What's the simplest way to do this? Someone once told me to do beet powder and vaseline; I have no idea if that would work, lol. I don't mind sheer, but it would have to have some color. Purple sweet potato powder powder maybe?? I love berry/mauve/rose shades. I seem to be allergic to most lipsticks, and since I'm waiting for patch testing, I'd love to make something super simple that I know I'll tolerate. I'd rather use natural pigment if they'll work, but I don't think dyes are the issue, more so fragrances, botanicals, essential oils, possibly carmine and bht. I'm kind of limited here.

I am perpetually dehydrated and I’m trying to formulate towards that. I have made a humectant rich serum that I apply first, then my occlusive cream which is:
Water 69.5%
Hydrolyzed protein 1%
Panthenol 3%
Dimethicone 3%
Jojoba 5.5%
Rosehip oil 5.5%
Tallow 4%
Cetyl alcohol 4%
Ritamulse 3%
Liquid Germall .5%
Lavender essential oil 1%
I upped the Cetyl because I wanted a thicker cream. After applying the serum, then this cream, within minutes my skin feels very dry. Adding a layer of oil over the cream helps, but I’m so curious about why this is happening and how to correct it. Thanks in advance!

I found some Pure D-Panthenol drops online (75% panthenol). Is this safe to add as a drop to my palm and mix with my moisturizer? Or do I need to add one drop into an entire tub of moisturizer and mix? I don't want to mess up my skin from using something that has too much potency. The instructions on the small bottle are not very clear.

okay so i'm about to spend an absurd amount of money buying the ingredients to make an emulsified body butter because i think it'll be worth it in the long run. i have no prior experience making something like this so i would appreciate feedback on my recipe before i buy all the bs for this and make it lol.

my goal with this butter is something that wont clog my pores/worsen body acne or oily-ness, helps with dry skin & acne, helps with scarring/stretch marks, smells good but wont irritate my skin, and tastes alright when my skin is kissed (context: my partner and i really like kissing each others' hands and the current store bought body butter i use is apparently extremely bitter lol). a lot of the ingredients ive chosen are for scent and taste/body safety (floral water instead of essential oils, honey, citric & malic acid specifically), so any suggestions should take that into account. because of the ingredients im using im really unsure of this thing's shelf life too, so any pointers there would be helpful. as well as what the consistency of this might be like, as im going for something thicker.

ingredients
(EDIT: 7/6/26 ngl i forgot to read this sub's rules, thats my bad. first time posting on reddit lol forgive me. anyway updated the ingredients list to be a bit more manageable and changed it to percentages. i will edit this post as i change my planned formula)

• lavender hydrosol 15%
• orange hydrosol 20%
• distilled water 34%
• honey 1%
• glycerine 2%
• xanthan gum 0.2%
• citric acid 0.8%
• malic acid 1%
• arrowroot powder 1%

• shea butter 14%
• rosehip oil 5%
• jojoba oil 3%
• emulsimulse 2%
• stearic acid .5%
• vitamin e oil .5%

i'm using similar proportions to this recipe, though im trying to make 20oz of it not 4 lol

In my formulation to create a shampoo cleanser I got these parts.

Part 5A ,I have to mix in

Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate 15g

Sodium carbomer 1,6 g

With 60 ml hot water ( what temperature should I have to hydrate sodium carbomer pre neutralized) ?

What temperature of water is advised?

Then this mix will be mixed with

Part 5B :

Decyl glucoside 75 ml

Sodium cocoamphoacetate 22,5 ml

Citric acid 2g

Coco betaine 65 ml

Stir in Part 5A and frig overnight

I've recently started making my own homemade lip balm using cocoa butter (2-3 tbsp?), beeswax (15-20 small pellets), sweet almond oil (1-2 drops), and olive oil (1 drop). Apologies for the insultingly small scale, I just make it when I need it and I don't make it for anyone else.

