I didn't find an xact recipe for you yet, but here is a little info. to start you on your way.
For a firm lip balm that can be used in a tube or tub, you will need a ratio of about 2:4 solids to liquids. Solids meaning wax & butters, liquids meaning oils. If you find your final product too thick, add more oils. If it is too thin, add more solids.You can keep remelting this until you get a thickness that you like. Watch out when you melt your Shea butter.. if it get to hot it will become grainy. I personally like to use mango butter in most of my recipes.
Hope this help.. I will keep my eye out for an actual recipe.
Stacy

Hi Stacy, I have both shea and mango butter. The only oils I have are the cooking kind of Olive oil and Vitamine E oil. Can cooking olive oil be used for making lip stuff? I also have vegetable glycerin. I bought it for this reason but it does not appear to be thick and sticky enough. I tried a similar recipe with the ingredients I have but it is not long-lasting. By the way, my mango butter is grainy and white. Is that normal?

Hi Kal2002,
You can use some cooking oils if not most. The olive oil is just fine.. but the vitamin E.. I haven't ever cooked with it myself, but you can use it in lip gloss and other body products. However large amounts of Vitamin E will be greasy, but that might be the feel you are going for. :0)

As for the glycerin.. there is a few grades of glycerin. I have seen both.. the lower end one at Walmart.. the high end one at health food stores & some places on the internet. I think whatever you have should be fine, unless most of your recipe is glycerin... then you might want to try and find the thicker one. Which is more expensive. I would think Mac probably uses the thicker one.. but they could use the thinner one for the price being cheaper. But really it comes down to what you like in the end.

I'm kinda wondering how much vitamin E you used in you first batch. It should, if enough is used keep it fresh for quite a while.

Yup, my mango butter is the same way as yours, it has a higher melting point then Shea butter, but as you can see by putting both of them side by side, you will have a thicker lip gloss with the mango butter. I also like the mango butter over the Shea because it is not as greasy and seems to absorb better. Also, once it is melted.. it doesn't come out grainy in the product.

Hope this helps! If you have more questions I will try to answer as best I can. Have fun with the lip gloss. :0)
Stacy

I bought the glycerin at a health food place. It is not that expensive but it does not look that thick either. I did not know they come in different thickness. My last batch of lip gloss turned out to be more like lip balm. I used 1 teaspoon of each shea and mango butter, a little vitamin E oil and a few drops of orange essential oil. It turned out to be solid so I added a little glycerin. Then it is too thin. I will try your recipe and just use 1 type of butter at a time.

I have a question about the lip glosses & balms. Has anyone tried them in the tunes (like regular lip balm)? i have made some but when i twist it to go up it wont go anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?