crystal clear serum - Chemists Corner

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crystal clear serum

Posted by carvan on June 3, 2018 at 6:35 am

Hello,
I am trying to figure out how the following formula can produce crystal clear serum.

Ingredients:Glycerin, 99.9% Pure Grade L-Ascorbic (Vitamin C) acid, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Certified Organic Filet of Aloe Vera), hamamelis virginiana extract (made from Certified Organic Witch Hazel) Ferulic Acid, Tocopherol (Vitamin E),Rosa Centifolia (Rose) Flower Water, Rosehip Oil, Grapefruit Seed Extract, citric acid.

Few notes:

1) What has me confused is how this formula can make serum crystal clear when Vitamin E is amber color, and we can’t get ferulic acid to remain clear when dissolved. Also, they have included oils and water together but I see no emulsifier listed in ingredients.

Anyone want to take some educated guesses on how they: 1) made it clear and 2) combined oil & water without emulsifier.

Look forward to responses

C

Doreen replied 5 years, 11 months ago 4 Members · 10 Replies
10 Replies

Gunther

Member
June 3, 2018 at 11:34 pm

You may wish to take out the (unproven) vegetable extracts and stick to what’s proven to work

i.e. you can read the following studies, and go from there:

Ferulic Acid Stabilizes a Solution of Vitamins C and E and Doubles
its Photoprotection of Skin

A topical antioxidant solution containing vitamins C and E stabilized by ferulic acid provides protection for human skin against damage caused by ultraviolet irradiation
Doreen

Member
June 4, 2018 at 4:25 am

I’m guessing this LOI isn’t complete, also ‘99.9% pure grade L-ascorbic acid’ isn’t a proper INCI name.
You’ll need a solubilizer for these smalll amounts of lipophilic ingredients.
carvan

Member
June 4, 2018 at 5:05 am

Doreen,
I agree. This list of ingredients was taken from website who is selling these products at a high rate. I have been wanting to develop my own Vitamin C serum for several years…so I bought this product from their company. I was surprised how clear the finished product was and was looking for some ideas on how they could have accomplished that.

Their final product color is same as Witch Hazel which is remarkable considering Vitamin E is dark amber and in my test I was not able to get Ferulic Acid to dissolve into crystal clear color but was cloudy. As you mentioned…I see no solubilizer listed in their ingredients. I am half temped to get their product tested at lab to see whats really in it.
Doreen

Member
June 4, 2018 at 6:05 am

You mean that the ferulic acid precipitates? It has been a while since I’ve used ferulic acid, but I still have some left, I might as well experiment with it again. Thanks to a tip @johnb gave me, I found out that a certain dose of niacinamide keeps ferulic acid solubilized. I’ve never had precipitation problems anymore since I’ve incorporated a few % of niacinamide. I don’t know what the pH of your serum is, I’m guessing rather low, the disadvantage of niacinamide at low pH is acidic hydrolysis to niacin, which is a potential irritant.

About the tocopherol. Usually the concentration of tocopherol is low, so the colour doesn’t pose a problem. I’ve used up till 1% (when I wasn’t aware of the pro-oxidation potential of alpha-tocopherol) in a vitamin C serum, but it remained colourless.
Doreen

Member
June 4, 2018 at 6:20 am

If you want to make a clear and easy serum without oxidation troubles:

https://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=163613/CSI-Vitamin-C-+-12-Youth-Serum/Unlisted-Brand/Treatments

All it contains is 88% butylene glycol and 12% L-ascorbic acid (I presume ultra fine particle size).
Doreen

Member
June 4, 2018 at 6:37 am

I looked up my notes, I see that I’ve also used sodium lactate to keep ferulic acid solubilized (about 3%).
Lotioncrafter uses triethanolamine in a formula, so I’m beginning to think alkaline substances will help it solubilize.
(As an aside, I’ve read in a technical fact sheet that a 10% NaOH solution can dissolve 39% allantoin!)
carvan

Member
June 4, 2018 at 8:33 pm

Doreen,
Would you be interested in testing the original ingredient list I posted to see if you can make it colorless and if it holds up reasonably well from oxidation…I would be interested in paying you for it?
ozgirl

Member
June 4, 2018 at 11:52 pm

It is possible the alcohol in the Witch Hazel extract is helping to solubilise small amounts of oil soluble ingredients. Just because the ingredients are in the list does not mean they are present in any significant amount. They could be there but at less than 0.1%.
Gunther

Member
June 4, 2018 at 11:59 pm

The study quoted above says that pH 3.5 keeps vit C+ferulic acid more stable.
Doreen

Member
June 5, 2018 at 5:16 am

@carvan
Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid I don’t have time for a project like that right now. Thanks anyway and good luck!