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Needing some advice on mixing my liquid lipstick formulation.
Hello!
my name is Brittany. I’m 24 and from Ontario, Canada. For the past 5 months I’ve been doing a lot of research into formulating a matte liquid lipstick. I know it’s a trend right now and you all must be so sick of seeing and answering these posts! I’m aware of how difficult it is to formulate a liquid lipstick. I just had a couple of questions I hope someone would be able to give me some advice. Please keep in mind that I’m inexperienced and not super educated on the matter so if you could dumb it down for me I’d be super appreciative!
Ive read every post on this forum related to liquid lipsticks and learned as much as I could from that. I also read all the posts about posting ettiquette, but I apologize if I over step or offend! I understand that this is a free site and that the advice given from qualified individuals is given purely from the kindness of your hearts and I deeply appreciate any help that’s given. I would hire I cosmetic chemist in a heartbeat if I could afford to do so. The only reason I’m attempting this on my own is because I cannot.
I found this article awhile back and I plan on trying to replicate this formula. http://luisafanzani.com/how-to-make-a-liquid-lipstick/
Isododecane 54.6%Trimethylsiloxysilicate 17%Dimethicone 15%Bentone Gel 5%Synthetic Fluorphlogopite 3%Synthetic Beeswax 2%Fumed Silica 2.5%Tocopheryl Acetate 0.2%Caprylyl Glycol ,Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol 0.2%All the ingredients are from http://www.tkbtrading.com. I’m substituting Bentone gel for “Gel maker” from TKB https://tkbtrading.com/products/tkbs-gelmaker-cc-1 because I’m unable to find Bentone gel), Luisa suggested substituting for Hectorite Gel from http://www.makingcosmetics.com but the shipping is too expensive to order from. Someone on TKB mentioned this “gel maker” is a substitute for Hectorite gel. I asked Luisa Fanzani (who wrote the article) about the synthetic fluorphlogopite as I’m unable to find it alone, only as an ingredient in shimmery micas and shades. She said it wasn’t 100% necessary and could be left out. (Which ingredient should I increase the percentage of to make up for this?)
Issue #1: Dimethicone. When ordering dimethicone, I’m given the option of different viscosities. In the article it doesn’t mention anything about which viscosity should be used. Here is a link to what I’m talking about. https://tkbtrading.com/search?type=article%2Cpage%2Cproduct&q=Dimethicone*
theres dimethicone 1.5, 100 or 350. Which would you speculate would be most appropriate for my project? I ordered 100.Issue #2: I do not have any machinery or a high shear mixer. I plan on using an electric hand held whisker/milk frother. Luisa has said going this route I would be better off using predispersed pigments because when I add my pigments she suspects they would be grainy. All the predispered pigments I found were dispersed in castor oil. Do you think castor oil will negatively affect my formula? Is there another way to disperse my own pigments? And she mentions in the instructions to add the fumed silica using a high shear mixer as well. Would my handheld frother suffice?
Issue #3: The instructions included in this article are a little vague. When I’ve read other mixing procedures and other questions on this forum I feel like the procedure was a lot more sophisticated (Certain temperatures during melting and mixing). In her procedure, she instructs you to add the synthetic wax to a beaker of the other ingredients and melt it. Am I correct to assume the entire mixture would be heated up to melt the wax opposed to the wax first being melted and then added to the mixture? I just want to make sure I won’t damage any of the other ingredients by heating them. Is there a suggested tempterature to heat this mixture up to? Or should I just heat it up hot enough to melt the wax?
again, thanks so much for any suggestions. All of my supplies will be arriving within a week and I will keep you updated on what does and doesn’t work. I just want educated opinions so I waste as little product as possible.
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9 Replies
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So I went ahead and attempted this. I used dimethicone at 100 and I dispersed the silica for 10 minutes with a milk frother.
I had several issues, the first issue is that my final product was extremely thin. Very liquidy. Secondly, it was not very pigmented at all despite using a lot of pigment. I tried making one product with a mix of the predispersed lakes and iron oxide, and one mixture with just the mica. Thirdly, it was hard to tell with the mica because it was so sheer, but the lake and iron oxide mixture didn’t dry and wiped right off.
Any suggestions? -
which grade of silica did you use? they are by no means interchangeable
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not all pre dispersed color dissolves well using castor oil. You can use Pentaerytrythil Tetraisostearate, Diisostearyl Malate, Polybutene (and) Ethylhexyl Palmitate or C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate. These materials are good solvent esters to premix the colors you have. For liquidy problems, you can reduce the percentage of Isododecane, change the syntethic wax to White Beeswax, Increase Bentone Gel percentage by about 8-10%.
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Which grade of Bentone Gel you have used here???
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The Silica I used was this one:
https://tkbtrading.com/products/silica-dimethyl-silylatBentone gel, I didn’t use any as I mentioned. I used TKB’s Gel maker because Luisa instructed me to use Hectorite gel as a substitution when I was unable to find Bentone gel. Someone mentions in the TKB forum that the “Gel maker” was a good substitute for Hectorite gel. Link to this product is in the original post. I’m unable to obtain any of the solvent eaters you mentioned, I am only able to order from TKB trading or making cosmetics. Am I able to disperse pigments in some isododecane? Do I need a high shear mixer to disperse pigments?
I think castor oil might be causing some problems as I made one batch with a sparkle mica and one with the predispersed pigments. I’m still having some issues with transfer I think but the mica actually dried opposed to the predispersed which didn’t. They’re all very sheer as well.
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You should first dissolve the pigment you have with some solvent (for good result, u can try with ester with have function as dispersant) do it with a ratio of 50:50 or 60:40 or you can try it for yourself for good results. For a thin color problem, what percentage of pre-dispersed colors do you use in the formulas that you have? u can try with a 35% color percentage and 65% for base.
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Am I able to dispersed pigments in some isododecane? I do not recommend to dissolve the color with isododecane, where isododecane in your formula though as solvent, but it works also to give matte result after applied on lips.
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Do I need a high shear mixer to disperse pigments? To dissolve the color and solvents that you have, u can try in a conventional way by pulverized it in mortar until completely dissolves or with a roll mill tool.
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For dispersing pigment in small batches, people here have recommended a pigment muller in the past - a thick, frosted glass plate with a heavy, flat pestle. Search the forum for “muller” and you’ll find a few threads that mention it.
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