So I've been a fairly busy little potions witch
Last weekend I did manage to make a couple of items.
First of all I used my new emulsifier - Lotionpro 165 from Lotioncrafter to make CoCo Vanilla hand lotion. I love this new emulsifier! It's not really made to thicken a lotion all on it's own so the end product is fluffier and silkier. It feels fantastic on the skin, especially for this warmer months. If I do want something thicker without adding more solid oils I can add one of the waxy esters I have. The smell, with virgin cocoa butter and vanilla essential oil is rather heavenly at first but can get over-powering if you're not really into the scent. Of all the ladies who tried it about 2/3 loved the scent. Of the remaining there were 2 who actively did not like the scent and declined to try it. I don't blame them. The remaining 1/3 thought the scent was meh! but loved the texture. I might try this formula again but but the cocoa butter in half and substitute coconut oil (no real scent), cut the vanilla essential oil in half and add a little coconut scent. I'd just use virgin coconut oil for the content and scent but I don't have any right now and I won't buy more until I use what I have. In any case, I really love this emulsifier - the lotion was so fluffy and silky. What's even better? It's very reasonably priced!
I also made a shaving lotion. I used my old friend BTMS 225 as the emulsifier for it's conditioning properties. It's thinner than regular lotion and has goodies like panthenol, allantoin, silk protein and hydrolyzed oats to make it quite conditioning and glidy on the skin. After all, you don't want something between your skin and a razor that will drag and irritate. I wanted a masculine scent so I used 10 drops of Atlas cedar, 5 drops of grapefruit, 3 drops of clary sage and a tiny bit of labdanum. When the lotion finally cooled down enough to add the essential oils I stopped at only about half of the above mixture. I wasn't crazy about the scent. Too much grapefruit for one thing. I wanted to tone it down a bit so I added 2 drops of copaiba benzoin. Better but I still wasn't crazy about it though I knew that it would change and mellow after it set for a few hours. I portioned the mixture into 5 sample cups and passed them out to some of the men at work to try. Firstly, a lot of men at work have facial hair and about half of the rest use an electric razor. I got some pretty weird looks walking up to men and asking if they used an electric razor or a blade. One man I heard back from the next day. He's been a member of an inexpensive monthly shave club (one I can't compete with in price) for years. He compared my shaving lotion to the best he's had from them (which is the best he's had) and found it comparable. But he likes the scent of mine better! The scent did mellow out considerably. The other man I've heard back from also really liked the feel of it and the smell. He said it felt a little weird to use such a thin layer of lotion instead of a thick layer of foam but that he very much liked the smooth conditioned feel that it left because he didn't have to use an aftershave lotion. Hopefully I'll hear back from the others tomorrow. Now I want to make another batch scented for the ladies and see what they think. Maybe I'll do that today!
Yesterday I got creative and, as Susan Barclay-Nichols of Point of Interest suggested, I got out of my 'comfort zone'. By now I'm pretty comfortable making lotions and even toners but I wanted to try using some of the surfactants I've gotten. I've added them to lotions before to make a creamy cleansing cream but I wanted to go further. So I made body wash and a foaming facial cleanser! For these I pretty much followed other's formulas - until I gain enough confidence to strike out on my own. I have gained enough experience to substitute ingredients I don't have for those that I do though. The body wash was supposed to be Lemon Rose (which would have been a great smell) but the 'rose' comes from a small amount of rose water which is nicely moisturizing and doesn't really contribute all that much to the scent so at the last moment I decided to switch the lemon to grapefruit. I switched around a few other ingredients and came out with a super thick, opaque body wash that smelled fantastic and juicy. But how did it feel? The only other body wash I've made several years ago had a fairly dense, creamy lather with very small bubbles and wash quite expensive to make. This one was less expensive, had dense, creamy lather but with bigger bubbles. Using a shower puff I really didn't have to use as much body wash as I anticipated - not nearly as much as some commercial products - and felt fantastic on my skin! It's going to be perfect for summer but I'll probably want a bit more moisturizing for cooler weather. I'll definitely be making this one again. Next weekend I might make another batch and portion it out for samples too.
