Oil free moisturizer

Leanne wrote to me asking for some tips on creating an oil free moisturizer. By definition a moisturizer contains oil, water, and emulsifier…so is it possible to make an oil free moisturizer? Yes! When you see lotions in the stores with “oil free” emblazoned on the container, they still contain an oil phase. Generally the...

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Better crafting through chemistry: Esters & water soluble oils – PEG-7 olivate

There are two ways to make water soluble oils – you can mix an oil with an emulsifier (usually polysorbate 80) to make an oil water soluble or you can esterify them (okay, you can’t personally esterify them as you probably don’t have the equipment at home, but oils can be esterified to make them...

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Emulsification – phase inversion (updated)

I just learned the most interesting thing from Liz at the Dish and I have to share it! Have you ever considered whether you should pour the water into the oil or the oil into the water when you’re making lotions? I usually add the water to the oil because the water phase is always...

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Better crafting through chemistry: Esters – thickeners (part 2, Crothix)

Yes, Crothix is an ester – in fact, it’s a complex ester! The INCI is PEG-150 pentaerythrityl tetrastearate (and) PEG-6 caprylic/capric trigylcerides (and) water. It’s derived from and composed mostly of stearic acid. It’s non-ionic and it will create clear thickened surfactant systems, as opposed to the pearlized systems created with the EZ Pearl (yesterday’s...

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Better crafting through chemistry: Esters – thickeners (part 1) (updated)

Esters are well known to be efficient thickeners. You’ll have encountered a few on your bath and body adventures – glycol stearate, glycol distearate (or EZ Pearl), Crothix – when making surfactant systems or looking for options for emulsifiers. (Crothix isn’t an emulsifier, the others are!) These are all PEG esters or polyethylene glycol based...

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