A Lesson in Lip Balm

I make a lot of lip balm.  It’s easy and the lip balms actually work.  How easy, you ask?

Really easy.

Making Lip Balm

First, get your ingredients ready.  You’ll need oil, some wax, and some butter if you feel like it.

Next, melt all of the ingredients together.  I do this in a pot on the stove on the lowest heat setting possible.  If I had a double boiler, I would use that instead.  It’s important not to overheat the ingredients or burn the oil.

Melting the ingredients

Once everything is melted, take the liquid off the heat and add your essential oils.

Melted Ingredients

Finally, pour your lip balms.  I use this fancy lip balm tray to hold all of the tubes steady.  As it turns out, I actually need help holding my hand steady as there is always some spillage.

Lip Balm Tube Filling Tray

Finally, let the balms set and cool.  It’s a bit like watching the kettle boil, so it’s best to find something else to do in the meantime.  When possible, I like to let mine set overnight.  Once they are ready, you can taken them out of the tray and pop the lids on each tube.

The Result?

Do these simple steps and you’ll have a homemade lip balm.  I like to call mine Lip Lube.

Here’s a shot of two tubes I just made up for a friend who was brave enough to try out my formula.

Lip Lube

The Recipe

It took me a long time and many trials to come up with the recipe that I use.  I like it because it’s soft enough to be used in the cold winter months, but doesn’t melt in your purse or pocket in the hot summer months.  I just might end up selling these tubes of Lip Lube one day. So, for now, I’m opting to keep the recipe to myself.

If you’re looking for ideas, check out one of my favorite sites here.  It’s the Crunchy Betty site.  It’s full of ideas, recipes and tips.  It’s a great starting point!  Or, if you’re more adventurous, try a few combinations out on your own.  It might take a few tries, but I’m sure you’ll end up with a formula that works.  Either way, have fun!

Gift Box of Goodies

A few weeks ago, we spent a long weekend visiting some friends.  We don’t get to see them very often, so it was a very special weekend.

I wanted to give them some treats as a gift.  I decided to make a bunch of different skin care products and then let them divide them up among themselves.

Their gift box included:

• 1 jar of peppermint foot cream
• 2 bottles of lotion
• 3 jars of hand balm
• 6 tubes of lip lube
• And a whole bunch of soap!

I had so much fun putting everything together.  Here are some photos of the final product.

Gift Box!

Gift Box of Goodies

Skin Care Treats!

Lip Lube and Hand Balm

Hans Solo Soap

Fish Soap

As you can see, I made some specialty soaps for this gift box.  The blue and purple fish and starfish soaps were specially made for our friends’ daughter.  Her favorite colours are blue and purple, so I thought these would be perfect.   And one of our friends is a Star Wars fan.  I thought he might appreciate the Hans Solo soap!

Lip Lube, Please!

“I Love Your Lip Lube!”

I ran into a friend of the family some time ago.  Through the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had a chance to try out the lip balm that I make.  She had received a tube of it from a mutual friend when I made a bunch of gift bags of lip care. More importantly, she said that she LOVED my lip balm and needed more!  Yippee!

(Of course, I just smiled graciously and did the happy dance in my head, instead of doing it right there in front of her!)

“Can I Have Some More?”

She kindly asked me for some more.  Since we were standing in a group, all of the other girls were immediately interested and insisted that they not be left out and they get to try it out too. Yippee again!

“Of Course, Here’s Six More Tubes of Lip Lube!”

I came home and set to work.

I made 6 tubes of my Lip Lube for them.  They are set, labelled, and shrink wrapped.  Now, I’m putting it in the mail for these gals so that they can have great lips all summer long!

“Thank You!”

As you can probably tell, I was so pleased when this happened.  It was a genuine compliment and request that was totally out of the blue.

Now, I want to be clear…I didn’t write this post to brag or show off.  Rather, I just want to be open about my excitement and share it with you all.  I’ve been lucky enough to receive requests for my skincare products before.  However, I rarely celebrate them with something as concrete as a blog post!  Being grateful and savoring the moment are two of the skills that I’ve worked on as a Happify Pioneer.  And if you’re wondering what a Happify Pioneer is, click here and check out my post on it!

Thank you!