Experimenting Gel

I'm tired of spending $$$ buying expensive facial products.  I really NEED those potent actives, yes, I'm aging badly!  Time to do some research and source ingredients myself!
As always, the first thing I research is based on natural thickeners.  There are 3 general natural thickener (gelling agent) group in bath & body products: starch, gum, and cellulose.  Gum has the most variations, you can find all kind of different gums.  The most common one is Xanthan gum, it's used widely even in the food industry.  Personally I don't like Xanthan gum, it is hard to mix and gives a somehow sticky after feel.
After researching I nailed it down to testing 2 natural thickeners and one manmade: Sclerotium gum, Hydrocyethylcellulose (HEC), and Carbomer 940.

Sclerotium gum is the easiest to mix but it's also the runniest and semi opaque with a yellow tint.  I found no specific instruction of how to mix HEC except it's soluble in water... sigh.  It would not gel when I simply just added in room temperature water.  General rule with natural thickener, heating up usually help.  After I heated up the HEC mix it started to gel, but it gelled in lumps on the bottom.  In the attempt to even out the clear lumps it trapped air into the mix and foam is what I got at the end.  I tried it 2 times, one time mixing with a small frothier the other simply by hand.  Both cases produced foam and stayed foam.  Carbomer 940 performed the best but it's manmade.  It is potent, only a little is needed and it stayed clear and even held the mixing stick right side up 90 degrees!

The next step is to see how emollient (oil) holds up and suspends in the gel formation.  The main goal for this experiment is ultimately to allow me to add extracts and potent retinol (AHA or vitamin A) which is in oil form.  In my test I used Meadowfoam oil, no specific reason, I just like the feel of body products made with it.  I added very small percentage in each gel container and gave a good mix.

Sclerotium gum mixed very well, thickness stays the same, but separation happened 5 minutes later.  HEC and Carbomer both got significantly thicker, surprisingly, and turned white.  HEC mix became foamy and stiff, but both no separation at all.  I wanted to know how much Sclerotium gum I need in order to keep the emulsification stable so I double the amount.  2 hours later all 3 stayed stable.  Side note, I forgot I have some Maize Thix (modified corn starch) so I tried the same experiment with it too afterwards, but same separation happened.  I guess gum and starch are just not meant for emulsifying water and oil.

Besides the compatibility and stability issue, it's how it feels on my skin that counts.  All 4 test mixes spread easily on my skin.  Carbomer got absorbed slightly faster than all natural thickeners and left no trace.  All natural thickeners imposed slight stickiness and white streaking while applying.  Natural thickeners also left barely noticeable shinny shin (like a film) on my skin when reapplying while Carbomer stays matte.  My conclusion is, I start to wonder why I'm so insisting on using a natural gelling agent.  All the potent actives I plan to use in my facial gel are lab developed anyway.  Natural substance in my opinion is just not as potent in anti-aging field.  What specific potent actives am I putting in my facial gel you ask?  Retinol (best cell regenerator) is one which I already stated above, and others like Hyluronic acid (super hydrator), Tripeptide-5 (collagen booster), and AHA complex (5 different Alpha Hydroxy Acids). Fancy enough? 

Penguin Sale! No actual penquin is hurt in the process...

I have a date with Antarctica penguins this December, online store will be closed to observe holidays during the last month!  Since I won't be doing any physical holiday bazaar this year I decided to have a store wide sell online till my stock runs out then off to vacation!

Shieh Design Studio Etsy Shop 

I will be listing items one by one as fast as I can while checking and rearrange inventories.  No custom order is included, in stock items only.

Click on the link provided and have a visit, book mark whatever fancy you and price will be marked down starting Sunday!  Happy holidays and remember to support handmade!

