Get an all-season smile with Winterproof!

The gentlest homemade lip balm

When winter is raging on and your lips are so chapped that they look like you could peel them right off, who should you call? Winterproof! The frosty season can try all it likes to wear down your smile, but this homemade lip balm will soften, protect, and nourish it. It’s a true hero for your lips!

In developing this lip balm recipe, we decided to use a mix of candelilla and soy wax. Not only are they both vegan, they also share protective and nourishing properties that our lips particularly appreciate in winter. Perhaps surprisingly, we chose NOT to include any vegetable butters. While these butters are very nourishing, they tend to crystalize when subjected to sharp changes in temperature—like the contrast between the deep winter cold outside and the cozy warmth of home! We set our sights on softness instead, opting for highly nourishing vegetable oils.

The next time the cold weather wipes the smile off your face, remember we have a recipe to make it Winterproof!

How to make a lip balm for winter

Ingredients

• 3.4 g (17%) candelilla wax
• 4.4 g (22%) Golden Wax 415 soy wax
• 6 g (30%) extra-virgin coconut oil
• 5.4 g (27%) avocado oil
• 0.4 g (2%) castor oil
• 0.2 g (1%) vitamin E
• 0.2 g (1%) flavour of your choosing

Tools

• Small stainless steel bowl
• Components to make a double boiler
• Ramekin
• Small silicone spatula
• Scale, accurate to 0.1 g
• Pipette
• Four round lip balm tubes
• A few spoons

Good to know!

• We advise against substituting the waxes in this recipe or making any changes to the proportions of the ingredients, as doing so may affect the consistency of the final product.
• Golden Wax 415 soy wax is protective and nourishing. It cannot be replaced by another soy wax: Golden Wax 415 is the only one that doesn’t contain any additives, so it can be used on your skin.
• We chose candelilla wax to harden the lip balm and because it’s heat-resistant and will form a protective film. Thanks to this wax—with some help from the soy wax too—this DIY lip balm is highly protective!
• Castor oil softens dry skin and helps alleviate damage caused by dryness.
• Avocado oil protects your lips against the harshness of winter. It is also softening and revitalizing. 
• Extra-virgin coconut oil is very nourishing and adds a slight scent of coconut that we really enjoy. If you, on the other hand, are not fond of the scent of coconut, you can replace it with deodorized coconut oil. 
• Vitamin E helps prevent the oils from going rancid. It also helps maintain your skin’s elasticity and hydration—which makes it perfect for a winter lip balm recipe! 
• If you would rather not include a flavour in your homemade lip balm, distribute the 0.2 g evenly between one of the vegetable oils and Golden Wax 415.

Steps to follow

1. Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
2. Weigh the candelilla wax, soy wax, and oils in a bowl. Melt on the double boiler.
3. While they’re melting, weigh the vitamin E and the flavour in a ramekin.
4. When the mixture has melted, remove the bowl from the double boiler. Add the vitamin E and the flavour, then mix with the spatula. 
5. Using a pipette, fill the lip balm tubes with the mixture, then leave to cool for at least two hours. Your homemade lip balm is ready for use! Just pop one in your pocket and you’re ready to face the cold without fear.

Use and conservation

This vegan lip balm recipe is formulated for lips that have been dried out and damaged by the cold … and it’s designed to prevent them from becoming that way in the first place! 

When made in optimal sanitary conditions, it will keep for at least six months.