
- How do my lips feel?
- Is this flavor strong enough for what I wanted?
- Is this lip balm sweet enough?
- Do I need to add something to round this flavor?
- Am I happy with the flavor that this has produced?
- Am I happy with the overall product?
- The lip balm is too soft.
- Add more wax. Start with small increments like 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of Beeswax or 1/8 to 1/4 ounce of Carnauba and/or Candelilla Wax.
- The lip balm is too hard.
- Add more liquid oils. Start with small increments like 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of any oil of your choice. These oils can be the same oils that you already have in your formulation or you can add a new oil to the formulation.
- The lip balm doesn’t have enough flavor.
- Add more flavor or a sweetener like Sugar Baby or Sugar Kisses.
- The lip balm has too much flavor.
- If there is too much flavor you may need to increase your batch size.
P.S. Did you know you can use the information in this post for making solid perfumes. You can even use our Lip Solutions for a solid perfume base. Cool!
Lip Solutions: Using the Plate Test,
I was thinking of trying my hand at lip balm. This is a great tutorial. Thanks Andee!
Julie ^_^
This article is amazing – I read it and then thought ”now why haven’t I thought of that”!?! My lip balm recipe is strictly my own – hard won! And there have been times when I have thought ”Gee- it should have more color” or ”Gee – it’s not as flavorful I had in mind” or ”Gee – I’m making this for a tropical climate and I didn’t quite nail it!”. This ”Testing and then Fixing” approach is worth a million! I tested and progressed the ”trying out” along the outer edge of my white porcelain plate until I had everything just exactly matching what I had in mind. And there are no regrets. (or do-overs!)
Thank you so much for a really, really valuable blog! So glad that you shared your skill with us! Thank you!
Pingback: Adventures With The Sage » Blog Archive » Starting with an Empty Cupboard: Ingredients for Lip Balms & Glosses
Pingback: Adventures With The Sage » Blog Archive » “What is wrong with my lip balm tubes?”
Pingback: Adventures With The Sage » Blog Archive » Melting Lip Solutions Using the Stove