Yesterday I also make a Foaming Silk Facial Cleanser. I loved it! It leaves my face feeling conditioned instead of stripping away all the oils like the last one did. I looked all over for my big foaming dispenser but couldn't find the damn thing anywhere! Luckily I remembered that I'd bought a smaller foaming dispenser at the same time and I did find it. It's a much better fit anyway. My 100 grams of facial cleanser (which should last a couple of months) would have been lost in the larger bottle. When I find the larger bottle I might use it for my body wash though I'd have to thin it out considerably - which would make it even cheaper! If it still works as well. We'll see. I can buy those smaller dispensers in a 10 pack for $16.99 through Amazon which would make them $1.70 apiece. A little pricey but when you consider they can be refill instead of tossed and replaced that makes them much more economical.
The other product I made yesterday was a gel facial moisturizer. To tell you the truth I wasn't sure what to expect. I basically wanted the gel to suspended the Eyeseryl Solution B I got last fall to try and diminish the dark, puffy circles under my eyes (more about that in a bit) but since I had the Sepimax Zen (a pre-neutralized gel maker that Susan Barclay-Nichols had been raving about) I decided to use it for one of her facial moisturizers. Other gel makers you have to adjust the pH on and I don't have a pH meter (too expensive tright now) so this pre-neutralized version is wonderful! Anyway you have to heat your other ingredients first if you're going to use anything other than distilled water (which I was), let it cool and then sprinkle the Sepimax Zen powder on top. Then comes the hard part. You have to walk away from it for 8 hours and let it gel undisturbed! In the photos of Susan's gel it was crystal clear but since I added some liquid esters (very light feeling non-oil oils - technically they're not oils so I could call my product oil-free) that turned the mixture white just like lotions turn white when you add water to oils and emulsify. I was apprehensive about the feel of it. I got some on my fingers and it felt a little oily, something I was trying to get away from. But I washed my face with the Foaming Silk Facial Cleanser and then slathered on a little of the gel - too much it turns out, I could have used less. OMG! I couldn't stop stroking my face! The skin felt plush and velvety! And not oily at all. It still feels that way to some extent this morning and I haven't washed my face yet. This gel is definitely my favorite thing I've made so far. I can use less than the 3% Sepimax Zen that this recipe calls for next time because it was really thick. It actually kind of resembles cottage cheese jelly. In a little bit I'm going to separate off a bit into a smaller jar and add some Sensolene and see what that feels like. I wanted to add the Sensolene before but I didn't want to waste it in case the gel didn't work. Luckily even though the Sensolene is soluble in oil and the bulk of the gel is water there's enough oil to help it along plus the very nature of the gel means that oil soluble products will be suspended in it.
I've already portioned off 2 grams of the gel and added 2% of the Eyeseryl Solution B to it. Last fall I tried adding the Eyeseryl to the argan oil facial serum I was using then at 3%. Instructions say that it's usable up to 10% but after a few days I noticed I had red, scaly swooshes under my eyes! I discontinued, let the rash heal, diluted the Eyeseryl down to 2% and tried again. No more rash but by that time I had a raging sinus infection that made me look like I had 2 black eyes anyway so I discontinued for the time since I was trying to judge results. Now I'm ready to try again. Maybe it was the solution I was adding the Eyeseryl to that caused the problem. Who knows. If 2% doesn't irritate I'll up the next batch to 2.5% but the web page says there were visible results at 1%. Keep your fingers crossed. Sometimes dark under-eye circles can be caused by lack of sleep or illness, but it's hereditary in many people. That doesn't mean I can't do anything about it though. If they Eyeseryl doesn't work I'll try another formula. Susan Barclay-Nichols husband also suffers from dark puffy under-eye circles and they have a complete formula they made for him. If at first you don't succeed!
Oh! and lip balms! The ladies at work were very interest in lip balms. I already ordered 25 lip balm tubes. So I ordered a set of 12 different Lorann flavor oils through Amazon. I get to pick the flavors that I want. Did you know they're not really 'flavors'? They're scents. Without something sweet in them to connect your taste buds with the your sense of smell they're just scents. But I just happen to have in my possession from a previous order, an oil based sweetener. And since lip balms are anhydrous (only oils, no water) they require flavor oils and not alcohol based, which some of them are. So maybe I'll make a small batch of unflavored lip balm today to put in a little pot and pass out samples on small craft sticks (popsicle sticks) of which I have many - they're very cheap at the craft store.
So, back to your cauldron little potions witch! More discoveries to make. I just need to keep in mind that when I start deviating from known and proven formulas and completely making my own, there are bound to be some flops. Even epic failures. I'll just have to keep my successes in mind.
