How to Make a Seaweed Lip Salve
Seaweed is a powerhouse skincare ingredient, packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that nourish and protect your lips. Beyond its skin benefits, seaweed foraging is a health-boosting activity in itself. When sustainably sourced, seaweed is perfect for those seeking eco-friendly skincare choices—and it brings a unique, beachy vibe to your formulations.
This vegan lip salve recipe includes seaweed by incorporating a seaweed-infused oil. You’ll find instructions for making the infusion in my separate blog, How to Make a Seaweed-Infused Oil. Simply swap sunflower oil for jojoba oil to create the perfect lip salve base.
Prefer to skip the seaweed? No problem. You’ll still have a wonderfully nourishing lip balm and can dive straight into the process without waiting for the infusion.
To keep things simple, this recipe doesn’t include essential oils, but feel free to add them. Just ensure they’re lip-safe, and limit the concentration to 0.5% of your formula, as lips are especially sensitive.
I used a mineral mica in Fiery Red colour in this recipe, but this is entirely optional.
All ingredients can be purchased from The Soapery (non-affiliated). However, there are many other ingredient suppliers in the UK. If your budget allows, opt for organic.
The recipe is provided in both grams and percentages, making it easy to scale your batches up or down in the future.
Tip: While buying in bulk is often more cost-effective, natural ingredients have a finite shelf life. Start with small quantities to avoid wastage. Buy proportionately—e.g., Vitamin E makes up just 0.5% of this recipe, while shea butter accounts for 45%. Consider how quickly you'll use each ingredient and whether larger amounts might go unused. To extend shelf life, store all natural ingredients in a cool, dark place.
Equipment
- Accurate digital scale with reset (tare) function. It must have the ability to measure down to 0.01 for skincare formulation due to the small quantities you’ll be working with, especially when adding essential oils.
- Heatproof glass jar or beaker at least 100ml volume
- Small saucepan to act as your double boiler
- Small heatproof spatula
- Small container (at least 100ml) for decanting your formula
- Tea towel
Ingredients
- Shea butter 45g or 45% of recipe
- Jojoba oil (Seaweed infused, optional) 27.5g or 27.5% of recipe
- Candelilla wax 15g or 15% of recipe
- Sweet almond oil 10g or 10% of recipe
- Avocado butter 2g or 2% of recipe
- Vitamin E oil 0.5g or 0.5% of recipe
Optional additives
Essential oil. Limit to 0.5% of recipe.
Mica mineral colourant. Add 0.5 – 1g, per 100g of recipe.
Preparation
Before starting, prepare both your space and mindset. Ensure your workspace is sterile, clutter-free, and free from distractions. Keep pets and children away, and allow yourself uninterrupted time to focus. Wash your hands thoroughly, and wear hygiene gloves if preferred.
Tip: Use a Product Record to document your formula and assign a batch number (template available at the foot of this blog). Keep a notebook for all batches to log ingredients, steps, and observations. This practice ensures safety, traceability, and consistency while helping you refine future creations.
Steps
1. Weigh
Weigh each ingredient precisely, resetting (tare) your scale between measurements.
2. Melt
Add the ingredients to a heatproof container. Create a double boiler by adding shallow water to a saucepan (to prevent water from entering your formula). Heat gently, stirring occasionally. Ingredients will melt at different rates, with Candelilla wax (65–79°C) being the last to melt. Avoid excessive heat, as it can degrade natural ingredients. Keep the temperature constant and prevent boiling.
3. Remove from Heat
Once fully melted, carefully remove the container using a tea towel and wipe away any water to avoid contamination when decanting.
4. Add Essential Oil & Mica
Stir in your essential oil (if using) and mica colorant. Mix thoroughly to disperse the mica. If the formula begins hardening before the mica is fully blended, briefly return it to the double boiler to remelt.
5. Decant & Label
Pour the mixture into your final container(s). Label with the product name and batch number. The balm will harden completely in a few hours.
Usage and shelf life
Your lip balm is ready to use once it has hardened. 100g will go a long way, so you can decant the required amount of lip balm into a smaller container and store the rest. Even better, give some away as gifts!
Since this recipe is water-free, no preservative is required, and the Vitamin E is a great anti-oxidant. The shelf life matches the ingredient with the shortest expiry date, though I’ve found homemade lip balms can last for years and still perform beautifully!
Troubleshooting
Homemade lip balm can develop a grainy texture over time. This occurs when harder ingredients like shea butter reconstitute, especially when made in small batches. To minimise this, ensure all ingredients are thoroughly combined and at an even temperature before decanting.
If you have any questions or need help with any part of this process or formulation in general, feel free to get in touch.
Big love,
Jay
Tinted Seaweed Lip Salve
Made with simple, all-natural ingredients.
Simply combine all ingredients in a heat-proof container.
Gently heat over a double boiler.
Watch the magical mica colourant disperse and settle.
Nourishing, beautiful, wholesome lip salve.
