Make and Sell Lip Balm Online (2024)

Chapped lips are a universal problem—a lot of us use a balm or stick day by day to maintain our lips soft and smooth. While lip balm will not be something you’d immediately consider when on the lookout for a business opportunity, the growing interest in natural lip care makes this necessity a viable product idea.

Yes, consider it or not, learning how one can make lip balm is a marketable skill. Avid DIYers (do it yourself) who concoct all forms of creative projects can take that keenness and channel it right into a side business. DIY lip balm is an incredible product for fledgling entrepreneurs on the prowl for a brand new idea to construct a business around.

It’s easy to take the below recipe and customize it to create your individual lip balm to market. Since the ingredients are relatively inexpensive and it’s easy to make in your individual kitchen, homemade lip balm is a viable method to turn a creative passion right into a product.

Why sell homemade lip balm?

Homemade lip balm has develop into a vital lip product for consumers. Mordor Intelligence estimates the worldwide lip care market at $4.52 billion in 2024, with a predicted 4.9% compounded growth rate every year through 2029.

The market research company also reports a rise in awareness regarding personal care products, especially those containing natural ingredients. Rising lip care issues, comparable to chapping, splitting, and wrinkles, is estimated to further propel the demand for lip balm, especially amongst millennials. And an increasing amount of men have gotten keen on lip care products.

Lip balm is for everybody. Whether you employ it day by day or carry it around for when your lips are dry, it’s a helpful product for consumers. In truth, 81% of girls and 39% of men use lip products day by day, with women averaging about 2.35 times per day—some as much as 14 times in a day.

Google Trends shows consistent interest in lip balm over the past five years. Consumers are likely to seek for lip balm most in the autumn and winter months. You’ll notice the uptrend in interest begins mid-October and finishes around March. This offers lip care retailers a pleasant seven-month window to push sales before summer.

Since lip balm has a universal purpose, it might probably be sold anywhere, making it top-of-the-line crafts to make and sell. Searches for lip balm expand across the globe, including Singapore, Indonesia, the UK, Latest Zealand, and Australia.

So in the event you’re an entrepreneur on the lookout for a brand new product to sell, lip balm is a solid option for you. A lip balm business offers quite a few advantages, including:

• Low price to make. Making lip balm doesn’t require pricey materials. Some sources say DIY lip balm costs around 12¢ per tube.
• Global interest. Balm and other lip care products don’t have any boundaries. There is obvious interest around the globe. It’s also a straightforward product to ship.
• Easy DIY craft to learn.Lip balm recipes are easy to follow. As you’ll see within the formula below, it’s an easy process.
• Easy to customize.With so many alternative bases and smells, it’s easy to personalize lip care products and differentiate yourself from competitors.

Creating lip balm is a skill you possibly can turn right into a nice side income. You might not find it profitable to start out a lip balm business by itself, since the profit margins are low. But you possibly can easily expand into different body and skincare products.

Many brands, like Meow Meow Tweet, take this path to create a more sustainable lifestyle. It offers lip balm, just like the Coconut Cacao vegan balm below, alongside a combination of complementary face care products.

Regardless, it’s clear that lip balm could be a profitable enterprise when done right. It’s a great creative outlet, because you possibly can produce any sort of lip balm possible. And you possibly can easily expand into other product categories if you ought to grow beyond lip balm.

Forms of homemade lip balm

Now that we’ve established that natural lip balm offers enough demand and sales to potentially support a brand new homemade lip balm line, let’s examine the assorted sorts of lip balm you possibly can try recreating.

While there are many sorts of natural lip balm, listed here are a few of the hottest and pervasive types on shelves today.

Beeswax lip balm

With regards to selecting natural ingredients for the bottom of your lip balm, one among the go-to substances to make use of is beeswax. In spite of everything, probably the most popular brands of natural lip balm—Burt’s Bees—is created from beeswax.

Beeswax pellets are also easy to order, mix well with other lip balm ingredients, and are relatively inexpensive (you possibly can order one pound of beeswax pearls/pastilles for around $9).

