Did you know that the average woman ingests 4 pounds of lip product in her lifetime?

That is a lot of lipstick/gloss/butter/balm! So it better be nasty-free.

This DIY lip balm is not only 100% natural, it is hands-down the most moisturizing lip balm I have ever tried. And I like to consider myself an aficionado of sorts. A balm buff, if you will. I mean, at any given time, there is likely at least four to six different types of (all-natural) lip products at the bottom of my purse. But enough about my cosmetics hoarding issue…

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons pure, filtered, unbleached beeswax pastilles
• 1 teaspoon organic raw shea butter
• 3 teaspoons organic unrefined coconut oil
• 20 drops of essential oil of choice (I do 10 drops of peppermint and 10 of tangerine)
• 6 ³/₁₆ oz. (5.5 ml) lip balm tubes (or if you would prefer, check out these cute ¹/2 oz tins)

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a small sauce pot and put it on the oven on low-medium heat. Stir the mixture until all of the beeswax and shea butter has melted. Turn the burner off and remove the pot from the heat. Fill the lip balm tubes using a funnel. Let the tubes sit undisturbed for 20 minutes to cool and set (leave any spill-over temporarily undisturbed – it is not worth trying to wipe it off right now).

After your balm has cooled and set, it is ready to go! I decorated my balms by printing out eye-catching graphics on standard office labels (2 by 4 inches, 10 per sheet), cutting them to size, and then covering them with clear packing tape, also cut to size. All of you DIYers out there will have no problem with this, and will have lots of fun either designing personalized labels or finding cute graphics and patterns.

I recently made a huge batch (since, hey, this is how I get my kicks) and gave them to friends, family, and coworkers. It’s a nice little gift that does not cost much to make (my estimates place each tube at less than $1!) and everyone loves, especially if you customize the labels to the recipients (cats for Marisa, flowers for Mom…).

This recipe holds up well in the summer heat and is fantastic for protecting lips from the dry winter air!