This year we made lotions and lip balms to give to our family and friends. It was really fun and our kitchen smelled great for days. Below, I’ve included our lip balm recipe with some ideas for colors and flavors. Tomorrow, I’ll post the recipe for lotion we started with. I say started, because after one messy recipe, my gallon jug of beautiful lotion came in the mail (Premium from Nature’s Oil around $20) from the website Bulk Apothecary. Add this beautiful natural lotion to essential oil in a gorgeous bottle, and you are done with a special, personal gift. The handmade lotion is nice, but definitely greasier.
For lip balm:
In a saucepan over low heat, cook until melted:
1/8 cup beeswax
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup shea butter
1 Tbs. sweet almond oil
1 Tbs. honey
Essential oils of your choosing, my favorite:
lavender essential oil (your preference on how much)
1 Tbs. cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
(optional) bits of old sparkly lipstick or gloss
Then use a little spoon to pour into containers. I got 50 of these from Bulk Apothecary.
This makes a great sweet lip balm, yummy and super soothing. The chocolate gives a little tint even if you don’t put lip gloss in. It smells like lavender and coconut. And the beeswax gives it sun protection. You could make little labels to put on top of each.
Other nice flavors — peppermint, but use this essential oil sparingly. This is good for morning sickness — believe me, I carried it with me every minute with my second pregnancy 🙂
More honey and some rose.
Orange bergamot — lively, refreshing, like a cup of winter tea.
A little of the lore —
- Lavender was believed to be a favorite of the fairies.
- It was used as a talisman of love and protection.
- It was used in spells to sharpen the mind and increase love.
- It was believed to counter the “evil eye.”
- TREATMENTS/USES: (1) It was used to increase fertility. (2) I was used as a calming herb. (It is still used as a calming scent.)
Chocolate is bittersweet like life, and is associated with love, and the earth.
“According to an Mexica/Aztec folklore from the mid 13th century, cacao was a gift to humans for a faithful princess who sacrificed herself. As the story goes, a Mexican princess was guarding her husband’s treasure while he was away in battle. While he was away, his enemies came and forced her to reveal where the royal treasures were hidden. However, the faithful princess stayed silent and was killed by her husband’s enemies. From the blood shed by the faithful wife and princess, the cacao plant was born. The fruits of the cacao are the real treasures, which are bitter like the suffering of love, but with seeds as strong as virture. The lightly pink seeds represent the blood of the faithful wife.” For the full history of cocoa and source for this story, check out the chocolate space.
