Formulating from your Cupboard - Day 3

Today we will be making Formulation #2. I targeted this lip balm to be vegan, firm and yet shiny. I have found sometimes it is really hard to formulate a vegan product. It is easy to make them overly stiff and waxy. It can also be hard to obtain a smooth product. Formulating today’s recipe was a big challenge for me. Come join me to see how well it turned out!

Finished Lip Balm

After applying Formulation #2 to my lips, I was a little unsure about the lip balm. It was a soft lip balm and it had a very different texture. Though it is a softer lip balm, the application wasn’t particularly smooth and creamy. It almost had an ultra-fine gritty texture to it. As I let it sit on my lips, it started to warm up. I rubbed my lips together and I was surprised how the texture had changed. My body heat let it melt and it felt I had applied two products rather than one.

Weighing Waxes

It felt like I had first applied a stiff, durable lip balm to my lips. Then to make sure my lips rubbed smoothly against each other, a tiny amount of a liquid oil was applied. I like this because my lips feel well protected while still allowing a little slip and glide.

While I did like this lip balm, I wasn’t particularly pleased with the slight grainy texture the lip balm had in the tube. This is where the Conditioning Emulsifier comes in. I think all I would need to do to ensure a smooth texture is increase my Conditioning Emulsifier just a little.

Original Recipe:

Proposed Changes:

Weighing Oils

Weigh everything except the Vitamin E Acetate, Sugar Baby Flavor Oil and Green Apple Flavor Oil into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until everything is liquid. If you still have a few stubborn beads of beeswax, remove the container from the microwave and stir. The heat in the solution should melt the beeswax.

Weighing Oils and Butters

Add the Sugar Baby Flavor Oil and Green Apple Flavor Oil to the liquid lip balm mixture. Stir well. For here you can either use a pipette to fill your lip balm tubes or use a filling tray. Use whichever is most convenient for you.

I like using a filling tray when making 50 or more tubes of lip balm because they are simple to use and fast. If you are using a filling tray, insert your tubes into your tray. Flood the tray with your melted lip balm. Allow the mixture to cool. Scrape off the excess. I like to use a plastic putty knife. Remove the tubes from the tray and cap.

Weighing Liquid Oils

If you are going to pipette the lip balm into the tubes, fill the tube until you get a dome of liquid material at the top. Wax shrinks when it cools and doing this helps insure that you get a very pretty top. Fill all of your tubes making sure they are domed on the top before they cool. (You may need to reheat your lip balm during this process. This is normal and to be expected.) Allow the tubes to cool then cap.

Adding Flavors

Now you can label your lip balm. Because I am making so many different formulations this week, I am labeling them with their formulation number so I can keep them straight. It is much easier than trying to guess!