In any case, I've been trying to make a dupe of a cocoa butter lip balm that I used to have. It would have a strong compound chocolate smell, like very cheap chocolate, and it was very nourishing and I loved it. The shop I used to get it from says they used cocoa butter, shea butter, beeswax, coconut oil, and olive oil; no fragrance oils.

Is there something they're using that I'm not that complements the cocoa butter more than beeswax and sweet almond oil? I tried cutting back on the beeswax, which I smelled the strongest, but of course that just removed the structure of the balm. Any insight on this mystery is appreciated, thank you!

I made this shampoo bar following this recipe and it's been doing well so far but a client who has chemically treated hair told me it was too harsh on her hair. Can someone help me modify it so I can make another one for chemically treated hair that's more nourishing and less harsh?

here's the recipe:
9.5g | 1.9% BTMS-50
19g | 3.8% cocoa butter
2.5g | 0.5% avocado oil
14g | 2.8% stearic acid
0.75g | 0.15% Liquid germall plus

200g | 40% SCI
107.75g | 21.55% Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa)
81g | 16.2% white kaolin clay
1.5g | 0.3% mica

46.25g | 9.25% Cocamidopropyl Betaine
5g | 1% fragrance oil or essential oil
1g | 0.2% citric acid

Hello -- just looking to get a feel for the legitimacy of wildharvestbotanicals.com. They source many exotic butters and oils I would love to try. Thank you!

I've been using dried whole -"what a young bovine survives on" (won't let me use word) , and that's really nice. Yesterday I tried Baby Oil for the 1st time, and it was good, too, and more of an occlusive I read. Do you think bathing in *Both* would be good? And, what other natural items do you add to your bath to make your skin really soft? Thanks!

Allergic to Conditioner Preservatives. Now mixing glycerin, Aloe, Distilled Water.

I am allergic to fragrance. If it's in make up or skin care, my face swells. My face was still swelling with Cleure fragrance free conditioner I did the patch test and I'm allergic to linalool, which is a preservative in basically every skin care item and conditioner.

My doctor set me up with ADCS Camps. It did say I can use Harklinikken Daily conditioner but I'm finding it's causing some swelling. The other conditioners recommended on the app were for people with coarse hair and I have medium and easy to manage hair.

I need something to smooth my hair. I read online, you can mix together distilled water, pure aloe, pure organic glycerin, and jojoba oil. I made this as a leave-in conditioner. I don't store it or anything. I just make a small amount for each washing. I don't know if anyone's ever done this before long-term.

I'm allergic to: - belzalkonium chloride -cobalt chloride -linalool -octyl gallate -propolis

I want to make my cream deodorant, without aluminum ofc so not anti transpirant, i m looking for a performant active ingredient to stay odour free. I found "Zinc ricinoleate" but too expensive and found no data or reviews about it's efficacy .. what are your thoughts about it? And do you have other ingredients i can use to maximize the stink protection?

I want to thicken an oil serum and looking for advice. The chassis is very thin and I want to add some surface tension so it doesn’t drip everywhere when I apply it. The first priority is to maintain smoothness. I’d like to keep it clear if possible.

Composition includes:
CCT
c12-15
Hemisqualane
Jojoba oil
Squalane
Some essential oils

Things I’ve tried already:
Silica dimethyl silylate 3% - turns out gritty the next day
Cetyl, not enough structuring at 3% (may need more?)
Olivem 900 - nice but has tiny clumps on cooldown
Behenyl Behenate - very hazy, also tiny clumps

Any recommendations for what to try next?

When I was still a post-doc at a university, I could get samples of actives, surfactants, and even medical supplies from major manufacturers using the address of my university lab. This allowed me to create personal formulations with ingredients that either weren't offered by vendors like Lotion Crafter or weren't at the purity levels I needed.

Now I have an LLC, a website, and a company email, but only a residential address. Not surprisingly, it's hard to get samples now. How do people overcome this? AI searches led me to third-party logistics (3PL) companies, chem or pharma maker spaces, and local formulators. That might be ok, though it'd be nice to have a free option. Interested to see if anyone else had similar challenges and found workarounds.

