Imitation Burt’s Bees Lip Balm

Katie Wells Avatar

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This post contains affiliate links.

Read my affiliate policy.

Homemade Burts Bees Imitation Peppermint Lip Balm Recipe
Wellness Mama » Blog » Beauty » Imitation Burt’s Bees Lip Balm

Burt’s Bees Original Beeswax Peppermint Lip Balm was my gateway product into the world of natural living…really.

I was a devoted conventional makeup girl and had a drawer full of the latest glittery, scented, brightly colored lip glosses available. And my lips were chronically dry (wonder if it was from the chemical cocktail I was slathering on multiple times per day). One winter, tired of Carmex and other restorative lip treatments, I grabbed a tube of Burt’s Bees at a checkout counter on a whim.

I loved the light peppermint scent and how well it nourished my lips. I became an exclusive Burt’s Bees user for years…

And then, as most stories often go in the land of corporations, Burt’s Bees was bought out by Clorox and their formula now contains canola oil and soybean oil (which I don’t eat and also don’t want on my lips).

So as most stories go, in the land of Katie’s endless DIY projects, I decided to create a homemade copycat version sans industrial seed oils.

This was the result. I recommend this as an easy lip balm recipe and it makes a great gateway product into the world of homemade deodorant and toothpaste. Fair warning, once you start making some natural products, you are just a hop, skip and jump away from detoxing your armpits and mud shampoo (not that either of those is a bad thing…)

Homemade Lip Balm

I’ve shared my shimmer lip gloss and homemade lip balm recipes before but this recipe is specifically designed to look, feel and smell like Burt’s Bees.

Another bonus, besides avoiding the franken-oils, is that this version is much less expensive than buying pre-made options like Burt’s Bees (and you can even re-use the tubes to save even more). I also omitted the lanolin in this recipe, since it irritates my skin and I haven’t found that it is necessary, but feel free to add a small amount if you have it on hand.

Kids love helping with homemade projects like this (and they are really fun for adults too!). This DIY lip balm locket is another fun way to take your lip balm with you.

Before you start, make sure you have the ingredients and equipment on hand.

If you’re switching from conventional lipstick and want some color and shimmer naturally I recommend adding a tiny amount (1 tsp) of mica powder like this one. It has natural color and shimmer and blends perfectly. You can see an example in this post.

Imitation Burt’s Bees Lip Balm Ingredients

Lip Balm Instructions

  1. Melt beeswax, shea butter and coconut oil in a double boiler or small glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water, stirring constantly until melted.
  2. Remove pan from heat but keep over the still-hot water to keep the mixture melted.
  3. Add essential oils to your preference. I just added peppermint in this recipe. I recommend adding a few drops at a time and testing a tiny amount on your arm to make sure the scent is to your liking.
  4. Once you’ve added the essential oils, use the pipette or a dropper to fill the lip balm tubes. This must be done quickly since the mixture will start to harden as soon as it is removed from the heat.
  5. Let tubes sit at room temperature for several hours until cooled and completely hardened before capping them.

Notes:
Use an extra teaspoon or two of beeswax if you prefer a thicker and longer-lasting lip balm or slightly less if you prefer a smoother and softer lip balm. Since there are no water based ingredients, you can re-melt and add more of each ingredient during the melting process until you get the exact texture you want. When experimenting, I’ve put a few drops of the melted mixture onto a piece of parchment paper and let harden in the fridge so I could test it before putting the mixture into tubes. Have fun with it! This makes 12-14 tubes.

Another great DIY I love is my Mint Chocolate Lip Scrub for Deliciously Smooth Lips.

Ever made an imitation product? What was your gateway product into natural living?

Make this copycat Burts Bees Lip Balm with the natural peppermint/beeswax scent using just natural beeswax, coconut oil, shea butter and essential oils.

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

227 responses to “Imitation Burt’s Bees Lip Balm”

  1. Deb Avatar

    Hi, Love your lip balm. I was wondering if you have a recipe for a Vegan Lip Balm please. 🙂

  2. Selena Avatar
    Selena

    How can I measure this out so it will be only one chapstick? I want to make some but I don’t want all of mine to be one color, so i want to make it one by one for each color, if that makes sense.

    1. Carla Avatar

      For 1 tube, just use 1/4 teaspoon each instead of tablespoons. Will make 1 tube. Only use 1 drop of EO. I make different batches with different flavors one at a time. Hope this helps.

  3. Anna Meyers Avatar
    Anna Meyers

    I’m making my mom some imitation Burt’s Bees lip balm for mothers day. Her favorite is the pomegranate kind. What type of oil would be best for that?

    Thanks,
    Anna

    1. Lydia Avatar

      I believe that pomegranate oil would work best for that.

  4. Kelly Avatar

    I am currently waiting on some Vanilla infused jojoba oil to be ready for use, can I sub out the coconut oil for this? Or sub out the essential oils? Will this ruin the consistency?

    1. Wellness Mama Avatar

      You can definitely sub it out for the coconut oil, just use about half as much to keep the consistency the same. I test the consistency by dipping the tip of my finger in the liquid after it is melted and mixed and seeing how long it takes to harden on my finger. If it hardens relatively quickly, I test on my lips and add more beeswax if needed to thicken or oil to thin.

