57

The Maldives National Journal of Research

Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2018, pp. 57-72

Production of Lip Balm From Stingless Bee

Honey

ATIYAH ATHIRAH BINTI YUSOF1, AZILAH B. AJIT1, AHMAD Z. SULAIMAN2, AISHATH

NAILA3, 1Faculty of Chemical & Natural Resources Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300

Gambang, Pahang, MALAYSIA, 2 Faculty of Bio_Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

(UMK), 3 The Maldives National University

ABSTRACT India Cosmetics is used daily by majority of the people worldwide.

Nowadays, consumer demand for natural based product cosmetics as they are safe to
use and environmentally friendly. Lip balm is a cosmetic or lip care product whose
purpose is to prevent dry and chapped lips. The quality of lip balm is directly linked
with the basic ingredients used in the formulation. This work involved the formulation
of lip balm from natural ingredients. Various composition of beeswax, shea butter,
stingless bee honey, oils and colorant were studied to obtain the best formulation.
Stingless bee honey was added to the lip balm formulation as moisturizing agent. The
physico-chemical properties of the formulations were determined including melting
point, stability, moisture content, color intensity, sensory test for human acceptance and
microbial test. From the results, the formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter
and oil with ratio 1:1:1 was the best formulation. It has high melting point and has
stable condition in low and room temperature. The presence of honey in the formulation
assisted to increase the moisture content in the lip balm. Besides that, for color
intensity, natural colorant from fruit juice and extraction contributed the color to the lip
balm but the color intensity was lower compared to powder colorant. Lastly, the
formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter and oil with ratio of 1:1:1 met the
consumer acceptance as the highest sensory test score was obtained for this
formulation.

Key words: Cosmetic, lip balm, honey, natural ingredients, moisturizing, stability

Introduction

Cosmetics can be defined as substances used to improve or to enhance the

appearances of human body (European Commission 1999). Lipstick or lip balms are
viewed as one of the most important cosmetic items in women. The essential factors
that attract customers are color, smell, ingredients, stability and extensibility of the
lipstick. There are few significant differences between lipstick and lip balm. Lipstick give
color to the lips while lip balm provides protection to the lips. The main ingredients of
lipstick or lip balm are wax, butter, oil, wax, and butter (Kasparaviciene, Savickas et al.
2016). However, the ingredients and composition depends on the type of lip balm to
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be produced. Commercial lip balm contains synthetic oil and waxes. Ingredients like
petrolatum and phthalates can

ISSN 2308-5959/21030101 (c) 2018 The Maldives National University

A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

lead to health problem such as allergies, asthma and cancer (Kadu, Vishwasrao et al.
2015).

A moisturizing lip balm helps to prevent dry and chapped lips by deeply hydrating
the outer skin cells of lips (Norazlin 2015). Hence, honey was chosen as a moisturizing
agent together with other ingredients such as beeswax, shea butter, olive oil and
coconut oil. Honey has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and natural oxidant properties that
are suitable to be added in the formulation of lip balm. Numerous studies have been
conducted to investigate the stability of natural lip balm or lipstick (Arifin, Bono et al.
2002, Rajin, Bono et al. 2007, Fernandes, Dario et al. 2013). Although the stability test
of lip balm is well understood, no research has been perfomed for formulation of
beeswax and stingless bee honey. Therefore, the objective of this study was to
establish the formulation of beeswax and stingless honey based moisturising lip balm.

In this work, natural-ingredient based lip balm was produced. Beeswax, shea butter,
coconut oil, olive oil, honey and natural colorant were used to prepare the
formulations. The effect of ingredient composition on lip balm’s pyshico-chemical
properties such as melting point, stability, moisture content, microbial content and
color intensity were studied. The consumers acceptance were also investigated to
determine the best formulation that could be produced and sold.

Materials and Methods

Materials

Stingless bee honey was obtained from nursery in Gambang (Kuantan,

Malaysia). Beeswax, shea butter, virgin coconut oil, olive oil, fruits flavoring, and
preservative were obtained from Soap Lab Malaysia. Strawberry, dragon fruit, and
pomegranate were obtained from Giant Supermarket in Kuantan. Ethanol (95% purity)
and nutrient agar were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany).

