Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating My lotion separated and I do not know how to improve the formulation to make it more stable.

  • My lotion separated and I do not know how to improve the formulation to make it more stable.

    Posted by Anonymous on September 8, 2017 at 5:52 am

    Hi!

    First of all, thank you to the moderators and many members of this community for always being so helpful and generous at providing your expertise and advice FOC. I have spent some time searching through this forum but I can’t find any advice that specifically addresses my problem. 

    I have a moisturising lotion formula that is stable at room temperature for around 9 months. My goal is to make it stable for 1 year at least, preferably longer. I have also tried incubating at 45degC for 45 days at least, but some of the bottles will fail (I see phase separation) after 30+ days, while other bottles made in exactly the same way and within the same batch will pass (stay in emulsion). 

    My question is, if some replicate bottles fail, while the other replicate bottles pass, does that mean the whole formula fails? 

    My next question is, now the formula fails, what should I modify next to improve on the formula? I’m restricted to using only naturally-derived ingredients. 

    Below is the formula:

    Oil phase
    Rosemary leaf extract 0.04%
    Vit E 0.75%
    Olive Oil Unsaponifiable 1%
    Capric Triglyceride 3%
    jojoba oil 4%
    sweet almond oil 4%
    Ecomulse 8%

    Water phase
    Potassium sorbet 0.1%
    Gluconodeltalactone 1%
    Sodium lactate 1%
    Hydrolysed Oats 1%
    D-Panthenol 1%
    1,3-propanediol 2%
    Distilled water top up to 100%

    Cool down phase
    Leucidal SF 2%
    Fragrance essential oil 1%

    And here’s how I make it:
    Heat up the water bath to 77degC
    Incubate the water phase and oil phase ingredients for 20 mins in separate beakers
    Mix water phase ingredients into oil phase ingredients while stirring with a stick blender
    After mixture reaches 45degC and below, add in cool down ingredients. 

    drbobverdient-biz replied 6 years, 6 months ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • MakingSkincare

    Member
    September 8, 2017 at 10:44 am
  • Lainee

    Member
    September 12, 2017 at 1:43 am

    @twinklyx let me get this straight. So you put half of your work at the incubator (accelerated stability testing) and half at room temp. The one inside the incubator fails. 

    This is what you call a stability testing. Now you know that your product is not suitable over room temp. This is why in some products you will see “do not store above room temp” or “store away from direct sunlight” etc.

    Also, how do you know that your product is only stable at 9mos?

  • bill_toge

    Member
    September 12, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    if some bottles from a given batch fail and others don’t (which is how I read your post), that suggests the product is unevenly mixed or otherwise non-uniform

    also, when you say “Incubate the water phase and oil phase ingredients for 20 mins in separate beakers”, do you check the two phases are actually the same temperature before mixing them together?

  • drbobverdient-biz

    Member
    September 12, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    Change emulsifier to Simugel INS 100-HLB of ecomulse is unknown.If your PH is above 5 you can also use Ultrez 10.

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