Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Please help, Grey/Greenish cream base after adding Zinc Oxide

  • Please help, Grey/Greenish cream base after adding Zinc Oxide

    Posted by antmagn on July 27, 2018 at 7:00 am

    Hello, I have a cream base with sunflower lecithin (liquid) and tween 20, and when I add zinc oxide I get a grey, almost green color after it’s cooled. It’s not visible on skin but I wonder why I get such color result. My recipe is

    Water phaze:
    Water 
    Sunflower lecithin 7%
    Polysorbate 20 2%
    HA Solution 2%

    Oil Phaze:
    Zinc Oxide 9%
    Alkyl benzoate 10%
    Almond oil 15%
    Cetearyl Alcohol 4%

    Cool Down:
    Panthenol 2%
    Vitamin E 1%
    Phenoxyethanol 1%

    I think the problem is sunflower lecithin because I use soy lecithin in the past and had not any grey cast.

    antmagn replied 5 years, 8 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • ChemicalPyros

    Member
    July 27, 2018 at 8:29 am

    Hello,
    I would suggest that you try a “Knock-Off Test”. Where you eliminate one ingredient at a time, this way you can be sure what ingredient is causing the grey/green color.

    Personally, I suspect the vitamin E, the quantity is a bit high. So I would recommend that you start by eliminating the vitamin E and see if the batch changes its color.

  • antmagn

    Member
    July 27, 2018 at 8:50 am

    Thank you. I will reduce the Vitamin E to 0.5% next time and see. 

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