Homemade beauty goodies: hemp and honey lip balm

Stuck for pressie ideas? Smart women can never have too many lip balms, and this nourishing, all-natural recipe from Karen Gilbert, author of Natural Beauty (CICO Books; £12.99) is super functional: working overtime to keep lips primed and protected against the harshest winter weather. Plus, who isn’t touched by the thought that goes into a DIY gift?

‘Honey is possibly one of my favorite skincare ingredients, with manuka honey from New Zealand being the ultimate luxury for its amazing antibacterial properties,’ says Gilbert. But if you’re thinking eco-points, it might actually be better to buy local than organic, because owing to strict organic classification laws, most organic honey is actually imported from Australia and New Zealand.

In the mood for getting crafty? Why not whip up some herbal bath bags while you’re at it?

‘Find a local beekeeper from whom to buy honey (and beeswax too, if possible) to help support your local community,’ advises Karen. City dweller? No excuse, beekeeping is actually more common than you think. Search online for local city farms and even individual city-based producers with hives. No joy? ‘Search for your closest farmers’ market where there is bound to be someone selling local honey,’ advises Karen.

Once you’ve found your honey, whip up a big batch of these. It’s much easier to do than individual pots, due to the small quantities used. Most lip balm jars or tins hold around 15ml, and this recipe is for four 15ml jars.

Ingredients

10g beeswax
10g cocoa butter
15g shea butter
4 tsp almond oil
1 tsp hemp oil
2 tsp honey

Equipment

Double boiler (one saucepan nesting inside another saucepan, or a heatproof bowl resting over a saucepan)
Metal spoon
Small glass jug
Electric (or battery-operated) milk frother
4 x 15ml jars

Method

1. Melt the beeswax, cocoa and shea butters in the double boiler with the almond oil.

2. Add the hemp oil and honey and stir until liquid. As honey is water-soluble, it doesn’t totally dissolve with heating and will need to be mixed in the next step.

3. Remove from the heat and pour the hot mixture into the jug. Blend with the milk frother until the honey is mixed in and the consistency is thicker, but still pourable. if you don’t have a milk frother, stand the jug in a bowl of cold water and keep stirring the mixture until it cools. As you stir, you’ll notice the mixture getting thicker and the honey will start to blend in. To help it along, you can put the jug in the refrigerator for a minute or two.

4. Once it is a thick but pourable consistency, pour the balm into the jars to set.

 All done? Tweet and share your snaps of your homemade beauty creations with us @healthymag

The above extract is taken from Natural Beauty by Karen Gilbert (CICO Books, £12.99). Karen Gilbert runs workshops around the UK; see www.karengilbert.co.uk for more information

Summary

Article Name

Homemade beauty goodies: hemp and honey lip balm

Description

Homemade beauty products are the perfect stocking filler - and this one is packed with manuka honey, a superfood which can keep lips nourished all winter

Author

Roisin Dervish-O'Kane

Publisher Name

Healthy Magazine

Publisher Logo