Hmmm, you have used lip flavour in your lip balm, but it doesn’t taste like ….. vanilla, or strawberry or pineapple? Why not?
Lip flavours are really lip-safe fragrances. Yes, that’s correct, they are not tasty! They smell delish, but there’s something missing. Sweetness.
When you “taste” commercial lip products (balms, juicy glosses etc) you’re actually tasting aspartame or another sugar substitute (remember sugar is not oil soluble, it’s water soluble). So as you taste the balm, you inhale the fragrance (scent) through your nose and the brain is tricked into thinking that the lip balm has a delicious watermelon taste (again insert any flavour!).
I can often “taste” lavender essential oil when I am working with it in hot soap, which is another olfactory connection.
Anyway, you can replicate this by adding a sweetener to your balm. When you think oh, good, sugar or honey, well, no, not so simple unless you are making a water based product, which most lip products aren’t. We carry Lip Smacking Sweetener, which is suitable for anhydrous products and totally edible, and Organic Stevia Drops. Remember the all-oil state of lip balm? This means the stevia (which is in an aqua-alcohol solution) will separate. I find that when I add it I allow the balm to sit a few minutes and in a Pyrex jug you can see the little “water” globules settle to the bottom. Then I carefully pour, and don’t let those water globules go into my lip balm pots or tubes. I then wipe that out with a paper towel – yes a small amount of waste to get the natural sweetness.
Like all lip balm making, do taste and test as you formulate, and keep accurate notes for next time.
