Sunshining Days

I like color in my lip balm. I like a little sparkle in my lip balm.

How do make lip balms with these two things in them? And can I do it using all natural ingredients?

Yes! I'm sure you have heard of mica powder... If not, this is what it is:

Mica is a silicate mineral used in cosmetics for its brilliant or shimmering appearance, according to Wikipedia. The word "mica" is actually thought to be derived from the Latin word "micare," meaning "to glitter." It is mined in thin sheets and is usually found in blue or green hues, although iron oxides are often added to create a brilliant range of bright colors.

You can find mica powders online in a variety of colors. I found mine on Bramble Berry I will say, that you probably should check the ingredients because some of them have artifical colors. I found a few that are just mica powders and iron oxides.

I was a little bit unsure about using mica powders, but I was having a hard time getting a system down to color lip balms. A.K.A the colors wouldn't be a consitent color. Also, another problem I was seeing, using colors (juice is the main one I use) is that it fades over time. ...yea, I don't like that either.

Anyway, back to the mica...

I received two different colors...

A pale pink and a tanish yellow color.

The pink had some glitter... It was pretty. The tanish one was super glittery.

I made a little batch of Strawberry Limemade lip balm  and added a little bit of the pink. since it was already pink, I didn't see much of a difference. I figure that the mica will help keep it from fading.

I also melted down a little bit of Chocolate Vanilla and added the tanish mica. It didn't change the color but it did add a lot of glitter! Nice glittery!

I was pleased with the results. So far, so good!

The next week, I stayed at a good friends house. We planned to make some lip balms at some point. It wasn't until the end of the week that we got around to making some.

Since, I didn't have any of my regular supplies, we made a simple lip balm recipe.

If I haven't said this before, I will now. 

A simple lip balm consists of  2 parts oil and 1 part beeswax. You can add essential oils and add stuff to make it your own.

The one we made was approximately

• 2 tsp. coconut oil

• 2 tsp. shea butter

• 2 tsp. beeswax

• essential oils and fragrances

Mixing the mica powder into the lip balms:

Pouring it into the containers. ( I found these at Walmart in the beading section.)

Complete!

A total of 4 flavors in all.

• Cinnamon

• Pomagrante

• Pink Lemonade

• Grapefruit

Overall, I am really happy with mica and I'm planning on using it in the future.

Have you used mica powder? Let me know!