Guest post by Heather Sanchez
My old college buddy, Heather, emailed me last month to ask about my iron oxide supplier for my tinted lip balms. She and I have traded skin care recipes over the years so I jumped on the opportunity to have her follow my recipe instructions, use my ingredients, and then write up a post based on her experience. Here’s my tinted lip balm recipe, written from Heather’s point of view:
I have been making my own lip balm for a while and love it. Lately however, I have been on a quest to try and make a tinted lip balm. Although, I’m not a daily lipstick wearer, I do like to have a bit of color while still protecting my lips. My problem was, that many of the tinted lip balms, looked pretty in the container, but once I put them on my lips, there really wasn’t any noticeable color. I asked my friend Renee, owner of MadeOn skin care products for help. She makes three different tinted lip balms, using iron oxide for the color. Iron Oxide is a natural ingredient, which she explains in more detail here. Renee was kind enough to share her recipe as well as some ingredients so I could experiment. These ingredients can be found online and sometimes at natural food stores. However if you don’t want to do the footwork, Renee also has a DIY kit, where you can make the natural lip balm and add the tint to it. It doesn’t have the iron-oxide, (easy to find on-line) but has a generous supply of everything else you need.
You will need:
2 oz Beeswax
2 oz Cocoa Butter or Shea Butter
2.2 oz Coconut Oil
iron-oxide
lip balm containers
dropper
In a double boiler measure out the beeswax, cocoa butter or shea butter and coconut oil. Warm until completely melted.
Add iron oxide.
Remove from the heat and add a ½ tsp of iron-oxide per 3 oz of liquid. Mix well until the color is evenly dispersed. I wanted to experiment with 2 tinted lip balms and one plain, so I separated mine into 3 separate batches. In the first I used iron oxide red #180, in the second I used iron oxide red #160 and the third I left un-tinted.
Fill Lip Balm Tubes
The plain white lip balm tubes are the ones I made. The labeled ones are from MadeOn.
Using your dropper, add the liquid to clean containers. I was a little slow as I was doing this and the liquid started to solidify on me. If this happens, just put it back in the double boiler or pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds. Once you have filled the containers, allow it some time to solidify. As it hardens, it will slightly sink in the middle. Add a final last drop or two to the top, to have that nice rounded look. Put the caps on and you are good to go.
I REALLY liked these lip balms. The color was strong enough to actually tint my lips, but not as bold as lipstick. The fun part is, it’s an easy recipe to experiment with. You could definitely add a little more or less iron-oxide to lighten or darken the balm as desired.
Heather Sanchez, Colorado