Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating help a chemist out :)

  • help a chemist out :)

    Posted by shechemie on January 20, 2020 at 8:18 pm
    Hello,
    I’m a bio-inorganic chemist taking up a new hobby in cosmetic chemistry.  This new hobby of mine started a few months ago when I drew the line in the sand and refused to pay $80 for a face cream that I wanted.  I thought I’d just make it for myself! That cream turned out pretty well for my first try, I have to admit….From a stability standpoint the emulsion passed the 40C/30,000g/5mins test.  I used my Cuisinart handheld immersion mixer to make this emulsion (200g total weight).  I was shocked when the centrifuge lid opened and my cream did not separate.    I was not so lucky with the preservative system I chose.  Not a huge fan of Leucidal…but truth be told, I should have added a chelating agent to start.  After a few weeks the cream smelled of mold.
    My mother in law has requested that I make her an eye-cream.  She is 73 years old.  Here is what I plan to use, any constructive criticism would be most appreciated. 
    Phase 1:
    60% Water
    3% Glycerin
    2% Phytic acid
    2.5% Preservative System (Pentylene Glycol, Sodium Benzoate, Benzoic Acid)
    0.4 % Xantham Gum
    Phase 2:
    7% Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides
    6% Emulsifier System (glyceryl stearate, potassium hydrolyzed oat protein, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate)
    5% Jojoba Oil
    5% Squalane
    3% Shea Butter
    Phase 3:
    1% Bakuchiol
    5% A cocktail from Gattefosse’ targeted for eyes (B3, butylene glycol, glycolic acid, a silicate of some sort)
    0.1% Vitamin E acetate
    I may need to add some base to bring the pH to 4.5-5.0ish
    Thank you in advance for suggestions/ help.
    gunther replied 4 years, 2 months ago 7 Members · 12 Replies
  • 12 Replies
  • oldperry

    Member
    January 20, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    Dump the alternative preservative system and go with some proven, safer and easier to work with parabens. 

    Nothing in phase 3 will have an impact on your formula performance. Those ingredients are just added for claims reasons. It’s best to leave them out.

    When you are first formulating try to keep it simple. Fewer ingredients are better. For example, Squalane,  Jojoga Oil, Carpylic/Carpic triglycerides are all essentially having the same function. You might just consider using only one of those. Once you get something stable then you can try adding in additional ingredients.

  • shechemie

    Member
    January 20, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    many thanks!

  • belassi

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 12:05 am

    Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides should be a good choice since it is fast-absorbing. Shea gives a greasy effect but try it and see; if you use organic shea it has an effect on dark circles. But you will need to melt and filter it first. 0.4% Xanthan gum seems a little too high. I agree with Perry about Phase 3. Like one other person here, I use Pea Peptides at 3.5% in our antiaging product and we get visible results.

  • shechemie

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 2:34 am

    Belassi said:

    Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides should be a good choice since it is fast-absorbing. Shea gives a greasy effect but try it and see; if you use organic shea it has an effect on dark circles. But you will need to melt and filter it first. 0.4% Xanthan gum seems a little too high. I agree with Perry about Phase 3. Like one other person here, I use Pea Peptides at 3.5% in our antiaging product and we get visible results.

    Thank you Belassi.  Yes, I have NaturePep® Pea sample
    coming in the mail.  I was planning to make myself a night cream with
    it.  I’m glad to hear that you are seeing visible results with your
    product, this is exciting!
    My thoughts in
    the higher 0.4% xanthan and shea butter was that I wanted to make a
    thicker cream while keeping the water content around 60%
    As
    far as my phase 3- i read an article from a peer reviewed journal with
    promising data on bakuchiol.  The sample size was rather small at 77,
    though.

    As far as the shea butter, i’ve been using refined.  Thank you for this suggestion.

  • markbroussard

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 11:03 am

    @shechemie

    Your Phytic Acid content is quite high at 2%.  You might want to consider add the Phytic Acid at the end to adjust the pH to your desired end-point.

    Tocopherol Acetate … does absoultely nothing … better to use mixed tocopherols or tocotrienols.

    Phase 2:  Your total oils/butters is 20%.  I would recommend cutting that back to a total of 12% … it will give you a smoother feeling emulsion.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @shechemie, formulating in the “kitchen” is very different from manufacturing a large batch. I don’t know where you get your ingredients, but if those are from repackagers, they are compromised from day one. I am very into reverse-engineering popular products (especially those from luxury brands for which I don’t want to pay $80+ as you mentioned). I like one to one (or at least as close as possible) copies and although I use the very same Aristoflex AVC as say, Clarins or Chanel do, I can’t expect my product to have the same shelf life as Clarins’ product. The repackagers don’t store ingredients properly in many cases, you can’t assure the same level of sanitation in your kitchen/lab.
    There is a number of things you should do to make sure your homemade
     products last:
    1) Use reliable preservatives at the maximum recommended amount and blend them (I add Euxyl K940 and Germaben II both at max amount)
    2) Uses distilled water and boil it (better overdo than sorry). If you don’t want to do it make sure that your water is up to standard when it comes to bacteria. Distilled doesn’t equal sterile.
    3) Although it’s distilled water, still add EDTA
    4) The more “synthetic” your formula is the longer it will leave (mineral oil vs almond oil, carbomer vs siligel, Ceteareth-20, Arlacel 165 vs “natural” emulsifiers)
    5) Don’t add any bug food: proteins, clays, oat, aloe, hydrosols, lecithin, any food items - skip them all
    6) Airless pump where possible (for packaging)
    7) 70% ethanol to clean your beakers and surfaces (or isopropyl alcohol if you don’t have ethanol)
    8) Make sure you know your preservatives best before.

