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What’s wrong with formula
Please, tell me what’s wrong with this formula? I wanted to make water based moisturizing cream-gel (like Loreal’s Hydra Genius) with rose hydrolate, but the cream turned out to be too liquid and poorly absorbed into the skin
Distilled water 67.7%
Rose hydrolate 10%
Glycerine 5%
Caprylic/capric triglyceride 5%
Sorbitol 7%
DL-tocopherol 0.3%
Retinyl acetate 1%
Ascorbic acid 1%
Vitamin E acetate 1%
Hyaluronic acid 0.5%
Xanthan gum 0.3%
Sodium gluconate 0.2%
Phenoxyethanol 0.5%
Caprylyl glycol 0.4%
Sorbic acid 0.1% -
18 Replies
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The problem is that you aren’t using the right ingredients. “Rose hydrolate” is really just water with maybe some odor molecules in there. https://www.amphora-aromatics.com/natural-skin-care/natural-toners/floral-waters/organic-rose-water-hydrolate-200ml-info But it doesn’t have any real effect.
Essentially, you’ve made a formula with Water, Glycerin, Sorbitol, HA, Xanthan gum, and preservative. You probably don’t have enough Xanthan gum. Go to 0.5%
But here are the ingredients of the formula you are trying to emulate. They use Carbomer as the thickener.
AQUA/WATER
GLYCERIN
ALCOHOL DENAT.
DIMETHICONE
ISONONYL ISONONANOATE
SILANETRIOL
CARBOMER
TRIETHANOLAMINE
DIMETHICONOL
ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE
SODIUM HYALURONATE
SILICA DIMETHYL SILYLATE
HYALURONIC ACID
PHYLLOSTACHYS BAMBUSOIDES EXTRACT
CAPRYLYL GLYCOL
TETRASODIUM EDTA
CITRIC ACID
BIOSACCHARIDE GUM-1
XANTHAN GUM
PANTHENOL
MENTHOXYPROPANEDIOL
ETHYLHEXYL PALMITATE
BUTYLENE GLYCOL
HEXYLENE GLYCOL
TOCOPHEROL
POTASSIUM SORBATE
SORBIC ACID
METHYLPARABEN
SODIUM BENZOATE
PHENOXYETHANOL
CHLORPHENESIN
CI 42090/BLUE 1
LINALOOL
LIMONENE
PARFUM/FRAGRANCE -
Thank you for your response @Perry.
This is a too long list of ingredients and unfortunately I don’t have such an assortment of substances. Is it possible to somehow defuse this list without affecting the quality of the product?
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Well, let’s see. You could probably make something that works pretty much the same with…
AQUA/WATER
GLYCERIN
DIMETHICONE
ISONONYL ISONONANOATE
CARBOMER
TRIETHANOLAMINE
CAPRYLYL GLYCOL
TETRASODIUM EDTA
CITRIC ACID
XANTHAN GUM
METHYLPARABEN
PHENOXYETHANOL
Color
Fragrance -
Are oils dispersed physically within the gel network here?
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Yes. It’s a carbomer cream. First thing I copied, 8 years ago. Evelyn & Crabtree hand cream with organic shea.
940 gives a sensorial pretty much indistinguishable from the original. -
Belassi said:Yes. It’s a carbomer cream. First thing I copied, 8 years ago. Evelyn & Crabtree hand cream with organic shea.
940 gives a sensorial pretty much indistinguishable from the original.How do carbomer creams compare to those with a proper emulsifier?
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From the consumer point of view, it is hard to tell the difference. From a production point of view, there’s rarely if ever a failure of a carbomer emulsion. The downside from my point of view is that I lack a temperature-stabilised pouring system, which makes the carbomer cream more difficult to handle as it tends to thicken just at the temperature you want to pour at. I use a thermos-style dispenser so as not to lose temperature too quickly.
A second consideration is, at the temperatures you’d want to add actives and certain preservatives, the cream is already ‘set’. So it doesn’t suit all creams. -
Thank you @Belassi. Is it possible to do without carbomer? e.g. by enhancing concentration of xanthan gum
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@Ada - you’ve seen what happens when you try to do it without Carbomer. The problem with xanthan gum is the more you add, the slimier it gets.
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yes, you’re right @Peryy.
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I’ll try this formula with carbomer.
I have propylene glycol. Is it worth adding it to this cream for better moisturizing effect?
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Glycerin is already a humectant which is what Propylene Glycol is. However, PG is less sticky so you could reduce the stickiness of the formula substituting out some Glycerin for PG.
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The cream is very “dry”, doesn’t get through the skin and moiturize it, so cannot be useful for dry skin, which was the essential aim
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Without an occlusive agent like Petrolatum or Dimethicone in your formula, it’s not going to be terribly effective for dry skin.
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There are also different grades of xanthan gum that have different viscosities/ properties if you can get your hands on them. Something like Keltrol CG-SFT can be used to produce lower viscosity but smoother formula
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Thank you all very much
You helped me a lot -
in my experience, low acyl gellan gum can form very carbomer-like gels at low concentrations - the relatively minor down side is that it can be more fiddly to work with than carbomer
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