Homemade Tinted Lip Balm Experiment #3

When I posted about my first attempt at making a tinted lip balm, I had one anonymous person suggest using hibiscus. It's been a long, hard winter and I am wanting something different. (Warm sunny weather would be nice, but since that seems far off yet, I will settle for just about anything that is different!) I decided that it would be fun to give the homemade cosmetics another go. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the beet root powder arrived first, so I tried that and was pretty pleased with the results. Now that the hibiscus powder has come, I had to see how it compared.

{Side by Side Comparison}

Ingredients:

• Non-petroleum jelly (directions can be found here)
• hibiscus powder (mine is organic)

Directions:

1. Place some non-petroleum jelly into a small container. I started with a tiny amount (1/4 teaspoon) and eventually realized that I needed at least 1 teaspoon for it to mix decently.
2. Add some hibiscus powder and stir with a spoon until the powder is combined. I started with 1/8 teaspoon and kept adding a 1/8 teaspoon more until I found the amount I was happy with -- 3/8 teaspoon. (This makes for a very fair comparison because these are the exact same amounts that I used to make the last trial with beet root powder.)
3. Apply tinted lip balm with a lipstick brush or a Q-tip. (These one seems to stain skin a bit more than the beet root powder version, so I don't suggest applying with a finger.)

Results:

Does it work? Yes, for sure. Will I use it? I'm not sure exactly. The two blends look nearly identical when placed side by side, but there are some differences when they're actually put to the test.

Pros: The hibiscus goes on lips with a more vibrant lip color. (You can see this in the photo where I blotted my lips.) Obviously, this is a major perk since this is what I was after in the first place.

Cons: 

• The hibiscus seems to leave more grittiness which ended up on my lips and then on my teeth. (Hence I did not show you a disembodied lip pic this time. Once I zoomed in on my lips, I saw how much gunk was on my teeth. Not exactly the polished look I was going for.) 
• Also, it seems to have more of a taste than the beet root powder -- It is not all that yummy tasting, I am sorry to say. (And I'm not really a fan of beets, so you might expect the roles to be reversed here.)
• As mentioned above, it also seems to stain skin more than the beet root formula, which could be a problem...

I will probably keep testing them both out alternately and see if I come up with a clear winner, but at the moment I am leaning toward beet root powder over this version with hibiscus powder.