Fruits juice preparation

Fresh fruits were washed with water to remove impurities such as dust, grit and dirt.
Then, fruits were peeled, chopped and weighed. A 100 g of fruits pieces were blended
in the laboratory blender until it become a smooth puree. The puree was divided
equally among centrifuge bottles and were centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min or
until the pulp has entirely separated from the juice. The juice was filtered to remove
remaining pulp and transferred to containers, sealed and stored at -18C until
use(Harris 2007).
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 59
Betalain extraction

Fresh fruits were washed with water to remove impurities such as dust, grit and dirt.
Then, fruits were peeled and about 100g of fruits were weighed and cut into small
pieces. These small pieces fruits were added to distillation flask and mixed with 300 ml
of 98% ethanol. The mixture was placed in a water bath at 40ºC for 4 hrs to leach out
betalain. Then, the mixture was filtered to separate the betalain solution and paste.
The solution was distilled and ethanol was collected as condensate and betalain
product was left in the flask. The product was dried at 70-80ºC for 30 min and
weighed(Shune and Khin 2014).

Lip balm formulation

Beeswax and shea butter were heated with an indirect flame (by double boiling) at
temperature 75-85 ºC with continuous stirring. After the wax melted, virgin coconut
oil, olive oil and honey were added into the mixture. Then, the natural colorant from
fruit juice or betalain extract was added and heated. Stirring was continued until a
proper dispersion was achieved. Finally, the hot mixture was poured into lipstick molds
and refrigerated at 5ºC for one h and stored at room temperature for 48 hrs to
stabilize the lip balm (Alessandrea & Michelli, 2013). The experiment was repeated
using different composition of beeswax, shea butter, virgin coconut oil, olive oil, honey
and colorant to obtain the stable formulation.

Analysis parameters

Melting point

The melting point of the lip balm was observed with SMPI Melting Point Apparatus
Model SMP10. A small quantity of lip balm was placed into the capillary tube of the
apparatus, and heated. The melting point was the point where the first liquid
formation occurred (Awang et al., 2002).

Stability test

The lip balm formulation was evaluated for 30 days under the conditions of room
temperature (25.0 ± 2.0 ºC), oven (40 ± 2.0) and refrigerator (5 ± 1.0). The
characteristic such as appearance was assessed on the 3rd, 7th, 15th and 30th
(Alessandrea & Michelli, 2013).

Moisture analysis for lip balm

The moisture of the lip balm was determined by its moisture content. The moisture
loss of lip balm was determined by AOAC method. Lip balm was weighed and recorded
as ‘wet weight of sample’. Then, the wet sample was dried in an oven (CE Model 30L)
at 70ºC for 1 h. The sample was left to cool down at room temperature, and was
weighed again to record the dry weight of the sample. The moisture content of the
sample was quantified using the following formula:

W%=(A-B)/A×100% eq.(1)
60
Where W% = moisture loss to the surrounding

A = wet weight of sample

B = dry weight of sample

A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman, A
Naila

Moisture analysis for lips

Moisture analysis for lips were done by using equipment called Digital Moisture
Monitor for Skin (Model SK-IV). Lips of respondents were first ensured to be clean and
dry. Then moisture level of respondents’ lips were measured before applying the lip
balm. Then, lip balm was applied to the lips of the respondents. After ten minutes,
moisture of the lips were measured. Moisture content was analyzed using (eq 1).

Colour intensity

For colour intensity test, lip balm formulated from fruit juice and betalain extract
were tested to identify which method gives the best colour. Lip balm was placed in a
tray of Lovibond Tintometer (Model F Calorimeter) and the intensity of colour range
was determined (Norazlin et al, 2015).

