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Is my formulation including too much or would this be ok?
HI there! I am a complete newbie based in the UK and have been reading up on as much as I can about formulating my own face cream.
I created a formula on paper and was wondering if the formulation looked correct and if I was missing anything or perhaps even clashing with ingredients before I attempted to create it.
I have checked the usage rates suggested by the supplier and have not exceeded any so some ingredients I may not be able to increase the percentage of.
I am looking for a gel cream consistency that isn’t too oily or too heavy as it would be a hydrating cream that sinks into the skin fairly quickly that I would use in the morning before my sunscreen.
Thank you all!
My formulation is as follows:
Formulation - O/W Gel Face Cream deliverd in airless pump jar (5.5 pH?)Skin Type: Combination/acne prone/clogged pores/can be sensitive• Triple Distilled Water (heat and hold water phase at 75°c for 20mins, remember 10% evap) 15.80 %• Pure Triple Purified and Distilled Moroccan Rose Water 8.2%Non-negotiables (14.5%)EmulsifiersEmulsifier blend at around 25% of the total of the oil soluble ingredients with a minimum of 3% total emulsifier, and a maximum of 7%. Considered a combination of conventional emulsifier and a polymeric one.• Glyceryl Stearate (is the below pairing ok or should it rather be paired with polysorbate 60?) 1%• SEPINOV EMT 10 - SEPPIC (Hydroxyethyl Acrylate / Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer) 2.00%• SEPIMAX™ ZEN - SEPPIC (Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6) (polymeric, gel property, not more than this % or becomes jelly-like, also electrolyte resistant) 0.50%Stabalisers• Cetyl Alcohol (stabaliser/thickener/emollient; to reduce drag and increase slide. Do I reduce this by 0.50% due to the addition of Isopropyl Myristate at 0.50%?) 2.00%• Isopropyl Myristate (to reduce oily/greasy feel of oils) 0.50%; or even• Penstia Powder (Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol Crosspolymer. Reduce tackiness, and add slip with a silky, creamy skin feel, absorbs sebum)• Xanthan Gum (stabaliser, water soluble. place in oil phase) 0.30%Silicones• Dimethicone 350 (slip and occlusion) 2.00%• Cyclomethicone (quick evaporation, provides slip and non-film leaving) 3.00%Preservatives• Euxyl® PE 9010 (Phenoxyethanol and Ethylhexylglycerin. End pH efficacy < 12) 1.00%• Perhaps: Euxyl® K940 (Phenoxyethanol and Ethylhexylglycerin. End pH efficacy < 12) 2.00%?• Dehydroacetic acid & Benzyl alcohol (GFecosafe / Preservative Eco equivelent. End pH efficacy range of 2 – 7) 1%Chelator• Disodium EDTA (used in neutral to mildly acidic products) 0.20%pH Adjuster• Citric Acid (decreases); or• Sodium Hydroxide (increase)Oils (11.50%)• Boabab Pressed Seed Oil (acne fighting; comedogenic: 2; Very Fast Absorption Rate of 1; Dry Oil) 2%• Oat Lipid Oil (Triacylglycerols: 48.6%, non-comedogenic; establishing and maintaining the epidermal water barrier; Omega-9/Oleic Acid 44.85%) 4.00%• Jojoba Oil, Golden (sebum-balancing, acneic skin, could reduce oil production, comedogenic: 2; Average Absorption Rate of 3; Leaves a slight oily or satiny finish; For Oily/Acne-Prone; Monounsaturated Omega-9/Eicosenoic Acid 71.99%) 2%• Safflower Oil (Carthamus tinctorius): (radiant appearance, emollient and works with HA, comedogenic: 0; Fast Absorption Rate of 2; Feels light and absorbs into the skin readily. Leaves a silky smooth finish; Omega-6/Linoleic Acid 78%) 3.00%• Blue Tansy Essential Oil (Tanacetum Annuum: 12% Champhor, 6.6% Chamazulene, can help reduce the appearance of blemishes and provide a soothing sensation when applied to the skin, provide sweet, floral aroma and blue appearance) 1.00%Others (50%)• Goat Milk (caprae lac) (does this require a lye solution as soap making does?) 5.00%• Oat Silk (oil-reducing, mattifying) 4.00%• Niacinamide 6.00%• Resveratrol 1.00%• Silk Amino Acid PF (Molecular Weight: <3500 Daltons; glycine, alanine, and serine; hygroscopic) 2.00%• Sodium PCA (NMF, hygroscopic) 2.50%• HMW Sodium HA (<50,000 Daltons, in support of Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3) 1.00%• LMW Sodium HA (<50,000 Daltons, in support of Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3) 2.00%• SLMW Sodium HA (<50,000 Daltons, in support of Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3) 1.00%• Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3 (support synthesis of collagen/ AKA Matrixyl) 2.00%• Matrixyl 3000 (anti-aging ) 8.00%• Neossance Squalane (Prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL)) 8.00%• Acetyl Glucosamine (replenish uneven skin tone) 4.00%• Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate (skin microbiome, probiotic cell renewal) 3.50% -
19 Replies
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How on earth are you going to dissolve the Resveratrol? Have you actually experimented with any of these materials?
