Boooooo!! I missed two weeks of blogging, Snoozie Butter was busy busy the last two weeks making product for our first show which went swimmingly. It was a small show, but a good amount of sales and exposure! Woohoo! I suspect missing a week or two of blogging might happen the busier we get.
So onto this weeks blog ... Lip Balms.....
After the first dipping of my toe into the soap world was a bit of a bust, I made certain to order the correct fragrance oils so as not to run into that issue again. Unfortunately we don't really have good suppliers nearby, and I had to place an order that would take a couple weeks. So I needed to figure out what to make next. I had been watching loads an loads of YouTube videos by soapers and makers, and a number of them made lip balms as a part of their product line and I thought what the heck, I like lip balm - let's give it a try.
Recipe ...
So there are two types of people in this world, the ones who need to always have lip balm in their pockets, and the ones who don't. I am an avid lip balmer myself (need one in my pocket at all times), and the more smooth and silky the better! So I needed to find items that would give me that feel. I knew from my research the base would be beeswax (although candelilla wax seems to be popular, and I might alter in the future), but needed to find my more luxury item to make it soft. Boom, shea butter baby!
Shea butter is awesome: It is moisturizing, has vitamins, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial attributes. Mostly, it is just soooooooothing and siiiilky which is what I wanted. After my first cold process soap attempt I also discovered my love and appreciation for sweet almond oil. Sweet almond oil also has vitamins and antioxidants, but most importantly for me it is hydrating!! Very important in a lip balm right? I now use it in almost everything I make! Last but not least, for this first recipe anyway I added coconut oil. It has emollient properties that can be useful for soothing dry and chapped lips.
That was it for my first recipe: melt it all together, add a little fragrance (first two were lavender mint and honey vanilla - still in the line btw), pour into the tubes, let harden, slap on a label (and my favorite part) shrink wrap em up - BAM you got some lip balms. Woohoo!!
Additions and tips
After my first lip balm (made it's debut at our annual Memorial Day Seafood Boil woohoo) came out I discovered a few tweaks I wanted to make. Everything has trials an errors right? Well the first batch was great, however some of the balms had a grainy texture when exposed to heat which was my first tweak. After some research, I learned that melting the shea butter first then adding the other ingredients helped with this. As did holding the temperature of all ingredients at 175 degrees for 20 minutes, and then cooling in the fridge eliminated this issue as well.
After reading up a bit more about propelling my lip balms to a higher quality, I also wanted to add a couple more ingredients to my recipe. Vitamin E was one of them. Along with humectant (hydrating) properties, and emollient properties which helps create a barrier for the skin, it can also help make the lips smoother, more plump and softer. (Win Win Win!) The other ingredient I have added in Lanolin, which adds even more moisture for those chapped lips!
These two have elevated these balms into a product I am super proud of! Yay! That is the Snoozie Butter Lip Balm adventure everyone! Please grab one and give it a try. As always btw, please always read all ingredients before trying. Allergies are real, and we definitely don't want to flare any up.
Until next time all! Have a terrific week!
xo Margie