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Make a Moisturizer In Seconds - No Heat, Beginner Friendly - Easiest You'll Ever Make

The key ingredient is the cold process emulsifier - 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

I wanted to use GelMaker NAT to make an extremely easy beginner friendly moisturizer that you can make in seconds. GelMaker NAT creates extremely light cream-gel like emulsions that is perfect for all skin types. For some it might not feel thick enough, but you can combat that by adding in emollients and thickeners like cetyl alcohol or butters. So have fun experimenting with GelMaker NAT and let me know what you end up making with it.

The moisturizer we are making today is going to include, in my opinion, all the essential ingredients needed for a great moisturizer, that can be used by all skin types and ages. So this is why I didn’t want to include any actives. Just a basic moisturizer that will hydrate and moisturize the skin.

So we know we will be using GelMaker NAT, and I want to use it at the highest recommended usage rate, 3% and this will go into phase B, aka the oil phase.


Picking a preservative

The next ingredient you want to pick out is your preservative. Personally I’d recommend liquid germall plus if you are a beginner, but I know a lot of people are going to ask for an Ecocert approved preservative, so I decided to go with Geogard 221. This ecocert preservative is pretty easy to work with in m opinion and it doesn’t have a strong almond scent like a lot of other ecocert preservatives I’ve tried has. It is not water soluble, unlike liquid germall plus is. So it should be added into the oil phase (if you watch the video I put it in the water phase, just ignore that.)


Picking a humectant

Next, we need to pick out some humectant’s, there are a lot we can choose from, but I am going to choose a blend of glycine and propanediol. These are very easy to find and inexpensive and super easy to work with. You can basically add then into any water based product with no issues. They help hydrated the skin and are commonly found in many commercial products. I will be using 5% of each, but you can use just 1 if you want. You don’t need both. You could also use aloe vera (the 200x powder will lower pH of product), ULMW hyaluronic acid, ceramides, or any other humectant of choice.

Picking a Emollient

Emollient, this include plant oils/carrier oils, butters, emollient esters, and silicones. I recommend trying different oils out by massaging them into the skin to see which oils you like the most. Mature and dry skin likes oils high in oleic acid. Oily skin likes oils high in linoleic acid. You also want to make sure you aren’t using oils that are too heavy like castor oil, unless that is the vibe you are going for. If you go with butters, then you will need to heat up phase B, so that means you don’t want to add in the Geogard 221 until the end, when it cools down. If you want to make an ‘oil free’ moisturizer then you can use emollient esters like Caprylic Carpric Triglyceride, Squalane, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Coco Caprylate, etc. You can also add in silicones like dimethicone. This will really give your moisturizer that expensive feel. It will feel exactly like a store bought lotion with that stuff. I am going to keep this on the simpler side, so I will be using 15% of a blend of oils. I want to use 5% macadamia nut, 5% papaya, and 5% rosehip seed oil.

Antioxidant

It’s important to always add in an antioxidant in every lotion. This helps keep the oils fresh, meaning it will help keep oils from getting that weird smell over time. But antioxidants are also great for the skin as they help protect skin from free radical damage. The most common antioxidant in cosmetics in vitamin E. You will often see it listed as Tocopheryl Acetate or Tocopherol. So that is what I will be using. I will be using 0.2% of it. You don’t need much.

Botanical Extracts

Now for extract, this is optional, but I know most of you will want to add one. There are so many different extracts you could use.

  • Cucumber - helps soothe the skin

  • Willow bark extract - mildly exfoliating

  • Calendula - soothing

  • Licorice - brightening

  • Ginseng - great for mature skin

If you aren’t sure how much of each ingredient to use, check out the listing page you bought the ingredient from and look for the suggested usage rate. I usually use botanical extracts around 2%.

Formula

Phase A (water phase)

  • 66.8% distilled water

  • 5% Glycerin

  • 5% Propanediol

  • 2% DL panthenol

  • 2% Ginseng Extract

Phase B (oil phase)

  • 3% GelMaker NAT

  • 5% Macadamia Nut Oil

  • 5% Papaya Oil

  • 5% Rosehip Seed Oil

  • 1% Geogard 221

  • 0.2% Vitamin E

400 gram batch

Phase A (water phase)

  • 267.2 grams distilled water

  • 20 g glycerin

  • 20 g propanediol

  • 8 g DL panthenol

  • 8 g ginseng extract

Phase B (oil phase)

  • 12 g GelMaker NAT

  • 20 g Macadamia Nut Oil

  • 20 g Papaya Oil

  • 20 g Rosehip Seed Oil

  • 4 g Geogard 221

  • 0.4 g vitamin E

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 5.9 so I lower the pH a little, but you don’t need to bother with adjusting the pH if you don’t want to. Your skins natural pH is around 4.5 - 5.5

  • Store in desired bottle. This is thin enough to go through a treatment pump.


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