SPEARMINT &
LAVENDER LIP BALM

Beeswax is a natural and beneficial wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. The wax of honeycomb is nearly white, but becomes progressively more yellow or brown by incorporation of pollen oils and propolis. Bees fly an estimated 150,000 miles to yield one pound of beeswax (530,000 km/kg).

Western honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which their young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax the ambient temperature in the hive has to be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F). To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife or machine. Its color varies from nearly white to brownish, but most often a shade of yellow, depending on purity and the type of flowers gathered by the bees.

This is a slightly greenish or ivory-colored natural fat extracted from the fruit of the shea tree. Shea butter is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer and an emollient. Shea butter is also edible. It is used as a cooking oil, and sometimes as a substitute for cocoa butter.

The shea or karite tree produces its first fruit (which resemble large plums) when it is about 20 years old and reaches its full production when the tree is about 45 years old. It produces nuts for up to 200 years after reaching maturity. It usually grows to an average height of about 15m with profuse branches and a thick waxy and deeply fissured bark that makes it fire resistant. The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry Savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 19 countries across the African continent.

Cocoa butter is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity and give it a storage life of 2 to 5 years. It is used for its smooth texture in foods (including chocolate) and in cosmetics and soaps. Cocoa butter is the pale-yellow, edible natural vegetable fat of the cocoa bean. Cocoa butter is extracted from the cocoa beans and can be used to make chocolate, cocoa powder, pharmaceuticals, ointments, and toiletries. Cocoa butter has a mild chocolate flavour and aroma.

Jojoba resembles human sebum; the natural coating our body produces to protect our skin and keep it supple; our skin loses sebum with age, sun, wind, cold, and through environmental effects. Jojoba contains protein, minerals and a waxy substance that mimics collagen. It is perfect for any skin type. Jojoba oil will dissolve clogged pores and restore the skin to its natural pH balance. It penetrates the skin because it is accepted as sebum.
The oil is cold pressed from the nuts of the jojoba tree. Jojoba is very expensive because it can take up to 1200 nuts to get a single pound of jojoba which then yields 50% of oil.The jojoba tree is cultivated in California, Arizona, Mexico and Israel. Jojoba is pronounced Ho Ho Ba. Native Americans have been using jojoba for centuries. The first record of jojoba is from 1701. Jojoba is technically not an oil, but a liquid wax ester with a long unsaturated carbon chains.  Although jojoba oil is very expensive it does have a long shelf life; it will never break down or go rancid. Jojoba has very little scent making it a perfect choice to use as a natural perfume base. It is non greasy and absorbs directly into the skin. JMC Technologies has conducted scientific research proving that jojoba can increase skin softness by up to 37%, it reduces superficial lines and wrinkles up to 25% upon application and up to 11% after 8 hours.

Vitamin E acts as a free radical scavenger defending against the oxidizing process and promoting soft and supple skin. It promotes healing and is helpful in reducing scars. It acts as a natural preservative in products. Tocopherol is obtained by the vacuum distillation of edible vegetable oils. Vitamin E oil is an emollient. According to the AMA's committee on Cutaneous Health, emollients do help make the skin feel softer and smoother, reduce roughness, cracking and irritation, and may retard the fine wrinkles of aging. As an antioxidant, it removes the free radicals that cells produce. Free radicals are associated with skin cancer and premature skin aging due to sun exposure. Some experts believe antioxidants are the most vital weapons in the fight against aging. Most of the damage of our skin is caused by a free-radical assault from smoke, pollution and UV rays. Free radicals then turn the oils of our skin rancid, which damages the collagen. Collagen is the protein fibers that serve as the building blocks of our skin. Antioxidants are used in skin care products to neutralize free radicals before they ravage the skin.