How to Make Your Own Homemade Natural Lipgloss

Love the shiny look that lip gloss gives your pucker but hate the added chemicals that make your mouth dependent on your tube? Learn how to make your own natural lip gloss at home for a kiss-worthy pouter. Homemade lip gloss has only ingredients approved by you -- no artificial preservatives, no flavorings that disagree with you, and no glitter or other unnecessary additions. Most homemade lip gloss recipes advocate the use of petroleum jelly or other petroleum-based products, but these recipes are for petroleum-free lip gloss recipes that are better for the environment and your body.

You'll need containers for your lip gloss containers. Recycled lip balm tubes and tubs work great for this purpose, but you can also use tiny glass jelly jars or mini plastic storage containers. Check out the travel items at your local store for small containers ideal for this purpose. Plastic flip-tip pill containers would be great for having an assortment of flavors on hand! You can even buy new, empty lip gloss tubs and tubes if you decide you love your creations and want to share with your friends. For best results, sterilize your containers by boiling them just before use.

Here's a general recipe for your homemade lip gloss recipe experiments:

40% oil that is liquid at room temperature (examples include sweet almond, apricot kernel, avocado, grapeseed, hemp seed, olive, and sunflower)

25% oil that is solid at room temperature (examples: coconut, lanolin, palm, mango butter, shea butter)

20% Beeswax

15% oil that is brittle at room temperature (examples: cocoa butter, palm kernel, essential oils - you might like orange, lemon, lime, lavendar, peppermint, etc.)

The basic principle is to combine the carrier oil (i.e. 40%) with your solids (solid oil and beeswax) and melt gently over low heat until everything is nice and liquidy. Add your flavored oils (brittle oils) and any preservatives or colorings*. Stir well, add to containers, and cool. (* Not required. Though Vitamin E capsules act as a natural preservative.) This is just a general guideline, and not all recipe need adher to this structure. Still, it's a good starting point if you are creating your own recipes.

Easy enough, but the recipe sounds a little confusing, right? If you think about it in terms of tablespoons, it makes a little more sense. Here's a sample recipe (untested by me!) based on those proportions:

Untested homemade lip gloss recipe [sample]
4 T. olive oil
2.5 T. coconut oil
2 T. grated Beeswax
1.5 T. cocoa butter

Can you see how you could easily adapt this to whatever oils you have on hand? That's why this is great... and why it's a good idea to have a lot of testers to help you evaluate your homemade natural lip gloss creations! Experiment with the less expensive ingredients that you have on hand, then try small bottles of the more expensive oils to see what you think. (Note: Sweet almond oil is great for your skin; Grapeseed oil makes great salad dressings, too.)

Now here are some tried and true homemade natural lip gloss recipes for you to explore:

Dry Lips Blaster (Great for cold sores!)

• 1 oz. Emu Oil
• 1 oz. Almond Oil
• 1 oz. Avocado Oil
• 1/2 oz. Shaved Beeswax or Beeswax Pellets
• 6 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
• 2 Drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
• 3 Drops Lime Essential Oil

You can find more information on this principle, as well as ingredients and supplies at Lelamange.com.

Cranberry - Orange Lip Gloss (great for holiday parties!)

• 1 T. sweet almond oil
• 10 fresh cranberries
• 1 t. honey
• 1 Vitamin E capsule (optional, acts as a preservative)
• 2 drops Sweet Orange essential oil (optional, omit for plain cranberry lipgloss)

Combine sweet almond oil, cranberries, and honey in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the mixture starts to bowl. Gently crush the berries as you stir. Strain through a fine sieve to remove fruit. Stir in Sweet Orange oil and Vitamin E (pierce capsule with a pin and squeeze liquid in. Discard capsule shell.) Add to containers and allow to cool.

Citrus Honey Lip Shine

• 4 t. sweet almond oil
• 2.5 t. mango butter
• 2 t. beeswax
• 1 Vitamin E capsule
• 1 t. honey
• 5 drops Sweet Orange, Lemon, or Lime essential oil

Combine sweet almond oil, mango butter, honey, and beeswax in a small saucepan and heat over low until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in Vitamin E capsule, as described above, and essential oil. Stir well, add to containers, and cool.

Rose Petal Soothing Balm

• 2 T. beeswax
• 1 T. coconut oil
• 1.5 t. crushed, powdered rose petals*
• 5 drops rose essential oil

Combine beeswax and coconut oil is a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir in crushed rose petals. (*Use a mortar and pestle to crush. Make sure to use pesticide-free roses!) Heat for one more minute, then remove from heat. Strain using a fine sieve. Add essential oil. Stir well, add to containers, and cool.