This is an article on how to start a lip balm business at home with various recipes for making lip balms and lip gloss, print your own labels and branding your product for selling.
If you enjoy making your own handmade things and craft items, you might want to consider starting a home-based business selling handmade items. One of the items you can easily make in your own kitchen is lip balm. It does not require a lot of creativity or skills. As long as you have a good supply of quality ingredients, a few basic cooking utensils, a computer with internet connection, a printer and a great motivation, you can easily start a lip balm business from home.
A couple of utensils are essential for mixing the ingredients. Some of the items can be found in your own kitchen without having to buy them. You will need a pyrex container for putting the lip balm ingredients and a saucepan as a double boiler. Use a wooden chopstick or skewer for stirring. To transfer the lip balm into containers and tubes, you will need a medicine dropper or pipette which you can get from the chemist store for a few dollars.
Lip balm products are usually packaged in small containers or tubes. You will need lots of these containers to put the lip balm if you are doing a business. The containers are available from online stores like RainbowCabin.com. Buy them in bulk at bargain prices. Many suppliers sell them in bulk at wholesale prices.
Check out these colorful lip balm containers below.
Lip gloss in general are in semi-solid or thick liquid form. They can be made with the same recipes for lip balm with reduced amount of beeswax. If you prefer to include lip gloss in your business, check out some of the cool lip gloss recipes we have for you below.
One of the main ingredients in lip balm products is beeswax. Beeswax is used as a moisturiser and hardening agent in many skincare items. Go for pure organic beeswax. It is available in blocks or in pellet form. Beeswax that come in big blocks are a lot cheaper but they need to be grated manually before they can be used. Otherwise, you can consider the beeswax pellets that are ready to use – the pellets are easier to melt, too.
Another main ingredient in lip balms is the carrier oil. You can select a carrier oil or a mixture of carrier oils of your choice for making the lip balms. The oils of avocado, jojoba, coconut, olive, apricot kernel, grapeseed, macadamia and sweet almond are readily available in local health stores.
To add fragrance to the lip balm, use only pure essential oils. Do not use fragrance oils as they are not suitable for our skins and can cause allergies!
Some of the popular essential oils commonly used in lip balms are mint, lemon, orange, citrus, just to name a few.
This is the standard procedure for a basic lip balm recipe. A basic lip balm recipe looks like this:
One part beeswax
2 parts carrier oil
2-3 drops vitamin E oil (optional, but recommended)
2-3 drops essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
Put the beeswax in a pyrex container. Fill the saucepan with hot water and place it over the stove on low flame. The heat should be just hot enough without boiling the ingredients and making them go rancid.
Put a trivet in the saucepan of water and then place the container of beeswax on the trivet. Half of the container will be submerged in the water but the container should not touch the bottom of the saucepan.
Stir the beeswax with a skewer until all the beeswax is melted. The beeswax will take a while to melt. When it is melted, add in the carrier oil of your choice. You will see the beeswax starting to solidify a little when you pour in the oil, that’s perfectly alright. Stir the mixture until the beeswax and oil is well blended and changes to liquid form. Remove the container of mixture from the saucepan and add in a few drops of vitamin E oil and essential oil according to the recipe you are using.
Get ready the empty containers or tubes for putting the liquid lip balm. Make sure the containers are clean and free from dust particles and contamination.
With a medicine dropper or pipette, transfer the liquid lip balm mixture to the containers. Fill the containers all the way to the top to get the rounded look. Set aside to cool and check that the lip balm has hardened before putting the lids or covers on the containers.
When you start a lip balm business, you are creating a brand for your product. Before you sell your handmade lip balm products, you need to make some nice labels to stick on the containers. You might want to come up with a brand name and design for your product. Also include an ingredient list on the labels so that people will know what your skincare product is made of. Many people go for natural, pure and organic ingredients when they buy skincare products, so you have to be very specific with your ingredient list.
A laserjet printer will be required to print out the labels. Ready made sticker papers are best for printing out the labels. A large sticker sheet can be cut into smaller sizes to fit on the containers if you can’t find the correct sticker sizes to make your labels.
You can use square stickers for labelling the tubes and the round stickers for round containers. Click on the images for more sizes and shapes to suit your items.
This is an example of how a label will look like.
When you have made a batch of lip balms, you can start your business by selling your handmade items on eBay and Etsy. Sign up with eBay and Etsy, open an online store on their sites and you are ready to sell. You can also set up a separate website for advertising your products. Create a product list on your website and details of each product line you are selling. You may want to begin networking with local beauty stores to see if you can have some of your products displayed in their stores. Check out the weekend craft markets where you can set up a stall to sell your products.
Here are some recipes you can use to make create your lip balm products. Follow the standard procedure mentioned above to make lip balms with the recipes below. Feel free to create your own flavors of lip balms with different mixtures of carrier oils and essential oils.
Beeswax 1 part
Apricot kernel oil 1 part
Calendula oil 1 part
2-3 drops vitamin E oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2-3 drops orange essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
One part beeswax
2 parts jojoba oil
2-3 drops vitamin E oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2-3 drops peppermint essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
Beeswax 1 part
Sunflower oil 1 part
Coconut oil 1 part
2-3 drops vitamin E oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2-3 drops lime essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
Beeswax 1 part
Olive oil 2 parts
2-3 drops vitamin E oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2-3 drops vanilla extract for every teaspoon of beeswax
Beeswax 1 part
Olive oil 1 part
Sunflower oil 1 part
2-3 drops vitamin E oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2 drops nutmeg essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
2 drops mandarin essential oil for every teaspoon of beeswax
1/2 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1/4 teaspoon sunflower oil
1 drop lavender essential oil
Mix the ingredients well and put the mixture into a lip gloss tube with a pipette or liquid dropper.
1/3 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 drop peppermint essential oil
Mix the ingredients well and put the mixture into a lip gloss tube with a pipette or liquid dropper.
Visit Braulio & Co for their beautiful range of all-natural handmade soaps and skin care products.
How To Start A Lip Balm Business © 2011 lady rain
