How to Make Lip Balm at Home? Easy DIY Lip Balms to Try

Lip balm is an everyday essential that is incredibly easy to make at home. If you prefer natural products, you might be interested in learning how to make lip balm at home, trying different recipes with different ingredients and flavors tailored to your needs. Keep reading to learn everything about homemade DIY lip balms!

Why Make Your Own Lip Balm?

Lip balm is one of those products you can never seem to buy enough of while also being a product you can never find again once you buy it. While there are a lot of great lip balms available (check out our list of the best lip balms here), it’s easy to spend a lot of money on a product you could easily make at home for less. If you make your lip balm at home, you’ll know what went into your balm and can customize it to your unique wants and needs.

How Long Does Homemade Lip Balm Last?

Since a homemade lip balm won’t contain preservatives, you can store it in the refrigerator for maximum shelf life. A homemade lip balm could be good for up to a year if stored correctly, but a few contributing factors may affect the shelf life. If you store your lip balm in a metal tin, it’s more likely to pick up excess bacteria.

How to Store Homemade Lip Balm?

Something to consider when storing your homemade lip balm is temperature. If your temperature varies too much, your DIY lip balm can quickly melt and create an unwanted mess. Some people keep their lip balm in the refrigerator, but you can also store it in any cool, dry place.

When choosing a container for your lip balm, the most important thing is to make sure it’s clean before pouring in your balm mixture. An old lip balm tin, an empty mint tin, or an empty plastic or glass makeup container is perfect. You can also purchase containers for lip balms, such as this one from Amazon.

What You’ll Need

While you can always add up more ingredients and flavors to your DIY lip balm, most of them are based on some common ingredients, depending on whether you go for a beeswax or petroleum jelly formula.

For Beeswax Lip Balm:

Saucepan
Heat-safe glass bowl
3.5 tablespoons of carrier oil of choice (coconut, olive, sunflower, sweet almond)
1.5 tablespoons of secondary oil (you can use the same as above or add another. Coconut is a popular choice)
One tablespoon of beeswax (vegans can use candelilla wax)
One tablespoon of solid butter (mango, shea, cocoa)
Cosmetic-grade glitter or mica powder (optional)
Essential oils of choice (optional)
A clean, empty container to store your lip balm

For Beeswax-Free (Petroleum Jelly-Based) Lip Balm:

Two tablespoons of unflavored, plain petroleum jelly
A microwave-safe bowl
A spoon for mixing
Cosmetic-grade glitter or mica powder (optional)
Essential oils of choice (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil for extra moisture (optional)
A clean, empty container to store your lip balm

Basic Beeswax Lip Balm Recipe

For an essential beeswax lip balm, follow the recipe below.

Set up your double boiler. Fill up a saucepan with 1-2 inches of water, and place a heat-safe glass bowl on top of the saucepan. Don’t turn on the stove yet!
Carefully add each ingredient listed above, substituting for your personal preferences or based on any of the recipes below.
Turn the stove on medium/low, stirring gently until all the ingredients are melted and incorporated.
Once everything is melted, remove your mixture from heat and continue stirring until you have a consistent, streak-free formula.
This is when you can add 5-10 drops of your essential oils. Be sure that your essential oils are safe to use on your skin. Check our list below for a variety of recipes.
Pour your mixture into a clean, dry container.
Allow the mixture to set. The setting shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes, but you can also pop it in the freezer to speed up the process.

Beeswax-Free Lip Balm Recipe

If you’d rather not use beeswax, you can use several other items as a base. For the sake of this recipe, I chose petroleum jelly, which is relatively easy to find and inexpensive.

Add up to two tablespoons of petroleum jelly to a microwave-safe bowl.
Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or until the jelly is completely melted (liquid). It should be clear and free of lumps or clumps.
Once removed from the microwave, you can add your optional shimmer powders.
For extra nourishment, add 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil.
Add optional non-synthetic fragrances and flavors.
Pour your mixture into a clean, dry container.
Allow the mixture to set, following the exact instructions as the beeswax recipe above.

Homemade Lip Balms Recipes — @laneige_us

DIY Tinted Lip Balm

If you want a tinted balm, there are a few options you can choose from to add a pop of color. These include food coloring, the tip of a lipstick, or a chunk of non-toxic crayon.

For food coloring, add 5-10 drops based on your desired tint to your melted mixture.
For lipstick-tinted balm, use a knife to cut off the lipstick tip and melt it with your mixture.
To use a non-toxic crayon, follow the same instructions as if you were using lipstick. For the crayon, it could take up to five minutes of heated intervals to melt.
Be sure to stir each mixture well, making sure the color is consistent, and there are no solid pieces.
Follow instructions for pouring and setting as above.

Other Recipe Variations

For any of the recipes below, you can add the listed ingredients to either of the bases above as they are melting, incorporating them thoroughly before allowing the mixture to set. For the oils listed in these recipes, use the amounts listed under the ingredients for each recipe formulation above.

Healing Honey Lip Balm

To the beeswax base, add:

One teaspoon of honey
Two vitamin E capsules (or 5-10 drops)
Essential oil (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Sweet Rose Lip Balm

This recipe could work for either formulation. For a sweet rose flavor, add:

One teaspoon of sweet almond oil
One teaspoon of coconut or vanilla extract
¼ cup (56 grams) of dried rose petals, crushed (you can also sub this for three tablespoons of a rose-infused oil)

Soothing Peppermint Lip Balm

This recipe is perfect for soothing dry, cracked lips. For either formula, add:

One teaspoon of sweet almond oil
2 to 3 drops of peppermint essential oil

Refreshing Grapefruit Lip Balm

This recipe will work best in the beeswax-based lip balm. To your mixture, add:

30-35 drops of grapefruit essential oil
Sweet almond oil

Calming Honey Lavender Lip Balm

This recipe will also work best in the beeswax-based lip balm. To your mixture, add:

Five drops of lavender essential oil, or to your preference
One teaspoon of honey
Jojoba oil
Coconut oil

Other Lip Balm Uses to Know

Lip balms aren’t for moisturizing the lips alone. Other lips balm uses include:

To Tame Flyaways: Rub some lip balm in your palm and apply it to the hair to tame it.
Eyebrow Wax: Use your lip balm as an eyebrow wax to tame unruly brows.
To Prevent Hair Dye Smudges: Before starting the hair dyeing process, apply some lip balm on the hairline. It would prevent the skin from getting stained.
As Cuticle Cream: It is as simple as that – you can use lip balm as a cuticle cream.
To Remove Sticker Residue: When you have sticker residue to remove, pick up some lip balm.
Make Your Perfume Last: Apply some lip balm to the area you’ll use perfume to make the smell last longer than ever!
Tint Your Cheeks: Apply a little tinted lip balm on your cheeks instead of a blush.
Prevent Manicure Smudges: Rub some lip balm on your cuticles and around the nails to prevent nail polish smudges.
Prevent Blisters: Applying lip balms on your feet will prevent blisters.
As Highlighter: Where do you want to bring shine to your face? Apply lip balm to make your face glow.

Photos via @fueltheglow, @laneige_us, Instagram

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