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I don’t think there’s any way of us knowing - you’d need to smell each raw ingredient. 

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You definitely want a stirrer before a homogenizer. You’d have to tell us what you intend to make before us being able to recommend a homogenizer or not. 

Sorry, I’m not help with equipment suppliers. 

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I think ngarayeva001 is referring to polypropylsilsesquioxane. Not to be confused with polymethylsilsesquioxane.

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Body wash trees haha

Waxes are a great way to economically thicken oils, as mentioned. 

Also, ethyl cellulose and silica dimethyl silylate are easy-to-find options. 

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What kind of cream eyeshadow are you intending to make: cream, mousse, gel, liquid?

Do you have a starting formula you’re working from? Familiarity with color cosmetics?

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Seconding dropping hyaluronic acid. I don’t suspect your problem is in your formulation as much as it’s in your sprayer. Does the sprayer spray water as you’d like?

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em88 said:

What’s this strategy of throwing here your project without even reading what are you talking about? 

Mostly this. The scope of this forum does not extend to the point of formulating as people wish upon request.

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Yes, the different grades serve a purpose. I would not use non-cosmetic grade cellulosics.  

I would also be wary of purchasing ingredients through DHgate and the like as they’re often known to include fillers, disingenuous products and contaminants. 

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It’s unclear what you mean by “glow effect”. Pearls? Oils? Polyols?

Also, are you saying you need the look of oil without using oil, or can you use oil, emulsified in water?

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ngarayeva001 said:

I thought retinol needed higher pH

I believe retinol does best in the 3.75-4.75 range. 

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Retinol could be higher, maybe 2%.
AHA could be higher, maybe 10%.
Ascorbic acid could be higher, maybe 12%.
Salicylic acid could be higher, maybe 2%.

Ultimately, this is all personal preference and how much your skin has adapted to the formula. If this is for personal use, you’ll need to decide for yourself. Also, pH could be anywhere from 3-4 for maximum effectiveness. 

It’s worth noting that retinol products are best around 4-5 pH and vitamin C, 2.5-3. AHA’s, 3-4. Please keep in mind going as low as 2.5 pH can be hazardous to your skin if your skin is not used to it.

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When I started out I was told that lotions have a lower percentage of oils compared to creams. Also, I think consumer perception is that lotions are thinner than creams, but as everyone has already said, it’s more marketing than anything. 

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Is there a reason for polyisobutene instead of the hydrogenated version? I think that could help, as well as the addition of waxes. Either will give you better structure. 

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Polyethylene is a great all-around structure enhancer. To choose waxes effectively you really need the background with regards to crystallinity, oil absorption, melt point, syneresis, etc. I don’t have this background. Based on my base level knowledge I’d say go with microcrystalline/ozokerite with the larger proportion starting off as microcrystalline. 

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Yes, I’d certainly scale up your formulation and then fill each bottle with the mixture. More consistency and safer. 

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A clear emulsion like you’re talking about has a very small particle size. I want to say sub-100 nm but this is just from memory. Find an emulsifier you like that can do this, try it with your formulation, then come back and post the whole formulation so we can help. 

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This?

With this.

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Did you email them or “request access”?

https://www.barnetproducts.com/Request-Access.aspx

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High end lipglosses don’t vary any from any other. I’m sure you’ve noticed this if you look at ingredients. 

I don’t think you included your entire formulation if you’re adding pigment at some point. 

Did you wet grind the pigment before adding it? If you tell us your procedure it’s easier to help. 

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A diluted solution of sodium hydroxide works as well.

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This seems like an incredible amount of liability to assume. 

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@Perry Anecdotally, do you find these claims of damage credible?

I did some reading and, perhaps I was looking in the wrong places, but all I could find was around the level of: short chain alcohols are absorbed by the hair and when they evaporate, they take necessary water and oil with them, resulting in drier and frizzier cuticle/hair. None of the articles I read talked about the cortex/medulla and breakage.

From there various authors vaguely implied that this absorption/evaporation cycle either inherently damages hair or that drier/frizzier hair is more easily damaged. That’s as specific of information that I could find but, again, I don’t know hair. 

Is this true? Can a roughened cuticle be caused by alcohol? Does that lead to breakage? 

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Werps, I didn’t see EV’s last post but I’ll leave mine as a +1.

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LuisJavier said:

I thought 20% was the necessary amount for adequate preservation. I had seen at least 1 face cream formula with isopropanol listed in the ingredients list close or alongside to phenoxyethanol which led to me suspecting it was being used as a preservative in the formula.

Without seeing the list of course I’m just guessing but I think it may have been for solubilization. 

I have read anywhere from 20-70% is required for preservation. Makes me question my sources… -_-

Does anyone know if there are any synergies between say ethanol/isopropyl alcohol and phenoxyethanol?

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It’s the gold! Just kidding. 

I believe this list is similar to Neutrogena’s HydroBoost gel. Perhaps crossing the two lists will help? (Please come back and let us know what you learn.)