Winter around here means one thing, for sure: lip balm, and plenty of it. While we usually buy our lip balms from my favorite Etsy shop, (beautiful, natural beeswax balms — love them!) I figured that the way we’ve been going through it this winter it might be a good time to learn how to make some for ourselves. While I’m fresh out of beeswax right now, and didn’t feel like going out to the craft store, something we did have on hand was petroleum jelly, AKA Vaseline. While we don’t use quite as much as we used to for teeny-tiny baby diaper rashes, we still keep some on hand for chapped winter cheeks.

In researching making lip balms, I came across this post. They have a few different types on there: a chocolate flavored lip balm, a natural beeswax one with honey, and a flavored one using powdered drink mixes. I kind of took bits and pieces of a few different recipes, and we’re pretty happy with the way they turned out.

What You’ll Need:

** 3 Tablespoons of petroleum jelly
** 1 teaspoon of honey
** 1 capsule of vitamin E oil (optional)
** Shavings from lipstick (optional)
** Containers for your lip balm (see below)
** Microwave-safe bowl for melting the ingredients (or a small saucepan if you prefer to use the stove)
** Something to stir with (we used a bamboo skewer)

How to Make Your Lip Balm

Add the petroleum jelly, honey, vitamin E oil, and lipstick (you don’t need much — just a teensy bit to tint the lip balm) to a microwave-safe bowl or cup, and place it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Check it every ten seconds to see if it has melted. You want the petroleum jelly to be completely liquefied. Stir everything together, and add it to the containers of your choice. Let the lip balms solidify at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using them.

Containers for Your Lip Balm

We used these cute little watchmaker tins from Lee Valley because we have them on hand already for seed saving. But there are many other items you can reuse as well:

** Empty eyeshadow compacts
** Empty pressed powder compacts
** Caps from milk jugs or two-liter soda bottles (you’ll have to cover them with plastic or something between uses, and they wouldn’t travel well, obviously)
** Miniature breath mint tins

Whichever type of container you decide to use, make sure you wash it out well, then disinfect with alcohol before filling it with your lip balm solution. This recipe will make about 6 small containers of lip balm.

This was a quick, easy project, and we really like how they turned out. Not too heavy, with a little added pampering from the honey and vitamin E. I hope you give it a try!