At the end of last term, G-STEM students became cosmetic chemists by creating their own lip balms!

Cosmetic chemists are STEM specialists who choose from thousands of ingredients when they create new products, careful to select ones with chemical properties that enhance the look, feel, and use of the product they are making. For instance, no one wants lip balm to be too hard, which is why most homemade lip balm recipes call for some type of oil or butter. 

Oils are generally thick, viscous liquids at room temperature and are usually emollients, meaning that they soften and smoothen the skin. Butters are another kind of emollient; they are soft, but not liquid, at room temperature. On the other hand, a super soft, runny lip balm would be too messy, so waxes, like beeswax, which are solids at room temperature, are added to thicken the recipe. The "perfect" product means getting just the right ratio of emollients to waxes.

Students tested this theory by creating 3 different recipes of differing ratios, and evaluating them for look, smell and feel.