Tangerine & Vanilla Lip Scrub

Tangerine Butter and Handcrafted Shea Butter make a wonderful lip scrub.

When I laid my eyes on Tangerine Butter for the first time, I was entranced by the lively color. Then when I opened the jar, and the intense citrus odor wafted out, I was hooked. I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and dreamed of what I would create. Before I could think of a good reason not to, I took a small amount of Tangerine Butter and tasted it. Wow! It tastes just like it smells! AHH! I knew this butter would make the best lip products ever.

Of course, I thought of a lip balm, but Andee suggested a lip scrub. What a treat!

The first thing I did was run regular white sugar in a food processor until it was the texture of fine sand. Last time I made a sugar scrub with regular sugar, I was unhappy with the surprisingly coarse texture. Sugar will be our workhorse as it is both humectant and exfoliant in this recipe, plus it adds sweetness for the flavor boost.

Our new Handcrafted Shea Butter makes a smooth and creamy base for this scrub. It has very little odor, so it will not compete with the bright orange and citrusy bliss of the Tangerine Butter.

Next, we need a lightweigh to moderate weight oil, like Cherry Seed or Avocado Oil. I chose to use Avocado Oil. It’s often found in luxury skin care products, and for a good reason! Avocado Oil is very rich in fatty acids and contains vitamins and nutrients that make skin look and feel fantastic.

I like to add Vitamin E to oil-based formulas as an antioxidant and to pamper the skin. Andee’s original formula called for Vitamin E Acetate, but I have Vitamin E Natural, which has a much lower usage rate. That necessitated a recalculation for my purposes. If you want to use Vitamin E Acetate instead of Vitamin E Natural, we recommend using up to 1%. You can remove 0.5% from Tangerine Butter and 0.25% from Natural Vanilla Oil.

Let’s gather some supplies and get busy!

Recipes for Tangerine & Vanilla Lip Scrub

INSTRUCTIONS:

This is as much as you need to treat your lips to a sweet scrub that will leave them feeling pampered.

Weigh the Handcrafted Shea Butter, Avocado or Cherry Oil, and Tangerine Butter into a microwave-safe container. Heat in short bursts of time, stirring often, until all the butters are completely melted. Alternately, put the butters and oil into the top of a double boiler and heat gently until melted.

Weigh sugar and add to oils. Stir well to combine. Weigh the Vitamin E and Vanilla and add to the scrub, stirring well to combine.

At this point, you can package the scrub, but I’ve found that the melted oil tends to rise to the surface. So I like leaving the scrub in the container, occasionally stirring, as the oils cool to room temperature. Then I put the scrub into small jars. For this lip scrub, I used our clear 33 mm 1/4 oz jars and black 33 mm lids.

To use the scrub, dip a small amount (about the size of a dry bean) and gently scrub it over the lips. You can either rinse the scrub away or just lick it off. (My favorite way to finish a lip scrub – that’s why we make it taste good!)

Use this scrub when you want your lips to be their softest or when you have very chapped lips. It’s best not to use any scrub more than twice a week, however.

What do you think of lip scrubs in general? Would you add any different flavors or make any substitutions in this recipe? We’ve made a bunch of these lip scrubs to send out with orders, so please ask for a sample when you place your next order!