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Alpha arbutin dissolve/proper usage help for a Newbie
Hello all! I am new here and am still quite new to formulating but I would love any input you may add. Also my apologies if this is quite lengthy.
I am starting a bit simple, but also trying to add my own small contribution. I am making a 2oz/ 56.69g brightening face cream to target dark spots.
I started with a base cream from a lab
(25-60%) Aloe Leaf Juice
(5-25%) Coconut Oil
(4-10%) Emulsifying Wax (Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60)
(4-10%) Glycerin
(4-10%) Stearic Acid
(3-8%) Ascorbyl Palmitate
(0.5-3%) Tocopherol
(1-8%) Sunflower Seed Oil
(1-5%) Red Raspberry Fruit Extract
(1-5%) Cranberry Fruit Extract
(1-5%) White Willow Bark Extract
(1-5%) Rosehip Seed Oil
(1-8%) Neem Seed Oil
(1-5%) Rosemary Leaf Extract
(1-5%) Sunflower Seed Oil
(1-4%) Organic Alcohol
(0.1-2%) Xanthan Gum
(0.1-2%) Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate
(0.1-1%) Phenoxyethanol
From the base cream I am using 92% (52.15g) for the cream and adding my additional ingredients.I am adding
3% Licorice root extract
2.5% cucumber fruit extract
1.5% alpha arbutin
0.5% pomegranate seed oil
0.5% Olivem 2090
All the ingredients I am adding apart from alpha arbutin are oil soluble, so I first dissolve alpha arbutin in water. My issue is I feel I am not adding enough alpha arbutin in general though I have tried to communicate with the lab. I know around 0.151g of alpha arbutin is soluble in 1g of water and so to calculate 1.5% in my 2 oz cream I somehow only add around 0.113g from the alpha I dissolve in water.I think my calculations might be in error, also upon trying to work with the lab I was told to try 0.85g of alpha arbutin in 1-2ml of water, this did not dissolve for me and started to crystalize. Then I was told to try 6ml of water to disperse the 0.85grams.
Please if anyone could just help me out on the alpha arbutin amount/usage, I would truly appreciate it!
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8 Replies
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When I look at mfg sample formulas…they are mixing 1 part alpha arbutin, with 10 parts water. You might try the same.
Why do you have both a O/W emulsifier and a W/O emulsifier in the same formula? Just curious.
…and you have enough AB…I think the top end is about 2%.
That preservation system….hmmn…pretty suspect (without much in the way of potentiators, other than the GLDA). …my first thing to address…. would be that. (gonna be a bit weak on the Y/M/F set.) If only for personal use…and using quickly…will probably be ok.
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Have you considered a different source for the base cream? The more I look at that formula….the more it screams… Mommy Blogger.
Does it feel good to you?
Do you really want coconut oil on your face?
There is a ‘search bar’ on this site…that can be a wonderful asset. Type ‘alpha arbutin’ in….and you can see all past conversations on the topic.
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Most of the base creams sold….only allow for a small percent of add ins…like 1-3%. When I calculate the water you will need plus your other add-ins….it is looking like 20%.
I think you will have to build the cream from the ground up….which in this case…looks to be a good idea.
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Graillotion said:When I look at mfg sample formulas…they are mixing 1 part alpha arbutin, with 10 parts water. You might try the same.Why do you have both a O/W emulsifier and a W/O emulsifier in the same formula? Just curious.
…and you have enough AB…I think the top end is about 2%.
That preservation system….hmmn…pretty suspect (without much in the way of potentiators, other than the GLDA). …my first thing to address…. would be that. (gonna be a bit weak on the Y/M/F set.) If only for personal use…and using quickly…will probably be ok.
Hey Graillotion, thanks for your response! I can try to do the 1 part to 10 parts water. Since I am a newbie I was not filly aware you should keep the O/W or W/O emulsifier consistent. Since I am adding high amount of oil soluble ingredient’s into the base, the emulsifier I used seem to help incorporate it. Should this be replaced with an emulsifier that is the same as the one the base already uses?
I am sorry could you define AB, or at least the initials you used. For the preservation system, you are right, I could try to add additional phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin?
