Lip balm question

[andib]

Good evening all,
I have made a lip balm with:
Cocoa butter
Sweet almond oil
Castor oil
Beeswax
Vitamin E
My issue is it is absorbed into lips within 15 mins, so my question is what do I add to make is stay on the lips longer?

Thanks in advance for your responses
Andi

 

[DeeAnna]

You might not have to add anything, but I can't say for sure. Please provide your recipe with percentages or weights of all ingredients. There's no way we can give specific advice without detailed info to work with.

 

[andib]

Hi DeeAnna
75g cocoa butter
75g sweet almond oil
15g castor oil
15g beeswax
3ml vitamin E

 

[amd]

Off the top of my head... too much cocoa butter. I would cut it in half and add the other half as coconut oil.

It still won't make a long lasting lip balm compared to something like vaseline or lip gloss.

 

[dixiedragon]

I would say more wax - maybe lanolin or jojoba, since IMO waxes tend to stay on the surface of the skin vs absorbing.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree on lowering the cocoa butter. I would add coconut and maybe some lanolin.

 

[andib]

Thanks for all the responses, I think I'm going to try reducing the cocoa and adding coconut, but I don't want to loose the rich cocoa smell/flavour.

 

[IrishLass]

If you reduce the cocoa butter and sub in coconut oil (without changing anything else), expect that your balm won't be as hard. Percentage wise, this is what you balm looks like:

41.76% cocoa butter
41.67% sweet almond Oil
8.33% beeswax
8.33% castor oil

With the high % of soft oil you have in there and the low % of beeswax, I think your 41.76% cocoa butter is actually your saving grace for keeping your balm from becoming too soft. Just something to keep in mind if you don't want a melty mess on your hands if you decide to sub in some coconut oil.

A great ingredient to add to balms to make them stay on the lips longer is lanolin. That's what I add to mine for that purpose, and it works great! I use it at 10%.

For what it's worth (if it helps you with formulating), my lanolin lip balm contains these percentages:

Butters (I use a blend of hard butters mixed along with some softer butters for balance): 41.75% total
Oils: 35.5% total (which includes my 10% lanolin)
Beeswax: 22%

It makes a nicely firm balm that goes on smooth and easy and stays on the lips without needing to re-apply for a good long while.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

I agree with Irish Lass. You need more firm fats and/or waxes to make a balm that has better staying power on the lips. A balm with a high % of liquid fats might glide on very nicely and feel great on the lips, but it won't remain on the skin as long and will melt easier in the pocket or on a hot day.

Cocoa butter is a good choice for lip balms because it has a higher melt temperature than many of the other butters. But it still melts just slightly above body temperature. You most likely need to raise the melt temperature of the balm to get the staying power you want.

Working with your recipe, I'd try increasing the amount of beeswax by maybe 5% and reduce the sweet almond oil (SAO) by that same %. Test and see if that works better. If it's still too soft, increase the beeswax by another 1-2% and reduce the SAO by the same amount. Test again. If too firm, reduce the beeswax and add more SAO.

Adding a bit of lanolin is another good tip from Irish Lass -- it is a good barrier for moisture loss and softens the skin nicely. It will also reduce the liquidy-ness of your balm without making the balm overly hard like beeswax can. A little lanolin goes a long ways though. I'd dial in your basic formulation first, and then do another trial with lanolin at Irish Lass's 10% and see what you think.

I use only liquid oils and beeswax in my lip balm, so my recipe needs proportionately more beeswax than Irish Lass does to compensate for not having any butters in the formula. Staying power in a lip balm is all about melt temperature. There are many perfectly fine ways to get the melt temperature to be correct for your needs. Here's my no-butter formula so you can compare it with with your and Irish Lass's recipes --
Sunflower 33.8%
Jojoba 33.8%
Beeswax 31.5%