This entry was originally posted at http://ixchel55.dreamwidth.org/353569.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
First of all I used my new emulsifier - Lotionpro 165 from Lotioncrafter to make CoCo Vanilla hand lotion. I love this new emulsifier! It's not really made to thicken a lotion all on it's own so the end product is fluffier and silkier. It feels fantastic on the skin, especially for this warmer months. If I do want something thicker without adding more solid oils I can add one of the waxy esters I have. The smell, with virgin cocoa butter and vanilla essential oil is rather heavenly at first but can get over-powering if you're not really into the scent. Of all the ladies who tried it about 2/3 loved the scent. Of the remaining there were 2 who actively did not like the scent and declined to try it. I don't blame them. The remaining 1/3 thought the scent was meh! but loved the texture. I might try this formula again but but the cocoa butter in half and substitute coconut oil (no real scent), cut the vanilla essential oil in half and add a little coconut scent. I'd just use virgin coconut oil for the content and scent but I don't have any right now and I won't buy more until I use what I have. In any case, I really love this emulsifier - the lotion was so fluffy and silky. What's even better? It's very reasonably priced!
I also made a shaving lotion. I used my old friend BTMS 225 as the emulsifier for it's conditioning properties. It's thinner than regular lotion and has goodies like panthenol, allantoin, silk protein and hydrolyzed oats to make it quite conditioning and glidy on the skin. After all, you don't want something between your skin and a razor that will drag and irritate. I wanted a masculine scent so I used 10 drops of Atlas cedar, 5 drops of grapefruit, 3 drops of clary sage and a tiny bit of labdanum. When the lotion finally cooled down enough to add the essential oils I stopped at only about half of the above mixture. I wasn't crazy about the scent. Too much grapefruit for one thing. I wanted to tone it down a bit so I added 2 drops of copaiba benzoin. Better but I still wasn't crazy about it though I knew that it would change and mellow after it set for a few hours. I portioned the mixture into 5 sample cups and passed them out to some of the men at work to try. Firstly, a lot of men at work have facial hair and about half of the rest use an electric razor. I got some pretty weird looks walking up to men and asking if they used an electric razor or a blade. One man I heard back from the next day. He's been a member of an inexpensive monthly shave club (one I can't compete with in price) for years. He compared my shaving lotion to the best he's had from them (which is the best he's had) and found it comparable. But he likes the scent of mine better! The scent did mellow out considerably. The other man I've heard back from also really liked the feel of it and the smell. He said it felt a little weird to use such a thin layer of lotion instead of a thick layer of foam but that he very much liked the smooth conditioned feel that it left because he didn't have to use an aftershave lotion. Hopefully I'll hear back from the others tomorrow. Now I want to make another batch scented for the ladies and see what they think. Maybe I'll do that today!
Yesterday I got creative and, as Susan Barclay-Nichols of Point of Interest suggested, I got out of my 'comfort zone'. By now I'm pretty comfortable making lotions and even toners but I wanted to try using some of the surfactants I've gotten. I've added them to lotions before to make a creamy cleansing cream but I wanted to go further. So I made body wash and a foaming facial cleanser! For these I pretty much followed other's formulas - until I gain enough confidence to strike out on my own. I have gained enough experience to substitute ingredients I don't have for those that I do though. The body wash was supposed to be Lemon Rose (which would have been a great smell) but the 'rose' comes from a small amount of rose water which is nicely moisturizing and doesn't really contribute all that much to the scent so at the last moment I decided to switch the lemon to grapefruit. I switched around a few other ingredients and came out with a super thick, opaque body wash that smelled fantastic and juicy. But how did it feel? The only other body wash I've made several years ago had a fairly dense, creamy lather with very small bubbles and wash quite expensive to make. This one was less expensive, had dense, creamy lather but with bigger bubbles. Using a shower puff I really didn't have to use as much body wash as I anticipated - not nearly as much as some commercial products - and felt fantastic on my skin! It's going to be perfect for summer but I'll probably want a bit more moisturizing for cooler weather. I'll definitely be making this one again. Next weekend I might make another batch and portion it out for samples too.
