Balm Plan: Earth Matter Peru, 2026–2027

🫙 Why balms

• No water, no lye, no cure. Balms are melted and poured in an hour on the same stove as the soap. Without water they need no preservative, only vitamin E to slow rancidity, and they can be made to order.
• They use what the farm and the region have: calendula and lavender from the beds, Junín beeswax and cacao butter, avocado oil, and the same essential oils as the soap.
• Small items that earn well: an S/ 18 lip balm sits between Peruvian natural lip balms (S/ 15–21) and far under the S/ 33–38 a Huancayo brand charges, while a small S/ 15 salve still fits a modest budget.
• One non-cosmetic product (wood butter) can start right away and ties in with the eucalyptus trays from the woodshop.

📋 The products and formulas

• Animal-free versions of the lip balm and salve replace the beeswax with candelilla wax at about half the weight (it is harder), topped up with cacao butter. I found no Peruvian price for candelilla; ask Lima cosmetic-supply shops for a quote.
• Sacha inchi is a lovely Peruvian story but very high in omega-3: if used, keep it to 10% or less with vitamin E and date the product to sell within six months.
• No chest rubs. A eucalyptus or menthol balm sold for colds or congestion is a medicine, not a cosmetic. The foot balm stays a foot balm.
• Cassia cinnamon and vanilla stay in the candles.

🧪 Method

1. Infuse the calendula (for the hand salve): 10 g of dried petals per 100 g of olive pomace, in a water bath at about 50 °C for 4–6 hours, or four weeks in a dark jar. Strain through cloth and squeeze.
2. Clean everything (pots, spoons, tins, tubes) and wipe with 70% alcohol. Weigh in grams.
3. Melt the beeswax and butters in a double boiler (beeswax melts at about 62–64 °C), then add the liquid oils and stir until clear.
4. Test the texture: put a spoonful in the freezer for two minutes. Too hard, add oil; too soft, add a little beeswax.
5. Off the heat at about 60 °C, stir in vitamin E and the essential oils, and pour at once into tins or tubes. Cacao butter can turn grainy if it cools slowly, so let the tins set somewhere cool and undisturbed.
6. Cap when cold, label with lot and date. Plan on a 12-month shelf life.

💰 Costs, prices and competition

Ingredient prices: beeswax S/ 40/kg (local estimate; Oliva Divina lists laminated beeswax at S/ 25/kg), cacao butter S/ 115/kg, avocado S/ 160/L (the current price; v1 used S/ 40), olive pomace S/ 23/L, virgin coconut S/ 63/L, vitamin E S/ 150/kg (estimate), food-grade mineral oil S/ 30/L (estimate), essential oils with duty. Packaging is estimated: 30 g aluminum tin S/ 1.80, 15 g tin S/ 1.20, kraft push-up tube S/ 1.20, 100 ml tin S/ 2.50, kraft box S/ 0.50. Get quotes before the first order.

• The package costs about as much as, or more than, what is in it for the salves, foot balm and lip balm, so packaging quotes still matter most. Buy tins and tubes by the hundred.
• Margins are wide (5.6–10.3× materials), so balms can carry wholesale at half price and still earn at least 2.8×, above the 2× keystone.
• Our S/ 18 lip balm sits between Tikafarma (S/ 15 for 4 g) and Ecolution (S/ 19.90 for 8 g), and far under Botania (about S/ 33–38 each), while earning about 10× its materials.
• How the others were priced: the hand salve and foot balm sit near our Reserva soap (S/ 22–28) because they are small, hand-poured and tinned; the wood butter sits just under Bee's Max at S/ 39; the lotion bar has no local comparison, so it is priced at about 5–6× materials. Retest at the first fairs and raise again if they sell out.
• Avocado is now the costliest oil. At S/ 160/L it is about 40% of the lip balm's ingredient cost. To cut it, try replacing half with olive pomace or coconut and re-test the texture.

Competition

📦 Packaging without plastic

• Aluminum tins (15 g, 30 g, 100 ml) for salves, foot balm and wood butter: reusable and recyclable.
• Kraft push-up tubes for lip balm: no Peruvian supplier price found; online sellers list them in bulk at roughly US$ 0.25–0.35 each before duty. Pour the balm a little cooler (about 55 °C) so the tube does not soften.
• Aco ceramic pots for a premium salve or gift set, with a cork or wooden lid from the woodshop.
• Kraft boxes or beeswax wraps for lotion bars.

💡 Other ideas worth testing

• Beeswax food wraps (not a cosmetic): cotton cloth soaked with beeswax and a little oil, a plastic-free replacement for cling film. Materials about S/ 2–3 a wrap; sets of three sizes at S/ 20–25. Valley textiles could supply the cloth.
• Lavender hydrosol from the still: a room and linen spray (not a cosmetic if sold for linens, a cosmetic if sold for skin).
• Bath salts with Sal de Maras (Cusco pink salt) and dried lavender: cheap and pretty, but a cosmetic like the balms.

⚖️ Rules

• Lip balm, salves, lotion bars, foot balm and bath salts are cosmetics, under the same DIGEMID notification (NSO) and authorized-laboratory rules as the soap. Start with market sales only if you accept that risk, and plan the registration path with the soap.
• Wood butter and beeswax food wraps are not cosmetics and should not need an NSO. I have not verified that; ask DIGEMID and DIGESA in writing (wraps touch food).
• Claims: say what it is made of and how it feels (“suaviza”, “protege”). Never “cicatriza”, “cura grietas”, “antiinflamatorio”, “alivia el dolor” or “para resfríos”.
• Labels: all ingredients, net weight, lot, date, maker and contact; the foot balm says “no aplicar en el rostro”.

🗓️ Calendar

📚 Sources consulted

• Oliva Divina — beeswax, cacao butter, shea, avocado, olive pomace (October 2026)
• Tikafarma, Ecolution, Bamboo Balance — Peruvian lip balm prices
• Promart (Bee's Max) — beeswax wood wax, 100 g S/ 39
• Botania Green Lab (botania.pe) — lip balm duo, October 2026
• Soap plan v7 and the Soap making formulas chat — soap price range, avocado at S/ 160/L
• Insumos Químicos (Lima) — anhydrous lanolin S/ 91–272 (set aside as costly)
• BioAlei, Amazon, Etsy — kraft push-up tube prices abroad