In the Bath Fizz & Foam Lip Balms, Glosses & Salves ebook I state that my personal favorite lip balm recipe is called The One I Want. Of course I still love that recipe, but the cost of cocoa butter has gone up significantly and I don’t keep as much of it in stock as I previously did.

Recently, I had one of our BFFs ask if they could use tallow to replace the cocoa butter in that formula. Coincidentally enough, I had just tested a few alternatives for cocoa butter in lip balms about 2 weeks previously. I wanted to add them to the Scandalous Soap Co. lineup because they are such an easy upsell item at shows.

One annoying thing about testing lip balm is that you have to make them and then wait at least a few days before heat testing them, and then wait even longer to see if they go grainy. I thought I knew what direction I wanted to go, but went ahead and did a full round of product testing on them to be sure, and here are my testing notes!

Keep in mind that I was only testing these for a replacement of the cocoa butter. If I wanted to, I could also test how switching other ingredients impacts different aspects of the formula. As a best practice though, and to really understand what an ingredient is doing, it’s best to only change one thing at a time. If you find you’re interested in one of the ingredients that I personally found to be too soft, you can consider switching up the waxes and oils or the percentage of them present in the recipe.

These were all tested using The One I Want formula and replacing cocoa butter with the following fats at a 1:1 ratio:

• Palm Kernel Flakes:
  pros: melted well, hardened up nicely, no graininess, smooth application, did not melt in pockets, did not melt at shows, good lip feel
  cons: can be burned if overheated (rare, but can happen), lip balms melted in car but nowhere else

• Kokum Butter:
  pros: melted beautifully, smooth application, label appeal
  cons: longer cool-down time needed after pour, melted far too easily even in pockets, graininess possible if cooled unevenly, “sits” on lips without helping dryness (poor lip feel)

• Illipe Butter:
  pros: melted well, smooth application, long lasting, did not melt in pockets, did not melt at shows, fair lip feel
  cons: graininess possible if cooled unevenly, cost (not a fat I carry for any other product), lip balms melted in car but nowhere else

• Coconut Apricot Wax:
  pros: melted beautifully, smooth application, LONG lasting, no graininess, did not melt in pockets, did not melt at shows, did not melt in car, great lip feel
  cons: cools very quickly, approved for cosmetic use??

• Beef Tallow:
  pros: melted beautifully, smooth application, long lasting, no graininess, did not melt in pockets, did not melt at shows, did not melt in car, good lip feel, currently trendy
  cons: cost (not a fat I carry for any other product), label appeal questionable

Initially I had thought to go with Palm Kernel flakes because I do genuinely think PKF is the best replacement for cocoa butter in almost every other BFF formula. While it works great in lip balms, I was positively ENAMORED with the coconut apricot wax.

CAW was something I had picked up from Candle Science after Amanda finished the Massage Candles ebook. I wasn’t thrilled with the fugly tops soy wax makes and was looking for a wax with a smoother pour. CAW does give a smoother pour for candles, but doesn’t draw as nicely on the wick, so I ended up setting the wax aside. But here it was begging to be used as a lip balm and let me tell you… I LOVED IT.

The only problem was/is… I don’t think it’s approved for use in cosmetics. Like maybe it is? I feel like it could be? But try as I might I couldn’t find a clear—verified—answer to that question. Sure AI was willing to blow sunshine up my ass and say it was able to be used in cosmetics, but I wanted to see the receipts for that and couldn’t find them anywhere. Since this product was going on LIPS I felt like it was super important to have that confirmed, but I wasn’t able to do that… which meant as much as I liked it, it was time to move on to another option.

In the end, I decided to go with Beef Tallow. I felt like it performed perfectly head to head with PKF. Really the only thing that pushed tallow into the winner’s spot was that I left one of the balms in my car on accident on a 99°F (37°C) day. The next day when I discovered my faux pas, the balm was a little soft (understandably) but still held its shape and hadn’t melted all over my car despite the interior being hotter than Satan’s armpit.

Now look, melting in my car is sooooo not a deal breaker to me. Carmex (the incredibly addictive lip balm) melts in the car, so I don’t really expect a regular lip balm to hold up any better. BUT, if tallow was going to show up and show out, I was down for it. I think the biggest con for me is that I don’t carry beef tallow for any other product, although I used to (in fact I used to render my own tallow). That means the COGS, or cost of goods sold, will be higher than an oil or fat that I buy by the barrel. Since lip balms are small, I’m willing to make that decision.

If you live in an area where having animal fats in your product is an issue, then I would choose PKF all day. I still stand by my assertion that it’s pretty much the best alternative to cocoa butter you can find for solid lotions or balms, and the PRICE is amazing! I do however live in Texas where it’s 90000000°F everyday and cattle is king, so having a vegan product isn’t really important to my demographic, but having it resist melting IS important. Those factors played the biggest part in how I made that decision, but they might not hold as much weight for you!

Hopefully this was helpful for those of you who might be thinking about adding lip balms to your line, or just aren’t sure how to replace cocoa butter! With ANY of our formulas, we try to give you plenty of options. That being said, you should always feel free to play around and test out alternatives to ingredients that are hard to find or that don’t fit your brand aesthetic. Make it work for you! 💗

🤗 HAPPY MAKING 🤗