Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating body mist have initial strong alcohol smell

  • body mist have initial strong alcohol smell

    Posted by Tattvas on October 15, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    hi.. i need little help to sort this product..

    i prepared a body mist

    ethyl alcohol denatured- 60%
    polysorbate 80               -2 %
    fragrance oil                   - 1% tested with 2 % too
    water

    when i spray it, initially my nostril fills up with ethanol smell. it stays there for few seconds then it goes away.

    one of my friend suggest i should add 1-2 % of isopropyl myristate
    and decrease the ethanol to 35 %

    ipm is still not available.. but will it work if somebdy had any exp with body mists

    erickafalves replied 6 years, 1 month ago 6 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 15, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    It sounds like you need a better fragrance.

  • Dr Catherine Pratt

    Member
    October 16, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    @Tattvas you don’t really need to use alcohol at all. It is taking over your formula & your fragrance, what type of fragrance is it?

  • Gunther

    Member
    October 16, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    @Tattvas you can try both lowering the alcohol %
    and trying a different alcohol source
    alcohol is often denatured with smelly substances
    so you can buy plain 95% ethyl alcohol and denature it yourself. The difference is noticeable.

    And better/more fragrance as @Perry just suggested.

    @Dr Catherine Pratt
    it looks like alcohol is a must for body sprays and mists
    I have always wondered what’s the purpose of women spraying alcohol on their skin, but they seem to like it
    sure, alcohol dries faster than water, but still.

  • Dr Catherine Pratt

    Member
    October 17, 2018 at 1:24 am

    @Gunther no no why would alcohol be a must for a body spray/mist. Alcohol is very drying right? on the skin so you can just use your EO, solubiliser, some humectant, vitamin E for shelf life and water. You can also add floral waters/hydrosols etc. but they are expensive.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    October 17, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    Many professional chemists (on this forum) disagree that alcohol is bad for skin. There are researches that show that alcohol is much less irritating than some surfactants. However, it is drying. Very drying. It strips off oils from skin, and make it produce more sebum, which is not desirable in most cases. I totally agree that, it is not required in a body mist.

  • Dr Catherine Pratt

    Member
    October 17, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    Come on, if ethanol drys the skin then why is there a multi billion dollar business all over the world trying to find actives & oils to put moisture back in???
    what do you mean by many professionals on this site, I don’t believe they could be that silly!!??

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    October 18, 2018 at 12:09 pm
  • erickafalves

    Member
    October 19, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    You overpowered the detection limit of the fragrance oil ingredients with this high alcohol content.
    I would reduce the alcohol content (replace it by water) and if some separation occur, I would add more surfactant. Or I would  try to displace some alcohol with Fragrance (up to 5%). 

Log in to reply.

Chemists Corner