Coffee Lip Balm

With my new coffee oil that I made in my previous post, I wanted to make coffee flavored lip balm.  Majestic Mountain Sage has a great base recipe for lip balm formulation that I really like. I used this as the basis for formulating my coffee lip balm recipe which follows...

 
Coffee Lip Balm

20% Beeswax

25% Coffee Butter

15% Cocoa Butter

28% Coffee Infused Olive Oil

12% Castor Oil



Each tube of lip balm is .15 oz, and I wanted to make four so I could give the extras away as testers, so I needed a total of .60oz or 17grams.  This comes to...

3.4g Beeswax
4.25g Coffee Butter
2.55g Cocoa Butter
5.2g Coffee Infused Olive Oil
1.6 g Castor Oil

Simply melt all of the ingredients in a double boiler, than mix and pour into lip balm tubes.  I usually use a glass pyrex measuring cup for this because it has a pouring spout which makes things easier.

I have been testing this lip balm all week, and I have to say that this is my favorite so far of the recipes I've tried! I'm definitely going to be adding this to my Candeo Candle lip care line.

Ingredients
Now you may be asking yourself why I would choose these ingredients in my lip balm?  Well, lets take a closer look shall we.

Beeswax
We need beeswax in a lip balm recipe because when it's added in the right amounts, it causes the mixture of oils and butters to set up to the proper consistency.  It's my favorite base for lip balms because of it's high melting point, and firm yet pliable texture.  I hear that you can also use candelilla wax to formulate vegan lip balms, but I haven't tried that yet.

Coffee Butter
The coffee butter that I'm using is actually an infusion of coffee beans in hydrogenated vegetable oil.  Vegetable oil is usually soybean oil or a blend of soybean oil with other oils such as corn or cottonseed oil so I will just talk about the properties of soybean oil.  Soybean oil is easily absorbed into the skin, and leaves a dry feeling behind when applied at full strength.  It is a natural source of lecithin which can help to repair our skins barrier mechanisms, and vitamin E which is a powerful antioxidant.  I mainly chose this butter because I want the smell of coffee in my balm, but it does add some positive qualities to my lip balm.

Cocoa Butter
Natural cocoa butter has a wonderful chocolate aroma which will be the perfect backdrop for our coffee scent.  It has natural anti-inflammatory and healing properties, and it one of only 3 ingredients approved by the FDA as an occlusive barrier ingredient.  This means that it forms a protective layer on the skin, keeping moisture in and harsh elements such as wind and cold, out.  It also has a good amount of vitamin E which is great for skin softening and its antioxidant abilities.

Olive Oil
I love olive oil in lip balm! It is one of the heavier oils, but it absorbs well, and leaves your lips feeling soft and moisturized.  Olive oil is high in oleic acid which has anti inflammatory and healing properties, and it is also high in a substance called squalene which is a sebum like substance that is very similar to our skins own sebum.  It is also a natural humectant which means it holds moisture next to your skin, not allowing it to escape.

Castor Oil
Castor oil is the last ingredient, and a very valuable one at that.  Castor oil is added to many lip care products including lipsticks, because of its ability to make a lip balm more like a lip gloss.  It gives lip gloss a nice shiny finish that is just so irresistible.