Victorian Natural Tinted Alkanet Lip Balm Recipe

diy natural tinted lip balm recipe with alkanet root

I made Victorian lip balm which is tinted with alkanet root. This natural lip balm requires just three ingredients, and is fast and easy to make. The lip balm can also be used as cream blush.

DIY alkanet root lip balm recipe

Ingredients:

  • 30g beeswax
  • 60g almond oil
  • 1,5g alkanet root

alkanet lip balm recipe

Melt alkanet, oil and beeswax together. The alkanet root colors the oil red immediately. Some seconds later, the alkanet oil is very red. The Victorian recipe says to let the mixture stand for some hours, but after a minute or so the wax hardens. So infuse the lip balm over low heat (water bath). Then strain the lip balm through a sieve.

diy natural tinted lip balm recipe with alkanet root

The lip balm looks red in the jar; but on the skin it’s a very becoming warm pink tone.

The color of the lip balm is very similar to my natural lip color, so it doesn’t give much color to the lips. But the lip balm is perfect as cream blush: it gives a lovely flush to the cheeks. If you prefer the matte look of powdered blush, use homemade natural rose petal powder blush as setting powder over the cream blush.

Homemade Natural Rose Petal Blush Recipe

Here I’m wearing the alkanet cream blush on my cheeks together with my rose powder blush. I’m also wearing homemade Edwardian mascara and Victorian violet face powder.

Update: I made alkanet lip balm again, but this time I replaced almond oil and alkanet root with DIY alkanet oil: it’s oil which is infused for some days or weeks with alkanet root. To make the lip balm, I just melted alkanet oil together with beeswax. On the pic above you can see the difference: the new lip balm is much redder. The top one is the old lip balm with alkanet root and almond oil, the bottom one is the new lip balm with alkanet root oil.

Here you’ll find more Victorian and Edwardian lip balm and cream blush recipes.

16 thoughts on “Victorian Natural Tinted Alkanet Lip Balm Recipe

  1. I’ve never heard of alkanet which is one of the reasons I love seeing your homemade cosmetic recipes. So many new ideas. Pinning and looking out for alkanet now I know it’s a thing. Thanks.

    1. Thanks, Julie! 🙂 Dyer’s alkanet (alkanna tinctoria) is a blue flower, and the root is used to dye food, makeup, soap, fabric and wood.

  2. I bought some dried alkanet roots to try out your recipe 🙂 I developed hypersensitivity to most petrol-based lip products when I hit my third decade of life. I have high hopes this wonderful natural balm will help add a dash of healthy colour to my normally pale lips!

  3. Love the recipe! I’m excited to try it out. I think this will make great gifts for all the women in my family. Any idea what the shelf life of this is?

    1. Thank you! This lip balm has a very long shelf life. I had one for years and it was still good. However, if the lip balm starts to smell rancid or change color, you should stop using it.

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