[gld010]

Try <1% Sodium Surfactin dispersed in glycerin, with an oil phase between 60-80%.

[gld010]

Are your pigments coated with anything or are they plain oxides? Coated pigments tend to play nicer with w/si emulsions (emulsions in general, really) in my experience

[gld010]

Color cosmetics are a pain, speaking from experience!

Boost up levels of existing emulsifiers — your PEGS/PPGs. If you are calculating with HLB make sure to factor in the oil your pigments are dispersed in (it’s easy to forget).

If you have access to other pigment dispersions, I’d give those a try as well - sometimes what the pigments are dispersed in can make or break a fussy emulsion like w/si.

[gld010]

Mascaras are, in fact, pretty challenging.

I don’t think that formula will perform very well, based on my experience.

[gld010]

Castor oil is highly polar whereas mineral oil is non-polar. If you’ve ever heard “like dissolves like” in a chemistry context, polarity is usually what that refers to. Water is polar and can mix with other polar solvents. Non polar emollients are miscible with eachother. But putting a polar substance into a non polar one results in the two eventually separating out.

One way you can get these two to mix is by mixing them with a solvent emollient- something like c12-15 alkyl benzoate. Choose something soluble in mineral oil and disperse the castor oil in it, and add. Like solubilizing a fragrance oil into water. Very similar idea. Maybe try alcohol as well, or an ethoxylated surfactant/emulsifier

[gld010]

Its a pretty common problem but it’s also caused by many, many issues ranging from how you apply the product to the formula! If you are using a lot of silicone elastomers/crosspolymers I’d reduce them, when I worked in color cosmetics we used a lot of silicone materials like that and using too much will cause the silicone to stick to itself.

[gld010]

It could be your gellants/thickeners, it could be silicones, it could be pigment coating. We can’t say more unless you post a formula.

[gld010]

Yes, use the sunscreen simulator as a very loose guideline as the thickness and composition of a formula can impact the SPF.

[gld010]

Polydimethylsiloxane  is known as dimethicone in the cosmetics world. the way to get thicker dimethicone is to do what perry said and buy a thicker grade. the thickness of dimethicone depends on how the silicone polymer is structured. im unsure of how it works in the industrial fluid setting but in cosmetics you purchase dimethicone by the cSt, which is a measure of how thick it is. dimethicone can vary from 2 cst, incredibly thin, to 1,000,000,000 cSt and even above, really thick. there should be a given cSt in the paperwork somewhere, if not on the label or in the name itself. your supplier should have a thicker option.

[gld010]

I had to take  the same math classes as engineers did at my school to get my chemistry degree, I don’t think math is a weak point for me at all.

[gld010]

MarkBroussard said:

@HOHCos:

The reason you are not getting a response is that it’s a diversion of time to reply to someone just to tell them that you don’t work on color cosmetics.  Also, as Belassi noted, many of the color cosmetic requests are from and pardon my language “teenage girls with no money” 

I worked in color cosmetics for about a year and this is spot on. there were a lot of color development requests from people who essentially wanted a vanity line of cosmetics but had no idea what goes in to something like that (both monetarily and product development wise). not just teenagers who were clueless, but adults who liked the idea of “owning” a cosmetics line. they didn’t like the idea of our private label services either, because the formula wasnt “special”. I didn’t realize how much potential products the account reps refused/turned away because of lack of money to follow up, lack of any following to sell to, lack of knowledge about what they even want.

[gld010]

 Agreeing with Perry… but if a client requests something like that in the product at 1% so I have to comply.

I have used lactobacillus lysates before at 1% in a thin emulsion and there is a bit of an odor. Nothing that hits you in the face upon use, but if you stick your head into the bulk and take a sniff you’ll get it. Ideally you’d be putting these ingredients in at 0.1% and then you wouldn’t have a problem. There is also an issue of solubility, I’ve had some precipitate in some of the thin formulas containing the lysates. Not in every experiment, but in one or two. Again, this is less of an issue if you stick to “claims” levels.

[gld010]

I think that “grime” is from the high amount of Xanthan gum- it’s forming a layer as it dries and will start “pilling” and peeling off your skin when rubbed. Xanthan gum is usually used at 0.5% or less. I can’t comment on why it’s doing it only in the presence of dimethicone though.