BTMS and Caffeine Cream & Butter

I've only used BTMS for making my own hair conditioner because it makes my hair velvety and smooth without feeling oily, I have oily scalp, I wash my hair everyday.  Using BTMS to make leave on cream is new to me.  It all came about because I read a blog post by Soapqueen and she swears by it: Kissably Soft Lotion  As greedy as I am, I also want to 

adding caffeine powder, that's the tricky ingredient, I have no idea how it's going to be incorporated.  This is my first try:

As cosmetic law stated I cannot make any claims on what my lotion can "cure" or "help" any condition.  But hey, I'm doing this for myself because I'm curious about pure caffeine powder.  I heard using it daily with a certain percentage concentration can help eliminate cellulite because it reduces water retention.  I don't care how young or fit a girl is, 99% of us got unpleasant cellulite especially on our hip and thighs.  Oh... what a girl would do for beauty!

My first impression of this lotion formula is that it gives a powdery (or velvety) feel after applying on my skin, and if I rub harder it would produce residue.  I thought it failed, this cream is thick but should not be caky.  I continued to use it daily for another 2 days then I realized the caky powdery feeling is gone.  I'm thinking it's the caffeine powder, it finally got "wet" and completely emulsified into the cream.  After a month of using, I noticed my thigh skin is tighten and smooth, but stretch marks are still there.  I guess there's no such thing as miracle ingredient!  I use it under my eye sometimes to help my dark circle and puffiness, it's not a miracle cream, but for what it's worth, it's darn good!
As fall and winter seasons approach I decided to reformulate my seasonal body butter using BTMS and caffeine powder.  This is be my 4th batch:

 What I learned from dealing with caffeine powder is that it would only dissolve in hot water, almost boiling temperature.  It would dissolve clear but turn into cottage cheese stage once cooled down, that's what contributed to the caky texture I mentioned earlier.  I've since decrease the % from 7% concentration to 5% and finally settled with 3%.  This year's body butter is not anhydrous (all butter and oils, no water), it contains aloe juice, caffeine powder, 18% butter (shea, cocoa and mango mix), apricot kernel oil, sesame oil, emu oil, hydrolyzed plant proteins (film forming protection), marine collagen, hyaluronic acid (hydration retention), oat extract, and more.  The only synthetic would be the fragrance and preservative.

I used to make anhydrous whipped body butter but I just never like the greasiness and heavy emollient after feel.  I tried adding modified starch to cut the grease with not much luck.  In time the fluffy whipped butter will settle and harden again, making it hard to scoop out the jar.  My skin is very dry in winter, it really need hydration, not just occlusion or emollient from all that butter and oils.  That is the major reason for me to convert to liquid/butter oil combination.  With hyaluronic acid added, hopefully it would help attract and retain the hydration my skin desperately needs.

Bubble Bath Struggle

I can make bath bomb (or bath fizzy) very easily and it works perfectly in the tub every single time.  But I really want some pizzazz to this, up a level to something more luxurious, or should I say fun?!   What kind of a bath is it without some bubble?!  However, I think I struggled to find the perfect combination of ingredients that holds the shape I want it to look.  The easiest rout is to make a dough and roll it into something like a sushi roll then cut it into pieces like what Lush does to their patent product Bubble Bar.  But as restless as I am, I would not be satisfied with an easy way out.  I had a vision of a bubble cube!

Oh~ only if I knew what I got myself into... It all sounded easy, no problem if I use silicone mold.  The problem is the binding agent.  This is a product somewhere in between a bath fizzy and a bubble bar.  It is a bubble bath bomb, meaning it fizzes to help dissolve in water easier but it also produces bubble.  If you have used a bath bomb or bath fizzy before you would know any liquid would set off the fizz action.  How to produce a perfect cube with sharp corners is my hardest challenge.

1st try: I used witch hazel spray, the same method as I bind bath bomb, and as you can see from the photo, a big 2" cube did not hold well.

2nd try: I used a synthetic liquid form of surfactant.  This one went well, but it got wet and started to behave a little like bread dough, hard to unmold.  It took a whole day to harden before I can attempt to take it out in one piece!

