Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Bubbly cream

  • Bubbly cream

    Posted by georgiliolev on August 28, 2016 at 9:44 pm

    Hello,
    I’ve been having this problem with almost all the creams I formulate.They turn out too fluffy and do not have a luxurious feel to them( it’s like a foam really)

    I’m using a stick blender, and I think that this is due to too small batch sizes, the air is getting inside the emulsion.

    I can give an exact formula , but I feel the problem has to do with the technique of making itself.

    georgiliolev replied 7 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • microformulation

    Member
    August 28, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    You need an overhead mixer at minimum. A stick blender will give you this issue. I have also seen over aerated batches fail in stability.

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    August 31, 2016 at 6:36 am

    Hi, are you using Carbomer? The reason I ask is because the foamy look you described. I also experienced once when making an o/w emulsion. The cause of the foamy look was an old sample of Carbomer I was using. It wouldn’t hydrate properly and my creams looked super foamy and full of air. I got a fresh sample and it never happened again.

    In terms of the method, have you tried using a whisk instead of the blender? I make 100g samples to start with and only ever use medium size whisks for those. Or another idea is to check the thickener your using is fully hydrating. Only recently when using a Guar derivative, this particular one needed citric acid to fully hydrate it. Might be the same type of processing problem happening with yours?

    Hope you find the problem and am curious to know what it is :D Good luck!

  • georgiliolev

    Member
    August 31, 2016 at 7:13 am

    Hey! I am not currently using carbomer, but xanthan gum at about 0.5 % to thicken the water phase, although I’m not still sure what is the best ratio to use it.

    In terms of method, I have used whisk before with good results and wanted to try if the blender attachment was better. Like you, I am making about 100g samples to figure out if a formula is good and maybe a whisk is better for small batches like that? What do you think?

  • BartJ

    Member
    August 31, 2016 at 10:48 am

    A stick blender could pull it off.
    Your batch must be large enough to submerge the head of the mixer far below the surface to prevent what Microformulation described from happening.

    Using narrow beakers helps to get more height from a volume.

  • georgiliolev

    Member
    August 31, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    Thank you very much for the suggestions! As I currently don’t have the budget to afford overhead mixer, I will try to achieve better results with the stick blender and make larger batches.

    I’m worried if the head of the blender is at the bottom of the beaker not all of the contents would blend and emulsify, is that so?  When is the whisk prefferred or should I only use the blades-attachment?

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