With over 35,000 students, our scientists show how to make natural and safe cream, lotion, moisturizer. Click to view our free formulation guides & recipes.
SeaBalance 2000 from CarbonWave is a new COSMOS approved, natural, cold-process emulsifier derived from sargassum seaweed. (INCI name: Sargassum Fluitans/Natans Extract (and) Xanthan Gum (and) Pentylene Glycol).  Above is our second lab video and the video at the end of this post is of our first …
Sustainable, solid cosmetics are trending. Our natural, moisturizing lotion bar recipe is easy to make. To make your own, add more emulsifier, butter and thickener in place of water. For an easy to melt, non-greasy bar we like: BTMS-50, berry wax, cetyl palmitate, mango butter, …
To understand the process of how to reverse engineer a cosmetic product, check out the two YouTube videos below which we created with Christine Hwang, Annalisa Branca @skinperspective and Alex Tolstoy for The Ecowell:  Analyzing lotions and creams video Reverse engineering video  Before …
Formulations don’t have to be complex. This one is super simple and a breeze to dupe. Cold process, no oil phase, and all ingredients are easy to get hold of (https://makingskincare.com/cosmetic-ingredient-suppliers/). Ingredient wise, the formula is inexpensive apart from the sodium hyaluronate, (high molecular weight: …
How to make your emulsion thicker or thinner. First analyze your formula to see what ingredients are contributing to viscosity. This is usually the emulsifier blend, gums/polymers and any fatty alcohols/acids (stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol) or waxes in your formula. If you wish …
TEGO® Care PS from Evonik (INCI: Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate) is a popular DIY natural emulsifier in Europe, especially amongst German DIY formulators, where it is known by the name of “Emulsan”. It is one of my favourite natural hot process emulsifiers and produces light, flow-able, …
0.2-0.3% xanthan gum is a common ingredient in my emulsions. I use this natural polymer mainly as a stabiliser. Xanthan, with it’s shear thinning, and high low-shear viscosity, is able to reduce the tendency of droplets to coalesce minimising the chances of emulsion separation. I …
Want to make your emulsion thicker, more creamy and stable? Just add 1-2% of either: cetyl alcohol (cetanol (1-hexadecanol C16)); stearyl alcohol (1-octadecanol C18); or cetostearyl alcohol (blend of C16 and C18). I’m a huge fan of these common higher alcohols. I use them in …
How to formulate like a pro! Jane is responsible for teaching skincare and haircare formulation at a UK University’s Cosmetic Science Degree. Below are Jane’s top tips and tricks to take your formulation knowledge to the next level:- 1. Unfortunately there are very few credible …
Scroll down for our Lotion tutorial but if you would like to make other products, sign up to our Free, online formulation course from Chemists Corner, Swiftcraftymonkey and Making Skincare As a first step to making your own products, we highly recommend enrolling on our …