Passionfruit Scent & Flavor:
The label says “Lilikoi,” because that is the Hawaiʻian name for Passionfruit. Lip balm tubes are small. “Lilikoi” has fewer letters than “Passionfruit,” so it fit on the label more easily.
This lip balm is handmade in the USA. Using an indigenous USA name for Passionfruit seemed like a nice way to honor the culture. Another name in Latin America is “Maracuya” for the large, sour, yellow varieties and “Granadilla” for the small, sweet, purple type.
Passiflora edulis has a sweet-tart tropical flavor that is unique. It’s somewhat like a blend of mango, pineapple, papaya, guava, peach, and nectarine all mixed together.
The scent and flavor oils we use in our lip glosses are all natural and organic. We have increased the concentration of Passionfruit Oil to the maximum of 5% and added them at the last stage of mixing –while the oils and butters are cooling– so that the scent and flavor oils are not overheated.
Our Passionfruit Oil is still delicate compared to artificial, synthetic, petroleum-derived fragrance and scent ingredients. We feel that the authenticity is worth the extra cost and careful, handmade, small batch, low temperature labor to create a genuine, natural product.
Plant Oil & Butter Moisturizers:
This balm also features an all star lineup of delicately hand-blended plant-origin skin protectants, including fast-absorbing Sunflower Seed Oil, creamy Mango Butter, silky Castor Oil, and long-lasting Candelilla Wax (vegan beeswax alternative) for a perfectly balanced moisturizing texture.
(This formula is also available in 7g / 0.26oz Compostable Paper Tubes and will be available in Reusable Metal Tins with paper labels coming soon.)
Agave Nectar Sweetener:
After much experimentation, we chose certified organic Raw Blue Agave Nectar as our ideal lip balm sweetener. I tried using stevia leaf powder, but there was no way to overcome the bitter taste. Agave Nectar is a vegan honey alternative. It is 25% sweeter than sugar, gluten-free, and has a low Glycemic Index of 32.
Our certified organic Raw Blue Agave Nectar comes from the Jalisco region of central Mexico. It is hand-cut, heated to only 118°F (37°C), and the low heat is maintained for nearly twice as long as for regular agave nectar.
Natural Preservatives:
Agave has no bitterness, but it is water based, so I have added a tiny amount of Gluconolactone SB, which is a natural preservative from fermented corn, to protect the agave nectar from contamination.
The rest of the ingredients are oil-based, so they are naturally preserved with skin-healthy antioxidants Vitamin E and Rosemary Oleoresin Extract.
Compostable Plant Origin Packaging:
Less than 10% of plastic packaging gets recycled. That’s another greenwashing myth, like “sustainable palm oil.” Every plastic tube of lip balm that I buy is most likely to be on this Earth for longer than I am, unless we do something about that.
Our packaging is a glass jar with metal screw top lid. (Lilikoi Lip Gold is also available in a Paper Tube push-up stick form.) Glass and metal are much easier to recycle than petro-plastics and are in fact recycled regularly. The containers we use are not made from petroleum sources and do not cause pollution in our ecosystems. Glass is made from sand, soda ash, and limestone. Metal is made from mined ores. The Earth’s crust is made up of about 25% metals by weight.
The labels are either recycled (tree) paper or sugarcane bagasse paper. The tape and clear baggies are compostable wood (trees) cellophane bioplastic. Our padded mailers are made of recycled paper with plant-origin padding. Our shipping boxes are sealed with clear plant cellophane or brown, unbleached paper tape.
I hope you enjoy the wonderful, delicious properties of pure Passionfruit oil and Mango Butter in your every day lip balm.
Complete Ingredients:
Sunflower Oil,* Mango Butter,* Castor Oil,* Candelilla Wax,* Passionfruit (Lilikoi) Essential Oil,* Raw Agave Nectar,* Vitamin E, Mineral Mica, Gluconolactone SB (fermented Corn), and Rosemary Antioxidant Oleoresin Extract.*
*Certified Organic