# Liquid Glucose or Agave Nectar for Sweetening Lipbalms?



## twaburds (Jul 11, 2016)

Hi!

Im looking for a liquid sweetner to use in my lipbalms but the only ones I have came across are liquid glucose or agave nectar. Are either of these suitable or are there other alternatives in the uk which can be used?

Also, how much would you use?

Thanks


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## DeeAnna (Jul 11, 2016)

A lip balm is anhydrous -- meaning it contains no water-soluble ingredients. Anhydrous products don't need preservatives to stay reasonably sanitary. 

Once you add a water soluble ingredient, you no longer have an anhydrous product, so it needs a preservative to prevent microbial growth. 

Also a mixture of anhydrous and water soluble ingredients is not stable, meaning your product is likely to separate and get "weepy" if you don't use an emulsifier to keep the ingredients properly blended.

In short, these ingredients (and honey) aren't going to be good choices to add to your lip balm. I believe some people have tried powdered stevia as a sweetener in lip balm. Or you might explore the idea of a lip-safe flavoring that gives the illusion of sweetness.


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## IrishLass (Jul 11, 2016)

Ditto what DeeAnna said.

If you have access to finely powdered stevia, you can mix it with some oil (coconut 76 or castor are good choices) for use in your balms. Keep in mind that stevia does not dissolve in anything but water, but it will disperse well enough in oil to be able to use as a sweetener in lip balms without causing graininess. The trick is using as fine of a grade of stevia as you can get and stirring it well with the oil before stirring a drop or two of the mixture into each of your balms. You'll also want to do a quick-freeze of your balm so that it sets up fast and keeps the stevia suspended evenly throughout.

For my own balms nowadays, I use the Sugar Baby sweetener from Majestic Mountain Sage (MMS), but I used to use my own homemade stevia suspension out of very fine stevia powder and castor oil. For what it's worth, here is the ratio of stevia to castor oil that I used for my sweetener: .5 grams stevia powder (weighed out on my jeweler's scale) to every 3 mLs castor oil. I stored the mixture in a wide-mouth plastic cosmetic tub and stirred it real well with a glass stir-stick before adding to my balms. I used the same stir-stick to pick up a drop-size quantity of my sweetener and to stir the sweetener into my melted balm. I don't use the stevia anymore because I can't seem to find the same fine-grade of powdered stevia that I had at the first (I had bought it from my local health-food store and they don't sell that brand anymore). Hence my use of MM's Sugar Baby sweetener.


IrishLass


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 12, 2016)

Could you buy tea/coffee sweetener that comes in the little clicky plastic tub? Crush one in a mortar and pestle.......


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