This little experiment turned out to be super cool. Although I did not start with the intention to hack my favorite NARS lip cream/lip gloss, when the recipe was done I noticed it was e-x-a-c-t-l-y like my favorite lip cream from NARS.
NARS sells it in a tube with a wand, and also in a little jar so you can use your fingers to put it on your lips. The cream is soft and nourishing, and the color is really nice and and seems to fit most complexions.
There are two elements to focus on that make this recipe different than a standard lip balm: color and consistency.
1. Color
Choosing the right color is key to nail this NARS lip cream. Coloring cosmetics can be done using a few different ingredients, the most common way to add color to your DIY makeup is to use mica powder.
Mica is a shiny silicate mineral used in a great majority of eye shadows, bronzers, lip sticks, etc. Just go to google or Amazon and enter “mica for cosmetic use” and you’ll get a list of possibilities and combinations. When you’re done looking, come back here for the rest of the recipe 🙂
For this recipe, I used two mica colors:
- Rose Red Mica
- Gold Mica
There are a few different brands that sell mica, I don’t think it makes any difference which brand you choose, what’s important is to source the right color.
2. Consistency
The second element to this lip cream that differentiates it from a standard lip balm is the consistency. This recipe is for a creamy lip balm that is easy to apply with either your finger, or a lip stick wand (also called lip brush). There are a couple of ways you can achieve it depending on how much time you have and if you want to just make one lip cream or make a bunch to give away or sell. There is a fast and super easy recipe where you use an existing chapstick as your base ingredient, and then there is the from-scratch method.
Here they are!
Fast & Super Easy Recipe
This is the recipe I used for this experiment, it took about 10 minutes and filled 2 small lip cream containers.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 lip balm. Search your purse, open a drawer or look in your bathroom and you will most likely find a lip balm you’ve used a couple of times then forgot about it. That’s what you need.
- 1/4 teaspoon castor oil
- 1/4 teaspoon rose red mica
- 1/8 teaspoon gold mica
- 1 or 2 small containers with lids to put your final lip cream
HOW TO
- scoop out the lip balm from your container
- place the lip balm and the castor oil in a small cup or small dish and using the back of a spoon, break down the lip balm and amalgamate it with the castor oil
- add the mica and stir until everything it is evenly mixed
- place everything in your final lip cream container
From Scratch
If you want to make this lip cream from scratch and/or want to make more than one lip cream container, here are the ingredients you will need:
- 1 teaspoon beeswax pastilles or grated beeswax
- 1 teaspoon shea butter
- 1 teaspoon jojoba oil
- 1 teaspoon castor oil
- 1/4 teaspoon rose red mica
- 1/8 teaspoon gold mica
HOW TO:
- Melt the beeswax and shea butter until they are liquid
- Add the jojoba and castor oil and keep stirring until everything is well amalgamated. Let it solidify a bit before adding the mica powder as that will make it easier to disperse evenly. As a note, pouring mica powder in a hot liquid will cause it to settle at the bottom so you want it to cool and solidify a bit.
- Keep stirring until the mixture is back at room temperature, this will ensure your lip cream stays creamy and doesn’t turn hard like a chapstick.
- place everything in your final lip cream containers
I hope you enjoyed the recipe! Please comment below with any questions or feedback you have 🙂