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
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!