Sensory test

The objective of the sensory test was to evaluate the quality of product acceptance
by the consumer. The consumer acceptance was investigated using the Ranking Test.
The sensory test was conducted using lip balm with different composition of beeswax,
shea butter, oil and honey. Sensory test was carried out using 50 participants. The
respondents were asked to rank the acceptance from 1 to 3; 1-bad, 2-average and 3-
good based on the hardness, spreadability and moisture of the lip balms (Awang et al.,
2002). Hedonic scale is used to check the overall consumer acceptance while ranking
test is used to check the best formulation.

Microbial test

Preparation of nutrient agar and agar plates

Nutrient agar powder (23 g) was weighed and mixed with 1 L of distilled water in 1L
Schott Bottle. The mixture was autoclaved at 121ºC for 20 min. For the preparation of
agar plates, 15-20 ml of warm sterile nutrient agar was poured into the petri dishes
and left to solidify at room temperature.

Spread plate technique

Firsly, work place and apparatus were sprayed with ethanol to decrease the
contamination. Lip balm was scoop out from the mould and placed at the center of
agar plate. The lip balm was spreaded evenly on the surface of the agar by using sterile
plastic spreader (hockey stick). After lip balm was fully spread on the surface of agar,
petri plate was incubated in an inverted position at 30ºC for 24 hrs(Diane 2011).
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 61
Results and Discussion

Melting point
Melting point of the lip balm was affected by the composition of beeswax in the
formulation. Three types of lip balm with beeswax composition of 1.25, 2.50 and

3.25 gram gave different results. As the beeswax composition increased the melting
point of the lip balm also increased (Figure 1). This finding is in agreement with Mariani
et al (2007) that the beeswax enhance the melting point of the lip balm.
Figure 1: Effect of beeswax composition on the melting point of the lip balm

Figure 1. Effect of beeswax composition on the melting point of the lip balm

The melting point of the lip balm of this study was between 58 to 70ºC. According to
Mariani et al. (2007) melting point of lip balm is generally within the ranges of 55 to
75ºC. Thus, the lip balms of this study fall within the general melting point ranges of lip
balms. Therefore, lip balms with higher composition of beeswax increased in hardness
which resulted in higher melting point.

Stability

Six types of lip balm with same formulation were placed at different conditions to
study the stability. Two lip balms were placed at room temperature, two lip balms
were placed at oven and two lip balms were placed at refrigerator. Result of stability
test included appearance, color, odor and spreadability of the lip balm (Table 1). The
appearance of lip balm was marked as Normal and Modified. In Normal condition,
there were no change of appearance and in Modified condition, the appearance
changed on the surface of the lip balm. The appearance was normal under refrigerator
and room temperature conditions, but modified under oven condition. Blooming and
streaking was not observed in the appearance of the lip balm stored at all conditions.
In Oven Condition, lip balm appeared sweat and the texture was soft due to effect of
high temperature. These changes were classified as Modified in Table 1.

As for color of the lip balm in three conditions, no color change was observed at
room temperature and refrigerated condition. However, color of the lip balm changed
at oven condition. Meanwhile for the odor, strawberry and raspberry flavoring added
to the lip balm remained stable throughout 30 days of testing under all temperature
conditions.
62
Lastly for spreadability test, spreadability of lip balm was assumed good for
formulations stored under refrigerator and room temperature. Lip balm showed
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 63

uniformity and perfect application without fragmenting or deformation under these

conditions. On the other hand, under oven condition, spreadability of lip balm was
considered bad since the application was not uniform, and fragments and deformation
of the lip balm was observed during test.

Table 1
Evaluation of physical characteristics and spreadability of lip balm in stability test
Parameters Storage conditions

Refrigerator Room Temperature Oven

3d 7d 15d 30d 3d 7d 15d 30d 3d 7d 15d 30d

Appearance N N N N N N N N M M M M
Color N N N N N N N N M M M M
Odor N N N N N N N N N N N N
Spreadability G G G G G G G G B B B B
Conditions: Refrigerator (5.0 ± 1.0 ºC),Room temperature (25.0 ± 2.0 ºC),Oven (40 ± 2.0
ºC)

Appearance, Color, Odor: N-Normal, M-Modified

Spreadability: G-Good, B-Bad

In summary, appearance, color, odor and spreadability of the lip balm were found
normal and good at room temperature and refrigerated condition (Table 1). The lip
balm must not be stored at oven condition (40 ± 2.0 ºC).