Yesterday I also make a Foaming Silk Facial Cleanser. I loved it! It leaves my face feeling conditioned instead of stripping away all the oils like the last one did. I looked all over for my big foaming dispenser but couldn't find the damn thing anywhere! Luckily I remembered that I'd bought a smaller foaming dispenser at the same time and I did find it. It's a much better fit anyway. My 100 grams of facial cleanser (which should last a couple of months) would have been lost in the larger bottle. When I find the larger bottle I might use it for my body wash though I'd have to thin it out considerably - which would make it even cheaper! If it still works as well. We'll see. I can buy those smaller dispensers in a 10 pack for $16.99 through Amazon which would make them $1.70 apiece. A little pricey but when you consider they can be refill instead of tossed and replaced that makes them much more economical.
The other product I made yesterday was a gel facial moisturizer. To tell you the truth I wasn't sure what to expect. I basically wanted the gel to suspended the Eyeseryl Solution B I got last fall to try and diminish the dark, puffy circles under my eyes (more about that in a bit) but since I had the Sepimax Zen (a pre-neutralized gel maker that Susan Barclay-Nichols had been raving about) I decided to use it for one of her facial moisturizers. Other gel makers you have to adjust the pH on and I don't have a pH meter (too expensive tright now) so this pre-neutralized version is wonderful! Anyway you have to heat your other ingredients first if you're going to use anything other than distilled water (which I was), let it cool and then sprinkle the Sepimax Zen powder on top. Then comes the hard part. You have to walk away from it for 8 hours and let it gel undisturbed! In the photos of Susan's gel it was crystal clear but since I added some liquid esters (very light feeling non-oil oils - technically they're not oils so I could call my product oil-free) that turned the mixture white just like lotions turn white when you add water to oils and emulsify. I was apprehensive about the feel of it. I got some on my fingers and it felt a little oily, something I was trying to get away from. But I washed my face with the Foaming Silk Facial Cleanser and then slathered on a little of the gel - too much it turns out, I could have used less. OMG! I couldn't stop stroking my face! The skin felt plush and velvety! And not oily at all. It still feels that way to some extent this morning and I haven't washed my face yet. This gel is definitely my favorite thing I've made so far. I can use less than the 3% Sepimax Zen that this recipe calls for next time because it was really thick. It actually kind of resembles cottage cheese jelly. In a little bit I'm going to separate off a bit into a smaller jar and add some Sensolene and see what that feels like. I wanted to add the Sensolene before but I didn't want to waste it in case the gel didn't work. Luckily even though the Sensolene is soluble in oil and the bulk of the gel is water there's enough oil to help it along plus the very nature of the gel means that oil soluble products will be suspended in it.
I've already portioned off 2 grams of the gel and added 2% of the Eyeseryl Solution B to it. Last fall I tried adding the Eyeseryl to the argan oil facial serum I was using then at 3%. Instructions say that it's usable up to 10% but after a few days I noticed I had red, scaly swooshes under my eyes! I discontinued, let the rash heal, diluted the Eyeseryl down to 2% and tried again. No more rash but by that time I had a raging sinus infection that made me look like I had 2 black eyes anyway so I discontinued for the time since I was trying to judge results. Now I'm ready to try again. Maybe it was the solution I was adding the Eyeseryl to that caused the problem. Who knows. If 2% doesn't irritate I'll up the next batch to 2.5% but the web page says there were visible results at 1%. Keep your fingers crossed. Sometimes dark under-eye circles can be caused by lack of sleep or illness, but it's hereditary in many people. That doesn't mean I can't do anything about it though. If they Eyeseryl doesn't work I'll try another formula. Susan Barclay-Nichols husband also suffers from dark puffy under-eye circles and they have a complete formula they made for him. If at first you don't succeed!
Oh! and lip balms! The ladies at work were very interest in lip balms. I already ordered 25 lip balm tubes. So I ordered a set of 12 different Lorann flavor oils through Amazon. I get to pick the flavors that I want. Did you know they're not really 'flavors'? They're scents. Without something sweet in them to connect your taste buds with the your sense of smell they're just scents. But I just happen to have in my possession from a previous order, an oil based sweetener. And since lip balms are anhydrous (only oils, no water) they require flavor oils and not alcohol based, which some of them are. So maybe I'll make a small batch of unflavored lip balm today to put in a little pot and pass out samples on small craft sticks (popsicle sticks) of which I have many - they're very cheap at the craft store.
So, back to your cauldron little potions witch! More discoveries to make. I just need to keep in mind that when I start deviating from known and proven formulas and completely making my own, there are bound to be some flops. Even epic failures. I'll just have to keep my successes in mind.
This entry was originally posted at http://ixchel55.dreamwidth.org/353569.html. Please comment there using OpenID.