lip gloss Archives - girl. Inspired.

I came across a multitude of DIY lip gloss recipes on Pinterest and dedicated an afternoon to make some of my own. I was intrigued by the idea that I could make lip gloss with just petroleum jelly and a single additive, things I had on hand. But, after experimenting for a bit, I found myself curious about other additives and ingredients, and ultimately, I ran out to purchase just a couple ingredients to make some awesome all-natural lip balm. Today, I’m sharing some of the lip gloss variations that I tried!

In the suppy list above, you’ll see a variety of supplies and ingredients you can use to make a VARIETY of recipes. So, let’s talk about some of the recipes.

Using Petroleum Jelly (or Vaseline) as lip gloss base: I loved how quick and easy it was to use Vaseline right out of my cabinet. And the finished lip gloss is shiny and looks beautiful in the little pots. I actually do not love how Vaseline feels on my lips, though, so this was a drawback. The texture doesn’t change when making lip gloss – you basically end up with Vaseline that looks pretty in the containers. Instructions: Heat a dollop of Vaseline in a heatproof bowl (I used a tea cup) in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir after each 30-second interval until the Vaseline is completely liquified. Stir in additives (see below), pour into lip balm pots and allow to cool.

Additives:

Kool-Aid method – stir in packaged Kool-Aid powder – I had NO success with this method. The Kool-Aid would not dissolve no matter how I tried it and I didn’t think it smelled very good either.
Powdered Makeup method – stir in a little powdered makeup, I made a lot of these! They looked beautiful and the color blended easily. I used a couple shades of blush and bronzer of my bare Minerals makeup. It didn’t take very much.
Glitter – cosmetic grade – yes!! very pretty in those pots, so fine that you can’t feel it on your lips.
Coconut Oil – I found that you can add a very small amount of coconut oil (let’s say no more than 1/4 tsp. per 2 Tbs. Vaseline) to the petroleum jelly base without changing the consistency too much. More than a few drops though, and the coconut oil separates from the petroleum jelly and changes the texture to more of a liquid. Adds a nice scent!
Cocoa powder – this adds color, scent, and not really enough flavor to notice. I added a little coconut oil to this batch, too, and it came out pretty fun!
Peppermint extract – similar to the coconut oil, you can add just a touch of extract to scent your lip gloss – one of my favorites is a peppermint extract, coconut oil, petroleum jelly, glitter combo!

In the above picture, you can see a good variety of the finished lip gloss/lip balms. I wanted to point out the two glosses at the bottom right of the picture. These glosses were the result of mixing powdered makeup and glitter with room temperature petroleum jelly – I “piped” the gloss into the jars with a plastic bag. You can definitely see the difference in the finished presentation between these and the glosses that were melted, mixed, and poured (“pink lemonade,” “peppermint sparkle,” “shimmer and shine,” “foxy kisses”).

Next, let’s talk about making lip balm without using petroleum jelly as a base.

Beeswax lip balm!! There are endless recipes for all-natural lip balms and lip glosses out there. So, I just barely grazed the surface here. I had to purchase two ingredients to make this beeswax lip balm: beeswax and sweet almond oil. Both ingredients were really inexpensive and just a little goes a long way. Many of the other natural recipes out there call for ingredients that are harder to find and/or are pretty expensive (e.g., shea butter, cocoa butter). What I love about the beeswax lip balm: it feels amazing on my lips! it stays soft and nourishing for hours, even with eating and drinking. it cools quickly and nice and thick – great for little pots and it also worked great in chapstick tubes (not shown). it’s actually good for your skin!! This balm doesn’t produce a nice gloss like the petroleum-based glosses, as you can see in the pictures. The color is substantially muted.

Recipe

I started with this recipe from Brambleberry. And modified as follows:

1 part olive oil

2 parts beeswax

2 parts coconut oil

2 parts sweet almond oil

In a double boiler (I use a ceramic bowl over a simmering pot of water), stir beeswax and coconut oil until completely melted (for each batch, I used 1 part = 1 teaspoon). Remove from heat. Immediately whisk in olive oil and then sweet almond oil. Whisk in additives and quickly pour into pots or tubes – mixture cools quickly, but can be reheated over the simmering water if needed.

I made just a couple batches of the beeswax balm – some of the additives I used included: peppermint extract, powdered makeup for color, honey (just a drop), and beet juice. The extract smelled great, the powdered makeup worked fine, the honey smelled bad and I couldn’t actually taste it. The beet juice was an attempt for a completely all-natural balm – I pressed chunks of beet and added the juice into the olive oil before mixing with the balm mixture. You can see the slight color variation this produced in the “can’t be beet lip balm.”

Okay!! So are you ready to make a couple batches of your own? I have a set of lip gloss/lip balm labels that you can print out on sticker paper if you don’t want to make your own labels- I used some nice, cheesy names that ought to cover just about anything you decide to make! hee hee!