    Even after all of this, don’t expect your product to last for 24 months, but s6 months to a year might be achievable.

  • shechemie

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @shechemie

    Your Phytic Acid content is quite high at 2%.  You might want to consider add the Phytic Acid at the end to adjust the pH to your desired end-point.

    Tocopherol Acetate … does absoultely nothing … better to use mixed tocopherols or tocotrienols.

    Phase 2:  Your total oils/butters is 20%.  I would recommend cutting that back to a total of 12% … it will give you a smoother feeling emulsion.

    Is 2% high if one is aiming for an exfoliating effect?
  • shechemie

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 2:48 pm

    @shechemie, formulating in the “kitchen” is very different from manufacturing a large batch. I don’t know where you get your ingredients, but if those are from repackagers, they are compromised from day one. I am very into reverse-engineering popular products (especially those from luxury brands for which I don’t want to pay $80+ as you mentioned). I like one to one (or at least as close as possible) copies and although I use the very same Aristoflex AVC as say, Clarins or Chanel do, I can’t expect my product to have the same shelf life as Clarins’ product. The repackagers don’t store ingredients properly in many cases, you can’t assure the same level of sanitation in your kitchen/lab.
    There is a number of things you should do to make sure your homemade
     products last:
    1) Use reliable preservatives at the maximum recommended amount and blend them (I add Euxyl K940 and Germaben II both at max amount)
    2) Uses distilled water and boil it (better overdo than sorry). If you don’t want to do it make sure that your water is up to standard when it comes to bacteria. Distilled doesn’t equal sterile.
    3) Although it’s distilled water, still add EDTA
    4) The more “synthetic” your formula is the longer it will leave (mineral oil vs almond oil, carbomer vs siligel, Ceteareth-20, Arlacel 165 vs “natural” emulsifiers)
    5) Don’t add any bug food: proteins, clays, oat, aloe, hydrosols, lecithin, any food items - skip them all
    6) Airless pump where possible (for packaging)
    7) 70% ethanol to clean your beakers and surfaces (or isopropyl alcohol if you don’t have ethanol)
    8) Make sure you know your preservatives best before.

    Even after all of this, don’t expect your product to last for 24 months, but s6 months to a year might be achievable.

    Thank you for your long and thorough response.  Most of my ingredients are from the manufacturer or vendor as sample size.  This is working very well for my hobby at the present.   Clariant (Aristoflex line) has many nice product offerings, I will look into them!
    Water- i have been using water from my husbands laboratory (he is a PI/professor at a university),  he has an elaborate water system from Millipore. he assured me that the water is “just water”  and free of everything.
    I do have the luxury of making my creams/lotions in his laboratory and as the space is quite sterile.  Although the graduate students leave junk all over the scales and the glass ware needs to be double washed before I even dare use it!
    How is one to know if the chosen preservative system is effective?  I’m not inclined to spend a few hundred dollars on testing, as this is a hobby.  I could streak my product on nutrient agar and see if anything grows….?
  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    January 21, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    @shechemie, manufacturer’s samples are ok. They are properly sealed (I can’t get access to those, but I saw how they look). Regarding preservatives, the answer is, unfortunately, we don’t know. What is even worse is that you can’t always see or smell bacterial contamination, but the measures I described above give me a little bit of assurance. It’s do all that is possible and hope for the best approach. What preservatives… The several relatively bulletproof preservatives are: Germaben II (parabens and Diazolidinyl Urea), Germall powder (Diazolidinyl Urea and Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate), Phenonip (parabens and phenoxy), Euxyl K940 (phenoxy, EHG, benzyl alc). I sometimes use Euxyl PE 9010 (cheap and easy to find for me) but it’s weak on mould.
     

  • LuisJavier

    Member
    January 22, 2020 at 8:46 am

    Isn’t sodium benzoate strong on mould?

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    January 22, 2020 at 11:16 am

    PE 9010 doesn’t have sodium benzoate, it’s mostly Phenoxyethanol and a little of EHG.

  • gunther

    Member
    January 22, 2020 at 10:53 pm

    Add some petrolatum.

Log in to reply.