This natural tinted lip balm is a nourishing part of any skincare routine. Kiss dry lips goodbye and add a little shimmer to your day. This DIY is a great alternative for those (like me) who don’t regularly wear lipstick. But If you’re a lipstick girl, also check out my homemade lipstick.
My daughter loves this lip balm! Since it’s a natural recipe I’ll let her use a tiny amount and she feels special because she’s wearing “makeup.” It also makes a great gift for birthdays or as a stocking stuffer at Christmas.
Hydrating Tinted Lip Balm
Tinted Lip Balm is smoother and glossier than lipstick, and more like a traditional lip gloss. Matte versions just use pigment to tint the lips, while glossier versions offer shimmery lip color. They’re different than a lip stain which gives a hint of color but can dry out lips.
Especially during the winter months, I like using lip butter or lip balm to soothe chapped lips. Having a barrier there can also provide some mild sun protection. Coconut oil and shea butter both have mild SPF properties and I use both in my homemade sunscreen. While they’re not SPF 15 like conventional SPF lip balms (they’re more like SPF 7) I still like using them to nourish and hydrate.
Ingredients in DIY Tinted Lip Balm
This DIY lip tint version is made with completely natural ingredients. And a little really goes a long way! I colored my original version with a tiny drop of natural red food coloring for a pop of color. I also added lemon and vanilla for scent. You could leave it unscented if you prefer, or opt for a different essential oil.
I settled on a refreshing mint version that offers subtle color and reminds me of Burt’s Bees lip balm. Instead of oxides for a wash of color, I opted for sparkly rose mica. On days I want more color coverage, I’ll add a little bit of cocoa powder or natural food coloring to the recipe. One of the best parts about making your own beauty products is being able to customize the recipe how you want!
Best Oils for Lip Balm
There are a lot of different choices when it comes to lip care. I kept it simple, yet functional with coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax for the base. You could sub in a little jojoba or avocado oil for the coconut oil if preferred though. Castor seed oil adds a little bit more of a glossy feel, but too much can make it feel sticky. Some drugstore brands, like Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm, use sunflower seed oil and other vegetable oils, which is something I try to avoid.
I’ve also added a little vitamin E oil. It helps the product last a little longer and provides some antioxidants. If you don’t have any on hand though, don’t worry, it’s optional. And if you want a firmer lip balm or don’t have shea butter, then cocoa butter will also work.
This recipe has many of the same ingredients as my homemade lotion bars, homemade lotion, DIY deodorant, and more. So if you keep these ingredients on hand, you can make endless variations of natural beauty products.
Lip Balm Containers
I re-used an old tin for this recipe, but you can also find cute, small tins online. I like to use these 1/2 of 1-ounce tins when I make lip balm for gifts. Just be sure your hands are clean when applying. Adding slightly more beeswax also makes a great lip balm in a chapstick container.
DIY Natural Tinted Lip Balm
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP coconut oil
- 1 TBSP beeswax pellets
- 1 TBSP shea butter
- ½ tsp red or rose mica powder
- 4 drops peppermint essential oil optional
- 10 drops vitamin E oil optional
- 1 drop natural red food color optional
Instructions
- If you don't have a double boiler, then place a glass bowl on top of a small saucepan halfway filled with water.
- Add the coconut oil, beeswax, and shea butter to the bowl or top of the double boiler and heat over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until melted.
- Once melted, turn the heat off and add the essential oils, food coloring, vitamin E, and mica.
- Carefully pour the mixture into the tins and allow it to cool completely.
Notes
Best Tinted Lip Balms to Buy
Don’t have time or ingredients to make it? Here are some paraben-free, cruelty-free, and clean brands to get instead.
- Honeybee Gardens Tinted Lip Balm
- Earth’s Daughter Tinted Lip Balm
- Cliganic Tinted Lip Balm
- Honest Beauty Tinted Lip Balm
Ever made your own lip balm or chapstick? Ready to try this one? Leave a comment and let me know how it went!
How much will this make? I am trying to figure out how much to make if i want to have 30 of them …xmas presents
Does it matter if the Cocoa powder has been “processed with Alkali”? I recently bought some organic baking cocoa, and was thinking about using it for this recipe, but don’t know if I should…
What is the brand?
Equal Exchange baking cocoa
From what I can tell, it should be fine
thank you!
What if I tinted the balm with steeped tea? ie: hibiscus tea
Please disregard my question. Clearly I wasn’t thinking this through. I’m going to get the natural food coloring:)
I used beet root powder in mine and it just floated in the mixture, it didn’t really tint it. Maybe I should put it in in the beginning next time so it has time to infuse?
That is strange… putting it in at the beginning probably would help though.
Any idea where you can get a glass container with a stainless steel rollerball applicator? I have been using coconut oil on my lips and was thinking about tinting it, so this recipe is awesome-thx for sharing!
Have you tried Amazon? I haven’t seen those, but if you’re able to find them, please share the link! 🙂
where would you get the containers
There is a rollerball applicator in mountain rose herbs (containers, bottles) but the rollerball is made of plastic.
