28 recipes

Lip Care

Lips have the thinnest skin on the face, so every recipe here is small, soft and short: a sugar scrub used once a week, a honey or shea mask left on overnight, a beet or berry tint for a little colour. Ingredients are chosen because you would happily eat them, since some of every lip product ends up in your mouth. You will not find anything here that plumps by irritating — no peppermint oil, no cinnamon — because a tingle that swells the lips is the lips being hurt, not helped.

None of these will cure cracked lips in winter or change their shape; they will leave lips feeling smooth and comfortable and looking naturally glossy. The scrubs are anhydrous and keep for a couple of weeks in a clean jar; anything with fruit or honey diluted in water should be made fresh. Go gently with the scrubs, never scrub broken or bleeding lips, and patch test the tints on the inner arm before wearing one out for the day.