by Lisa Curcio

Created on: May 14, 2009

Adding Lip Gloss is a quick and simple way to look sexy or add a bit of style to your look. Myself, I am not a make-up person, but when I need to dress up my look, I always add shine and sometimes a bit of color to my lips. During the day, I wear just the lip gloss, and at night I finish off my lipstick with a coating of lip gloss to help keep my lips from drying out. One of the greatest things about making your own lip-gloss is that you get to control how thick or thin it is along with the exact scent.

You will need:

A Used Lip Gloss Tin or Jar, Or
An Empty Baby Food Jar.
Petroleum Jelly, Or
Cocoa Butter
Your Favorite Food Grade Scented Oil
A Sliver of Your Favorite Lipstick Color (Optional)
Glass Measuring Cup for Liquids
Spoon, Or
Dropper, Or
Medicine Dispenser (like an empty syringe)

I have a tendency to hold on to things, like lip gloss tins, to find ways to reuse them. When I started making my own lip gloss, I had several used lip gloss jars and tins in my craft room waiting to be recycled and used in a new way. I also save baby food jars and have quite a collection of those too. If you use lip gloss often, a baby food jar might be the way to go for you. Lip gloss will last for close to a year, especially if you make sure your fingers are clean when you use it. Additionally, make sure that your used tin or jar is clean before adding your lip gloss to it, I usually just toss them in the dishwasher.

Choose a food grade scented oil (or unscented if you choose), or combination of oils for your Lip Gloss. A few examples and ideas for you include:

Almond Oil
Coconut Oil
Apricot Oil
Hempseed Oil
Peppermint Oil
Citrus Oil

Make sure that everything you are using to mix your lip-gloss in is clean.

Petroleum Jelly Base:

Mix the petroleum jelly and scented oil in a 50-50 ratio in a glass measuring cup (like the Pyrex ones with the handle). If you do not have a glass measuring cup, a glass bowl will work just fine. For smaller lip gloss containers use 1-2 teaspoons of each, and for larger containers like baby food jars use 3-5 tablespoons of each.

If you want to add just a hint of color, you can add just a sliver (or more or less) to your mix as well!

Heat the petroleum jelly and oil in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, and then stir. Repeat this process until the ingredients are melted together. The amount of time you will need to heat it will be different depending on the amount to lip gloss you are making.

Cocoa Butter Base:

Cocoa Butter has a bit of a chocolate scent to it, so you have to think about that when choosing your oil scents. Cocoa Butter lip gloss is also not as shiny as the Petroleum Jelly gloss, but is a great moisturizer. Follow the same instructions as with the Petroleum Jelly Base.

After your base and scented oils are heated and mixed together well you can add it to your container of choice. If you have a dropper or syringe type medicine dispenser, they work great to transfer the gloss from your measuring cup or bowl to your container. If not you can use a spoon to transfer it. The glass measuring cups are nice to use, because you can slowly pour the gloss into the larger containers.

After you make your first batch, you may decide that it is not the right consistency for you, feel free to add more or less of each ingredient. You can also mix a bit of Cocoa Butter with the Petroleum Jelly as well to get a completely different consistency. I love experimenting with different ingredients and amounts used.

Enjoy using your homemade Lip Gloss!

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