Homemade Christmas - Lip Balm

Yes I am aware Christmas is over.  I wanted to share with you some things I made for gifts this Christmas and I couldn't really do that before Christmas for obvious reasons.  I plan to share these with you this week.  You could also make these things and not just for Christmas gifts.

First off, my friend Angel and I got together and made homemade lip balm.  I have to tell you I LOVE this stuff.  I have heard nothing but good things from the people I gave it to so hopefully they love it too!

Here is how you can make your own.  I will provide you with the tutorial I used and the links to where you can get all of your supplies.

First off, we used the tutorial from here.  We did not use their recipe.  Here is the recipe we used.  It makes 24 tubes.

4 Tbsp Beeswax pellets
4 Tbsp Coconut oil
4 Tsp of Grapeseed Oil (or Sweet almond oil or sunflower oil)
7 drops of Essentials Oil of your choice (we used Peppermint and Orange)

We melted the beeswax pellets in a Pyrex cup in the microwave.  We microwaved for 30 seconds at a time because beeswax has a very high melting point.  My friend Bess explained that you should "use short intervals of time and stir frequently".

Once the beeswax was melted we added the coconut oil and microwaved for just a few seconds longer until it was melted and then we added the grapeseed oil.  ALTHOUGH - I did it a different way the second time - I used a double broiler to do the above and I would recommend that instead of the microwaving.

Once your mixture is melted add your drops of essential oil if you want it to smell good.  Seven small drops will be good if you want a light smell.  I wouldn't use much more.  We used peppermint on half and orange on the other half of tubes.

Now quickly and neatly pour the mixture into the tubes.  The first time we used a dropper but we found it cooled the wax mixture and it got stuck in the tube a lot.  The second time I did it with the double broiler.  It worked much better because everything stayed warm. I poured from the double broiler and it wasn't easy to not overfill.  It takes time and patience but it isn't difficult.

Also, when the tubes harden they will have an indention in them so just take your dropper and drop a drop or two to make it filled all the way to the top.

We made 50 tubes and we figured up our cost and it was $0.34 per tube (excluding the labels).

Here is where we bought our supplies:

Beeswax pellets - from Mountain Rose Herbs
Coconut Oil - from Amazon
Grapeseed Oil - from local Natural Food Store
Peppermint and Orange Essential Oil - from local Natural Food Store or Mountain Rose Herbs
Containers - from Mountain Rose Herbs

Now for the labels, we used clear Avery labels #8667 which I bought either from Amazon or at Office Depot.  I can't remember.  I then just formatted them in Word and put what I wanted.

Hope you try this for yourself.  If  you do I can pretty much guarantee you will never buy the store bought stuff again.