10% Vitamin C Treatment & All about GelMaker NAT - Exclusive

GelMaker NAT

This is an extremely easy to use cold process emulsifier.

Cold process emulsifier - an ingredients that can blend oil and water together without having to heat up either phase A (water phase) or phase B (oil phase)

Emulsion - is the process of combining two ingredients that don’t normally mix together. In this situation we are referring to mixing a smaller amount of oil into a larger amount of water. This means oil is our internal phase(dispersed phase) and the water is our external phase (continuous phase). This would be called an oil in water emulsion or o/w

GelMaker NAT was one of my go to ingredients, back in 2020. I’ve noticed I’ve been getting back into a lot of ingredients I loved back then because now I have time to have fun experimenting with ingredients again instead of making the same things every single week.

Here is a list of videos I’ve already made using GelMaker NAT

• How to make Mattifying Gel Moisturizer for Oily Skin w/ willow bark extract

• Ferulic Acid Vitamin C & E Gel Moisturizer (patreon exclusive)

• Walnut Orange Body Scrub (patreon exclusive)

It’s been at least 2-3 years since I’ve made all of these recipes and I’ve learned a lot over these couple years about formulating. So I want to take this time to highlight GelMaker NAT again and show all the amazing things you can make with it. I think this ingredient could become a favorite for a lot of you, as it accomplishes a lot of things a lot of you guys look for in an ingredient.

GelMaker NAT

• Thickening, Stabilizing, & Texturing polymer that provides high technical performance in a variety of skincare and makeup products.

• Easy to use, cold process emulsifier

• Creates thickened gels

• Can emulsify up to 35% oils (includes silicones, vegetable oils, and essential oils)

• Stable in pH levels 5-12

• Biodegradable

• Gives a smooth, nude skin feel with a non tacky/sticky texture

• Only need 1-3%

• Needs blended with a high sheer mixer like an immersion blender

• Can create Gel-Creams, Emulsion-Gels, Sprayable Aqueous Gels, Cold Process Emulsions, Lotions, Creams, Baby Care. Products Mascara, Foundations.

• INCI; Sodium acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, C15-19 alkane, polyglyceryl-6 laurate, polyglycerin-6

• Dispersible in water, but add to oil phase of formulas

“How it’s Manufactured; The copolymer is made by polymerization of sodiumacrylate and sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate monomers. Polyglyceryl-6 laurate is made by reacting glycerol with lauric acid. Polyglycerin-6 is obtained by polymerization of glycerin.”

(All info about GelMaker NAT comes from MakingCosmetics.com)

There is a whole line of “GelMaker” products sold on makingcosmetics.com like GelMaker EMU & GelMaker RHEO. These two would work as alternatives to GelMaker NAT as they are extremely similar.

There is also GelMaker Style, which is also a liquid like the GelMakers mentioned above, but does not give the same results. So it wouldn’t work as an alternative to GelMaker NAT. There is also GelMaker Hydro, GelMaker pH, & GelMaker Powder. (These are all powdered) but won’t work as alternatives to GelMaker NAT

So I hope by now you are sold on this ingredient. You can make so many fun things with it super easily. Let me show you what I want to make today.

I got inspired to make this from a patreon. So thank you!!! They’ve been trying to formulate a 10% vitamin C product. Vitamin C’s are very unstable. A lot of them oxidize quickly from air or light and most of the Vitamin C esters us home crafters can buy are all diluted, so it’s hard to get a high concentration of Vitamin C in on product. So hopefully this will help inspire you.

I am taking inspiration also from this Paulas Choice Super Antioxidant Serum. I don’t buy a lot of store bought products, but when I do, it alway seems to end up being a Paulas Choice product. I’m obsessed with their tinted sunscreen. Literally makes my skin look so good and it protects me from UV rays. That’s a win win for sure!

Here is the ingredient list for that Paulas Choice Super Antioxidant Serum if you wanna check it out. But I won’t be using all the same ingredients as theirs.

Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Ceramide NP, Tocotrienols, Tocopherol, Ubiquinone, Thioctic Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Ferulic Acid, Beta-Glucan, Superoxide Dismutase, Epigallocatechin Gallate, Ergothioneine, Glutathione, Xanthophyll, Glycine Soja Seed Extract, Glycerin, Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi Leaf Extract, Lupinus Albus Seed Extract, Curcuma Longa Root, Elaeis Guineensis Oil, Phenoxyethanol

If you take a look at this ingredient list you can see the first two ingredients are actually silicones, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone. This means this is actually a silicon based serum, which if you want to make a silicone based serum check out this ingredient called Lotioncrafter Serum SE. It is the perfect base for making silicon based serums. I’ve been wanting to try it out, so let me know if you want to see some formulas using it. But that's not where I'm getting the inspiration from this serum, I'm actually inspired by the fact that they have peptides in here some ceramides and then other antioxidants like ferulic acid and Ubiquinone. I also love the fact that they have Superoxide Dismutase in the serum because I think this is a very underrated ingredient that should be getting a lot more attention. I'm not sure where you can actually buy just pure Superoxide Dismutase, but it is in an ingredient called Regu-Age PF from lotion crafter.com and I used this ingredient in my under eye cream I used to sell on my website. I still have some Regu-Age PF left over from my business, so I think this ingredient will be perfect to add in as well, since I need to use it up.

So basically I know I want;

• 10% vitamin C

• Ferulic Acid

• Ubiquinone

• Superoxide Dismutase (Regu-Age PF)

• Ceramides

• Peptides

What Vitamin C Do We Use?

