This blueberry lip balm and lip scrub recipe is a perfect DIY Christmas gift idea.
Appreciated by everybody, it has a wonderful blueberry smell and flavor (sweetened by honey and sorbitol as well).
The pink color is for joy sparkling purpose only, as it doesn’t color the lips.

You can put the lip balm and the lip scrub in a classic jar (together or separated), but if you choose a tin box with a sliding top like these, you’ll get a lovely result.
I sealed the boxes with a small rectangular sticker. It’s not mandatory, but I think it looks great and cleaner/hygienic. 
As I mentioned in this handmade Christmas gifts guide article, it’s important to let your friends know about the ingredients used, avoiding allergy issues. For this purpose, I wrote them down on a small paper adding my Christmas wishes as well, I rolled it like a parchment and I attached it to the box with a rope.

The recipe is a revisited cold cream rich in regenerating, healing and nourishing oils and butters: Cupuaçu butter, castor oil, jojoba oil and rice bran oil. 

Why using a cold cream as a lip balm? Cold creams let you add a good quantity of hydrophilic ingredients, like honey and humectants (sorbitol, glycerin…). Honey is great for healing and hydrating but can be added to emulsions only and not to classical lip balm sticks or lip balms, as they only contain lipophilic ingredients. Well, to be honest there’s a way to add honey to lip balm sticks (I’ll talk about that in one of my future articles), but in a very small doses and by using certain ingredients and procedures. If you want your lips to fully benefit from honey properties, a cold cream is the best option.
On the other side, cold creams are quite tender and cannot be placed in a stick, that is a practical option when you are outside and cannot clean your hands before putting your fingers in the jar.

This blueberry lip balm and lip scrub recipe contains phytosterols complex as well (substitutions below) for a better healing and regenerating effect.

Beeswax creates the cold cream emulsion and adds a protective coat to your lips. It prevents the product to disappear too quickly (it happens when you add oils and butters only to your lips, without adding any wax) and retains hydration. I added a little bit of cera bellina wax because it adds a creamier effect avoid oils and butters lumps and crystallization.
I use to prefer the classical yellow beeswax, that is not refined and has a stronger aroma. However, in this case I selected the white one because I didn’t want it to interfere with the color and the aroma of the balm.
When you want to give a lot of emphasis on the color and the smell of an handmade cosmetic, better to avoid ingredients that have a strong or different color and scent.

Blueberry lip balm and lip scrub recipe ingredients

Check the bottom of the page for the ingredient’s substitutions.

For the lip balm

Heated phase:

• 17 g of honey
• 3 g of Sorbitol
• 17 g of white beeswax
• 3 g of cera bellina wax
• 20 g of castor oil
• 15.4 g of jojoba oil
• 15 g of rice bran oil
• 6,2 g of Cupuaçu Butter
• 0,5 g of tocopherol

Post heat phase:

• 2 g of phytosterols complex
• 0,7 g of blueberry food grade aroma
• 0,2 g of Rouge Grenadine natural colorant

For the lip scrub:

• Sugar q.s. (around 5-6 tablespoons)
• Rice oil q.s.
  
  

How to make a Blueberry lip balm and lip scrub

• Put the heated phase ingredients in a double water till they are completely melted.
  
  
• Remove from heat and mix with a mini blender for at least 3 minutes.
  
  
• Add the post heat phase ingredients and mix again till the mixture thickens. At this point, the mini mixer will start to restrain, as the mixture is too thick (unless you have a very powerful one).
  
  
• Continue mixing with a spoon till it cools down. This is very important to avoid lumps and obtain a creamier result.
  
  
• Take around 2 tablespoons of the lip balm mixture you obtained and add the sugar. Mix carefully with the spoon and add some rice bran oil till you get the consistency you prefer (make sure it doesn’t get too liquid – if it happens, add more sugar).
  
  
• Take 3-4 small tin boxes (it depends on the size). Pour the lip balm in a half and the lip scrub in the other. Compact the lip scrub with a spoon. To get a smoother lip balm surface, fill with the mixture till the top and then pass the blade of a knife to level it.
  
  
• Let it sit for 1 day before closing the boxes. It will help to keep the shape, avoiding to spoil it with the lid.

I hope you enjoyed my lip balm and lip scrub recipe! To use it, massage the scrub on your lips once or twice a week (or when you need it). Remove the sugar with a tissue and add the lip balm to nourish.

Notes and substitutions

• Oils and butters can be replaced with other similar ones. Make sure to choose those that are especially suitable for lips and with a neutral smell. Check my oils and butters chart for more info.
  
  
• Sorbitol can be replaced with glycerin. I choose it because it’s sweet and less sticky.
  
  
• Cera bellina wax can be replaced with beeswax. I like its properties as it helps to get a creamier and lumps free result, but you’ll obtain a nice lip balm with beeswax only as well.
  
  
• For a vegan option, you can replace beeswax with another one. However, make sure it's suitable for cold creams, as not all the waxes have emulsifying properties. As an example, rice wax is used in cold creams sometimes, but you could not get a stable result. Floral waxes, like rose wax, don't have emulsifing properties and are not good replacements for this purpose.
  
  

• I love phytosterols complex from Aroma Zone! If you don’t have it, replace it with avocado unsaponifiables  (persea gratissima unsaponifiables) or the same amount of avocado butter (or any other butter, better if rich in phytosterols).
  
  

• The aroma can be replaced with the one you prefer. Choose a gourmand one and make sure it’s food grade/lipsafe, following the suggested doses of its product sheet.
  
  
• I like Rouge Grenadine colorant because it’s liposoluble, has a great color and is vegetable (some other colorants have an animal origin). You can use any other cosmetic grade and lip safe colorant or a little bit of mica.
  
  
• Tocopherol helps to delay oils rancidity. If you miss it, replace it with the same amount of oil.