Tinted lip balms

While natural lip balm is mostly used to treat or prevent chapped lips, loads of us also prefer to add a pop of color to our mouths while we’re at it.

As such, there are a number of tinted lip balms in innumerable colours. From pinks, oranges, purples, reds, and all the things in between, you possibly can create loads of custom shades using either a small amount of lipstick mixed in along with your recipe or mica powder in your chosen pigment.

Medicated lip balms

To assuage chapped or dry lips, many natural lip balm varieties include ingredients to alleviate pain from cracked skin. Probably the most common ingredients include menthol or camphor, which ease dry lip pain.

Homemade lip balm creators may include a wide range of essential oils of their recipe so as to add other healing qualities, comparable to lavender for stress relief.

If you happen to are selling medicated lip balm, you’ll wish to read the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulations for cosmetics packaging and labeling. Cosmetics are regulated by the FDA, which is strict with how you possibly can package and market lip balm products. You don’t wish to get fined for not complying with the law when starting your lip balm business.

CBD lip balms

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one among the cannabinoids present in cannabis plants. Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD doesn’t offer you a “high.” But it surely does have therapeutic effects that profit the skin, like moisturizing dry and chapped lips.

CBD isn’t the bottom of the lip balm. It’s often mixed with other ingredients, like kokum butter, beeswax, coconut oil, almond oil, olive oil, avocado oil, castor oil, and hempseed oil to create the ultimate product. If you happen to select to supply CBD-infused lip balm, search for the next indicators of safety and quality:

• Made with US-grown hemp
• Freed from pesticides, heavy metals, and molds
• Accommodates not more than 0.3% THC
• Made by an organization that gives proof of third-party testing by an ISO17025-compliant lab

Vegan lip balms

Vegan lip balms use no animal byproducts of their formulas. They cater to consumers who don’t eat or use food and other products derived from animals, be it by preference or for medical reasons.

These lip balms use ingredients like coconut oil, sunflower oil, cocoa butter, vitamin E, jojoba oil, and calendula flower extract to hydrate and protect the lips. They’ll even come medicated with SPF to guard lips from sun and wind damage.

Take Hurraw! Balm, for instance. The brand makes vegan, raw, organic, and fair trade balms. It features tinted balms, ayurvedic and medicated balms, and classic styles using all-natural ingredients.

SPF lip balms

SPF lip balms offer some kind of sun protection. They could include ingredients like carrot seed essential oil, red raspberry seed oil, coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, and zinc oxide—each of which has its own SPF advantages.

It’s essential to notice, nevertheless, products that claim to have SPF may require additional licensing or certification from the FDA. You’ll want to make sure you refrain from claiming protection from skin cancer and skin aging unless you will have your products tested by an authorized and approved lab. 

make and sell lip balm online

While there are numerous varieties of homemade lip balm, we’re offering a DIY lip balm recipe here so that you can customize. Change out the beeswax base, use your chosen essential oils, or add color for a tint to personalize the next recipe for your individual purposes.

Gather your ingredients and tools

Before getting began, you’ll must assemble all of your ingredients and tools including:

• Beeswax: 2 tbsp. You should buy beeswax in pearl or pastille form from local farmers markets or online sellers like Bulk Apothecary.
• Shea butter: 2 tbsp. Procure some creamy, raw shea butter to your balm base from Bulk Apothecary or Amazon.
• Coconut oil: 2 tbsp. Buy this common ingredient out of your local food market, a bulk-buying retail store like Costco, or Amazon.
• Essential oils: several drops. Whatever scent you favor to your homemade lip balm, you could find a wide range of essential oils at most discount stores (think Walmart or Goal), health and wellness stores, or online from Amazon. Popular essential oils for lip balm include peppermint, lavender, lemon, vanilla, and grapefruit.
• Mica powder: 1/2 tsp. To offer your homemade lip balm a rosy tint, purchase mica powder from Amazon, or Bulk Apothecary.
• Lip balm containers. Discover a place that can sell containers to your homemade lip products, whether you favor lip balm tubes, jars, or tins.
• Plastic pipette. To assist fill your containers without spilling.
• Double boiler. To slowly melt your ingredients together.
• Spatula or picket spoon. For mixing your ingredients together.

