Apple Willow Bark Foaming Facial Cleanser Experiment (and some odds and ends)

I recently posted about a surfactant formula I made  having to do with a shampoo. The formula did produce a shampoo and it works just fine, but I felt it dried my hair too much.  I decided today, instead of another shampoo, to try a facial cleanser instead.

Digging into my stash of lotion making goodies, I decided to make an apple, willow bark facial cleanser, packed full of moisture and skin-loving goodness.

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Green Apple & Ginseng Gel Cream

Time to celebrate!  My Aristoflex AVC finally arrived and I have created a gel cream.  Hooray!

Since this was my first formula using Aristoflex AVC, I kept it very simple so as not to waste too much money should I fail.   Luckily, it turned out wonderful, but any time there is a new ingredient, I try to be safe.

Today I am sharing the formula with you in case you would like to try a simple, small batch formula using this emulsifier.

New Gel Experiment – Vitamin B Under Eye Gel

After my failed experiments with Sepimax Zen a couple of weeks ago, I continued my pursuit of a better way to make a gel that was non-sticky and didn’t smell like a plastic factory. That pursuit led me to order some “Preneutralized Carbomer” from Lotioncrafter.

Pre-neutralized carbomer is a sodium carbomer that does not have to have the pH adjusted  in order to turn into a gel.  I read the data sheet on it and it is apparently a product called PNC 400.  There are other carbomers that do require you add something to raise the pH in order to get them to gel, but the pre neutralized kind sounded much easier to me, and it was inexpensive, so I bought some.

Today my Lotioncrafter package arrived, so tonight I whipped up a batch of gel.

Give Me Strength! An herbal tisane blend

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week.  My husband brought home a cold last week and despite my body valiantly trying to ward it off, the virus finally won sometime around Tuesday.

On top of that, I had the week from hell at work.  It was really terrible, especially with being sick.

As if that weren’t enough, I was supposed to have the week off for vacation (it is Thanksgiving this week in the US), but due to the aforementioned hell at work — everyone’s vacation is cancelled.    Therefore, my much-needed rest and relaxation will have to be put on hold and I will have to put in more hours and energy at work for another month or two until this project wraps up.

All this has left me feeling depleted and a bit moody.   My cold is finally starting to fade away, but I am lacking energy and vigor.

Free Body Butter Formulation – Inexpensive Body Butter for Gifting

I often make lotions, body butters, soaps, and other bath and body products to be luxurious (using exotic or more expensive ingredients to make them ultra-pampering).    This, however, can drive up the price of the product.

If making the product for yourself, or giving to a special person in your life, that is not a big deal.   Nothing that I make is so expensive that it is prohibitive.  Some things are just a little more pricey than others.

There are times, though, that you need to make larger than normal amounts — for the holidays, for example.   In those cases, especially when the people on your gift list might be younger people, a less expensive version is always a good thing to have in your repertoire.

As such, I wanted to share the recipe I have been using for the body butters on my Christmas gifting list with you.

Cotton Tail – Inexpensive Lotion for Kids – Free Formulation

For Christmas this year, I am making each child (ages 8 to 16) on my list their very own 8 ounce bottle of lotion.   They will also be getting 1/2 dozen bath bombs and other miscellaneous sundries.

Because kids aren’t frugal with their products (they tend to slather it on, and some of it get spilled or wasted), I didn’t want to spend a fortune formulating a complicated lotion for them.  I did, however, want to include some nice oils and ingredients that are great for kids skin (well, anybody’s skin for that matter).

For kids, you don’t have to load up with a lot of things that older skin needs to have.  Those can quickly raise the production price.  You only need to formulate a product that will be gentle and moisturizing.

I thought I would share this formula in case anyone one else would like to treat some children on their gifting list.

Analytical Recipe – Possible dupe of Ellis Brooklyn – Verb – Excellent Body Milk

It has been quite a while since I did a post with an analytical recipe, so today, I have a new one to share with you.

While shopping for beauty products recently, I came across one that looked “duplicatable”.   When looking for a lotion that is “duplicatable”, I look at the ingredients list and see what I have in my stock, or could potentially purchase, to make the recipe.   Many times, commercial brands use ingredients that are not readily available in the “home crafting” market, so you can’t really duplicate them identically.