Make: Lip Scrub Stick

Banish dry lip skin with this deeply exfoliating scrub…

This post comes from our friend Abbye Churchill — artist, herbalist and co-author of A Wilder Life.

No matter how experimental or creative you are with your lipstick shade, “caked around chapped lips” has never been en vogue. Banish dry lip skin with this deeply exfoliating scrub that’s a snap to make.

This recipe makes use of ingredients you may already have at home in the kitchen pantry. Gentle yet effective brown sugar and blue corn meal slough away dead skin while essential fatty-acid-dense and superlatively moisturizing coconut oil pairs with penetrating cocoa butter to hydrate the lips and lock in moisture. A few drops of Vitamin E add antioxidants to block free radicals and reduce the signs of aging.

A few swipes and poof! Your pucker is pout-worthy.

To make lip scrub stick:

1 ½ tsp grated beeswax or beeswax granules

1 tsp cocoa butter

1 tsp coconut oil

3 drops vitamin E

½ tsp brown sugar

½ tsp blue corn meal

Glass jar

Clean, empty lipstick or chapstick container

Pan

Fill your pan with about 2 inches of water and bring it to a boil.

Select your glass jar. Make sure to use a clean, sanitized jar (like a Mason jar) that you won’t mind getting dirty. If using an old pasta sauce jar or other canned good jar, make sure to wash the jar properly so no bacteria gets into your lip scrub.

Create a double boiler by placing your glass jar into the boiling water.

Add beeswax, cocoa butter, coconut oil and vitamin E into the glass jar. Wait for the ingredients to melt entirely (about 1-2 minutes).

Remove the glass jar from the boiling water and add the brown sugar and corn meal. Stir together.

Quickly pour the mixture into your empty lipstick or chapstick container. The wax will set upon cooling so act quickly!

Leave the chapstick container standing upright for at least an hour before using.

To use, simply apply to the lips like chapstick and rub the granules into your lips with your fingertips to smooth away dry, flaky lips and reveal a hydrated pout.

Photography by Erika Dufour.