Multivitaminic Face Cream

I created this cream inspired by other I found in Lola's blog. But, it's my own formulation! I worked the fall of grease and decided what actives I was going to include. I also have a fascination with face creams that look and feel like whipped cream, so I worked Phase A in a way that I would have that look and feel. I have been using it for a few months now and I just made it again yesterday. I love it! I added some fillers and some designed actives to keep it opaque on the skin. On application, even with this heat, absorbs quickly but permits a soft massage on the skin. I use it morning and evening and can't get sick of it! It's really adorable!

Lovely texture and great qualities!

So let's talk each Phase....

Phase A

As I said I wanted something that would be thick to the touch but absorbs quickly. I know Phase A gives the texture, the stability, so I decided to combine my gellificants in order to have a good start. I combined Xanthan Gum, Carbopol Ultrez 21 and Aristoflex. I worked these raw materials separatedly and in diverse combinations but this one provides a whipped cream like look and feel.

In this phase I also added the allantoine which is a strong humectant, but has also lenitive and cicatrizating qualities.

I included too the Skin Revit from Glamour Cosmetics. This active with proteines, peptides and amminoacids, promotes the cellular proliferation helping the skin immune system. Obviously, this is a claim that cosmetics can't make on a marketing level, but I do like it on my skin!!

Phase B

This phase was a bit more of a challenge, I knew what txture I like the cream to have, but the fall of grease defines the feeling on the skin and it should be well balanced in order to avoid the cream feeling too greasy, leaving a filming layer or coming back even after seemengly being absorbed! I did quite a bit of research and saw many many examples. Basically there should be a logic between very light, light, medium , heavy and butters and waxes. I went with:

• 2.5 % very light oils (I chose esters based on the feeling on the skin, I wanted them silky and light)

• 1.5 % light oils (I went with jojoba oil) which is actually a wax, but has a very quick absorption rate, so...

• 1 % medium oils (Argan is one of my favourites in this category!)

• 0.5 % heavy oils (Tocoferolo, which is fabulous as a source of vitamine E)

• 0.75 % butter (I chose mango butter, I prefered it to my shea butter that has a bit of a smell and honestly I'm not a fan of the feel on the skin!).

This would give me a 6.25 % of grease that it's quite low but ideal for a face cream for oily skin. This is a guideline to follow:

3-4% practically oil free cream 5-8% light creams for oily skin 10% medium cream 15% cream for dry skin

As emulsifier I went with OIivem 1000. I'm not sure why. I like the feeling of GC Derm (which is another self emulsifier of Glamour Cosmetics and it's supposed to work on a single phase too!), but I wanted to try this one and went well, so why change?

I add Cetilstearilic Alcohol and Abil Care 85 in this phase. The first one gives the cream more consistency and works as the waxy part of my grease fall. The second is an emulsionant and from my experience so far helps a lot reduce the white excess that happens sometimes when applying a cream. I played a bit with the porcentages but this works as I want it to work...

Finally, in this phase I added GC Shine Control, which is an active that helps create a mate finishing after applying the cream. I don't like to apply cream and then end up being all shiny, especially with this heat! And for the same reason, I decided to play with a pigment, the Ronaflair ® Low Luster Pigment. I am not sure yet how to use this raw material... For what I've seen around the porcentage of use is quite low, maybe because it's combined with other pigments. I only had this one, so I went up to 1%. Seems to help the spreadability of the cream. I'm not sure it makes a big change, but my last cream definitely has a luxurious feel when applying it: it's absorbed but still can be massaged into the skin. Adorabile!

Phase C

This is the cooling down phase and the moment to add most of the actives that are sensible to temperature, as well as some of our humectants. In terms of actives I chose Pore Reductyl, also from GC, which as it says helps reduce the size of pores, and Regen Plus, which is an anti-age active.

As humectant I chose Bisabolol, Sodium Ialuronate and Panthenol.

And finally, my little secret with this cream, and favourite ingredient for that matter, is the Multivitamin Nano-Liposomes. They contain vitamin A, E, C, F. They offer manyt benefits to the skin, but, especially interesting is the fact that being "nano-liposomes" they can reach deeper layers of the skin, offering their benefits in a more effective way!

---

So, here is the recipe!

Phase A

Water to 100 (65.05)

Carbopol Ultrez 21 0.3

Xanthan Gum 0.1

Allantoine 0.3

Aristoflex AVC 0.4

Glicerine 2.5

Phase B

Dicaprylyl Ether 0.75

Coco Caprylate 0.75

Ethlhexyl Stearate 1

Jojoba oil 1.5

Argan oil 1

Tocoferolo 0.5

Mango Butter 0.75

Cetilstearilic Alcohol 50/50 0.50

Olivem 1000 3

Abil Care 85 1.5

GC Shine Control 2

Ronaflair Low Luster 1

Phase C

Bisabolol 0.5

Sodium Ialuronate 2

Panthenol 1

Pore Reductyl 3

Regen Plus 2.5

Preservative (Salvacosm PC) 0.5

Perfume (Iris and Talco + "spring")

At the end: Multivitaminic Nano-Liposomi 3