I believe perfumeoils.com has glass roller bottles with stainless steel balls
I found roller ball containers on Amazon. Sold as a pack of 6 for around $10.
I ordered a 6 pack of glass tubes with stainless rollerballs from Amazon for 6 bucks. The are perfect for essential oil scents or lip balm/gloss
Where do you get natural food coloring?
Didn’t you have the recipe before as 1 parts each ingredient? Why did you change the shea butter/cocoa butter quantity?
I made the previous recipe and it was perfect consistency for a lip balm container. 1 part coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter.
Thanks for the blog, one of my favorite sites!
I just recently published this, so I don’t think it has changed, but there are a lot of recipes online… so perhaps it was a similar one? The equal parts recipe of coconut oil, beeswax and shea butter is great too! There should be a link to the natural food coloring above, but I got mine on Amazon… Thanks for reading! 🙂
I made some, but used a little ice cube like piece of bee’s wax, and it was about twice as much, so I got chap stick instead. The beet root powder that I got didn’t break down into color, just floated to the bottom. It was cheap by the ounce at the local store, but I’m going to order some of the natural color drops for next time. This was my first time making anything like this, there’s definitely a learning curve 🙂 I love lip gloss and use it constantly, I’m probably addicted, so thanks for this recipe.
I have the same problem, hmmm…Did you ever figure out why the beetroot powder was sinking?
I have the same problem with beetroot powder too. I gave up on it, and will look for the natural food coloring. I have never seen hibiscus powder before, and was wondering if that was more fine. In a pinch I will use my mineral red pigment. All minerals, and also natural. Frustrating. Just keep trying different things.
Did you find a tried and true method of tinting your balm?
If you want to make a tinted balm/gloss with beetroot, you’ll have to infuse the pigment into some water or glycerin, strain out the powder, and use an emulsifying wax instead of beeswax. You could also use alkanet root powder, which is soluble in oil. Infuse the alkanet into your oil of choice, strain out the powder, and use beeswax or any other wax. You can get what you need at Mountain Rose Herbs. Cinnamon essential oil is a great lip plumper too!
You are amazing. Several friends and I have been wondering how to tint w beet root powder. We knew it had something to do with oil vs water. I can’t wait to share. Thanks again!!
I wish I saw this an hour ago haha!! My beetroot also just floated to the bottom. I made lip balms and use eyeshadow cups to hold them. But the beetroot powder would not mix no matter what I did. Thanks for tip!!
I use a natural mica powder and get a nice color with it that provides a great shimmer and color.
I wonder which Mica did you use? Mine just makes a tiny shimmer effect but certinaly no color. I ended up buying color pigments from a friend and that worked nicely.
I just made this today with a couple tweaks:
– used sunflower oil instead of coconut (since I had that on hand)
– used Cocoa butter instead of Shea butter (I am making this as a gift for my sister, and her son is allergic to tree nuts – shea butter comes from the shea nut, so as a precaution I decided not to use it!)
– used beet root powder
As others mentioned, the beet root powder sunk to the bottom and did not mix in. The most likely reason being that it is probably polar (like water) and the rest of the stuff is nonpolar (like oil). So I added some honey to it (which is polar), and the dye mixed right into the honey. There were still two layers, though (one yellowish and one red/pink). As it cooled, I stirred it a lot, and was able to get it to mix that way! As long as it doesn’t warm up too much, it will stay mixed together. If you want to use beet root powder, I’d definitely recommend adding something polar to dissolve it in so that it mixes better as you cool and stir it!
The hibiscus powder isn’t fine enough. It floats to the bottom, too. It gives the balm a tiny bit of color, but it doesn’t really translate to the lips. I think mica or some mineral coloring is most reliable, but all of those products seem to come out of China. So, no. Not for me. There is another root powder that I’ve read about, alkanet root, I think it’s a blue-red. Never tried it, though.
Mix your powders and or even your coloring to the coconut oil. Mix thoroughly THEN melt and you will have very little to no sediment! 🙂
I’ve been doing a little internet sleuthing about rose lip balm and read that rose powder does not dissolve in the lip balm. I’m assuming it’s the same for beetroot powder as well. The author recommended cosmetic grade mica powder as it dissolves into the butters and oils.
Just checking…..you still put the shea butter or cocoa butter in the lip balm, you are just crossing out the link……………not the ingredient, correct?
Yes, still use the shea butter 🙂
can I buy some from you or how does it work
I love making lip balm. My daughters and I made a bunch last year. They gave them to their friends as gifts. I’ve never tried adding color. Have to give that a go this year!
I’ve been using your face powder recipe for a few months now and I love it. My daughter is still very little, but when she starts wanting to put on makeup like mommy, I won’t worry one bit about brushing a tiny poof of powder on her face, just for fun. I have a feeling this lip balm is going to fall under the same category!
I actually have had a really hard time finding a lip balm I love, all because of the color. I’m really excited to try this and make it work perfectly for my complexion. Thanks for sharing!