The often solid looking jar of coconut oil in my kitchen cupboard finds its way onto my skin through out the year as an easy, no fuss answer to needing a massage lotion or skin moisturizer.
It melts at body temperature, and is also suitable as a shaving moisturizer, quite the kitchen multi-tasker.
In the hot summer, my small bedside jar of vanilla bean infused coconut oil became quite soft and liquid. This made it easier to apply to legs and arms and backs for warm scented rub downs.
For winter use, small amounts of the solid coconut oil can be melted down in the microwave and poured into small tins for use as a lip balm.
I scented this round with 1 drop of peppermint essential oil per 2 tsp of melted coconut oil. This amount provides a soft level of mint, that is milder than the mint in Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm. I think I shall try doubling the amount of mint next time to aim for that Burt’s mint tingle on my lips.
Adding a 1/4 tsp of cocoa powder to the hot melted 2 tsp of coconut oil, softens the mint aroma, and cushions it with day dreams of sipping hot chocolate. It’s a splendid combination! The resulting balm is colored in the pot, but doesn’t show any traces of color on the skin. Also, as the coconut oil cools, it crystallizes to produce a mottled white snowflake like clouding in the brown cocoa lip balm pots.
As coconut oil is easily seduced to liquid by body temperatures, I would caution one against carrying these tins around in their pockets, unless a secure tight lid is used.
Note- this shouldn’t be carried in your pocket
as it will melt to a liquid. Think of this balm as a bedside treat.
Additional flavors begging to be made with essential oils:
- lavender mint
- lemongrass
- cinnamon
- chocolate lavender (Valentine’s Day!)
- cocoa butter rose (Valentine’s Day!)
As with any body product made containing essential oils, go gentle if you are unfamiliar with a particular scent. You don’t want to accidentally make a body lotion that will sting and burn you.
… or maybe you do? If so, get your experimenting underway to unveil your creation in time for Valentine’s Day play!
links:
Watchmaker Tins of all Sizes, Lee Valley
Adventures in Lip Balm, not martha
How to: Create your own lip balm recipe, Bleu Arts
31 Comments
Yum, yum, yum! You are so creative! Cocoa Peppermint sounds delicious, but vanilla mint really gets me drooling.. 
I just recently discovered Burt’s Bees products and now keep some in my travel bag.
Hadn’t thought of infusing my coconut oil with vanilla before…something for me to try 
j
Yum–and those little tins of luscious lip balm would make such fabulous gifts! (Though I guess you would have to caution your friends about carrying them around in their pockets.)
The melting factor is a hunch- though I am basing it off of seeing my little bedside jar turn to liquid during a heatwave.
I’ll try to remember to carry around in a pocket during the summer to see what happens.–McAuliflower
Hummmmm, I do believe that Mother’s Day is coming up next…?
I love this idea! It would be great to have something homemade like this around the house for all those unexpected, last minute, or forgotten-about events that one needs gifts for. it’s more personal than a bottle a wine certainly.
Can I ask? Is there a homemade foot creme that you can recommend too?
This would also make a good foot creme too. Coconut oil is a great multi-tasker that is very friendly to our skin everywhere.
–McAuliflower
What a great idea! And don’t even get me started on the chocolate-mint thing. These would also make such great gifts – thanks for the inspitation
What a fantastic post! Thank you for sharing this recipe… it will make such a great figt!
Tim- this would make a great foot rub. Especially with more peppermint added to it.
Don’t carry this in your pocket!
It will melt, and leak if you don’t have a good lid. I tested it on the way out of town this weekend, and ended up with an oily spot at my pocket. Yuck
Just in time to have messy clothes on the plane too.
But it smelled good!
What about adding some beeswax to make it more solid?
I think that’s a good idea. Based on other recipes I’ve seen, beeswax and coconut oil could probably hold hands well together.
–McAuliflower
I used your basic idea but subbed a few ingredients.I used 1 tbs. shortening,couple drops of vanilla extract, and 1/4 tsp. liquid glycerin.Thanks for the idea.
Wow! What a great idea My lips are always so dry and chapped in the winter but it seems like nothing OTC works! I’m definately going to try this. Thank you!!
I Stumbled across this, and since I had a bog jar of coconut oil in the cupboard… well, the niece is getting a pile of small (1/8oz) screwtop bobbles filled with cocoa peppermint, and mom and sis are getting bigger ones, with the CP, and with Lavender Mint.
Thanks for providing such an easy stocking stuffer!!
Nice post. Thanks for the link.
If you melt a bit of bees wax into the oil you can make it so the lip balm won’t melt to readily in your pocket, last longer on your lips
You can tell how much bees wax you need to add by sticking a spoon (or two to check more then once) into the freezer and while you have everything melted under low heat (and even better in a double broiler) you just stick the spoon in to put a coating on and have the spoon cool it off. This will harden to the cooled consistency of the lip balm and you can choose to add more of the wax or oil depending on if you want it softer or harder.
[...] magic shell. It doesn’t use butter, as a lot of other recipes online do, but instead uses coconut oil, our favorite multitasker! Theoretically, with the correct chocolate, you can even make Magic Shell vegan (the mind boggles [...]
is this rich enough to use as a cuticle cream? or if you cut it with sweet almond or jojoba oil to up the nourishment factor, would it no longer firm up at room temp?
Hi Lindsey,
I think this would work well as a cuticle cream (and moisturizer, and shaving lotion…). Adding oils that are liquid at room temperature will contribute to its liquid state even more. However, adding melted beeswax to this solution will aid in keeping it solid- even in the warm summer months. I don’t have that formulation on hand, but it’s referenced here in the comments.
cheer
–McAuliflower
How fun! I’m gonna try this!
