How to Make Lip Gloss Rollers

Learn how to make your own lip gloss with all natural ingredients in this easy DIY lip gloss recipe. You can even choose your favorite scent and flavor to customize the clear lip gloss base.

Do you remember those roll-on lip glosses from when we were kids? I have fond memories of collecting all the different flavors.

I decided to try making my own DIY roll-on lip gloss bottles I can share with my daughters. In less than 5 minutes, you can make several bottles of your own custom flavored roll-on lip gloss.

It’s a fun project to make with a group of girls and any extra tubes make great gifts. Plus the final product feels so nice on dry lips and one bottle goes a long way!

Supplies and Tools

• ¼ cup of coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons of jojoba oil
• 24 drops of essential oil
• Six 10 mL roller bottles
• Double boiler
• Essential oil dropper
• Small mixing bowl

By the Numbers: How to Make Lip Gloss

Follow these simple steps to learn how to make the best clear lip gloss with simple ingredients.

Step 1: Combine Ingredients.

The first step is to make sure you have a clean work surface to start with. This is really important when making DIY Beauty Products.

Next, add ¼ cup of coconut oil, 2 teaspoons of jojoba oil and 24 drops of essential oil to a small mixing bowl and mix until well combined. If your coconut oil is completely solid at room temperature, you’ll want to melt it in a double boiler just long enough until it’s melted and clear – it doesn’t need to be hot.

Once it’s combined, evenly distribute the lip gloss mixture to your roller bottles using a small dropper or pipette with a syringe tip.

Step 2: Shake and Use Lip Gloss.

Once you’ve filled all of your bottles, push the rollerball tops onto the bottle and close the lids. After shaking well, your rollerball lip gloss is ready to apply to your lips.

Tips for Making Lip Gloss

Answers to all of your questions about making lip gloss at home, including tips and substitution ideas.

1. What are good flavors for lip gloss?

Now that you know how to make a great lip gloss base, you want to customize it with a nice scent and flavor:

Some popular options for your lip gloss are:

• Orange and vanilla (add a ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract)
• Bergamot and grapefruit
• Peppermint and lavender
• Cinnamon and orange (cinnamon is great for lip plumping)
• Peppermint and orange
• Spearmint
• Toasted coconut and vanilla

If you’re looking for flavors reminiscent of the lip gloss rollers of our childhood, you can try using flavor oils. You can find all sorts of fun flavors like strawberry, butter pecan, pink lemonade, root beer and bubblegum.

This is not a hard and fast rule but, in general, you will use about 50% more flavoring oils than you would essential oils. So instead of 20 drops of essential oil, you’ll want to use about 30 drops of flavor oil.

2. Can different carrier oils be used?

Yes, you can use whatever carrier oil you like, such as olive oil, castor oil, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil or vitamin e oil. Read my post on using carrier oils to learn more about the properties of each carrier oil.

In my opinion, one of the best options to use if you don’t want to deal with solid coconut oil, is castor oil. It’s a thicker oil than the rest and it works great for lip gloss. Mix it with vegetable glycerine at a 2:1 ratio and you have the perfect gloss consistency.

You can even use half cocoa butter or shea butter in place of solid coconut oil, but you will need to melt it in a double boiler first to be able to get it into roller bottles.

There are so many different ways to make lip gloss. I always recommend following a recipe the first time you make it, then it’s fun to experiment away!

3. Where to get lip gloss containers?

While I used roller bottles for my lip gloss, there are other types of containers that can be used too. The place I’ve found to have the best selection of roller bottles, lip gloss tubes and lip balm containers is Your Oil Tools. They have a bunch of different sizes and colors and you don’t have to buy a huge quantity to get a good price.

Alternatively, Mountain Rose Herbs also carries roller bottles if you shop with them for your beauty product making supplies. I wrote a whole article on choosing the best containers for DIY beauty products.

4. Can you reuse bottles?

Yes, if you have empty containers, you can reuse them if they’re well cleaned and sanitized first.

5. Best essential oils?

I like Rocky Mountain Oils. They have a great selection of pure essential oils and you don’t have to place a monthly order – you can just order when you want. The scents last a really long time compared to many other brands too.

6. Alternative to a double boiler?

If you’re just wanting to melt the coconut oil, another method you can use is to put the jar into a bowl of very warm water (not boiling). It will slowly melt the oil so you can use it.

7. More lip gloss recipes?

If you like making homemade lip gloss, try some of these recipes. But first, make sure you use a good homemade lip scrub!

• DIY Tinted Natural Lip Balm (uses mica powder for a pop of color)
• Honey Cinnamon Lip Gloss
• Homemade Chocolate Lip Balm
• Homemade Lip Balm with Peppermint Essential Oil

Popular DIY Beauty Recipes