1st Attempt at Lip Balm

[Soapsense]

Hi Everyone, I want to make my first attempt at Lip Balm today, and was going to use MMS basic receipe.

20% Beeswax
25% Soft Butter
15% Hard Butter
40% Liquid oil

On The Swift Monkey blog she suggests using 3% of weight for a flavor oil, and I would like to add 1% Vit E.

My Question is which ingredient do I take away from to add the Flavor Oil and Vit E? My first thought is the Liquid oil, is that correct?

 

[shunt2011]

I don't include my flavor oil in my recipe numbers. Also, I prefer a bit softer balm so I would take 1% away from either the beeswax or hard butter.

 

[Soapsense]

Thank you! I also have a few spoons in the freezer to test how it is. Wish me luck, my friend asked for these, so I hope they come out okay.

Another question, once I have filled the tubes should I put them in the refrigerator right after to cool faster, or let them cool on the counter?

 

[Susie]

You can put the tubes in the fridge to harden quickly. Do remember to save a bit in the cup to top off your tubes. The lip balm will shrink as it cools.

You really don't have to subtract amounts for flavor oils and Vit E. This is not lotion or soap making where you must have perfect amounts of X to balance Y. This is much freer on what you do. It is all up to you.

I like less beeswax also, especially for winter. During the summer, I find that I need about 25-30% beeswax for the lip balm to pass the pocket test.

 

[snappyllama]

Out of curiosity, which butter would you prefer from shea, mango or cocoa?

 

[BubblesnBears]

I prefer cocoa or mango in my lip balms...if you do use shea would be careful to keep your temps as low as possible when you're melting (or do the shea separately) as it has a tendency to go really grainy on setting if it's overheated.

 

[Soapsense]

I put all three today, I like it, but this is the only batch I have made, so I don't have much to compare it to except chapstick, lol.

 

[snappyllama]

I prefer cocoa or mango in my lip balms...if you do use shea would be careful to keep your temps as low as possible when you're melting (or do the shea separately) as it has a tendency to go really grainy on setting if it's overheated.

Thanks, I'm just about to make another batch... have some mango I'm not doing much with so I'll try that out instead of shea. I haven't had an issue with the texture before, but I think I might have gotten lucky so far.

 

[HerbalEarthling]

Just a tip, temper your shea butter. It prevents a grainy product.

I take as much shea butter that can fit into a crock pot, melt it down and let the temp get up to 170-180°F and hold the temp for 20-30 mins.

I then pour the melted shea into a silicone soap mold and stick it in the freezer til it hardens, maybe about an hour or two, just so it's not still liquid. Then I chop it up a bit and squish it into a bucket.

I usuaully just keep all of my shea tempered but if I have untempered I use that only for soap. Any balms, butters, or salve I use tempered always.

 

[Susie]

Here is a good link on tempering butters for balms.

http://intheinterestofannie.blogspot.com/2011/03/tempering-butter-101shea-mango-and.html

 

[IrishLass]

I'm lazy- instead of tempering, I add ButterEZ from LotionCrafters to all my lip balm formulas with butters. Works like a charm for me. :mrgreen:


IrishLass

 

[kdaniels8811]

Thanks for the tip about tempering, I recieved 25 pounds of grainy shea. For soap it does not matter but I have butters to make so will temper it first. Thanks a lot!

 

[Susie]

If you know what amount you will be using for batches, just go ahead and pour that amount into containers so that you have pre-weighed tempered shea ready to go into batches.

 

[HerbalEarthling]

Thanks for the tip about tempering, I recieved 25 pounds of grainy shea. For soap it does not matter but I have butters to make so will temper it first. Thanks a lot!

No problem!