3rd try: To speed up the lengthen process, I attempted to freeze and hot air dry the cube.  Well, it all went well until the cubes were out of the freezer defrosting.  The moisture the frozen cubes attracted set off the fizz...  Not bad, just not the smooth texture I visioned.

My conclusion, maybe I should just be patient, stick with the 24 hour drying time and not fight with the nature of this recipe.  I tried my best to formulated to use mostly natural ingredients but in this case I still need to use a synthetic surfactant as a wet binding agent.  Here's the list of my ingredients:

Baking soda

Sodium laurel sulfoacetate

(a natural surfactant derived from coconut & palm oil)

Citric acid

Mango butter

Goat milk powder

Cocamide DEA

(this is the synthetic surfactant)

Polysorbate 80

(to emulsify mango butter to disperse into water)

Fragrance

Colorants

Now, the best thing about this experiment is that I got to be my own guinea pig!  Um... bubble bath...

Lip Balm with Sheer Shimmer Fun

What if you don't want the full coverage of traditional lipstick?  What if you want the moisturizing power of a lip balm but wish there's a fun sheer color to it just for a little fling?  I thought about it myself too.  My usual Emu Lip Balm is made of:

Shea butter

Cocoa butter

Bee's wax

Candelilla wax

Meadowfoam oil

Emu oil

Castor oil

Cetyl alcohol

Stearic acid

Tocopherol (Natural vitamin E)

If you make your own lip balm using shea butter you would know how painful it is.  Shea butter is great emollient and I love how it feels on my lips.  But with so many people allergic to shea butter and it tends to crystallize and becomes grainy over time, I finally decided to eliminate this ingredient once for all.  I've tried many different vendors and other heating methods but none works well for me.  I simply replaced shea butter with mango butter in my new lip balm, eliminated cetyl alcohol & stearic acid, and readjusted the % all of other ingredients.  I also reformulated the balm to have a harder body, somewhere between a soft balm and traditional lipstick, to carry sheer color for some fun.  Let me introduce
Berry Pink Sheer

 Island Kiss Sheer

Passion Sheer

 Bite Me Sheer

Lanolin Body Butter

Have you neglected your feet through out the summer wearing sandals or walk barefooted?  While it is more comfortable letting your feet breath, it is also very wearing on the skin.  It is very easily forgotten because we hardly look down there??  As the summer is ending and the fall/winter coming in, I'm starting to think about foot cream to repair all that cracks I suddenly see under my heels.

Last year I made a version of anhydrous body butter that was 99% pure skin beneficial butter and oils.  See post here: Is Butter Better?  Yes 99% because I decided to add 1% preservative to protect everyone from bacteria or mold if God forbid some one carelessly dip their wet fingers in the jars.  Theoretically if there is no water present in a product it needs no preservative.  Bactria, yeast, and mold only grow in environment where there's H2O.
This year I'm trying out a new formula using 20% glycerin.  Glycerin is a well known humectant.  But if you only use glycerin in a relatively dry area, very low humidity environment, it might actually do the opposite for your skin, it might draw even more moisture out of your skin to reach inside outside equilibrium.  However, if it is used in conjunction with a moisture retainer, it can be sealed into your skin without "leaking" the humectant back out.  So here's my new totally not vegan body butter ingredient list:
Cocoa butter
Mango butter
Lanolin wax
Bee's wax
Sesame oil (high content of Vitamin E)
Meadowfoam oil
Glycerin
Aloe vera extract
Natural Vitamin E
BTMS (natural derived conditioning emulsifier)
Modified Tapioca starch (to cut grease) 
Fragrance
Preservative

1st whip:

 For body butter to get fluffy I do a triple whip.  What does that mean?  That means after I melted butter and oils together, I put it in my refrigerator to cool down temperature fast to a semi solid stage again.  Whip it with a hand held whisk mixer.  Then pop it back to the refrigerator again to solidify.  Take it out and whip it again.

