This Homemade Natural Strawberry Vanilla Lip Balm is made with freeze dried fruit which gives it the stunning color and tasty flavor without any artificial ingredients.
I’ve been on a bit of a kick adding freeze-dried fruit to my recipes lately. So it was only a matter of time before I found a way to work it into a DIY as well!
I’ve always liked the idea of fruit-flavored lip balms. However, they’re usually fruit flavored strictly through natural flavors, which is one of those ingredients I’m not sure I want in a chapstick/lip balm. So I decided to try adding crushed freeze-dried strawberries into a lip balm for a completely natural strawberry flavor and color.
Also, I just wanted to add a quick note about the color. Despite how incredibly vibrant it looks, it doesn’t really tint your lips much. And not only does it smell really, really good, but it also tastes good too. I’ve had to be a bit more disciplined about not licking my lips, which obviously defeats the purpose of lip balm altogether!
How to make this Homemade Natural Strawberry Vanilla Lip Balm
- You start by crushing the 1/2 cup of freeze dried berries in a mortar and pestle. You can also powder them in a mini food processor. But if you do use the food processor, let the dust settle for a bit before opening the lid. The mortar and pestle is the easiest way to crush freeze dried fruit into powder if you have one.
- Next you melt the powdered strawberries together with the 2 Tablespoons jojoba oil, 1 Teaspoon vanilla jojoba oil, and 2 Tablespoons coconut oil over low heat.
- Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, and add it back to the pan.
- Melt the strawberry oil together with 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon of grated beeswax over low heat, until there are no bits of wax remaining.
- Remove the mixture from the heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. As the mixture begins to set, stir it vigorously to emulsify the strawberry color. Otherwise it will sink to the bottom. (See the photo below for what it looks like emulsified.)
Ingredients for Homemade Natural Strawberry Vanilla Lip Balm:
1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries, 1/4 ounce or 10 grams, powdered
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon grated beeswax, 4 grams
2 Tablespoons jojoba oil
1 Teaspoon vanilla jojoba oil
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
From there you can portion it out into the containers of your choice. With this recipe I recommend using something along the lines of the containers pictured. This lip balm is a bit too soft to put into lipstick/chapstick tubes.
And finally, it’s time to enjoy! This recipe made 4 good sized lip balms, but smaller containers could easily be used. Especially because these make great gifts, and you never want to keep anything homemade too long. I’ve had mine for 2 months now, and they’re still great!
Note: The color of this lip balm starts off very vibrant. But it does loose it’s intensity over time, (months) taking on more of a dusty rose color.
Homemade Natural Strawberry Vanilla Lip Balm
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 5 small containers 1x
Description
This homemade lip balm is incredibly moisturizing and smells amazing too!
Ingredients
1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries, 1/4 ounce or 10 grams, powdered, see notes
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon grated beeswax, 4 grams
2 Tablespoons jojoba oil
1 Teaspoon vanilla jojoba oil
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
Start by crushing the freeze dried berries in a mortar and pestle. You can also powder them in a mini food processor. But if you do use the food processor, let the dust settle for a bit before opening the lid. The mortar and pestle is the easiest way to crush freeze dried fruit into powder if you have one.
Next you melt the powdered strawberries together with the jojoba oil, vanilla jojoba oil, and coconut oil over low heat.
Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, and add it back to the pan.
Melt the strawberry oil together with the grated beeswax over low heat, until there are no bits of wax remaining.
Remove the mixture from the heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. As the mixture begins to set, stir it vigorously to emulsify the strawberry color, otherwise it will sink to the bottom.
Portion the lip balm into the containers of your choice and use within 3 months.
Notes
I use Karen’s Naturals for my freeze dried strawberries.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Category: DIY
- Method: Stove Top
I’m trying to make a bigger batch, and I’m wondering how big were the good sized containers you used! Like 2oz?
The containers I used in this lip balm are about 1/2 ounce, they’re on the smaller side which I’ve found to be good for any homemade body product that you touch with your hands.
Can you put this in a chapstick tub for lip balm or will it be too soft?
I would not recommend putting this lip balm in a chapstick tube because it would be too soft. I sure hope you enjoy it, and let me know how it goes, or if you have any more questions!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Yes it keeps at least 1 month, I’ve kept it for up to 6 months, but the color begins to fade.
This looks so good! What a great gift to make for friends or to enjoy yourself!
Thanks so much, and it really does make a wonderful gift!
I made the Strawberry, Vanilla, lip balm.
It did not turn the vibrant pink.
It was more brown and still had some strawberry seeds in it.
Can you help me and tell me what I did wrong?
Sincerely,
Terri
Hi Terri, so sorry this didn’t work out the first go around but I’m happy to help you troubleshoot. My first question would be what brand of freeze dried fruit did you use? I hadn’t thought to mention the brand I use, but I just put it into the recipe because it makes for the brightest pink color and it’s never been brown before. If you still had some strawberry seeds that means the fine mesh sieve you used to strain it wasn’t quite small enough and some of the seeds slipped through. I hope this helps!
I really wanted to print this recipe, but when I click print, it prints the entire web page, including ads covering up the recipe. Please fix this. Thanks.
I’m so sorry that happened, but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you telling me. There was just a software update that fixed the bug in the recipe that was causing the ads to load, so everything should be good now. Again, I’m so sorry, and thanks so much for telling me!
Hey can i replace the jojoba vanilla with anything else ? Like vanilla extract or more jojoba oil only. What would you recomend ?
I would just replace the vanilla jojoba with regular jojoba oil, definitely don’t use vanilla extract because it’s water based and won’t emulsify properly. If you’d still like some of the vanilla smell, you’ll need to look for vanilla essential oil of whatever strength you can find – it comes full strength which is very expensive, but also diluted down like the jojoba/vanilla oil I called for which is way more affordable than the straight essential oil. I hope this helps, and let me know how it goes!
Never mind…I see!
No problems, I sure hope you enjoy this!
Where does the vanilla flavor come from?