Winter Lip Care

Winter Lip Care

 

Winter is certainly a chilly one this year and when the air gets so dry and cold our skin can suffer. Your lip skin is particularly sensitive and thin, and can become dry and chapped if not taken proper care of. Here are three easy steps to follow that will ensure your lips stay hydrated, soft and plump throughout the seasons.

 

Step 1 Exfoliation

Lip scrubs help exfoliate dead skin and stimulate circulation. Scrubbing removes any dry or dead skin cells, and keeps lips smooth and soft. Lipstick will look better on exfoliated, smooth lips too.

Recipes for easy lip scrubs are almost endless, but here are a couple of our personal favourites.

Use castor sugar as anything coarser may be too rough on delicate lip skin.

 

Grapefruit Sugar Scrub

1 T  coconut oil

4 T castor sugar

1 tsp  honey

8 drops  grapefruit essential oil

8 drops  lemon essential oil

Melt the coconut oil slightly if it has hardened. Combine everything together and then massage into lips for about 5-10 minutes. Rinse off and follow up with a moisturiser.

 

Chocolate Butter Lip Scrub

3 T castor sugar

1 T  cocoa butter

3 T carrier oil such as  sweet almond oil

1 T  cocoa powder

Melt the cocoa butter and the oil together then stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Spoon into a jar and use as required.

This is an edible scrub so you can lick it off if you like!

Don’t over-exfoliate and remember to be gentle when using a lip scrub. Always follow up with a moisturiser.

 

Step 2 Hydration

Hydrating is a very important step in taking good care of your skin - including lips. We love these ultra hydrating lips masks starring some fabulous ingredients.

For this mask, I wanted to include as many humectant and hydrating ingredients as possible, hence the triple-punch of keratin, collagen and hydrolyzed wheat protein. If you have any panthenol you can add some of that too! Honey and vegetable glycerine round off the humectant ingredients.

 

Hydrating Lip Repair Mask

15-20ml boiled and cooled water

⅔ tsp  Polawax 

1.5 tsp  castor oil

½ tsp  shea butter

½ tsp  veg glycerine

⅓ tsp  honey (tip: try to use a non-crystalised honey or you may find that little crystals persist in the end product; they do dissolve on skin but it may be a little annoying for those with textural sensitivities)

5 drops  keratin

5 drops  hydrolyzed wheat protein

5 drops  marine collagen

3ml liquid preservative such as  Geogard 221

50ml  tin or container

Melt the polawax, shea butter and castor oil together. Stir the honey, vegetable glycerine and preservative into the water, then add the water mixture to the oil mixture bit by bit, stirring until a lotion consistency forms. Lastly add in the active ingredients: keratin, wheat protein and collagen. Give it a thorough blend and then use regularly. I like to use it as a night mask too.

 

Overnight Lip Mask With Lanolin

Lanolin is one of the best treatments for dry skin, and makes a great base for a moisturising lip mask.

10ml  lanolin

3ml  soy lecithin

3ml  castor oil

3ml  jojoba oil

2ml  beeswax

Simply melt everything together and stir occasionally as the mixture cools. Decant into a container and slather on before bed. It can also be used as a salve for any other dry parts.

 

Step 3 Stay Moisturised

Apply good-for-the-skin lip oils and lip balms to keep your skin moisturised and create a barrier between the skin and cold dry air and pollution.

 

Lip Oil

The butters here add a little viscosity to the oils to make a rich, glossy lip oil. It can be applied on top of matte lipstick for a gloss effect

Fun tip: infuse with hibiscus for a hint of colour!

2ml  cocoa butter

0.5ml  shea butter

11ml  coffee oil

10ml  castor oil

1ml  vitamin E oil

Roller bottle

Melt the butters together then stir in the oils and the Vitamin E. Pour into roller bottles and apply to lips as often as desired.

 

Lip balm

35ml  jojoba oil

11ml  castor oil

23ml  capric/caprylic triglycerides

12ml  shea butter

17ml  beeswax

1 drop of  Vitamin E oil

1ml  panthenol or try  hydrolyzed wheat protein

Pinch of  allantoin

Melt all the oils, shea butter and beeswax together. Combine the panthenol, allantoin and Vitamin E into the oil mixture and mix quickly into the beeswax mixture. Decant into containers while still warm and then leave to set. Apply regularly.

 

And there you have it, an easy 3-step process for beautiful lips!


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