Moisture
Moisture analysis for lip balm
The main point of honey lip balm which promotes moist property was determined
by moisture content. Four types of lip balm with honey composition of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and
2.5 gram were tested. The result of moisture loss to the surrounding was shown in
Figure 2.
64 A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

Figure 2. Effect of honey composition to the moisture loss of lip balm

Figure 2 shows that as honey composition increases, the moisture loss of lip balm
decreases. This is because as composition of honey increases, the moisture of the lip
balm also increases. Honey composition consists of sugars, lactic acid and amino acids
that behave as humectants. Therefore, honey enhanced humectant properties in the
formulation. Besides that, humectant activity is also due to presence of small polyol
molecules such as glycerin, propylene glycol and sorbitol (Isla et al, 2013).

Moisture analysis for lips

Since function of lip balm is to moisture the lips, it is essential to measure the lips
moisture after applying the lip balm. Moisture content of the lips of 15 respondents
were measured before and after the application of lip balm. The results were shown in
Figure 3.

Figure 3. Percentage increase of lips moisture

 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 65

For the study of lips moisture, the result obtained had achieved the objective of this
study which is formulating a moisturizing lip balm. All the lips moisture of respondents
tested showed the different level of lips moisture before and after applying lip balm,
the moisture level increased between the ranges of 10.73% to 38.15%. The results
indicate that there was difference in lips moisture of people who did not use lip balm
and who use lip balm. Honey has hygroscopic properties, which mean it can absorb
moisture in the air when being exposed(Manisha and Shyamapada 2011).

Sensory test for consumer acceptance

The objective of sensory test was to investigate the consumer acceptability towards
lip balm samples. Table 2 shows the best three formulations of lip balm selected by
respondents in the Ranking Test.

Table 2. Result of the Ranking Test; S1 indicates the formulation of Sample 1, S2

indicates the formulation of Sample 2 and S3 indicates the formulation of Sample 3.

Table 2
Evaluation of physical characteristics and spreadability of lip balm in stability test
Samples/ S1 S2 S3
Compositions g % g % g %
Beeswax 2.5 26.32 1.25 17.24 2.5 28.57
Shea butter 2.5 26.32 2.5 34.48 1.25 14.29
Oil 2.5 26.32 2.5 34.48 2.5 28.57
Colorant 2.0 21.05 1.0 13.79 2.5 28.57
Total 9.5 100.00 7.25 100.00 8.75 100
After the best formulations of lip balm were achieved, the Hedonic Scale test was
used to research the overall consumer acceptance for the best formulation.
Participants were asked to scale the samples based on hardness, moisture and
spreadability. The scale started from bad (1), average (2) and good (3). Figure 4 showed
the result of samples that got good marks for the three attributions of hardness,
moisture and spreadability.

From the result of sensory test, respondents preferred (70%) the hardness in S1
formulation compared to S2 and S3 formulations. In terms of moisture, respondents
(80%) selected S2 formulation for the lip balm. For spreadability, 80% and 70%
respondants accepted S1 and S2 formulation, respectively. S1 formulation was found
to give easy and uniform spread when applied on lips. According to overall acceptance,
the most preferred formulation was S1 which obtained two highest score compared to
S2 and S3. Thus, S1 and S2 formulation both could be accepted by consumers as they
had 40-80% preference by respondants in terms of hardness, moisture and
spreadability. S3 formulation was rejected due to poor acceptance; only 20-30%
participants liked its hardness, moisture and spreadability.
66 A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

Figure 4. Good marks attribute of sensory test

Color intensity
For color intensity, lip balms had different color intensity depending on which
colorants were used, whether from fruit juice, extract of betalain and color powder.
The results of color intensity of lip balm were showed in Figure 5-7.

