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Formulating Body & Face Oils for Beginners Blog (2026 Course)

Writer: taralee
taralee
Oct 22
11 min read

Updated: Oct 24

Emollient Esters are actually the key that separates your homemade product from feeling like a retail product.

I really think people underestimate the potential of the products you can make with just oils. Making body oils and face oils is the perfect place for a beginner to feel confident because you don’t have to worry about the products growing mold and the formulas are very forgiving. So you really can’t mess up.

Today I’m going to discuss plant oils, natural emollient esters, & synthetic emollient esters so you can formulate with these like the professionals to make high end luxurious body oils and face oils at home. I’ll also share my tips and my thought process when formulating a body or face oil so you too, can formulate them to not only feel luxurious, but look luxurious, smell luxurious, and tell a story.


Formulating VOCAB. For beginners

  • Anhydrous - Contains no water (Butters & Plant Oils / Emollient Esters)

  • Aqueous - Contains Water

  • Active - ingredient effecting the skin by helping in improve a skin condition or concern. Examples, Retinol, Alpha Arbutin, Vitamin C, Kojic Acid, Salicylic Acid, Lactic Acid, Glycolic acid, Hyaluronic Acid, Etc.

  • Emollient - help soothe and soften skin. They essentially fill in gaps in the skin to eliminate that dry or flaky skin. (Ie.Plant oils like jojoba oil, olive oil, coconut oil, hempseed oil, sunflower oil, etc. Emollient esters like caprylic capric triglyceride, isopropyl myristate (IPM), Coco Caprylate/Caprate, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, squalane, Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, and many other butters, the list could go on and on.

  • INCI (pronounced - inky) - Stands for “International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient”. The required standardized naming system for ingredients on labels.

  • Lipid - water insoluble ingredients that are often waxy or oily. (Ie. plant oils, butters, waxes, fatty acids etc.) lipids offer components to the skin like fatty acids, ceramides, triglycerides, etc to moisturize & replenish the skin along with preventing trans epidermal water loss (TEWL)

  • pH - the acidity or alkalinity of a product. Ranging from 0-14. Many ingredients are pH sensitive. Anhydrous ingredients/products do not have a pH, but water based products do. Ours skins natural pH is around 4.5 - 5.5

  • Preservative - added to cosmetics to prevent spoilage caused by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. (Cosmetics us a blend of different preservatives to create a ‘broad spectrum preservative’



Plant Oils vs Natural Emollient Esters

Plant oils are derived from nuts and seeds through a cold pressing processes. 

Natural Emollient Esters are usually plant oils that have gone one step further in processing to isolate the nutrients from the plant oil to make it more stable(longer shelf life), less likely to spoil, or smell off. These types of emollients are also much more light weight on the skin and feel less greasy.


Synthetic Emollient Esters

This category is for all the other liquid emollients that moisturize our skin, but are not considered natural. These offer all the same benefits as the ‘Natural Emollient Esters’ and also have the same/similar shelf life. The only difference is that they are made synthetically.

- All ingredients are manufactured and sourced differently. You can find two ingredients with the same INCI and one might be considered natural, but the other isn’t. It depends on how the ingredient was manufactured. So when shopping for ingredients, check the SDS or Factsheet provided by your ingredient supplier to see how it is derived/manufactured to know if your emollient ester is synthetic or natural some may even be ECOCERT/COSMOS approved, but not be natural. 


Examples of Plant Oils

Natural Emollient Esters

Ecocert Emollient Ester (Not natural) 


Synthetic Emollient Esters


Extending shelf life of Natural Oils 

It’s important to remember that plant oils, natural emollient esters, & synthetic emollient esters do not need a preservative. Anhydrous products, which are products that do not contain water. Do not need a preservative. If the product is going to come into contact with water, it does need a preservative. Since body oils and face oils won’t be coming into contact with water, we do not need to worry about adding in a preservative. 


But natural plant oils like grapeseed oil or hempseed oil, etc. do not have a very long shelf life. They will start to smell off and go rancid, within 6 months or so, depending on the oil. Some oils like Castor oil and jojoba oil do have a much longer shelf life. So it is important to consider this when choosing oils. 

