How to Make All-Natural Lip Balm in Just 15 Minutes

It’s so easy to make all-natural homemade lip balm! This simple recipe even offers three flavor options, each made with essential oils.

When I learned how to make all-natural lip balm, I never imagined it’d become such a hit with my family and friends.

In fact, when I first gave this homemade lip balm to family and friends at Christmas, I thought they’d be politely meh about it. It’s just lip balm, right?

I was wrong.

I have family members who hoard that lip balm in secret drawers in hopes they can keep it hidden from everyone else in their house, trying to make it last an entire year until the next batch rolls out.

While you might think I have some lip balm superpowers, I don’t. But I do have a faithful recipe. And with it, you’ll be able to make homemade lip balm that has your family and friends raving, too.

Why Make Homemade Lip Balm?

Have you ever flipped over a package of conventional lip balm and read the ingredients?

Try it sometime. Grab a package off the shelf, flip it over, and let your eyes scan the tiny words listed after Ingredients for things like parabens (which are endocrine disruptors), fragrances (which are allergens), and petroleum products like petrolatum (which are potentially toxic and contaminated).

In your lip balm. You know, the stuff that you put on your mouth a few times every day and inadvertently ingest when you lick your lips, take a drink, or eat a snack.

Lovely.

More and more natural lip balms are coming to the market, which is fantastic. You can find them from big brands and work-at-home moms, in your local big box store or on little Etsy shops.

And if you scan a package of natural lip balm, you’ll see a handful of ingredients that are safe, soothing, and even easy to pronounce.

But the cost? You’ll probably pay two to three times more for the natural version than you will for the yucky conventional one. That’s not so great.

There’s good news, though. The simple ingredients in natural lip balm don’t just mean it’s a better alternative to conventional brands. They also mean that you can easily make natural homemade lip balm yourself, no matter how much DIY experience you have.

Are You Sure It’s That Easy?

I realize that when you’re getting started with natural health, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. You can quickly slip into agonizing over every little detail and ingredient in the things you eat and put on your skin.

Trying your hand at a DIY project might feel like one step too far.

But trust me, homemade lip balm is so incredibly simple to make that even a young teenager can do it.

Plus, it really does come together quickly. When I realize we’re running out of homemade lip balm, I only need to set aside 15 minutes to make a new batch that will last our family an entire year.

You just measure, melt, mix, and pour. And you’re done.

Simple Ingredients Are All It Takes

Disclosure: Affiliate links are included. If you purchase ingredients through an affiliate link, your cost is the same while I can earn a commission. Thanks!

To make a natural lip balm, you need three main ingredients: oil, wax, and a butter, like shea or cocoa. You can make a lip balm with just oil and wax in a pinch, but you’ll get a better texture with a moisturizing butter.

For this recipe, you’ll use coconut oil since readily absorbs into the skin without being too heavy. You can also use sweet almond, apricot kernel, or even jojoba oil if you have a coconut allergy or don’t have any coconut oil around. I don’t recommend olive oil, though, because it has a very strong flavor.

I personally use shea butter in most of my lip balm recipes, but cocoa butter works just as well. Shea butter has a softer consistency and the flavor isn’t noticeable in the final product. However, cocoa butter is a must in the Mint Chocolate flavor option!

You’ll use essential oils to flavor the lip balm, but it’s important to choose and add oils carefully. Since you put the final product on your mouth, I like to use organic essential oils. You also need to avoid phototoxic essential oils, but I’ll explain that more in a bit.

And of course, essential oils should be added at a gentle dilution since lip skin is very sensitive and you tend to reapply lip balm throughout the day. These formulas are at 1% or lower, giving the lip balm flavor without the risk of irritation.

A Simple DIY Lip Balm Recipe That’s Perfect for Beginners

Now that you’re ready to make your lip balm, here’s what you’ll need and how you’ll do it. I have a handy checklist for you with links to my favorite herbal and natural ingredients company, Mountain Rose Herbs.

Be sure to scroll all the way down for a printable recipe card, too!

You can also find many of these ingredients on Amazon, but it’s hard to know if you’ll get quality ingredients there. When I shop at Mountain Rose Herbs, I know I’m getting top-quality products that are handled with care and won’t go rancid on me.

That said, I do love these DIY lip balm kits on Amazon. They come with a handy tray that holds your empty tubes upright for easier pouring, plus a little scraper to catch any drips. You can also get the tray by itself here. I made lip balm for years before I got one of the trays, so it’s not a necessity. But it’s much nicer to have the tray and avoid frustrating spills!

After you make a basic lip balm with these ingredients, you might like to up your game a little and use a homemade herbal oil in place of plain coconut oil. When you do, your lips will doubly benefit from all-natural ingredients and soothing herbal extracts!