  5. Lacie Avatar

    How do you clean your pipette? I actually used a baster. Did you just soak it in boiling water?
    I have loved using your recipes! Saving the money and avoiding the chemicals have been wonderful?

    1. Wellness Mama Avatar

      I use really hot water and then let it cool so the oils and beeswax get solid at the top and I can just pick up and remove them.

  6. linda Avatar

    Love your blog, Katie. 🙂 After i make lotion bars this week i’m going to try this lip balm. I am allergic to the peppermint oil though and wondered which of the basic essential oils are safe for lips. Would citrus ones be off-limits as they would be phototoxic? I do love cinnamon. Can you put a little cinnamon powder in them or would i need to buy the e.o.? If so, any idea how much cinnamon powder for this recipe? Sorry for all the questions. I’m still a DIY newbie but loving it.

    My gateway product, lol, was homemade deodorant. I have fragrance allergies sometimes so couldn’t use it then but think i’m healed now and am going to try making it again as i just loved it.

    1. Wellness Mama Avatar

      Thanks so much! I have used lavender before which is nice. Of course, you can always leave out the essential oils if it will bother your allergies too much. Hope this helps! 🙂

      1. linda Avatar

        thanks katie. i just now made a sample one with a recipe someone posted upthread of just coconut oil, almond oil (i used jojoba oil) and beeswax. i love it. it doesn’t need any fragrance with the coconut oil and honey from the beeswax. put it in an old burt’s tin and mod podged a cute piece of wrapping paper for a label and i have the cutest little homemade lip balm that smells divine. 🙂

  7. Laura Avatar

    Hello, I love your website, you have great ideas! I would like to know what would you use to flavor the lip balm/lipstick recipes ?

  8. Carrue Avatar

    So I have an extreme nut allergy as I have gotten older it seems to be getting worse. Most of your recipes call for shea butter, which comes from a nut. I have recently discovered my skin no longer tolerates coconut even, both topical or internal. What suggestions could you make to replace these items as an “in general” in your recipes?

  9. Johnna Buntin Avatar
    Johnna Buntin

    Hello,

    I am about to make the lip balm. Of course the tubes I bought are just not cool enough for my tween girl. Do you have any idea how I would refill her little round balm holders that she has one in each color?

    Thank you,
    Johnna

  10. Johnna Avatar

    I am making this lip balm and of course the tubes are not as cutsie as the little round balls that they have at target. Is there anyway to make this to fit in one of those for my tween daughter?

    Thank you

  11. kim Avatar

    Hi, I can’t seem to get the right balance of beeswax/oil… it’s always very hard and if I use any less then it’s too soft. I would like it to be medium. Any ideas?

  12. Tiffany B Avatar

    Hi I followed a similar recipe for lip balm and its great but very hard. I want it to be a bit softer. Any suggestions?

  13. Mandy Avatar

    Hi I’m wondering if I use mica powder, will it tint my lips or just give the balm color? How much much would I use to give my lips color?

  14. Kelly Avatar

    I love this recipe and it worked really well EXCEPT when I keep it in my pocket at work I found it melts! Turns too soft. Did anyone else have that happen?

  15. Kim Zuch Avatar

    I found your blog while I was searching for broth recipes. The lotion bar recipe caught my eye so I made a few. Now I have one at home, one at work, and gave some to my friends (who love them)!. I even used soap molds to make pretty ones 🙂 Lip balm will be my next diy project. Thanks!!

  16. Tiffany B Avatar
    Tiffany B

    The first time I made a lip balm, it smelled like the beeswax more than the oil. I did not use 30 drops though. I will try that next time. The beeswax almost smells smoky, is that normal for beeswax?

  17. Rituparna Choudhury Avatar
    Rituparna Choudhury

    I used beeswax + shea butter + watermelon seed carrier oil with some essential oils, and the texture was soft and lovely, but the jar I had kept aside for later use – it developed fat bloom after a few weeks.

    Same thing happened with candelilla wax + cocoa butter + shea butter + sweet almond.

    Does anyone know how to prevent fat blooms in homemade lip balms please?

  18. Chuck Avatar

    Thanks for the recipe. I just finished it and I thought my first time would be a disaster but it came out fine. My gateway product was homemade toothpaste (baking soda, coconut oil and peppermint) and then homemade hair gel (Shea butter and a little coconut oil)>

  19. Ron Avatar

    Firstly… new to your site and to the world of home made goodness….. and LOVE IT!! thanks for the great tips and amazing ideas!!

    Secondly, from my research this sort of Lip Balm doesn’t have really have to much of a use by date, meaning it can last a long long time. Is that correct from your knowledge?

  20. Erin Penner Avatar
    Erin Penner

    I am such a massive fan of all of your recipes but so many require pouring hot ingredients into plastic containers, thus losing the benefits of being chemical-free. Hot plastic leaching into my products? Noooooo. Highly recommend you start changing to glass containers! There are great ones on Amazon with metal lids, similar to mini jelly jars from hotels and also glass vials with cork tops. No more plastic for our bodies or the earth! 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *