lip balm – Ali Does It Herself

I found this tutorial for making lip balm with freeze-dried raspberries from Hello Natural and thought I’d give it a shot, with a few Ali Does It modifications, of course. I love making home-made lip balm. I find it feels much better and more luxurious on my face than the commercial brands, and I love experimenting with different oils to various effects. As long as you keep a general ratio of 3:1 oils:wax, you’re pretty much golden. The measurements I use below resulted in over 2 cups lip balm, so if you use the same ones, make sure you have plenty of containers to put your balm into.

As for the raspberries, well, those are optional, and I think next time I’d leave them out. They settled mostly to the bottom (though that looks pretty, too), and when I mixed them up in some pots they felt grainy against the skin. They taste great, though, and you can easily and quickly lick the grains of raspberry away, but I think if I’m aiming for a tinted lip balm next time I’ll start by staining the oils I’m using rather than adding any other solids and liquids to the mix. Or I’ll try this version, with Crayons. Or maybe not. Anyway, if you’re going to use raspberries, find some freeze-dried ones. Krystopf and Atlas popped down to NYC to visit Ando and Teedz so I asked them to stop into Trader Joe’s to grab a bag or two.

I shoved as many raspberries as I could into my spice grinder (it’s a coffee grinder dedicated to all things not coffee) and whazzed them up until they formed a fine powder.

Be careful not to breathe that in! One 34g bag of raspberries produced for me about 1/4 cup raspberry powder.

But look! Those seeds are no good!

So I actually sifted the powder, a wee bit at a time, through a tea strainer to get out the seeds. I think it was worth it.

Now that you’ve finished with that nonsense, get your melty bits ready. In the bowl of a double boiler, dump in 1 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup sweet almond oil, and 1/2 cup beeswax. I also had about 1/2 tablespoon shea butter in the bottom of a jar that was asking to be used so I added that in as well.

Once it’s all melted, tip in your raspberry powder as well as about 20 drops essential oils. I used grapefruit. I love pink grapefruit.

Then you start pouring. I ended up filling like 27 little pots of varying size.

As well as half a small canning jar. I later decanted this into three wee plastic pots and kept it for my own use. I like the balm: raspberries aside, it’s nice and smooth on the lips without being goopy and provides a decent shine for a decent amount of time.

As it sets, the raspberries will settle to the bottom. You can stir them up with a toothpick if you like.

But I kind of like the ombre effect. Makes a great stocking stuffer/gift!

I have extremely sensitive skin. Just looking at something wrong will cause me to break out in hives, rashes, or various forms of acne. So I’m very careful about the stuff that I put on and in my body. I also find that soaps, lotions, and all that stuff made with all natural ingredients seem to me to be more luxurious than the anonymous filled plastic bottles you can pick up at any store. Why not share that luxury as a gift? There are two high-powered executive type ladies in my family, so I thought I’d make a little “working woman’s survival kit.” Here, then, are instructions (from various places) for some little home-made beauty products with a touch of luxury. I’ll start with the hardest project first, and move to the easiest, though I wouldn’t really call any of these projects hard.

Let’s make some lip balm! It’s frightening how much you can pay for this stuff in the stores. This recipe here, which I modified from one I saw on TLC, produces about 3/4 cup (6oz) of lip balm (which filled 12 little half-ounce tubs), and cost me about $4 in supplies. BAM. If you were wondering, I got the plastic tubs from Patch on Etsy.

Start with 1/4 cup beeswax. You can get this in tiny, easy-to-melt pearls from some places, but this being Newfoundland I got it in a solid 2oz block, which is pretty much 1/4 cup. This stuff is local, from Paradise Farms.

I grated it and cut it up into little pieces. I recommend getting all your ingredients measured and containers ready to go beforehand, because once this is ready to go you will need to act quickly.

Pop the wax into a double boiler (or metal bowl set over a pot of bubbling water) and let it melt completely. It won’t take long.

Add in 1/4 cup almond oil and 2 tablespoons coconut oil.

Don’t freak out if the wax curdles — it’s just adjusting to the cooler temperatures of the oils, and will melt again. Just keep stirring. I also added a few drops of peppermint essential oil at this point, just for a nice cooling sensation on your lips and a fresh scent.

When everything has been fully liquified again, you can remove the pot from the heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons beet juice for colouring (you can leave this out if you wish and your balm will be whitish or ivory, depending on the colour of your wax). You can add more if you wish, but make sure to whisk it well, as it won’t fully combine with the wax and oil.

Quickly transfer the liquid to a cup with a spout and pour into your containers.

I worked too slowly (because I was taking pictures, which then ended up blurry, damnit) and had to re-melt my lip balm in the microwave to get it all out. Make sure to wipe out the cup and the melting bowl with a paper towel before you wash them — it can get messy otherwise. Work whatever is leftover into your hands. It’s quite nice.

I probably should have smiled for this photo. But I didn’t realize how grumpy my mouth looks this close up. 😦 But the balm is very nice, very refreshing and smooth.

Let’s make some deodorant! Store-bought deodorants are full of all kinds of gross things, and there have been studies done on the links between aluminum used in anti-perspirants and Alzheimer’s. This recipe, which I modified from the one here, has four ingredients, and each one has a specific purpose. I doubled what I will present to you below, but it produces about half a cup of solid deodorant.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup arrowroot or corn starch. The baking soda is your key deodorizer, and the starch is your moisture-wicking agent.

Melt 6 tablespoons coconut oil (your moisturizing agent and the stuff that will hold everything together in solid form) and whisk that in as well. Add in a few drops of tea tree oil (for antibacterial purposes, and to add a light scent). I also added in a few drops of lavender essential oil, just for the frivolity of it all — I know, that makes FIVE ingredients. I love the combination of lavender and tea tree.

Pour that into a container with a lid and allow to solidify. Apply it to your underarms with your fingertips. Voila.

***EDIT: So I’ve been using this for a little while now and I have to say that, at least for me, this stuff works BETTER than either the super dooper organic and chemical-free version or the regular brand-name stuff you pick up in the drug store. Sure, it’s a little grainy going on, but it lasts way longer, there’s no residue getting anywhere it shouldn’t, and in terms of actually deodorizing, it’s tops! ***

Let’s make some shower scrubs! I think that salt/sugar scrubs are the epitome of pampering oneself at home, so I decided to make not one, but two different kinds.

Orange Salt & Sugar Scrub: In a bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup sea salt.

Add in 1/2 cup melted coconut oil, 3 tablespoons almond oil, and 2 tablespoons vitamin E oil (you can get that at the drug store).

Add in a few drops of orange essential oil, as well as finely grated orange zest. Stir well.

Scoop into a container with a tightly-fitting lid, and keep in your bathroom for when you have some extra time in the shower. Just remember that those oils can make the shower very slippery when you rinse off, so be careful.

Brown Sugar & Coffee Scrub: Did you know that caffeine is a great thing for your skin? In a bowl, mix together 1 cup dark brown sugar and 1 cup finely ground coffee (not used coffee grounds).

Add in 3 tablespoons honey and 1/2 cup light olive oil and mix to combine.

Scoop that into a container with a tight lid and keep that in the bathroom as well, for when your skin needs a little pick-me-up in the morning!

Let’s make some eye makeup remover! This is so easy, it’s like not even a thing. Mix together 4 tablespoons olive oil with 3 tablespoons almond oil. To remove your waterproof eye makeup, simply moisten a cotton ball with the stuff and there you go!