2nd whip: 

I repeated that again and whip the third time with added preservative and fragrance then package it in jars:

3rd whip:

 You can tell from the photo transformation that the more times I repeated the whip, the smoother it gets!  The end product looks totally like heavy whip cream you see on cakes!

First Public Holiday Fair

Nervous and stressed out was all I felt for the past couple weeks before my show.  I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before the big day.  There were just so much to do!  Now I can finally say, Thank God it's OVER!  I slept for 12 hours straight that night!

Can you tell I looked tired?!  ...don't look too close!

Luxury Cocoa butter Dead Sea bath salt

Emu cream and body butter

Cute M&P finch bird display

Close up on my CP soap bar display

Is Butter Better?

It's winter, it's getting cold and dry, I can feel it, well, my skin can feel it because I've been putting cream on my arms and legs more often nowadays.  Stores have started to offer luxurious thick body butter again in addition to year round body lotion.  All that buttery creamy talk makes my mouth watery (yes, my mouth... my brain thinks body butter = whipped cream).

Here's a list of what's going into my body butter:

Shea butter

Mango butter

Cocoa butter

Apricot kernel oil

Sesame oil

Rosehip oil

Meadowfoam oil

Camellia seed oil

Optiphen (preservative in case someone drop liquid)

ROE (Rosemary Oil Extract for preventing rancidity)

Phew~ that is a long list.  Majority of the body butter offerings out there are done with high % of Shea butter, which to me might be a bit too greasy.  I personally like more of a dry velvety feel.  Therefore I chose to use Mango butter, the driest feeling out of all 3 major butters.  Then I also chose all skin loving oils that are quick to medium absorbing (noticing all of them are targeting at mature & damaged skin type?  I am getting OLD...).  Anyway, I slowly melted the butters, added the liquid oils then popped the whole pot into the freezer.  When the mixture became semi transparent, I took the pot out, beat it with my electrical beater for a few minutes.  Popped into the fridge again for few minutes, beat it again, repeated for another couple times.  

Wow~ it's thick, not like whipped cream I was imagining, definitely whipped butter.  I scooped some up with my finger and it started to melt with my body heat.  I rubbed some all over my arms and legs.  It gave my skin this light shinny shine, took my skin good 10 minutes to absorb all that, then the shine went away.  I have to say, it does form a protective layer on my skin, and very resisting to wash off, and actually makes me feel warmer!  Go figure!  But on the other hand, I do feel more greasy and slippery, especially on my feet as I like to walk barefoot in my house, my feet don't like socks, they like to be free!  There are pros and cons in both traditional lotion and body butter.  I'm not sure at this point I feel butter is better, what's your preference?

A Personal Request from my Husband

Few days ago my honey (who cares nothing about toiletry, typical male) personally asked me to make him bath bombs, cuz he wants to take baths.  OMG... I was speechless for a good minute.  I asked him, honey, do you know what a bath bomb is????  No seriously, do you?!  He rolled his eyeballs at me and told me, YES, I want one of those huge big ball thing I see on Etsy!  And make it smell good please!  I made some already, it's in the bath room, you can use them now if you want, I told him.  I don't want the ones you use, they are pink hearts and smell like flowers, he replied.  Normally I would just flip out and start arguing with him, but this time I actually didn't mind at all!  I was just excited that he actually showed a tiny little interest in what I do!  So I made him 2 different scents, Eucalyptus Orange (essential oil) and Brown Sugar & Fig (fragrance oil).  He rejected my Brown Sugar & Fig, that's fine, I'll use it!

 The aqua colorant I added in the bombs actually made the tub water that lagoon ocean blue, very nice and soothing to the eyes.