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Hi Belassi! The Resveratrol I was looking at says the following: Use: Comes in powder form. Add at the end of the formulation process and mixed very well, can also be added to the water phase of a formulas. Can also be added to an already made cream. I haven’t experimented, I am going down that route to create the cream but wanted to start off on the right foot.
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Resveratrol is not water soluble but you can add to oil phase by pre-dissolving in surfactant emulsifier.Also Trans is active form which flips to cis form in storage.Best to use Tiagra Cellcaps encapsulated. which can be added at the end to avoid headaches.Also you have too much in your formula.
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There is too much stuff in this. I think it’s better to start with a simple formula, experiment with oils, emulsifiers, and a couple humectants until you like the feel of your gel-cream, and then add other ingredients.
You do not need that much niacinamide, all the studies I’ve seen used 4% niacinamide with 2% NAG. As a person with extremely oily skin, I also feel that 8% squalane is probably too much. I personally use 2% in my own moisturizer, and even that sometimes feels like too much. I would recommend making test batches with lower amount of oils and then see how your skin feels. You also have lots of thickeners, that 1% of HMW hyaluronic acid would already give you a very thick gel. As for resveratrol, I haven’t used it personally, but usually suppliers recommend dissolving it in ethanol. It’s also supposed to be miscible with glycerin, propylene glycol, or dmi. -
It’s also supposed to be miscible with glycerin, propylene glycol, or dmi.
Laughing, here… best of luck with it. (How many weeks did I waste on this topic?) -
I don’t know where to start. You have incompatible ingredients in the formula. You exceeded recommend amount of phenoxyethanol. You added tones of bug food (and no even that amount of preservatives and distilled water and chelator can’t help here). Out of curiosity where are you getting ingredients from? Lotioncrafter or glamourcosmetics? By looking at your collection of HAs of all possible molecular weights I am guessing it’s lotioncrafter. You don’t need half of what you listed, and you will pay an arm and a leg ordering all of it from lotioncrafter (VAT, customs fees, etc)
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I can however see you did your due diligence and found some decent formulation advice (how to formulate like a pro?). I will summarise it for you tomorrow.
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On your sodium HA….did you mean you would choose one of those….or you planned on using 4%?
I don’t think you can get 4% into solution? (or you meant .4%?)
At 1%…you already have a nice thick product. -
I guess it is possible to get 4% into solution.
I learn something new everyday! -
Ok, corrections:
Name/INCI % Aqua 67.00% Euxyl K940 1.50% Butylene
Glycol3.00% Glycerin 2.00% Niacinamide 4.00% NAG 2.00% Disodium EDTA 0.20% Jojoba oil 5.00% Cyclopentasiloxane 3.00% Dimethicone
3501.50% Cetyl Alcohol 3.00% Hydroxyethyl
Acrylate / Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer0.50% Polyacrylate
Crosspolymer-60.30% (Optional)Ronaflair light-reflecting powder - Sodium Potassium
Aluminum Silicate: 64,0 - 80,0 %Titanium Dioxide: 10,0 - 18,0 % C.
I. 77891Silicon Dioxide: 10,0 - 18,0 %
1.00% (optional)
Silicone Gel by glamoutcosmetics -Cyclopentasiloxane (and) Dimethicone /
Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer3.00% Glyceryl Stearate/PEG-100
Stearate3.00% -
Emulsifier: just get Glyceryl Stearate/PEG-100 from naturally thinking (UK supplier). The best you can get and you don’t need to think about pairing it. You can buy cetyl alcohol and glycerin there as well (better prices).
Everything else that I listed (except for NAG, EDTA and Sepinov) is sold by https://www.glamourcosmetics.it/gb/. They deliver to London within a week (even now).
You don’t need xanthan with all these polymers.
IPM is not a thickener, myristyl myristate is.
Trust the advice of professionals of this forum (not me, run a search and you will see what everyone says) and don’t waste your time on hyaluronic acid of any kind. The only good use for it is as a gelling agent in serums with a lot of electrolytes. You don’t notice any difference with other humectants. I suggest Butylene glycol for a nice non-tacky feel.
Sodium PCA is fantastic but you can’t mix it with polymers based on acrylic acid it breaks the network (even sepimax, it’s a matter of how much).
Peptides: waste of time and money and they also break the gel network.
Hydrosol is a bug food.
