# Powdered Sugar in Lip Balms



## lillybella (Feb 1, 2015)

Hi :smile:

Has anyone used powdered sugar to sweeten lip balms?

I am getting so tired of trying to find a sweetener that doesn't seem to have a chemical taste to me.


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## Aline (Feb 1, 2015)

i would like to know this too...


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## abc (Feb 1, 2015)

Hmm, I'm not sure the powdered sugar would dissolve without water. Have you tried liquid stevia? I have a sweetener from MMS, it's nice.


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## lillybella (Feb 1, 2015)

I have tried both.
Just not a natural sweetness IMHO :smile:


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## abc (Feb 1, 2015)

I found someone on another forum that tried it. The powdered sugar added a slight sweetness but turned the balm grainy. 

Honey?


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## IrishLass (Feb 1, 2015)

Powdered sugar, being water soluble, will only disperse in oil instead dissolve in it, so it will only end up giving you a gritty feeling balm-  the degree of grittiness will depend on how much you add.

Honey, though it will be smooth, is also water soluble and will eventually separate out of the mix unless you add it along with an emulsifier. Also, any time you add a water soluble ingredient to a balm formula, you'll want to add a preservative to it in order to prevent any nasties from growing in it. Although honey is it's own natural preserver, it is not strong enough to preserve all the other ingredients in a formula.  

Magestic Mountain Sage has a honey formula on it's Adventure's With The Sage blog page that uses lanolin at around 10% to help emulsify the honey, but because of the inclusion of honey, they suggest using a preservative in it if you are going to sell it.


IrishLass


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## lillybella (Feb 1, 2015)

Nu Stevia only disperses in oil & doesn't dissolve in it. NG sells this for their lip balms.
Won't Powdered sugar work the same way?


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## IrishLass (Feb 2, 2015)

You can certainly try it, Lily. I've used powdered stevia in my balms with good success (dispersed first in a little coconut oil or castor oil), but since stevia is so many times sweeter than powdered sugar, you'll most likely need to use much more of the powdered sugar to get the same level of sweetness as what a tiny bit of stevia gives, which will make the balm feel gritty.


IrishLass


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## DeeAnna (Feb 2, 2015)

Maybe I'm missing the point of the use of sweeteners, but I don't want my lip balm to taste sweet. It encourages people to lick their chapped dry lips, and that makes matters worse rather than better. 

I use a light citrusy EO blend in my balm. It gives a hint of pleasant scent when the balm is first applied, then fades to nothing. That's what I prefer -- I want the balm to reward people for applying it, then quietly get to work protecting the lips. But that's just my take on this......


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## hmlove1218 (Feb 2, 2015)

DeeAnna said:


> Maybe I'm missing the point of the use of sweeteners, but I don't want my lip balm to taste sweet. It encourages people to lick their chapped dry lips, and that makes matters worse rather than better.
> 
> I use a light citrusy EO blend in my balm. It gives a hint of pleasant scent when the balm is first applied, then fades to nothing. That's what I prefer -- I want the balm to reward people for applying it, then quietly get to work protecting the lips. But that's just my take on this......



I'm with you DeeAnna. I like my lip balms to have a light smell, but I don't care for them to be flavored. They remind me of the nasty chapsticks when I was a kid.


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## sabistarr (Feb 2, 2015)

I have used stevia powder and it seemed to me like a natural sugar flavor... but have stopped now because I don't actually like sweet balms or flavors! 

Oils infused with vanilla or cardamom on the other hand... quite delicious!


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## DeeAnna (Feb 2, 2015)

Some scents, even though you're really smelling them rather than tasting them, can give an illusion of sweetness. Vanilla, cardamom -- good suggestions, Sabistarr! -- some of the citrus (mandarin and sweet orange come to mind), some of the mints (spearmint), etc. can achieve that illusion.


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## lillybella (Feb 2, 2015)

Deenna & HM I think I'm the one missing the point 

_*hint of pleasant scent when the balm is first applied, then fades to nothing*_

sounds wonderful! I just don't want any chemical flavors from sweeteners. Maybe I need to just go without any sweeteners.


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## DeeAnna (Feb 2, 2015)

I'll share my favorite citrus EO blend for lip balms and lotions. It is a happy, sweet scent that makes most people smile. 

I add this scent blend at 1% to 1.5% by weight of the lip balm or lotion batch. Example: A batch weighing a total of 100 grams would contain 98.5 to 99 grams of lip balm and 1 to 1.5 grams of this blend.

Rosemary cineole	13%	1.8	grams	
Red Mandarin	37%	5.0	grams	
Sweet orange	50%	6.8	grams	
Total	100%	13.6	grams	<-This amount of EOs will fill a 15 mL bottle to the neck

Sweet orange EO is obviously the backbone of the blend, but it is a "top note" and doesn't have a lot of depth or complexity.