Solid Bubble Bar - First Try

It seems like solid bubble bar is in trend so of course I want in!  Just for fun!  I bought some SLSA (Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate) which is a mild surfactant derived from coconut and palm.  I adopted Lovin' Soap online recipe and tweaked it to what I have in hand.  My ingredient list revised:
Baking soda
Corn starch
Milk powder
SLSA
Jojoba oil
Natural liquid soap
Fragrance oil (I used Posh Patel, a sweet rose scent)
FD&C colorant (in castor oil)

The bubbles go and go and go!  This does not set off like a bath bomb.  In fact I have to break the crumbs down myself even with hot water, a bit hard to dissolve.  And when it dissolved, the water became cloudy.  But, once I started paddling in the water like a duck, the bubbles won't stop!  Next round I'll tweak it again, maybe add some skin loving butter (either cocoa or shea or mango), and some citric acid to see if I can set this to fizz and help the dissolving issue.

S.O.A.P. Testing Giveaway, Finally!

Woohoo~   I finally got my act together!  If you have not read any of my S.O.A.P. testing blog posts maybe you should!  I have so much to give out!

Like these owls

and silky body spray

and natural liquid soap

and emu oil goat's milk cream

oh, and don't forget these dressed up "dessert"

Here's how you enter:

1. Click on my new facebook page and like it
2. mention my soap(any or blog or etsy store whatever you like) in any social network (facebook, twitter, blog)
3. leave a comment on this post with your name and link to #2 so I can go check it out!

Deadline is July 31 ,2011.  I will make my hubby draw TWO names out of a box randomly.  Yes, there will be TWO WINNERS!  There are totally 40 pieces and I'm going to split that in half, each winner gets 20 pieces.  It is GRAND!!!

**Limited to USA and Canada entries only, sorry, no international at this time**

Scrub Recipe Trial Continued - New Recipe!

If you have not read my long post about 3 very different recipes I got from various websites, please go back to this link first: Previous Sugar Scrub Post

This is a continuation of my sugar scrub recipe testing because I recently found another good one and got to try it out!
#4 with cetyl alcohol

10% emulsifying wax
5% cetyl alcohol
5% stearic acid
20% butter
56% liquid oil

1% Vitamin E
2% fragrance or essential oil
1% Preservative

This is my cheap double boiler setting: one silicone cup in another silicone cup, fill water in between then microwave it up slowly.

 I let it cool down in the fridge to buttery, then beat it up.

 Then I used 40% of the above mixture and 60% of sea salt.

Hey, it's 4th of July!

 I'm really liking this one.  I tested it in the sink, feel very promising!  It's looking kind of runny like lotion at first, then I cooled it down some more in the fridge, it turned muddy!  I think it needs to be tweaked a little for summer as the room temperature is high enough to melt.

Everyone, have a great Independence Day weekend!

New All Natural Duo

It's hot and it's dirty but it's dry sometimes, so what do you do?!

Wash with natural antibacteria liquid soap and then pamper your hard working hands (or the whole body) with protective emu oil goat's milk cream!  This new product line is scented with only essential oils.  I choose essential oils that naturally combat bacteria and of course smell good is #1 key!  I wouldn't wash my hands with yucky smell soap myself!  I can't promote enough the benefits of emu oil:

"Emu Oil is an effective agent on dry irritated skin and it won't clog pores! It has anti-inflammatory properties that help to reduce scarring, ease the discomfort of insect bites and reduce the healing times of burns. It is also reputed to help reduce swelling and joint pain, particularly in those areas where actual joints are closer to the skin such as hand, feet, ankles and knees. Emu Oil also helps to reduce bruising and stiffness in muscles."

Emu oil is extracted, filtered and fully refined for orderless safety use.

P.S. Sorry, Emu birdies I love you, but I'm not vegan...

S.O.A.P. Opera - the FINALE

Now that #7 and #8 are saved and sound, it's time to end this long testing journey.  You have already seen how all CP and CPOP soaps have discolored further in time, I will also show you how body cream is doing after around 2 weeks.