First things first, what Vitamin C ester are we using? I am going to use this oil soluble, claims to be a very stable, vitamin C ester called tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. It isn’t diluted with anything and is okay to use up to 10%. So that is what we are using as our vitamin C. Since it’s oil soluble it will be going into the oil phase. & remember we are using GelMaker NAT as our cold process emulsifier. So they will both be going into phase B.

For Ferulic acid, you can leave this out if you don’t have it, but I have some from makingcosmetics.com that is okay to use between 0.1-2% I’m gonna use it at 0.2%. This is oil soluble so I will be adding it into the oil phase, but mixing it with carpylic capric triglyceride at first to “dissolve it”.

Next is the Ubiquinone. This is also known as coenzyme Q10. It’s actually a favorite of mine. It comes in a powder, but the powder can be hard to keep dissolved. So I actually like using the liquid version from lotion crafter called Coenzyme Q10, Q-MAX. It can be used between 1-3% and its oil soluble. So I’m gonna use 1% of it and add it in the phase B.

As for the Superoxide Dismutase (Regu-Age PF) This is water soluble. You can use between 2-5%. So I will be using 2% in the water phase (phase A)

Then we have Ceramides. This can be an expensive ingredient, so leave it out if you want and use a different humectant like DL panthenol if you want. I’m gonna be using the rice ceramides bramble berry sent me, because I haven’t used it yet and I want to try it out. It can be used up to 10% in formulas. So I will just being using 2%.

Lastly we have peptides. There is just a list of peptides you can choose from & Idk which is the best, that is truly up to you. Go on lotioncrafter.com or formulatorsampleshop.com and search “peptides” and search through all the peptides they sell to see which one speaks to you. I have some hexapeptide ECT 1 from formulatorsampleshop.com that I love, but I also have some tripeptide-29 from lotioncrafter.com that I haven’t tried, so I think I will add that it. You only need to use it at 0.1-1% so I think I will just be adding in 0.3%

Some other ingredients I want to mention that I will be adding in and why;

Vitamin E - Antioxidant that pairs really well with vitamin C and Ferulic acid.

Preservative - to keep product from spoiling (I’m using liquid germall plus because it’s easy to use)

Distilled water - you gotta add this in (use a hydrosol instead if you want)

Glycerin & Propanediol - my go to humectant!

Caprylic Capric Triglyceride - boost of moisture.

10% Vitamin C Treatment Formula w/ Ferulic Acid

Phase A

• 0.3% Tripeptide-29

• 3% Glycerin

• 3% Propanediol

• 2% Regu-Age PF

• 2% Rice Ceramides

• 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus

• 69.5% Distilled water

Phase B

• 3% GelMaker NAT

• 10% Vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate)

• 1% Coenzyme Q10

• 0.5% Vitamin E

Phase C

• 0.2% Ferulic Acid

• 5% Caprylic Capric Triglyceride

Directions;

• Combine all ingredients in phase A and mix.

• Combine all ingredients in phase B and mix.

• Combine all ingredients in phase C and mix.

• Pour phase C into phase B and mix.

• Pour phase B/C into A and mix with an immersion blender.

• Check and adjust pH if needed. The pH of this product was 5.57 so I didn’t both with adjusting the pH.

• Store in a dark bottle with a pump so you are not opening up the product and exposing it to oxygen and light.

• 1 oz amber pump bottle I recommend using

This can be used as a light weight moisturizer or as a serum under your moisturizer. I also have really been enjoying it as a hand lotion. You can use it however you’d like.

10% Vitamin C Treatment Formula with no ferulic acid

Phase A

• 0.3% Tripeptide-29

• 3% Glycerin

• 3% Propanediol

• 2% Regu-Age PF

• 2% Rice Ceramides

• 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus

• 68.7% Distilled water

Phase B

• 3% GelMaker NAT

• 10% Vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate)

• 1% Coenzyme Q10

• 0.5% Vitamin E

• 5% Caprylic Capric Triglyceride

• 1% Dimethicone DM350 (you don’t need this you can leave it out and use 76% distilled water instead)

Directions;

• Combine all ingredients in phase A and mix.

• Combine all ingredients in phase B and mix.

• Pour phase A into phase B and mix with an immersion blender.

• Check and adjust pH if needed. The pH of this product was 6.24 so I didn’t bother with adjusting the pH.

• Store in a dark bottle with a pump so you are not opening up the product and exposing it to oxygen and light.

• 1 oz amber pump bottle I recommend using

Simple Version with minimal Ingredients

Phase A

• 75% Distilled Water

• 5% Glycerin

• 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus

Phase B

• 3% GelMaker NAT

• 10% Vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate)

• 0.5% Vitamin E

• 5% Caprylic Capric Triglyceride

• 1% Dimethicone DM350 (you don’t need this you can leave it out and use 76% distilled water instead)

• 1 oz amber pump bottle I recommend using

Directions;

• Combine all ingredients in phase A and mix.

• Combine all ingredients in phase B and mix.

• Pour phase A into phase B and mix with an immersion blender.

• Check and adjust pH if needed. The pH of this product was 6.4 (I didn’t bother adjusting the pH because I didn’t want to waste product by adjusting the pH and this pH is totally safe to use on the skin and with all these other ingredients)

• Store in a dark bottle with a pump so you are not opening up the product and exposing it to oxygen and light.

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