Cranberry Conundrums and The Lip Pencil

What do you do when you want to make a lip pencil that will stain the lips to look like you have just enjoyed a generous portion of juicy, ripe summer fruits? If you're anything like me, you go to the most unpredictable ingredient in the book: cranberry.

If you've been following this blog for the past couple of months you will most likely have run into a few posts about cranberry, an ingredient that gets first ranking in the 'seriously wonky' department. I've added it to several different products and it continues to find new and inventive ways to surprise me.

But I'm hooked on the color.

I mean, look at it! It's so vibrant, and pink! It's defiantly pink!

The Internal Discussion

Lise, you know you can't trust cranberry to keep its color if you introduce it into a heated mixture.

I know.

And you know for a fact that it doesn't retain that vibrant color as soon as you mix it with, well, anything else.

I know.

And now you want to make a lip pencil using cranberry? A lip pencil? May I remind you that you're talking about a HEATED mixture? You really want to do this?

Yeah, I really do. I love the color.

Then why don't you just match the color using normal, functioning, dependable pigments?

Lise, you are so clever it's not even funny.

So I Pulled Out The Cranberry

– but only to use as a color guide. And after all that deliberation, matching the color was a simple matter that required only 2 pigments: clear red and silk white.

Sifting colors together is easy peasy. All you need is 2 bowls and a tea-strainer sized sieve. Sift from one bowl to the other until the color is even

Ta-da! This pic doesn't quite do the color justice. Although it isn't a 100% match, it was just what I was looking for.

Next step: add color to pencil base and pour into pencil casings.

The final product is shown above.

How Does it Work?

It gives the exact fruity-juice color I was looking for. Sometimes it pays to listen to the voice of reason.

Read how I make lip pencils in this post.