I and most of my friends suffer from dry lips. Thankfully there are many products and remedies available that solve this problem pretty quickly. From lip balms to lip exfoliants to full-on lip treatments you can buy a product for every stage of the disastrous lip saga. However, when you look at some of the ingredients of these lip exfoliants and treatments it can surprising. The ingredients used are very cheap, easily sourced and you are being charged a much higher price because someone took the time to put them together. Instead, let’s put them together ourselves, save some money, and create the flavors we actually want.
There are actually only three or four required ingredients in a lip scrub. They are oil, sugar, something sticky to hold it all together, and whatever you choose to give it a little bit of flavor. Apart from that, you are just paying for some fancy packaging. There are so many varieties you can use so let’s dive in.
For the most basic scrub take 3 teaspoons white sugar, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of honey. If you want a cheap and easy scrub that works then you can stop reading right now. That will work and produce the same results as something that costs you $15 from The Body Shop. However, why stop there. You have a whole kitchen full of flavor options to enjoy and we all know that half the fun of lip treatments are the delicious flavors that are usually infused.
The first thing I tried when looking for ingredients wasn’t actually in my kitchen, it was my drinks cabinet. I used some cocktail bitters and Campari and put it with sugar and oil to make a lovely flavored scrub. Because the bitters and Campari are both liquids I decided to replace the oil with coconut oil as it is a little more solid. If you don’t like the taste of Campari or don’t have any, no problem. I think the idea of using any bitters and any liquor works well here, they are purely added for flavor so have some fun with it.
Coffee grounds are famous in blogs around the world. We writers tell people to use them in gardens, as pest control, and so much more. Apologies, I am giving you another use for them. They are great in a lip scrub. I like to use a teaspoon of coffee grounds and a little bit of cinnamon to give my lips a fantastic feeling.
If you prefer something sweeter you could try using cocoa powder and peppermint extract. This will not only be fantastic for your lips but if any ends up on your tongue, it is a delicious treat as well.
As you can see you can add basically anything to the base ingredients and have an incredible scrub in just a few moments. Once your scrub is finished use your finger to apply it to your lips and rub it on them for about 10 seconds. Then use a damp cloth to remove. Put some lip balm on your lips to keep them moist and you are ready to go the mirror and marvel at your beautiful lips.
I took this idea a little further recently. It was my friend’s bridal shower so a bunch of us were in the house playing games and drinking a little. We all made a bunch of different scrubs from what we could find around the house. It was so much fun and so exciting to see the different creative ideas that came out of that session. I found some fun recipes that I have used since and everyone left that house with amazing looking lips.
