The LipSync Project: 15 Days of Treats for Your Lips - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of The LipSync Project!

When it comes to flavoring lip products, we have basically two choices: essential oils or flavor oils.

Essential oils, because they’re derived from natural sources (mostly plant materials), provide a limited selection for flavoring purposes. Many that may be used for flavoring are from the citrus fruit family: lime, lemon, orange, but there’s also anise, cinnamon, clove, peppermint, etc. But some essential oils can cause photosensitivity, and may cause the skin to burn more easily when exposed to sunlight, particularly when used in leave-on products like lip balms.
Flavor oils are synthetic (I always choose pthalate-free!), and therefore can be manufactured in just about any possible flavor. They are available sweetened, but I prefer the unsweetened - with a sweetener, there is a tendency to lick, which may promote dry, chapped lips.

As with fragrance oils, when I add new flavor and essential oils to my inventory, I open each bottle as soon as they arrive and smell the aroma, touch to feel the consistency and try to see how it feels on the skin - and just get an overall first impression for my records.

Along with many formulators, I make up a large batch of lip balm and lip gloss base each week, and then flavor & color smaller quantities to order. I want every customer to receive as fresh a product as possible!

I start testing by melting a small amount of base and adding the manufacturer’s minimum suggested percentage of each Flavor Oil per batch. I test and record how each oil dispurses in the base, how it affects the color and of course, how it smells. Once the base solidifies, I test and record how the flavored balm feels on the skin, how it tastes (even though flavor oils have no actual flavor, too much can create a bitter aftertaste in balm) and how long the aroma lasts.

I then remelt the flavored base, adjust the amount of Flavor Oil as necessary, and then more notekeeping. I may do this several times - or start over from scratch - until I get exactly what I want: intense, long-lasting aroma that doesn’t adversely effect the foundation of the Lip Balm or Butter.

When I have the percentage of each flavor oil recorded for future formulating, I can then start playing with color! I test which shades of mica will work best with each scent, carefully recording amounts and colors so it can easily be recreated later.

And then I can finally name my new Lip product! And that’s a big part of the fun - I love coming up with awesome new blends and fun names for my products. I’ll sit with a notebook for hours on end drawing up potential names - and am usually quite pleased with myself when I come up with a yummy new Lip Butter flavor like Mexican Hot Chocolate (coming soon!) or memorable, descriptive Lip Gloss names like Fiercely Fuschia and Marvelously Merlot (superlatives are a fun trademark of my LipSync Line of Lip Glosses).

And here’s today’s LipSync Lip Treat for Day 3:

LipSync Mineral Tinted Lip Butter in Vanilla Latte, .25oz slide tin
LipSync handmade Lip Butters are extra-emollient and moisturizing and enriched with Vitamin E. Formulated with only the highest quality ingredients - and 3 different ultra-rich butters - they're the ultimate in promoting soft, supple, smooth lips. And with a hint of sheer color, they can be worn alone, under or over lipstick and lip liners.

Vanilla Latte Lip Butter imparts the scent of rich, creamy coffee with a hint of vanilla. This Lip Butter adds a sheer tint of a light chocolate-brown shimmer to your lips.

LipSync Vanilla Latte Mineral Tinted Lip Butter is available for $4.00 + Shipping at my new shop on etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39491564

Tune in to Day 4 of The LipSync Project: 15 Days of Treats for Your Lips for more fun - and maybe even a recipe - and of course, a brand new treat for your lips!