Goat milk.. don’t let me start on that one.
You don’t need that many (and that much) oils for oily skin.
I suggested a couple of materials for a mattifying effect.
If you decide to get everything from glamour, you can replace sepinov EMT 10 to Aristoflex Silk, they are very similar in texture and rheology.
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Wow! Just wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to go through my formula but also, to explain and suggest a better solution. I am in no way clued up on chemistry and this is my learning beginning, but I did try do my due diligence before trying to piece together a formula and posting here, so kindly excuse my ignorance.
If I may, could I ask you to kindly entertain a few of my questions? I did try research each of the items you suggested to understand the use, purpose and so on.
- Resveratrol
If I may start with the Resveratrol. I would very much like to consider including this and have taken the advice of those above and would like to know if I could possibly include this within the above formulation. There seems to be three suggestions above, one to include it at the end of formulation if I used Tagra’s CelluCap Resveratrol (thanks for this @DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ!). I would prefer this approach but I see there may only be one supplier I am able to obtain it through and I have emailed them as it doesn’t seem as readily available to DIYers. If not, perhaps I could look at the Ethanol route, which is another suggestion? Or the third suggestion of dissolving it within a surfactant emulsifier. Maybe in the Hydroxyethyl Acrylate?
- Sodium PCA
Ok, this brings me sadness. I would love nothing more than to include this. Is there anyway around this?
- Squalane
Can we not include this at 2% (thanks for your input @Sylarana!)? Was the increase in Jojoba Oil to replace this aspect? I see you included glycerin as well, was this in place of the Squalane or can the two be used in the above suggested formula?
Thank you so so much!
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You can try the ethanol route with Resveratrol but you will need to use an airless pump package or the ethanol slowly evaporates away and the Resveratrol precipitates out. Been there, done that…
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I will definitely be doing the airless pump rout either way.
I thought it was the safest way to keep bacteria and other bits out.
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My above reply did not include my full text.
This is what I had written:
- Resveratrol
I would really like to include this within the formulation. I see there have been three options suggested above, the first being the Tagra CelluCap™ Resveratrol which is added during the end cooldown process at a usage rate of 1-4%. I would prefer this approach but I see there may only be one supplier I am able to obtain it through and I have emailed them as it doesn’t seem as readily available to DIYers. If not, perhaps I could look at the Ethanol route, which is another suggestion? Or the third suggestion of dissolving it within a surfactant emulsifier. Maybe in the Hydroxyethyl Acrylate?
- Sodium PCA
Ok, this brings me sadness. I would love nothing more than to include this. Is there anyway around this?
- Squalane
Is it possible to include this at 2%? Or the increase in Jojoba Oil to replace this aspect? I see you included glycerin as well, was this in place of the Squalane or can the two be used in the above suggested formula?
Thank you so so much!
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@RockyStar you can add resveratrol to cool down phase. You won’t see much skin benefits from it though. It is normally should be dissolved in a solvent (read propylene glycol).
Sodium PCA, again, great humectant. I like it and use it but, not with polymeric emulsifiers. I will mess up sepinov (or any similar emulsifier). You can only add it at a tiny amount (like 0.2%). In fact I saw it in Chanel moisturizers most of which include Aristoflex and Sodium carbomer, but it’s somewhere below 1% line. Make a simple waterbased gel with sepinov, add 1% of Sodium PCA and you will see what happens.
Squalane, add as much as you want. It’s a stable hydrocarbon that is compatible with pretty much anything. I suggested to remove it because it’s expensive and the benefit doesn’t justify the price tag. -
If I am unable to source the encapsulated one, could I not dissolve the resveratrol in the Butylene Glycol? Apologies, I thought this was considered a solvent.
If I were to change out the Polymeric emulsifier with a non-ionic one, would this then allow me to include it within the formulation? I was looking at the combination below:
Glyceryl Stearate Citrate 1.50%Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate (TEGO® Care PS) 2.00%Would the squalane provide enough occlusive property or would you suggest something else?
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Butylene Glycol is a solvent too. I am not sure how much resveratrol you will be able to dissolve though. Speaking of polymeric emulsifiers, they give nice feel. I would definitely keep them rather than Sodium PCA. You still need conventional emulsifier for stability, I really recommend getting Glyceryl stearate +PEG100 stearate. You would not have any problems with it. It’s bullet proof pretty much.
Re: squalane, you mentioned it’s for oily skin, I don’t think you need a lot of oils. If you want use several just add small amounts. -
Oh my god the amount of HA in this is really quite a lot, it might be quite sticky, and it could be really thick. besides that, there’s no point in using that much NAG, you’re probably just wasting your money. Reduce to 2%. I would use 1,5% K940, it provides the best protection out of all of the above. Also, too much stuff for a first time imo.
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