Cera bellina

Cera bellina (INCI:  Polyglycerol-3 Beeswax) is a form of beeswax in which the fatty acids have been esterified to create a polyglycerol that is more hydrophilicor water liking. It can be used in just about any product you want, including lotions and other water containing things. Anywhere you might use beeswax, you can use cera bellina.

Cera bellina comes in pastille form, which you can add to the heated oil phase of your products. The melting point is 63˚C to 73˚C (145.4˚F to 163.4˚F), so you’ll want to heat your ingredients to slightly over 73˚C and hold for a bit to melt every little pastille to the maximum melting point. (Test the temperature with a thermometer, not by touching the container or ingredients.)

Why use it instead of beeswax? It can help eliminate those horrible little grains you get from butters, it can create oily gels, it can help make products a little more glidy (unlike beeswax, which makes things quite grippy), and it can help disperse pigments in things like lipsticks.

If you’d like to learn more about this ingredient, please click here for a longer post and photos.