We recently starting making our own natural lip balm and love it! This calendula lip balm is made using pure beeswax, calendula infused oil, shea butter and sweet orange oil. Calendula has great anti-inflammatory properties and is also known for retaining moisture well. We like to pour our lip balm into sustainable cardboard tubes that can be recycled afterwards. The base recipe for this lip balm can be easily adapted and made using any herb-infused oil and there’s an option to add essential oil at the end. Sweet orange essential oil goes well with the calendula! We’re using calendula oil that we make by infusing calendula flowers from our garden with sweet almond oil. Other great base oils that I enjoy using are jojoba, sunflower and coconut oil.

Calendula Lip Balm Recipe

Recipe adapted from the basic lip balm recipe (p. 212) from the Botanical Skin Care Recipe Book by Herbal Academy. This recipe will fill approximately three 0.3 oz tubes (double the recipe to fill six tubes)

Materials

– 3 tbsp calendula infused oil: we make our own by infusing calendula flowers from our garden with sweet almond oil. If you’re short on time you can also purchase ready made calendula infused oil
– pure beeswax– 1 beeswax bee, OR 1 tbsp (approximately 0.3 oz) of beeswax grated from a larger block
– 1 tbsp shea butter
– 10 drops sweet orange essential oil (optional)
– cardboard lip balm tubes: I’m using these tubes that I carry in the shop that have a 0.3 oz capacity.
– grater (if you are not using the bees and need to measure out your wax)
– heat proof container to melt the wax in, such as a glass pyrex measuring cup with a spout and a larger pot

Instructions to Make Lip Balm

Step 1: Prepare and measure out your ingredients

Measure out all of your ingredients. If you’re using the beeswax bee blocks from the shop this recipe uses exactly 1 bee. If you are not, you can use a grater to grate the beeswax so that it is easy to measure out an accurate amount. 1 tbsp beeswax is approximately 0.3 oz.

Step 2: Combine your ingredients

Combine the calendula infused oil, beeswax bee (or grated beeswax) and shea butter in a heat proof container suspended over a larger pot of simmering water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally until completely melted.

Step 3: How to check the consistency of the lip balm

Take a sample to check the consistency by dipping a clean spoon into the mixture and placing it into the refrigerator to cool. Once the sample has cooled, if it is too soft, add a little more beeswax to the mixture. If it is too hard then you will add more of the infused calendula oil. Stir in the essential oil.

Step 4: Pour the lip balm into containers

Start pouring into the cardboard lip balm tubes– I like to use a glass dropper to transfer the mixture. It’s a good idea to first fill each tube about 10% and let partially set before carefully pouring the remainder of the mixture into the lip balm tubes. Try not to spill on the outside of the tubes since they are paper and will stain. Let stand and cool undisturbed. Once they have cooled completely and are solidified, replace the caps and store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.