Mix ingredients

1. Take the beeswax, shea butter, and coconut oil and put them in the highest pot of a double boiler.

2. Add tap water to the underside pot. Place the double boiler in your stove, and switch the warmth to medium high. Once all of the ingredients begin to melt within the pot, use a spatula or picket spoon to stir and mix.

Add your scent

3. Once all the bottom ingredients are melted and well combined, remove the double boiler from the direct heat. Keep the highest pot above the underside pot containing the water to keep up the temperature of the ingredients (and to forestall the melted balm base from hardening).

4. After the double boiler is faraway from the direct heat, begin adding a number of drops of your favorite essential oil to the combination. Mix in five to 10 drops to start out, then test the scent. Add more essential oil based in your preference.

Add your lip balm color

5. Now you’ve added your scent of alternative, it’s time so as to add a pop of color to your lip balm mixture. From here, add a pinch of mica powder or a pinch of lipstick to the balm base. Stir to mix the colour into the combination. Slowly add more powder or lipstick to darken the colour of the mixture to your preference.

6. Once the mixture is combined, spoon the balm right into a pipette or dropper.

Finish off your homemade lip balm

7. Once the balm mixture is in your pipette or dropper, transfer the balm into your tins or chapstick tubes. Allow them to chill off at room temperature for several hours.

8. After the balm has cooled to room temperature, you’re able to sell your newly created tinted lip balm!

start a lip balm business

Now that how one can make lip balm, let’s take a look at how you possibly can start running a business selling it.

1. Research the market

A successful lip balm business won’t succeed just from labor. Take into consideration a distinct segment available in the market that isn’t being filled or a goal market you ought to reach along with your products. This can attract customers keen on buying your products.

Some ideas:

• Classic lip balm, These are the balms that you simply carry around and reapply throughout the day. Burt’s Bees or ChapStick will likely be your competitors.
• Organic and sustainable. These are for the eco-friendly buyers. They are sometimes also vegan and cruelty-free. Vegan cosmetics are expected to represent a $20.8 billion industry by 2025.
• Luxury. These balms goal high-end customers and are typically shared on social media. They use premium, natural ingredients and are higher priced. Competitors include Dior, YSL, La Mer, etc.

When doing market research, consider what other products you would offer alongside lip balm. It’s very rare for a business to succeed selling lip balm alone. Brands often sell other body or skincare products like scrubs, lotions, soaps, etc.

SUGAR Cosmetics, for instance, sells lip balm, but additionally lip scrubs, makeup, lip gloss, and other related things that might be made and sold online.

You possibly can upsell customers based on past lip balms they buy, create scent-centric bundle packages, and reach recent audiences by expanding your product line.

2. Select a catchy lip balm business name

If it looks such as you found a goal market and good products to sell, you’re ready to start out planning your brand. This implies selecting a business name and logo—each of which can ideally go in your lip balm packaging. Customers like brands with a charming story, so tying that into your name and logo will help attract attention.

FREE TOOL: Cosmetic Business Name Generator

A straightforward method to discover a lip balm business name is using a cosmetic business name generator. Simply type in a keyword for what you are promoting, for instance, “sky,” and the generator will create business name ideas and immediately check domain name availability to your online store.

3. Write a marketing strategy

A marketing strategy guides your entire journey as a lip balm maker and business owner. It helps you properly analyze your competitors so you possibly can stand out available in the market, understand what your target market is on the lookout for, and construct a solid plan for promoting your recent business.

When writing a marketing strategy, ask yourself: What’s the goal for my products? Do I need to be a brand name sold in stores like Anthropolgie? Or do I need to create a white label or private label brand for large stores like Goal or Walmart? Do I need to be a premium brand sold only in my retail and online store?

Determine your goal and keep it in mind as you create your brand.

Before you write what you are promoting plan, read through the next marketing strategy example. You possibly can download a replica in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and use it to encourage your individual planning.

