BCN lip balm lovers, rejoice!

So, I've been using the lip balm base from BCN, which I LOVE!!! But, despite its inexpensiveness, I'm always trying to save a buck and have tried to make lip balm from scratch. I've tried a couple of recipes and I finally found one I like as much -if not MORE- than BCN'S!!! It goes on smooth, and seems to be helping my chapped lips more because I think it stays on longer than BCN's (maybe that's because I eat it off within five minutes.) Anyway, here it is, and if anyone tries it, let me know how you like it!!!

4 oz. beeswax

4 oz. coconut oil

1 oz. shea butter

3 oz. cocoa butter

4 oz. sweet almond oil (or 8 oz. if you don't use fractionated coconut oil)

4 oz. coconut oil (fractionated)

Melt everything in the microwave (or however you wish) and add your flavor oil and you're done!! This makes roughly 80 lip balm tubes worth of lip balm, so I made 1/4 of this to make 20 lip balms. I used MMS's buttercream at 6 mL, and it tastes wonderful! I hope all of you BCN addicts try this!!!

Michelle

I gotta quit reading these boards, because I keep finding things I want to try! I haven't tried BC's lip balm yet, but I am thinking I might just try your recipe, because hopefully those will all be things I can keep on hand in the near future.

Stephanie

Wow, that sounds great - Thanx! I think I'm going to try it......

Awesome!!!

Lemme know how you like it!! I think it's pretty darn close to Bittercreeks..maybe a little softer, so I may up the beeswax a little and see how that turns out. But good luck- and I hope you love it! It'll save ya money- always a good thing!!!

Michelle

Thinging about giving this a go tonight...

Was it too soft for the tubes?

All I have is pots right now but needing to get me

a couple of tubes to try out soon!

Thanks;)

Ash

Oh no...not at all. It's very firm, just a LITTLE softer than BCN's base- hardly noticeable. It goes on real smooth- it might be good in pots as well because I'm using this base also for my lotion sticks. It's a great recipe. Give it a try..you can cut the recipe down pretty significantly if you have a good digital scale.

Fabuloso! How exciting! I can't wait to try it!

have you gotten any grainines yet from the shea butter? Can you let us knowi if you do? I know a lot of people have been posting there frustration with the grainy balms

Thanks

Elle

I havent had any problem with graininess at all, but if you do, you can just use more cocoa butter instead. I actually tried this recipe without the shea and I like it better, it's a little harder now- BUT, the recipe with the shea was not grainy at all. I just didn't like that it was semi-soft. I think it didn't get grainy because the shea is such a small amount- I don't think it affected the recipe too much. HTH!

Okay, I am officially curious....what is BCN? lol Is this a dumb question? Am I out of the loop? :smiley2:

You need a secret password to find out all about BCN...ok, bad joke. It stands for bittercreek north (a candle and soap supplier) www.candlesupply.com Anyway, they have this GREAT lip balm base that I've been using for years, and I know a lot of people on this board use it- so I've spent the past few weeks trying to replicate it So there ya go, you're officially in the loop now!

have you gotten any grainines yet from the shea butter? Can you let us knowi if you do? I know a lot of people have been posting there frustration with the grainy balms

Thanks

Elle

That was my concern too. I've read it can be a week or 2 before the grains can appear. Please keep us posted in the next week on how it's holding up. I use the BCN base also, and would love to start making my own. I've been playing with making my own the past few weeks, but just can't come up with anything I like. It can be very frustrating to say the least to find a good recipe.

Oooooh, okay, lol! I know that place, just never called it that, hehehe. I actually got some of my soy wax from there. Geez, these abbreviations are killing me! hehe

It's been about 3 weeks since I made my first batch (with shea butter in it) and after this post I went and used some..and it really isn't grainy at all. It's really smooth. I even made my husband try it- and he fell in love with it But really, if you're worried about graininess, try it with just the cocoa butter- I like it even more

And Smiley- if you go to the fragrance discussion there's a stick right at the top that shows all sorts of abbreviations for commonly used companies...I hated that thing, because I found SOOO many new places to spend my money!!!

lol....sounds about right! I have found a lot of places to say goodbye to my dough!

BCN stands for Bittercreek North

:smiley2: I've got all those ingredients...... but not a pot or tube to put it in. :embarasse

I've been wanting to try a lip balm. Thanks for posting your recipe!

