Chocolate Mint Lip Balm

Andes Mint or Andes Candies, is one of my favorite childhood candy. It’s basically a small rectangular candy with one layer of mint in between two layers of chocolate. I only get these on special occasions and trying to make them last was like not digging into the hot French fries after a drive-thru. Impossible. 

Besides, chocolate has always been my all time favorite sweet food. If someone asked me what type of cake I like, I’d say chocolate cake. What type of cookies I like, chocolate cookies. I love brownies, hot chocolate, chocolate bread, chocolate spread, chocolate cereal, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate milk… you get the gist.. chocolate everything. If only I can wear edible chocolate clothes and lick myself clean every day.

Beeswax

Cocoa Butter

Sweet Almond Oil

Living in a tropical country provides sufficient humidity that one’s lips require no moisturizing crap on them. I say crap because most commercial lip balms generally are crap. Synthetic oils, wax, petroleum (a waste product of oil contaminated with cancer causing substances), fragrances and god knows what preservatives are on your lips with you licking away after you apply them.

Unfortunately fortunately (it could go both ways), when I first stepped into a cold country, my butt screamed in protest whenever I needed to pee. So did my lips. They, as opposed to my butt, were exposed to the cold 24/7. They cracked like the tectonic plates on my lips just had multiple lip quakes. As long as I’m still living in a country where there’s still its share of winter and dryness, lip balm is a must.

So since no crap lip balms allowed on my lips and chocolate is my favorite thing ever, chocolate mint lip balm was the way to go. This lip balm is truly lip smackingly awesome!

Quick Recipe

what you need:

1 part beeswax pellets  (eg. 1 tsp wax)
1 part cocoa butter (eg. 1 tsp butter)
3 parts sweet almond oil (eg. 1 tbs oil)
Chocolate chip, for color and extra chocolaty flavor (For every 1 tbs oil, add 4 chocolate chips)
Vitamin E capsule (For every 1 tbs oil, add one punctured squeezed out capsule)
Peppermint essential oil (For every 1 tbs oil, add 2-5 drops depending on how minty you like yours)

directions:

1. Use a double boiler and melt the beeswax and chocolate chip.
2. One melted, take it off heat and melt cocoa butter.
3. Put it back to the heat to finish off melting the cocoa butter. Once melted, mix in the sweet almond oil.
4. Turn off fire, remove mixture from heat, add Vitamin E and essential oil. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
5. Carefully pour mixture into your lip balm containers. Add a few extra drops as the ingredients will shrink once they cool. Do not move it and it will set beautifully.
6. Let sit until it cools (a couple of hours depending on the weather).

Notes:

1. Parts: The 1:1:3 parts is by volume. For example, 1 tbs beeswax, 1 tbs cocoa butter and 3 tbs oil. DO NOT apply the ratio to weight (g or oz) or the consistency will be off.
2. How much to make: Measure your lip balm container(s) to see how much liquid it can store and calculate from there to see how much ingredients you need.
3. Consistency: If you like a firmer balm, the ratio is 1:1:2 of beeswax, cocoa butter and oil. If you like it softer, the ratio is 1:1:4. Feel free to change until you reach your desired consistency. It’s always good to start with a small ratio (eg 1:1:1) and increase as you go.
4. Substitution: OIL: If you like a shimmering balm (greasier), use ‘slower to absorb oils’ like coconut, avocado or castor oil. Else, almond oil is best substituted by coconut oil, sunflower or jojoba oil. You can even mix different oils together. WAX: Use candelilla or carnauba wax to substitute beeswax but half the amount. COLOR: Cocoa powder can be used instead of chocolate chips. Butter: Cocoa butter is the key ingredient so I don’t suggest it being substituted.
5. Utensils: I use separate utensils to make homemade beauty products and do not mix them with the food utensils.
6. Clean up: Do not dump leftover balm mixture into sink. Let it semi-harden, scrape it out and throw in the trash. Then, use a paper towel to wipe all utensils before washing. Citrus enzyme cleaner helps with greasy wash.
7. Shelf life: Since this balm has chocolate chips, shelf life is 3-6 months depending on the weather and how dirty those fingers are.
8. Double boiler: Put a saucepan with about 1 inch of water to boil. Once boiled, bring the water to a calm simmer and place a heatproof bowl on top. Melt the ingredients in the heatproof bowl.

What is your favorite homemade lip balm recipe?