If you have grapeseed oil in a body oil and it starts to go rancid, it will make the whole body oil smell off. Customers will not be a fan of this. 

To help your more sensitive oils last longer you can add in Vitamin E to keep them fresher longer. You can also store them in the fridge. 

Vitamin E is an antioxidant and the addition of an antioxidant helps keep your natural plant oil fresh longer. 


What type of Vitamin E? 

Here are important things to keep in mind when choosing a Vitamin E.

  • Buy it from a cosmetic ingredient supplier (Vit E from the grocery store is highly diluted)

  • Buy Vitamin E Tocopherols (Not Vitamin E Acetate)

You will commonly find Vitamin E (tocopherols) sold in a dilution… 


& I’m sure there are other Mixed Tocopherol Dilutions. Just make sure it’s (Tocopherols) not Vitamin E Acetate.

Vitamin E Acetate is a synthetic version of Vitamin E that will not add antioxidant protection to your oils. It only adds antioxidant benefits to your skin. 


How to make Body Oils

Pick your favorite oils

Write your formula (make sure it adds up to 100%) - I discussed this in the first post of this series. 


It’s that simple. If you want it to be. But if you want to make a high quality product that people are going to love. Something that stands out from others. You are going to have to consider a few other things…


Get to know your plant oils

The lovely thing about these oils, is they are safe to apply directly on the skin. So you can get up close and personal with each oil if you want. Apply some jojoba oil directly on the skin. See how it spreads, see how oily it feels compared to other oils. Does it absorb into the skin faster than other oils? Does it make the skin feel softer after application compared to other oils. Figure out which oils you like and which you don’t like. 


Get to know your Emollient Esters

Same thing applies to these. Get to know your emollient esters too, both the synthetic ones and the natural ones. Even though I always describe them to be light weight and non greasy compared to plant oils, some just feel indescribable from one another. So you have to try them yourself. Fun fact, some emollient esters like, Isohexadecane are better than other Emollient Esters at removing waterproof makeup.


Price

Some oils like Argan Oil are more expensive than other natural oils like Olive Oil. So this is also something to take into consideration. You can still use more expensive oils, but pair them with a cheaper oil. This not only lowers the cost value, but can also make for better sensory feel and spreadability. Once you are in this industry for a while you really will notice huge price fluctuations overtime. So even if you do choose a more cost effective ingredient like Olive Oil, there is always chances prices can change. Supply chains can get disrupted that drive up costs, industry trends can drive up costs (which we see a lot of trends come and go fast these days) When it comes to natural ingredients, remember these are coming from the earth from an actual place that has to grow the crops and if severe weather or disease or whatever else negatively effects these crops then prices rise. This can also be a reason why some brands will reach for synthetic emollients as there is more consistency and reliability. You know what you are getting, but obviously supply chains can effect this as well. I know these sound like issues that you don’t or may not have to deal with now, but if you plan on selling cosmetics, it is something to keep in mind. 


Is there a story you want to tell with your product? 

This can be applied in so many different ways. Get creative with it. Maybe your brand already has a green cucumber theme (idk I’m just making something up) Then reaching for a Cucumber Seed Oil for your body oil or face oil or whatever you are making is essential. Maybe you plan on using a rose fragrance for the body oil so adding in some rosehip seed oil will compliment the fragrance. Whatever the story is there are so many different ways to tell it with using different oils, fragrances, color and packaging. 


Color

This might not matter to all of you, but color is so important to keep in mind especially when working with plant oils. Plant oils come in all different colors, emollient esters are typically clear, but if you want your body or face oil to have a specific color in the end you need to be mindful of the oils you choose and blend together. There are some oils like Jojoba Oil that come in a bright golden color, but you can also find in a clear version. I’ve purchased rosehip seed oil that is super super bright orange and others that is a completely different shade. So color can vary from different suppliers and even batch to batch.  


