Lip balm is perfect for keeping your lips smooth and moisturized, but if you’re going out for a night on the town you might want to attract more attention by adding a nice lip gloss to your makeup regimen. Whether you want a shimmering lip gloss to make you feel like a star or a natural lip gloss to pull off that “I woke up like this” look, formulating your own lip gloss would be your best bet.
Making your own lip gloss is cheaper than purchasing one. A high-quality lip gloss can run you more than $20 dollars and most of the time the ingredients in those lip glosses can irritate your skin and hurt animals in the process.
What’s in Your Favorite Lip Gloss?
When you purchase a lip gloss you probably want one that’s thick and spreads effortlessly on your lips. In order for that lip gloss to give you what you want, it will require ingredients like hydroxylated lanolin and polybutene.
Hydroxylated lanolin is a fatty substance that is derived from sheep wool. Although this ingredient has been deemed safe to use, it hasn’t been proven safe for the sheep. And, knowing that you’re applying fatty sheep’s wool on your lips isn’t really appealing either.
Polybutene is a polymer or plastic that contains BPA and other estrogenic compounds that are known to irritate the skin, lungs and eyes. This basically provides us with more than enough reasons to create our own natural alternative.
Making a lip gloss yourself that is free of fragrances, artificial colors and dyes will benefit your skin while saving you a little extra cash in your pocket.
DIY Moisturizing Lip Gloss
Making a lip gloss is fairly simple, all you need is the right oils, some essential oils, a bit of beeswax and you’re ready to go. These are the items that you will use.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoon of beeswax pastilles
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon of jojoba oil
- 1 tablespoon of castor oil
- 10 drops of your favorite essential oil
Instructions:
- Add all of the oils in a jar and place it in a pot of boiling water. You can also use a double boiler as well.
- Boil over medium heat until all the oils are melted together and stir occasionally.
- Once melted, remove from heat and add in your essential oils.
- While it is melted, pour your mixture into your lip gloss container and allow your lip gloss to cool before securing the lid.
Good essential oils to use for this recipe include lemon, grapefruit, peppermint or orange. Making your lip gloss is as easy as 1-2-3. This recipe is enough to make 18 containers of lip gloss, so feel free to give them to your family and friends as a gift this holiday season.
Recipe inspired by Homemade for Elle.