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Graillotion said:Most of the base creams sold….only allow for a small percent of add ins…like 1-3%. When I calculate the water you will need plus your other add-ins….it is looking like 20%.
I think you will have to build the cream from the ground up….which in this case…looks to be a good idea.
This specific base cream by the lab states it can be customized further by adding up to 20% (volume percentage) of additional liquid ingredients. Do you think with the additional ingredient’s plus the water it can be doable? When you say build the cream from the ground up, you mean to just make from scratch correct without the use of the base?
My apologies for all the questions, I also appreciate your comments on this matter so thank you .
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Ezo said:Graillotion said:When I look at mfg sample formulas…they are mixing 1 part alpha arbutin, with 10 parts water. You might try the same.
Why do you have both a O/W emulsifier and a W/O emulsifier in the same formula? Just curious.
…and you have enough AB…I think the top end is about 2%.
That preservation system….hmmn…pretty suspect (without much in the way of potentiators, other than the GLDA). …my first thing to address…. would be that. (gonna be a bit weak on the Y/M/F set.) If only for personal use…and using quickly…will probably be ok.
Hey Graillotion, thanks for your response! I can try to do the 1 part to 10 parts water. Since I am a newbie I was not filly aware you should keep the O/W or W/O emulsifier consistent. Since I am adding high amount of oil soluble ingredient’s into the base, the emulsifier I used seem to help incorporate it. Should this be replaced with an emulsifier that is the same as the one the base already uses?
I am sorry could you define AB, or at least the initials you used. For the preservation system, you are right, I could try to add additional phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin?
AB =
Alpha arbutin
Regarding preservation….adding more of the same…will not enhance the weakness that product already has. You need to add something that works well against yeast, mold and fungi. Yes, EHG is a good addition to phenoxy…but still not a direct hit on the weaknesses.
Yes…you need to pick an emulsion system…and stick with it.
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Graillotion said:Have you considered a different source for the base cream? The more I look at that formula….the more it screams… Mommy Blogger.
Does it feel good to you?
Do you really want coconut oil on your face?
There is a ‘search bar’ on this site…that can be a wonderful asset. Type ‘alpha arbutin’ in….and you can see all past conversations on the topic.
You raise great points, and I do want to look into a different base cream. To be honest I am not pleased with the fact that coconut oil is included, I did ask the lab if they could remove that and it was a response of “it is something we cant remove”.
I found base that is the same without the coconut oil and stearic acid, however it is replaced with glycerin at the same (5-25% of coconut oil in original) and is insanely drying.
With the addition of the ingredients I added for the coconut oil base cream it does feel like a great cream and I have given some samples out to few people to try and they actually enjoyed it to my surprise.
Thanks for your suggestion I will try it! -
Graillotion said:Ezo said:Graillotion said:When I look at mfg sample formulas…they are mixing 1 part alpha arbutin, with 10 parts water. You might try the same.
Why do you have both a O/W emulsifier and a W/O emulsifier in the same formula? Just curious.
…and you have enough AB…I think the top end is about 2%.
That preservation system….hmmn…pretty suspect (without much in the way of potentiators, other than the GLDA). …my first thing to address…. would be that. (gonna be a bit weak on the Y/M/F set.) If only for personal use…and using quickly…will probably be ok.
Hey Graillotion, thanks for your response! I can try to do the 1 part to 10 parts water. Since I am a newbie I was not filly aware you should keep the O/W or W/O emulsifier consistent. Since I am adding high amount of oil soluble ingredient’s into the base, the emulsifier I used seem to help incorporate it. Should this be replaced with an emulsifier that is the same as the one the base already uses?
I am sorry could you define AB, or at least the initials you used. For the preservation system, you are right, I could try to add additional phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin?
AB =
Alpha arbutin
Regarding preservation….adding more of the same…will not enhance the weakness that product already has. You need to add something that works well against yeast, mold and fungi. Yes, EHG is a good addition to phenoxy…but still not a direct hit on the weaknesses.
Yes…you need to pick an emulsion system…and stick with it.
WOW I am a huge newbie as you can see, thank you so much for this clarification! What would you suggest for a stronger preservative? I guess you can see why I started from a base first .
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