The mandarin EO adds rich, sweet middle note. You can substitute green mandarin if you have it. If you don't have mandarin at all, then use more sweet orange, but if you can splurge for the mandarin someday, I encourage you to try it.

Rosemary cineole is a specific variety of rosemary EO. It is softer and sweeter than most rosemary varieties (a camphoraceous rosemary for example will smell much sharper and more medicinal). If you only have generic rosemary EO or a non-cineole rosemary EO, you might want to drop the % of rosemary to about 10% of the total and add a touch more mandarin. The rosemary adds a spicy, complex note to the blend. It acts as the base note in this blend.

At the low % I suggest, this blend will be safe to use on skin (lotions, lip balm) and with children.


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## lillybella (Feb 2, 2015)

Deeanna you are so sweet! Thank you so much!


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## DeeAnna (Feb 2, 2015)

Well, I feel like I've been raining on your parade, Lilly, so I need to offer something more -- something constructive and useful -- not just critical. I've had a lot of compliments on the EO blend in my lip balm -- even my grumpy brother likes it, and that's saying something -- so I hope it sparks good ideas for recipes that work for you!


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## FlybyStardancer (Feb 2, 2015)

*waves hand* DeeAnna's mix is really good! I'm still using and loving one that she graciously sent me.


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## lillybella (Feb 2, 2015)

DeeAnna I really appreciate your caring & generous attitude


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## houseofwool (Feb 3, 2015)

With the citrus, there aren't concerns about it causing photosensitivity?


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## DeeAnna (Feb 3, 2015)

All three EOs are "GRAS" -- generally recognized as safe -- per Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety, 2nd ed. 

The main concern with mandarin or sweet orange is due to possible skin irritation from oxidized (old) EO. This can be controlled by keeping the EOs refrigerated and in opaque containers and by adding them to a product that contains an antioxidant. The dosages at which irritation from oxidized EO occurred in a small % of individuals was sweet orange at 2% or more and mandarin at 8% or more. 

Rosemary may be irritating to the skin from the camphor content, but rosemary at a concentration of 2% did not cause skin irritation to test groups. Rosemary cineole EO has an especially low camphor content, so using this subtype makes rosemary even safer for skin use.

Sweet orange and rosemary are ~not~ photosensitizers -- there are no furanocoumarins in these EOs to trigger a photo reaction. Mandarin may contain small amount of furanocoumarins depending on the variety -- from zero to 0.001%. Even if used neat (pure EO) on the skin, the % of furanocoumarins in mandarin EO is comfortably below the IRFA guideline of 15 ppm (0.0015%). 

Yes, I'm quite aware that many references DO give a blanket warning that ALL citrus EOs are photosensitizers, but it's pretty clear one needs to research each EO individually to really know the true story.

As far as ingestion, all three are EOs are found in food. The dosage of these EOs that anyone would ingest by licking lip balm off their lips is far, far below the recommended ingestion limits.

In several years of using this blend personally in lip balms and lotions (at 1% to 3% of the total weight depending on the product) and the answers I get from questioning others, I have not seen any indication that Tisserand is wrong.


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## IrishLass (Feb 3, 2015)

DeeAnna said:


> Yes, I'm quite aware that many references DO give a blanket warning that ALL citrus EOs are photosensitizers, but it's pretty clear one needs to research each EO individually to really know the true story.


 

Very true. For example- the 'folded' type of citrus EO's are not photosensitizers either. The photosensitizing component has been removed. I use either 5-fold or 10-fold orange EO in my balms all the time.

By the way- thank you for sharing with us your favorite EO blend, DeeAnna.. That was very generous of you, and it looks quite lovely!  


IrishLass


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## houseofwool (Feb 3, 2015)

That was great information!  I've always just gone along blindly with the "rule".


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## DeeAnna (Feb 3, 2015)

Love Tisserand's book. Well worth the money.


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## Earthen_Step (Feb 3, 2015)

DeeAnna said:


> All three EOs are "GRAS" -- generally recognized as safe -- per Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety, 2nd ed.
> The main concern with mandarin or sweet...



Thanks for the info and book recommendation!

*I use pure stevia leaf powder and like the results.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 4, 2015)

Thank you for sharing this information and your recipe as well.  Will have to try it.   I do sweeten most of my lip balms as my customers seem to like them that way. I only use a touch of sweetner (stevia).


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## wiacomm (Feb 25, 2015)

I've been lurking a few months as I really have nothing to offer to the forum. However I have used a "lot" of the great info here so wanted to just say thank you.  
What a great forum with great folks!


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