4 oz. beeswax

4 oz. coconut oil

1 oz. shea butter

3 oz. cocoa butter

4 oz. sweet almond oil (or 8 oz. if you don't use fractionated coconut oil)

4 oz. coconut oil (fractionated)

Melt everything in the microwave (or however you wish) and add your flavor oil and you're done!! This makes roughly 80 lip balm tubes worth of lip balm, so I made 1/4 of this to make 20 lip balms. I used MMS's buttercream at 6 mL, and it tastes wonderful! I hope all of you BCN addicts try this!!!

Michelle

Is the MMS buttercream also in the recipe along with all the above? Just needed some clarification to see how it works. So just melt all the ingredients, do you know what temperature more or less? Then pour into a lip balm tube, how do you pour it in the little tube without spilling? How long you have to wait for it to harden? New at all this. Thanks.

Hi Cryptic- no the FO is not in the recipe. You can certainly make it un-flavored if you want (which is what I did when I was testing new recipes-so as not to waste any!) What I used to use when I filled the lip balm tubes was just a plastic cup that I creased, and that worked pretty well. But now I use pipettes (droppers) for each individual FO and just transfer the lip balm that way. Since they only hold like, .15 oz. it's a lot easier to do it with the pipettes....well, less messy at least! And this stuff sets up QUICK. I just melt it all in the microwave- I'm sorry, I have no idea what temp it gets to..but I watch it and when the last little bit is melted, I add my FO, mix and transfer it all to the lip balm tubes. It's pretty simple. It's as easy as melting a base, and it's saved me $$$ which is always great! Let me know if you have any other questions!!

Thanks for the recipe but gosh, now there is another item on my to-do list! I just came here as a beginner in M&P soap and now there are so many different things I want to try

Michelle, I have very dry lips, do you think would the base be moisted enough? (I will probably try it regardless!)

Also, a question for the FO, can I just add any kind of FO that I normally use for my soap? Thanks for your help!!

I just figured the FO must stand for Flavor Oils not Fragrance Oils. How silly of me!

Is it possible to get flavor oils from regular bulk barn? I am from Canada and it's a bit expensive to purchase from the US online sites (shiping charge) so I try to avoid if I can.

I'm actually not sure- I only get my Flavors from BCN and MMS. You could try it! There's actually something I saw a few weeks ago- they're called Lorann flavor oils (I think that was the name anyway!) and they are used to make kid's medicine taste better. I saw that they sold them at the pharmacy- and I'm almost positive you could try that in your lip balm-since it's food grade. I asked the pharmacist if I could try a little, and it was super sweet. So maybe check out your local pharmacy...? As for it being good for really dry lips- I think it is. It's very soft, but it really works its magic quickly. I've put it on my chapped lips and they were much softer within the hour. If it's too soft, you can always try adding some more beeswax or lessening the oil in the recipe, or try some petroleum jelly. HTH!

So, I've been using the lip balm base from BCN, which I LOVE!!! But, despite its inexpensiveness, I'm always trying to save a buck and have tried to make lip balm from scratch. I've tried a couple of recipes and I finally found one I like as much -if not MORE- than BCN'S!!! It goes on smooth, and seems to be helping my chapped lips more because I think it stays on longer than BCN's (maybe that's because I eat it off within five minutes.) Anyway, here it is, and if anyone tries it, let me know how you like it!!!

4 oz. beeswax

4 oz. coconut oil

1 oz. shea butter

3 oz. cocoa butter

4 oz. sweet almond oil (or 8 oz. if you don't use fractionated coconut oil)

4 oz. coconut oil (fractionated)

Melt everything in the microwave (or however you wish) and add your flavor oil and you're done!! This makes roughly 80 lip balm tubes worth of lip balm, so I made 1/4 of this to make 20 lip balms. I used MMS's buttercream at 6 mL, and it tastes wonderful! I hope all of you BCN addicts try this!!!

Michelle

I agree with you 100% on making your own. Ya save more money in the long run, but the only thing I would try to eliminate if I were doing it, is the Almond Oil. The only reason why is that there are so many people today with an allergy to nuts and I had a women that couldn't even touch my packaging due to that reason. I eliminated the almond oil and found that my sales increased 75% on my bath bombs. Just a thought for any of you out there that have a great bath line, but are finding it not reaching out and grabbing more customers.

How do you think it would turn out if you would try to eliminate the Almond Oil? Would you put anything else in place of it? Thanks

I am thinking of using sunflower oil and maybe some hydrogenated soybean oil instead of the coconut oil and almond oil.

Anyone have any thoughts on if this would be ok to use. TIA