“But the spreadibility becomes bad and look like ‘soap’ when rubbed on skin.” That is quite literally called “soaping” and dimethicone is the best way to eliminate it. You can also try something like isoamyl laurate (dermofeel sensolv) but it doesn’t always work to get rid of soaping.

[gld010]

70% Sorbitol solution. I agree with Microformulation though, glycerin is cheap and considered “natural” so there is no reason to not use it unless specifically requested (I’ve had a few odd “no glycerin” requests but it’s not the norm, even for “natural” brands)

[gld010]

Youd need some kind of surface modified pigments coated with something to make them dispersable in water. Is Kobo distributed in your country? Sensient? They have options like this.

You should be milling your pigments anyways, even if they are coated. Coated pigments take less effort to break up/mill/disperse.

Unfortunately emulsifying and thickening will change the color no matter what. It’s frustrating, but that’s how it goes. 

[gld010]

I would suggest using Panthenol at a lower level, or even not at all. There are global panthenol shortages due to plants in China closing and prices are jumping up. I don’t think your clients will notice a difference without it. Maybe put it in at 0.01% if you really want it on the IL?

[gld010]

I agree with @Dirtnap1. Broccoli seed oil has nice slip and shine but I wouldn’t consider it a true alternative.

[gld010]

Which aristoflex? Aristoflex Silk is the most tolerant of salts so maybe try that one, though maybe 5% would be too much… But it wouldn’t hurt to try

Siligel from Lucas Meyer has great skinfeel and salt tolerance but your gel won’t be crystal clear and it is a bit pricey.

[gld010]

ngarayeva001 said:

@gld010 If you read the LOI of the most popular cosmetic products on the market you will notice that 99% of the ingredients can be found on lotioncraftet or makingcosmetics. And I am not talking drug store. You can recreate $400 moisturizer using supplies from lotioncafter.

That doesn’t surprise me but I never thought to check!

[gld010]

ngarayeva001 said:

Self-study is often underestimated.

I agree! But it is hard to convince people you’re worth hiring without the 50,000 USD piece of cardstock to assure them.

I guess for cosmetics formulating you can try to knock out some really nice “kitchen chemist” formulas using what’s available on Making Cosmetics and Lotioncrafter, etc to give to potential employers. For fields like semiconductors, energy, etc. there really is no “proof of self study” equivalent, all you can really go by is their education, publication, and work history.

[gld010]

 “A lot of what I know about cosmetic formulation I actually learned on the job.” She continued: “I learn a lot by trial and error. Take that as you will.”

As far as I know this is a normal way to learn formulation chemistry? My first gig was as a formulation chemist for color cosmetics when I had previously formulated/researched weird cement in grad school. There are very few degree programs (in the US, at least) about cosmetic formulation. I was able to learn as I went from suppliers, coworkers, whitepapers, even this very forum. In fact, one of the things I like about this job is that I am learning something new every day. I’ve been doing this for only two years and there is so much more to learn.

I have a degree in chemistry and a masters in molecular science, neither of which directly taught me formulation, pertaining to cosmetics or otherwise… so I am unsure that it is such a bad thing if you don’t have a degree and are selling your own cosmetic line (as long as you get all of your safety testing done, I mean :# ). I’m sure a degree in chemistry can help you parse information given to you by suppliers, and make scientifically minded decisions, and the like but I am unsure if it is 100% required.

…But representing yourself as having a degree when you do not, or representing yourself as the only formulator when in fact you have a team or used a contract manufacturer, isn’t a great thing to do.

[gld010]

Welp, disregard my response lol

[gld010]

I find stir bars helpful when pre-making slurries and small amounts of solutions (dyes, pH adjusters, etc) but we have a LOT of hot plates around, if you’re only buying one then you should probably focus on other features.

[gld010]

I’ve never made a soap before but I noticed there is nothing to neutralize the stearic acid since you replaced TEA… Why did you replace TEA with ethanol? What functions do you think they have in common? Ethanol will not neutralize anything.

To get a stearate salt, which will be more transparent in solution (stearic acid by itself is bright white), you need to neutralize your stearic acid with something

[gld010]

I have nothing to say about the preservative side of things (other than this information you have provided is valuable), but if you want to fragrance your formulas “naturally” you can try Aromatic Waters or Aromatic Extracts. We get ours from Carrubba.They are also kind of pricey so that might not be a viable option, but still throwing it out there.