Other Ingredients we can use in Body & Face Oils

When it comes to making body and face oils we are limited to oil soluble ingredients. We are also limited to oil soluble in a liquid form. Adding in butters will not work for these types of products. But you can use powders that are oil soluble. Make sure the ingredient is ‘oil soluble’, not ‘dispersible’. Mica Powder is an example of an ingredient that can disperse in oil, but it won’t dissolve. You commonly see mica powder in shimmer body oils and these products include a dispersing agent that keeps the mica suspended in the formula.


Oil Soluble Extracts

  • Strawberry Extract (Oil Soluble) (INCI: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Fragaria Vesca Fruit Extract)

  • Aloe Vera Extract (Oil Soluble) (INCI: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract)

  • Coffee Extract (Oil Soluble) (INCI: Caprylic/CapricTriglycerides, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Seed Extract)

  • Blueberry Extract (Oil Soluble) (INCI: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Vaccinium Angustifolium Fruit Extract)

  • Gromwell Root, (Natural Red), Lipophilic (INCI: Lithospermum Erythrorhizon Root Extract, Caprylic Capric Triglycerides*,  Tocopherols)


Oil Soluble Vitamins 

Now that you know your formula has to add up to 100%, you need to keep your fragrance oil/essential oil within the IFRA guidelines. You have a good idea on what ingredients you have to choose from. You know to keep cost value in mind when choosing your oils percentages, along with keeping their natural colors in mind, all while trying to tell a story with your product. Most importantly you want your product to feel great on the skin and appeal to your target demographic. It’s true, not everyone is going to like every product you make. But you want to make sure the majority of the specific people you are marketing towards, likes your product. If you want to make a face oil for oily skin types, you know that face oil needs to feel extremely light weight or else they will not be a fan.



How to Write your Body Oil Formula

Remember, the first formula you write, won’t be your final formula. You will need to do some experiments until you get a product you like. 

Start with some test batches. For body & face oils, I make tiny 20 gram batches. Since oils can get expensive, I don’t want to waste a bunch on failed formulas.


Here is my process…

  • If I want to use a fragrance oil or essential oil, I find it’s IFRA guidelines and stay within that. So I usually start writing my formula, with the fragrance/essential oil percentages. 

  • If I am using a vitamin or specialty ingredient like Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, I will check with the supplier I purchased it from for the suggested/recommended usage rate and chose a percentage based on any literature they have on the ingredient. (Sometimes it will specify a specific percentage works best) Otherwise you can choose a percentage based on your research about the ingredient (while considering the usage rate) and cost value. If it’s expensive you might want to use less. Sometimes more isn’t better. A small amount can go a long way. 

  • Next, if I am using an oil soluble botanical extract, I will usually use these at 1%. (Suggested usage rate is usually 1-2% ,1-5%, 1-10%, or 5-10% but make sure you check.) 

  • Then I decide percentages for my “marketing oils” these are the oils that are more expensive, but I want to add for the story or the marketing. I choose the percentage based on the cost of the oil and how it feels. If it’s medium weight, I will keep it below 5%. If it’s heavy I will do 2% or less. (Also it depends on if it is a face of body oil. Face oils I will use a higher percentage of my expensive oils) 

  • Then I will choose percentages for my expensive emollient esters that need to stay below a specific usage rate. Some can’t be used above specific percentages, so you always need to make sure you are checking your ingredients suggested / recommended usage rate. This information should be provided to you by the supplier. 

  • Lastly I add up all the percentages I currently have and subtract that number from 100. (Remember your formula needs to equal 100%) Whatever number I am left with I will usually use caprylic capric triglyceride or some other light weight emollient ester that isn’t too expensive. 

  • After I make my first test batch, I will make another test formula and repeat the process until I get what I am looking for.


Packaging 

Often over looked, packaging needs tested!

If you want to use a pump bottle for your body or face oil, make sure it pumps out gently. You do not want oil squirting everywhere and staining your clothes. (I know this from experience).

If using a dropper bottle, make sure the dropper is able to pick up an adequate amount of oil. Oil could be too thick for the dropper. 

If you are using light sensitive ingredients use dark bottles.

If you are using ingredients sensitive to oxygen, use an airless pump. 



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