Super moisturizing face cream

[MsHarryWinston]

Since I bought some preservative and e-wax I thought I might as well challenge myself and try a water based face cream. I scoured the Internet for best practices when it comes to making face cream but omg almost everyone posts by volume instead of weight and then almost no one used preservatives and it was just a big ol mess. "Go home internet, you're drunk!"

I DID find an interesting post that broke down phase percentages though. She gave 3 different examples based on consistency and usage, along with a general %age range for each phase, and from them I extrapolated my own numbers. And if there are any board members that make thicker moisturizing face cream (opposed to watery lotion), would you mind letting me know if this seems like it would do what I need it to do?

Water phase: 60%
Oil phase: 30% (with 10% of total recipe being hard butter)
Emulsifier: 9%
Preservative: 0.5%
Fragrance: 0.5%

I don't want it to be too heavy so I used lighter oils (like Grapeseed). But I want it to be super moisturizing so my water phase is 42% humectants (aloe juice and glycerin but I didn't go over the max recipe % of glycerin).

I don't know if this is a good starting point or if it would be better to start from 70%water 20%oil but I feel like those numbers are more for liquid my body lotion?

Thanks! Any input would be much appreciated.

 

[lsg]

Your formula pretty much goes along with the advice on the Swiftcraftymonkey blog:

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=face+cream

 

[MsHarryWinston]

Thanks! I searched the SMonkey blog for lotion info but but didn't get this post. The oldest I got were 2011 or 2010 I think. Really glad my instincts were correct.

 

[amd]

I use rosemary gladstars perfect face cream (Google it). It defies science and emulsifies for me every time and I don't have issues with spoilage (I don't use a preservative). I make this for personal use only.

 

[Stacy]

A couple of pointers just in case you haven't run across them yet. You might want to check out the comedogenic ratings of your oils (https://www.beneficialbotanicals.com/facts-figures/comedogenic-rating.html). I don't always bother with a body cream but my face definitely seems to care which oils I use.

If you're not familiar with heat & hold you should read this: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2010/04/argument-for-heating-holding-lotions.html

Use distilled water.

I wasn't truly happy with any of my lotions/butters until I started using isopropyl myristate (http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2009/06/better-crafting-through-chemistry_26.html). That was when they really started to feel like they were actually soaking in and not just sitting on my skin.

From my experience, I think you will be happy with 60% if you are looking for a thick cream. I would say it's somewhere around the consistency of room temperature cream cheese maybe? It's hard to come up with a perfect comparison, but the ones I've made are quite thick.

70% will put you at more of the hand cream area-for example you would have to tap the container to get it to move much.

80% is thinner of course, but I do like it for a face cream because it's light and soaks in quickly.

As you can see, I like Swiftcraftmonkey too! Here's a great post with a lot of useful links: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2010/01/if-youre-new-to-lotion-making.html

Good luck!

 

[Seawolfe]

Im a total newbie at only 3 batches of lotion made, but this post on the swifty crafty monkey site really helped me: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/01/if-youre-new-to-lotion-making.html

And I like the lotion crafting e book available on the swifty crafty site - it has a lot of different recipes and is very informative and well organized, nice for a newbie like me.
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/12/lotionmaking-101-e-book-is-finally-done.html

 

[Misschief]

I use rosemary gladstars perfect face cream (Google it). It defies science and emulsifies for me every time and I don't have issues with spoilage (I don't use a preservative). I make this for personal use only.

As do I. I've been making and using her recipe off and on for years. It always works for me.

 

[Dahila]

BTW I do not like ewax on face , on body is ok. Face only BMTS-50 or Polawax
Stacy have you ever use Emulsimulse? I use it in body and hand cream and no IPM for me, I have it, but I do not use it, with Emulsimulse you get dry feeling body butter

 

[MsHarryWinston]

A couple of pointers just in case you haven't run across them yet. You might want to check out the comedogenic ratings of your oils (https://www.beneficialbotanicals.com/facts-figures/comedogenic-rating.html). I don't always bother with a body cream but my face definitely seems to care which oils I use.

If you're not familiar with heat & hold you should read this: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2010/04/argument-for-heating-holding-lotions.html

Use distilled water.

I wasn't truly happy with any of my lotions/butters until I started using isopropyl myristate (http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2009/06/better-crafting-through-chemistry_26.html). That was when they really started to feel like they were actually soaking in and not just sitting on my skin.

From my experience, I think you will be happy with 60% if you are looking for a thick cream. I would say it's somewhere around the consistency of room temperature cream cheese maybe? It's hard to come up with a perfect comparison, but the ones I've made are quite thick.

70% will put you at more of the hand cream area-for example you would have to tap the container to get it to move much.

80% is thinner of course, but I do like it for a face cream because it's light and soaks in quickly.

As you can see, I like Swiftcraftmonkey too! Here's a great post with a lot of useful links: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2010/01/if-youre-new-to-lotion-making.html

Good luck!

I picked each oils very carefully for specific destinctive properties. Happily, when put against your chart there is nothing over a 2.

My water phase is a mix of rose water and aloe juice, but thank you for the tip about the distilled water.

And yup, I was sure to learn all about heat and hold and how it corresponds with proper emulsion.

BTW I do not like ewax on face , on body is ok. Face only BMTS-50 or Polawax

Thanks for the tip! I need it for both face cream and my lotion bars/body butter (want to try adding glycerin to both) so I thought I would try E-wax. NewDirections has Polawax, so if I hate the Ewax I'll be sure to try that next.

 

[traderbren]

I have made a few batches of face cream. My very first batch was glorious so I haven't changed anything. My water phase (which includes aloe liquid @15%, calendula and lavender hydrosols @15%, and distilled water @ 49.5%) equals just under 80%. It's lovely and thick in my jar, but glides on nicely. I have 2% glycerin in mine.

I use a combination of BTMS and ewax. The only thing I intend to change is to add some IPM once it arrives.

Let us know how yours turns out!

 

[MsHarryWinston]

I will for sure! My stuff won't be here until the 21st so I have to try to not go insane this weekend, boooo!
Though I think my soap stuff will arrive this week so hopefully I will be able to distract myself with my first ever batch of soap, yaaaaay!

 

[Stacy]

Stacy have ever use Emulsimulse? I use it in body and hand cream and no IPM for me, I have it, but I do not use it, with Emulsimulse you get dry feeling body butter

No I haven't tried that, but I will! It sounds very interesting. Sadly I just made a large order so it will have to wait until next time but it's at the top of the list now, thanks!

 

[MsHarryWinston]

I just saw Emulsimuse a couple of places. Apperantly it's Eco certified? I'm not quite sure what is meant by a "dry" body butter. Do you just mean it doesn't feel oily? I would love to use a natural emulsifier because it would bump my water included products from 90% natural to 98-99% natural. Unfortunately every place has a $75-$100 minimum order and I just put in my order yesterday before I realized what it was *facepalm*

 

[Dahila]

Yes Emuslimulse is eco-cert and It is kind of talk like feeling. No oily for sure, I use it in combination with cetyl alcohol, i hate stearic acid it is too druggy...My face creams are very light as Stacy said 80 % of oil; dry oil; abyssinian, Macademia, Hazelnut (not outbreak after i made cream with it) and I made tons of lotions and creams, learned from the best Susan swiftmonkey
I probably tried every combination of available emusifiers
Just do not go over 20% of water with your botanicals, it is prone to spoil, if you do , use full power of your preservative

 

[MsHarryWinston]

Hmmmm I'm wondering if Emulsimuse will feel too dry. I really want my in my end result for the skin to feel plump and dewy.