4. Consider legal requirements

Do some due diligence around manufacturing and packaging practices. Depending on where you use the business, you’ll must comply with local health and safety standards before selling homemade lip balm to the general public. You might wish to look into any business licenses you’ll must sell in your region.

If you happen to’re selling in america, a great place to start out is the FDA’s Small Business & Homemade Cosmetics Fact Sheet. If you happen to’re selling in Europe or the UK, read the European Commission’s cosmetics regulations guide.

5. Start marketing your homemade lip balm business

Now that you will have the instructions to your very own homemade lip balm recipe, you possibly can start turning your recent product right into a business. And one among the first channels where you could find an audience of potential customers to your DIY lip balm is online.

Online

While there are a large number of digital channels you possibly can explore to your homemade lip balm, one among the primary steps to constructing a web-based presence is to construct your individual online store. You then have a digital home to display your handcrafted products—and a central place to drive all of the traffic you may drum up on other channels.

While a web-based store is a great place to start with marketing your homemade lip balm online, there are other channels you must explore, including:

• Instagram. Create beautiful images of your products to share with followers, connect with potential brand evangelists to construct an influencer marketing strategy, and offer behind-the-scenes peeks of the way you make and use your DIY lip balm.
• Pinterest. There’s definitely no shortage of beauty and cosmetic products on Pinterest. As one other visual social media platform, Pinterest is a implausible place to spice up discoverability. Creating beautiful pinned images can make it easier to find recent customers.
• Giveaways and contests. Many retailers have built successful strategies around giveaways and contests. They provide the chance to extend your customer base, introduce your products to recent customers, and grow what you are promoting consequently.
• Email marketing. Deliver news, promotions, and product launch details right to your customer’s inboxes. Create email marketing campaigns to extend return buyers, offer personalized product recommendations, and increase buyer loyalty.

With a lip balm brand, you’re going to place a heavy emphasis in your visual marketing, which is why platforms like Instagram and Pinterest will likely be so powerful.

In-person

While many retailers may start out being profitable online, don’t discount in-person sales. To succeed in recent audiences and experiment with recent products and income streams, consider establishing face-to-face sales opportunities along with your customers.

Homemade lip balm, either as a standalone product or as a part of a line of beauty products, might be packaged up and presented beautifully for in-person sales. Whether you favor to establish a market booth at local craft fairs or attend flea and farmers markets, DIY lip balm creators have a wealth of opportunities to reap the benefits of in-person sales.

Or, in the event you prefer to dabble in temporary retail, you possibly can try running your individual pop-up shop, or a “pop-in” shop at a beauty or cosmetics store.

At these events, not only are you able to make face-to-face connections with retail customers, you too can chat with potential wholesale customers.

If that isn’t enough, there are a wealth of other reasons homemade lip balm makers should consider in-person sales:

• Befriending fellow entrepreneurs and crafters. Connecting along with your customers could also be priority No. 1, but meeting other entrepreneurs is one other major profit. You possibly can get inspiration or recent ideas for products and marketing tactics.
• Find wholesale customers. In-person sales afford retailers the chance to seek out potential wholesalers, giving you the prospect to get your homemade lip balm into stores and in front of their built-in customer base.
• Experimentation. One in every of the benefits in-person sales has is the flexibility to experiment and get immediate feedback. You possibly can offer demonstrations, address customer queries then and there, and determine whether a brand new collection or marketing method is working.
• Construct your email list and branded social channels. In-person interactions offer you the prospect to encourage customers to enroll in your email subscriber list and follow you in your social channels to get regular news and updates out of your brand.

Doing a little bit due diligence can set yourself (and your bottom line) up for achievement. Take a look at our guide to nail the in-person selling experience, and do some homework on how mobile point-of-sale systems like Shopify POS can make it easier to sell anywhere.

Constructing a successful lip balm business

Now that you simply’re well-versed in how one can make lip balm to sell, you possibly can start your very own side hustle. Scratch your creative itch by fashioning your individual recipe, then use the above marketing tactics to get your homemade products in front of potential customers.

Soon you’ll begin to see the advantages of running your individual business selling lip balm and reap the rewards of a profitable business and better revenue.