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| eléa facial gel-cream by Stella Crown |
If you want a moisturizing facial cream but would like to avoid excess oiliness, then you need a gel-based skin care product which will provide all the hydration that your skin needs. Gel-based products, unlike lotions, are absorbed easily, they are lightweight and don’t become sticky.
I have recently published a recipe for facial gel-cream based on aloe vera gel. This time, however, I experimented with a thickening agent and I refer to Rheosol AP (INCI Name: Sodium Polyacrylate) which helps stabilize oil-water emulsions even without other emulsifiers; it forms a solid gel structure and can be used in hot or cold process. So this amazing ingredient will help us today to combine oil and water without another emulsifier, in order to make a gel cream that leaves a great texture and a feeling of freshness on your skin.
Special guests: olive squalane, which is also one of the most important lipids produced in human cells and tissues. It acts as a natural moisturizing agent and as a "supplier" of oxygen to the human skin. It is a strong moisturizer, improves the texture of the skin and has strong action. It contributes decisively to the maintenance of natural moisture, absorbs very easily and reaches the deepest layers of the skin, reduces the intensity and wrinkle formation and helps to repair wounds etc.
I added also hyaluronic acid because it is used to transport moisture to the skin and maintain its "freshness". In fact, each molecule of hyaluronic acid "absorbs" several times (more than 1,000) its weight in moisture. When this moisture is transferred to the skin, it stimulates it, gives it firmness and renews it. It is an ideal ingredient for reducing wrinkles.
recipe for ~100 g | 3.5 oz
water phase:
35 g | 1.2 oz lavender hydrosol
22 g | 0.8 oz geranium hydrosol
15 g | 0.5 oz chamomile floral water
6 g | 0.2 oz hyaluronic acid
1 g | 0.04 oz vegetable silicon
1 g | 0.04 oz provitamin B5 (d-panthenol)
1 g | 0.04 oz Rheosol AP
oily phase:
6 g | 0.2 oz borage oil
3 g | 0.1 oz jojoba oil
6 g | 0.2 oz olive squalene
2 g | 0.07 oz vitamin E
1 g | 0.04 oz vitamin A
essential oils & additives:
10 drops lavender essential oil
7 drops geranium essential oil
5 drops chamomile essential oil
- Before you start making the gel-cream, sterilise tools, containers and work surface, while wear your gloves.
- Today you won’t follow the cosmetic cream preparation procedure 😱😇
- In a beaker, add the components of the water phase, one by one, except Rheosol AP and stir with a coffee mixer. Then add the Rheosol AP and stir again until your mixture gets homogenised without having any lumps.
- In another beaker, pour the components of the oily phase and str thoroughly. Add the oily phase to the water phase mixture and start the emulsification process. Keep stirring and check the emulsification for about 5 minutes. Check that the product is homogenised totally and then stop.
- Add the preservative and essential oils and mix again until they are fully incorporated. The gel-cream is ready!
- Lavender has great antibacterial properties, geranium is a balancing agent while chamomile is soothing and anti-inflammatory. In this recipe I used them together as hydrosols, floral waters and essential oils.
- Vegetable silicone strengthens the skin's hydro-lipidic layer while the combination of provitamin B5 and vitamins A+E soften and hydrate the skin deeply.
- Borage oil has antioxidant and anti-aging properties, restores skin elasticity and gives shine on damaged skin while jojoba oil is particularly moisturizing, nourishing and protects the skin.
Stella Crown©