I have some leftover bacon-flavored coconut oil from when I made your Magic Shell recipe, so I think I’ll try making lip balm with it, flavored with a bit of maple syrup. I’ll let you know how it goes!
[...] Brownie Points » Homemade Winter Lip Balm In the hot summer, my small bedside jar of vanilla bean infused coconut oil became quite soft and liquid. This made it easier to apply to legs and arms and This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 1:57 am and is filed under bedroom, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]
tried it, and i really loved it, thanks
Does anyone have a good general ratio of beeswax to coconut oil to recommend for a balm that won’t melt in your pocket?
I made lip balm with 100 girls last year for Engineer’s week. Trying to get the girls to see how engineering is really problem solving. I spend quite a bit of time on line investigating various recipes to get something that I could have them mix with only their own body heat. But that they could keep in a pot and not have it remelt.
Here’s how I did it:
At home, I melted together 1 part bee’s wax and 1 part vegetable oil and poured 2 tablespoons into the little candy cups. Then I melt coconut oil and poured it into another set of the cups.
By diluting the bee’s wax with the veggie oil, it will now melt with some pressure and the heat of the girl’s hands. Mixing the 2 Tablespoons of oil and bee’s wax with about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil with the contents of 1 vitamin E capsule and a squirt of honey makes an outstanding lip balm that won’t melt in your pocket. (The vitamin E and honey act as preservatives.)
It is essentially flavor free. You can use almond oil instead of canola or flavor it up with the essential oils or candy flavorings, or cocoa or vanilla, or, or, or…
Warning about the additions….Lemon Balm is not good for skin can cause rashes and sunburn as does Bergamot. Any citrus based oil should not be used if going out doors. I would suggest researching additives before trying them. I have many recipes for lip balms and skin care products. I have been making them for over a decade. I have a good beeswax blend that DOESN’T melt easily….
Cuticle Treatment
4 T castor oil
4 T cocoa butter
Warm cocoa butter first until melted then add castor oil. Let cool until comfortable temp the soak fingers for 10-15 minutes.
Hand Butter (one of the best I have tried)
1/4 c cocoa butter
1/4 c beeswax
2 T safflower oil
4-6 drops essential oil (optional)
Grate beeswax and cocoa butter….warm in pan until melted. Add safflower oil and remove from heat. Add essential oil if desired and whisk until cool. Put in container while still soft.
Lip Balm
Heat 2 teaspoons of beeswax and 7 teaspoons of Sweet Almond Oil until beeswax is just melted. Remove from heat, add 1 teaspoon of honey and whisk together. Let cool slightly, then stir in 5-6 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil. Pour into lip gloss pot.
Hint: if you like firmer lip balms, add a little more beeswax.
You can use the above lip balm with sweet almond or jojoba oil and no mint if you prefer. My husband loves this recipe.
I will add the Vitamin E lip and eye cream when I find the recipe. It is my very very favorite!!!!
Adding a drop or 2 of Vitamin E to any of the above is very nice.
Hi, How did you make the vanilla bean infused coconut massage oil. I love the scent of coconut and vanilla together and would love to use that as a mosturizer.
Also, do you need to buy special essential oils to use as a lip balm? or are they all ok to use as a lip balm?
Also, where do you get essential oils?]
Hi Shannon
To make vanilla bean infused coconut massage oil:
- Warm up one jar of coconut oil to make it liquid. A lot of grocery stores carry coconut oil in the cooking oil section. Virgin coconut oil will smell more like coconut that the more refined coconut oil.
- Split a whole vanilla bean and scrape its seeds into the coconut oil. Add the vanilla bean pod in there too. The vanilla seeds will sink to the bottom of the oil. Using vanilla extract in its typical alcohol form won’t work as the alcohol and oil don’t mix (it will look like a lava lamp if you try).
- Gently heat the oil over low heat with the vanilla to help infuse the scent.
- Pour the scented coconut oil into a storage container that can be microwaved or submerged in hot water (for when you want to make the oil liquid).
Essential Oils
- not all essential oils are safe for body applications. I would only stay with ones labeled as food safe to avoid those that use a phenol extraction.
- fancy grocery stores sell essential oils these days.
- search online for food safe ones.
- if you can’t find any: use the actual plant itself. Example: steep lavender flowers or peppermint leaves in what it is you want to scent. Crush up the plant matter to help extract the oils.Hope this helps
–McAuliflower
I just want to correct the person above who said honey acts as a preservative — no, it does not!
Honey itself doesn’t go bad because it’s such a high concentration of sugar. But if you add a bit of honey to lip balm then you’ve diluted those sugars and made a mixture that bacteria can feed off of.
Any time you mix oil and something waterbased (which honey is) you should have a specific preservative ingredient (or keep it in the fridge and use it up fast). Honey has no preservative properties when it’s added to other things.
[...] Brownie Points – Winter Lip Balm [...]
I tried all the organic lip balms and then decided to shell out an extra 50 cents to try the Made from Earth lip balms – first I tried the citrus one. It has a cool, refreshing kick that cools your lips and moisturizes. I will never go back or even bother tying any other kinds of lip balm now. This is indeed the best!
[...] Bath fizzies, Body scrub, Bath salts, Lavendar sleep pouches, Rose dusting powder, or Winter lip balm, - a gift of luxury is always [...]
Thank you for your nice article. I found something special on it.
Thanks
[...] Winter Lip Balm [...]
