Tips

Tips & techniques: Why I recommend weighing all your ingredients directly into the same beaker (when possible)!

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A collage of two photos and the title “Why I recommend adding all the ingredients to the same beaker!” There are two photos of the same beaker: One with about 25 ml of purple liquid, the other with around 4 ml of the same liquid

You’ve probably noticed I encourage you to measure everything you can into the same container when you’re formulating, including the cool down phase full of product protecting ingredients, like preservatives or anti-oxidants, and this is why! Into a 50 ml (1.69 fluid ounces) beaker, I measured the botanical extracts for a 300 gram batch of...

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Tips & techniques: It’s tocopherYl acetate, not tocopherol acetate (plus a bonus rant about misinformation)

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I’m seeing this mistake a lot, especially from those who claim to be chemists, which is weirding me out! Vital post on the topic! What’s the difference between these Vitamin Es? There are all kinds of “Vitamin E” out there, and it’s important to know what you’re getting. I wrote the post above to help...

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Substitutions: Making changes to the oil phase of a lotion, including a bit on using tallow!

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I’ve had a few people asking me how they can use tallow in lotions, and the answer is super simple – yes! And it’s really simple! Making substitutions for oils in the oil phase!  In any of my lotion formulas, unless I indicate otherwise, you can substitute any oil for any oil, any butter for...

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Tips & techniques: How to measure evaporation in a heated water phase?

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Infographic about replacing evaporated water from emulsion. I have written this in text in the body of the post.

After the post on scales and weighing and heat and such, I thought I would cover something that seems to stump some people – how to measure and replace water lost to evaporation. It’s something that comes up with every heated lotion! Important posts of note! Learn more about the instructions for making lotions in...

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Demythifying the myths: There isn’t a negative interaction between Sepimax ZEN and cetearyl alcohol

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I’ve had some downtime to surf the ‘net and catch up on all kinds of social media posts, and I’ve noticed a few things being said about Rheology modifiers like Sepimax ZEN, Aristoflex AVC, Sepinov EMT 10, and more that are kinda wrong. To help you avoid fish eyes, Jell-o, non- thickening formulas, and general...

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