Lip Balm Flavor Options & Added Ingredients

You can make unflavored lip balm with just the basic ingredients above, but it’s really fun to add some natural flavoring with essential oils. Here are three options to get you started.

Mint Chocolate Lip Balm Flavor:

• 15 drops peppermint (Mentha x piperita) or spearmint (Mentha spicata) essential oil
• pinch of cocoa powder, optional (cocoa powder will darken the final product, so go easy or you’ll look like you were sneaking brownie batter)

Make sure you use unrefined cocoa butter and not shea butter for this one. The butter choice makes a big difference in the final flavor!

Citrus Lavender Lip Balm Flavor:

• 10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil
• 10 drops sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) essential oil

While most citrus essential oils are phototoxic and can cause severe burns when your skin is exposed to sunlight, sweet orange doesn’t. That means you can safely apply it to your lips without worrying about burns and blisters.

Sweet Cinnamon Lip Balm Flavor:

• 15 drops cinnamon leaf (Cinnamomum verum fol.) essential oil
• 1 teaspoon honey*

*This recipe requires some extra stirring to keep the honey blended into the lip balm. See Step 3 below.

4 Quick Steps Are All It Takes

1. Get your 12 empty lip balm tubes ready by setting them up on your counter with the caps off (or place them in a lip balm tube tray if you’re using one). Time: around 2 minutes
2. Using a double boiler or a glass measuring cup in a pot of simmering water, combine the base ingredients. (If you’re using a glass measuring cup in a pan of simmering water, be sure to set a dishcloth or canning ring in the bottom of the pan so the glass cup isn’t in direct contact with the heat, like this.) Allow them to melt, stirring gently. Time: around 5 minutes
3. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly, and add your essential oils and other add-ins. If the lip balm hardens or clumps, return to very gentle heat and stir until melted again. For the Sweet Cinnamon flavor, continue stirring honey into the lip balm until it almost starts to thicken. Time: around 5 minutes
4. Very carefully pour your lip balm into the tubes. (If you’re not using a tray, be careful that you don’t spill the melted lip balm on your skin. It’s quite hot at this stage. Also, if you’re making the Sweet Cinnamon flavor, some honey may be left in the bottom of your measuring cup or pan as you pour. That’s okay, just use the leftover honey in a quick hand scrub.) Let the lip balm rest and harden for 1-2 hours before moving or capping. Time: around 3 minutes

You can also pour the lip balm into small plastic cosmetic containers or little tins if you don’t want to mess with the tubes. Either option works fine.

There are many more flavor combinations you can try with different essential oils, so use these as a springboard once you start feeling confident and adventurous.

Printable Recipe Card: All-Natural Homemade Lip Balm with Essential Oils

You’ll never be able to DIY everything on your natural health journey, but all-natural homemade lip balm flavored with essential oils is a project too easy, fast, and enjoyable to skip.

If you can measure, melt, stir, and pour, you’re about to become a lip balm pro.

Natural Homemade Lip Balm with Essential Oils

Yield: 12

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

In just 15 minutes, you can have a dozen homemade, soothing, natural lip balms flavored with essential oils.

Print

Materials

• 2 tablespoons beeswax pellets
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons shea butter
• Essential oils

Tools

• 12 empty lip balm tubes
• Lip balm tube tray (optional)
• Small glass measuring cup
• Small saucepan

Instructions

1. Set up your empty lip balm tubes on a flat surface with the caps off so they're ready to fill. To make this even easier, use a lip balm tube tray.
2. Add the beeswax pellets, coconut oil, and shea butter in your small glass measuring cup. Place the cup in a small saucepan of simmering water with a dishcloth or canning ring under the measuring cup for heat protection.
3. Allow the ingredients to melt, stirring occasionally. Be careful to not get any water in the mixture.
4. Once the mixture is melted, remove it from the pan and place it on a dry towel or dishcloth to cool for 30-60 seconds. Add your essential oils and other flavoring ingredients as noted below and stir to combine.
5. Quickly pour the mixture into the lip balm tubes. If the mixture hardens too much to pour, return it to the saucepan of warm water and let it gently melt again. Let the lip balm harden for 1-2 hours before capping and storing.

Notes

For Mint Chocolate Lip Balm:

• Substitute cocoa butter for shea butter
• Add 15 drops peppermint (Mentha x piperita) or spearmint (Mentha spicata) essential oil for flavor
• Add 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder (optional)

For Citrus Lavender Lip Balm:

• Add 10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil
• Add 10 drops sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) essential oil

For Sweet Cinnamon Lip Balm:

• Add 15 drops cinnamon leaf (Cinnamomum verum fol.) essential oil
• Add 1/2 tablespoon honey and stir often to fully combine

You can also pour your lip balm into small tins.

What is your favorite lip balm flavor?