I also created a log file to document all my testing, each category I would choose 2 favorites and they get a red heart!
(click on the image to open in another window to see it large so you can actually read my notes)

Making Liquid Soap with Glycerin

Traditionally you would have to use water to dissolve KOH (potassium hydroxide) then mix with melted butter and oil in a crock pot.  Then you have to go through hours of "cooking"... erg... that's why I don't make it often because it's such a pain in my axx.  I would make a big pot and save the paste to use for months until I have to do an other pot.  Then one day, I heard you can make liquid soap using glycerin instead of water to dissolve potassium hydroxide, and this will shorten the "cook" time by more than 50%!  Ok, I'm totally in for this, sign me up!  Time for experiment!

Heat up glycerin and dissolve lye (I don't know why it turned a little amber color)

Melted butter and oil in a crock pot:

Mix in the glycerin lye solution:

It got very bubbly:

Getting translucent about 10 minutes and thicken up:

I turned on the crock pot on low and let it "cook" for a couple hours.  Turned it off and let it cooled down, it feels like really thick taffy :

Viola!  Liquid soap paste!  I'm in love with glycerin made liquid soap method now!  I can never go back to the traditional way!  I'm doing a little silly dance in my kitchen right now...

S.O.A.P. Opera - Episode 6

Recap from last episode: after CP, CPOP, and M&P, body cream was next on the line; these little 2 oz bottles are going to sit for a week to be examined for color changing and then test on "lab animal" meaning me.


This episode surprised me, out of my expectation, you will see why.

The last item on my testing schedule is silky quick dry body/linen spray.  And since I still have a little fragrance left each I decided to add another item to the schedule - natural liquid soap.  Silky body spray is simply made of Cyclomethicone (a low molecular weight silicone that evaporate quickly) and about 2% concentrated fragrance oil.  It is none greasy, oily residue or build-up, and leaves your skin a powdery silky touch.  7 out of 8 mixed well without problem.  A few showed slight separation (do you see the tiny bubbles at the top of #1 #2 & #6?!), need to shake before use.  #7 unfortunately again does not want to cooperate, it give this frosty look to the liquid and separates in time.  Darn you #7!  #1 & #4 got a slight discoloration to beige, so slight I don't think anyone can tell if stand alone.  I sprayed some on coffee filter paper and did not see any stain why dried.

Now, let's move on to the surprise.  I diluted some natural liquid soap I made and added 2% fragrance oil in each bottle.  OMG, instant gel!  None of them flows even up side down!  And #7 the one who gave me the most trouble since, actually was being good in liquid soap... what's happening?! 
P.S. #3 is back up to be my favorite again.  I used the "liquid" (or should I call it paste?!) soap to wash my hands and it smells so good!
P.S.S. I decided to add some more distilled water to thin them down, which proven to be difficult after being all gelled up in a small 2 oz bottle...  Note *** must thin natural liquid soap more before adding fragrance oil and probably just 1% fragrance is needed.

#2 gets the lightest color.  #1, 2, 7, & 8 frosted the clarity a little.  #6 actually deepen the color, look how dark it gets!

S.O.A.P. Opera - Episode 5

Recap from last episode: I tested all 8 mystery fragrance oils from Bramble Berry on M&P soap.  White is just not me, so I color coded all of them!  Are they just adorable?!  Some lucky winner(s) will get these little 3D owls up close and personal!

I'm moving on, down next item on my test schedule, thick hand cream with added emu oil imported from Australia.  They will all start white in crystal clear bottles and being examined for the next few days to see if there's any color change or scent morphing.  Then I'll actually squeeze a quarter size one day each and use it on my arms to see how it feels like during the day.  You know what?!  My favorite has changed, there's a surprising underdog that top my list now, strange, isn't it?!  It is #8!!!  I can't seem to get if off my nose!

There are obvious color change in #1 and #7 after 2 days.  Other than that, I really can't tell.