Figure 5. Lip balm by using dragon fruit

 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 67

Figure 6. Lip balm by using betalain extract and strawberry juice

A-natural colorant from dragon fruit, B-natural colorant from strawberry and
C-powder colorant

Figure 7. Color comparison between

From Figure 5, dragon fruit lip balm gives color of light purple while strawberry lip
balm give color of pale pink. Meanwhile for Figure 6, lip balm of betalain extract gives
color of light yellow. Although the extraction of betalain from dragon fruit produced
red liquid when mixed with lip balm formulation, the liquid immersed with other main
ingredients like beeswax and shea butter and did not give red color effect to the lip
balm. Lastly, for Figure 7, it shows the comparison between natural colorant and
powder colorant lip balms. Powder colorant gives good intensity of color compared to
natural colorant from fruits.

Microbial test

In microbial test compared the effectiveness of preservatives added in the lip balm
to prevent growth of microorganism. Spread plate technique was conducted to detect
the presence of microbes in the lip balm. Figure 8 showed the results of lip balm with
and without added preservatives to the lip balm.
68 A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

Figure 8. Result of spread plate technique

The result showed that lip balm formulation that contained preservative had low
microbial count compared to lip balm formulation that do not contain preservative.
Low microbial count in spite of addition of preservative is because the lip balm was not
a sterile cosmetic and was not produced by aseptic processes and thus is not expected
to be totally free from contamination of microbes (Nicole et al, 2014).
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 69

Other Measurement Tables

A1-Data of melting point

Beeswax composition(gram) Melting point (ºC)
1.25 58
2.5 66
3.25 70
A2- Data of moisture content for lip balm
Composition of honey (gram) Moisture loss (W %)
1.0 13.40
1.5 11.34
2.0 8.25
2.5 4.64
70 A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

A3- Data of moisture content for lips

Respondents Lips moisture Lips moisture Percentage
before applying after applying lip increase (%)
lip balm balm
1 30.6 36.5 16.16
2 26.5 31.2 17.74
3 16.4 22 34.15
4 31.2 34.8 11.54
5 25.2 28.0 11.11
6 30.5 41.7 36.72
7 31.2 37.5 20.19
8 28.5 33.5 17.54
9 31.2 36.4 16.67
10 26.9 35.7 32.71
11 25.6 31.2 21.88
12 29.7 33.6 13.13
13 27 37.3 38.15
14 23.8 28.9 21.43
15 20.5 22.7 10.73
A4- Data of sensory test for Sample 1
Attribute Percentage (%)
Bad Average Good
Hardness 0 30 70
Moisture 0 40 0
Spreadability 0 20 80
A5- Data of sensory test for Sample 2
Attribute Percentage (%)
Bad Average Good
Hardness 10 50 40
Moisture 0 20 80
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 71

Spreadability 10 20 70
A6- Data of sensory test for Sample 3
Attribute Percentage (%)
Bad Average Good
Hardness 20 60 20
Moisture 20 80 20
Spreadability 30 40 30
72 A.A. Yusof, A. B. Ajit, A. Z. Sulaiman,
A Naila

Conclusion

From the study, the formulation by using natural based ingredients was considered
success and achieved the target. The formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea
butter and oil with ratio 1:1:1 gives the best physico-chemical properties and has been
accepted by the consumer.

The formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter and oil with ratio of 1:1:1 has
melting point of 66 ºC and has stable condition at low and room temperature
condition. The presence of honey in the formulation enhanced the moisture content of
the lip balm. The higher the honey composition, the higher the moisture content of lip
balm. Besides that, for color intensity, natural colorant from fruit juice and extraction
give the color to the lip balm but the color intensity was lower compared to powder
colorant. Lastly, the formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter and oil with
ratio 1:1:1 was most preferred formulation by participants. Thus most likely
formulation that will be accepted by the consumers when the product is marketed is
the lip balm formulation containing 1:1:1: ratio of beeswax, shea butter and oil.
 Production of Lip Balm from Honey 73

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