Happy DIY Friday everyone! I’m so happy to finally be sharing today’s DIY lip balm wedding favors with you! I’ve been experimenting with waxes, butters and bases for about two months now and I’ve finally found some amazing products that you will love. Not only are these lip balms amazing for your lips and of course darling – but they are super cheap to make! These will be fantastic as wedding or bridal shower favors but they will also make wonderful homemade gifts anytime of the year…

In this tutorial I will be showing you the super easy (…like so easy it’s ridiculous) way to make your own lip balms and an advanced way of making them from scratch – with a special recipe I created just for you!

SUPPLIES:

• empty lip balm tubes (these come in many shapes and sizes, available all over the internet!)
• BrambleBerry.com Lip Balm Base
• your choice of flavor oil
• pouring pot
• plastic chopstick
• pipette
• labels to fit your lip balm containers
• Mica to color your lip balm (optional)

All of these supplies can be purchased online from BrambleBerry.com.

BrambleBerry.com makes an amazing melt and pour lip balm base – believe me I’ve tried quite a few and this one is superior! All the best ingredients are already measured and melted down for you so that all you need to do is re-melt this special concoction and add your choice of flavor oil! On the lowest heat possible, slowly melt the lip balm base. Stirring your base with a chopstick works wonderful – but don’t use a wooden one – little splinters will break off in your base – I know, I did it. You will easily be able to make 20 lip balm tubes from one container of 4 oz lip balm base – but you will only be able to get 8 of the screw top tin containers.

Once your base is completely liquid remove from the heat and add your flavor oil – I chose Vanilla. Technically, the normal ratio for adding flavor oil is 1% – 3% by weight meaning if you’re making 10 oz of lip balm you would add 0.25 oz of flavoring oil. So if you are only making this 4 oz batch you would use about 0.10 of an ounce – meaning a little tiny bit. The flavor of your balm is completely up to you, I started by adding just a little bit of oil and then smelled my mixture – if I couldn’t smell the scent enough I added a few more drops. Simple. Also, women might enjoy a heavier scented balm – while men might prefer a lighter scent. Ps: the only reason there is turquoise Washi tape on the handle of my pouring pot is so that I know of all my pots – this one is for lip balm :)

If you want to color your lip balm – that step is in the advanced part of this tutorial. Now fill your empty lip balm containers with your melted base! For the tin containers, fill to the height that you are happy.

CRAFTERS TIP // For the tubes, if you are ocd like me and don’t want a hole in the top of your lip balm – only fill them right past the little twist pin inside the tube and let them cool. Then remelt your base, hit the top of each lip balm with a embossing gun to just melt the top of the wax from the first pour and then re-pour. This ensures that both layers will stick together.

So fun, so easy and so cute! I’m now completely obsessed with making these!

Now for the label. Clean the outside of your tube/container with rubbing alcohol – if there is any ‘oily’ residue on the outside from the pouring of your base or working with the waxes, the label won’t stick.

For the labels, if you are using the Martha Stewarts Home Office labels which I recommend, Avery (the company who makes the labels) has an amazing design center that allows you to easily create your own labels for free – try it {here}.

They read: ‘Our Love is the Balm! Handmade Lip Balm’. Aren’t they darling!

PS Round Labels in Black   ///   PS Round Labels in Gray

For the 1/2 ounce tin containers Paper Source’s round 1.25″ labels fit perfectly!

And now for the advanced version…

SUPPLIES:

• empty lip balm tubes
• Mango Butter
• Shea Butter
• Beeswax beads
• Organic Olive Oil
• digital scale
• your choice of flavor oil
• melting pot
• plastic chopstick
• pipette
• labels to fit your lip balm containers
• Mica to color your lip balm (optional)

All of these supplies can be purchased online from BrambleBerry.com.

A typical lip balm recipe would be:

• 1 part wax
• 2 parts vegetable butter
• 1 part liquid oil

To make it simple I split the vegetable butter between two types so that all the ingredients are of equal parts – making it easy to make a small amount or a big batch. You can mix and match any wax, butter and oil that you desire!!!

Using your digital scale, measure out each ingredient. I chose to make 2 ounces of lip balm so each part was measured in 0.5 ounces, starting with the Mango butter.

Next up, the Shea butter…

Then the olive oil and the beeswax…

Melt all your ingredients together on the lowest heat possible.

Next add your flavoring oil… I chose Cucumber Melon. There are so many flavors available online – get creative and mix a couple together! For specific amounts of flavor oil read the ‘easy’ version above.

Now for the coloring. Lip balm colorant is called Mica. When purchasing mica make sure that it is lip safe – some are for soaps, lotions or perfumes and shouldn’t be used on the lips. This color is Coral. Color is like scent – completely up to you. I added about an 1/8 of a teaspoon for 2 ounces of base to make a pale coral pink color. Make sure to mix throughly!

Then pour into your empty tubes!

CRAFTERS TIP // For the tubes, if you are ocd like me and don’t want a hole in the top of your lip balm – only fill them right past the little twist pin inside the tube and let them cool. Then remelt your base, hit the top of each lip balm with a embossing gun to just melt the top of the wax from the first pour and then re-pour. This ensures that both layers will stick together.

Make sure to clean the outside of your tube/container with rubbing alcohol – if there is any ‘oily’ residue on the outside from the pouring of your base the label won’t stick.

“Our Love is The Balm!”

As with all our DIY tutorials, if you create one of our projects please send us a picture – We Love Seeing Your Creativity! If you use Instagram or Twitter please use the hashtag #SomethingTurquoiseDIY and it will show up on our Get Social page. Happy Crafting!

DIY Tutorial Credits

Photography: Studio 11 Weddings // DIY tutorial + downloads by: Jen | Something Turquoise // white lip balm tubes and 1/2 ounce screw-top tin containers: Specialty Bottle // melt and pour base, mango butter, shea butter, beeswax, flavor oil in Vanilla and Cucumber Melon, Coral Mica, clear lip balm tubes, and pipettes: BrambleBerry.com // digital scale and pouring pot: Amazon // 1.25″ labels in Pool and Paper Bag: Paper-Source // Martha Stewart Home Office Printable Labels in Kraft, Gray, and Blue: Staples // nail polish: Essie – Turquoise and Caicos and OPI – Fly