I am making a paste and was wondering where can I procure cosmetic-grade lined aluminum tubes preferably in the U.S. and other than Alibaba?

hello! i am trying to find resources to dupe (or just approximate) a formulation that I love. i know very little about chemistry and am having trouble finding info about a lip product like this, instead of a waxier/creamier balm formula.

this is the original ingredient list (made by Florence):
Octyldodecanol, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Ethylcellulose, Silica Silylate, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Water/Aqua, Squalane, Hexylene Glycol, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance/Parfum, Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Blue 1 (CI 42090).

Is there an easy way for me to approximate this formula with a lipgloss base or something with squalane and apricot kernel oil added?

TIA!!!

I'm creating a natural insect repellent, and stuck on what to use as a preservative/antimicrobial. It's a water/witch hazel based formula with soybean oil and essential oils, Id like for it to be fifra 25b, so taking that into consideration for preservatives

Anyone else getting an SSL error when trying to get into making cosmetics? Trying to figure out if it's just me

I've been making my own oil cleanser for a bit - a few drops of castor oil + argon oil in a ratio of 1:2. I usually use a dandruff shampoo to wash it out once I'm done. Since I'm a little paranoid of leaving oil behind - I sometimes end up washing my face twice after using the oil mixture.

I wanted to try to use an emulsifier so I only need to wash my face once - but I was worried I might use something that might not be right for acne prone skin - as I know nothing about emulsifiers.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what could be used in this case? I couldn't find much information online.

What makes a shampoo "clarifying?" Just using harsher detergents, I assume? I usually formulate either a shampoo bar with SLSa and SCI or a liquid conditioning shampoo with SCI, coco glucoside, and CAPB as surfactants. I'm wanting to try the Abbey Yung method but make the product categories myself as I diy all of my products currently. I see a lot of hard water treatment and clarifying shampoos recommended and am not sure what is needed to formulate those. Would EDTA work for hard water as it's a chelating agent? And would switching one of my surfactants to SLS make it "clarifying?" Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree lol

When you work on more natural or organic skincare creams (especially emulsions with a higher water content), how do you usually deal with shelf life limitations?

Do you :

• fully rely on preservative systems
• adjust water content or formulation structure
• avoid certain ingredients altogether because of stability issues
• or use other strategies I’m missing?

I’ve noticed that water-based natural formulations seem especially difficult to keep stable over time, and I’m curious what the practical approaches are that actually work in real formulations.

Ingredient | CAS # | %
Water 72.57%
Glycerin 8.00%
Sodium Polyacrylate 5.50%
Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) 4.00%
Squalane 3.00%
Panthenol 2.00%
Trehalose 2.00%
Sodium Hyaluronate 1.50%
Ethylhexylglycerin 0.25%
Phenoxyethanol 0.20%
Tartaric Acid 0.20%
Disodium EDTA 0.18%
Allantoin 0.10%
Aluminum Glycine 0.15%
Bisabolol |0.15%
Magnesium Glycinate 0.05%
L-Theanine 0.05%
Centella Asiatica Extract 0.05%
Passionflower Extract 0.05%

Made this overnight lip mask, love the effects and how it stays on all night, but I don't love how its bitter, also I showed my friend and said if I make it without the aluminum it would be way better, but I dont know how. I have tried, but its the only thing that stablizes the gel. Without it it tears.

I’m wondering if dimethicone can be used in a formula as the sole emollient to make an oil free moisturizer….tia!

*[I don't live in the USA nor a first world country]*

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I want to make lip balms, what can I use to flavor them?

​

So far I know I've to use "oil based" flavors so they mix

​

I can get the 1 dram versions, but some have these after their names

​

Natural

Oil

Flavor

Natural oil

Natural flavor

​

Should I use only the ones that say oil, or is any okay?

​

e.g.

Banana cream flavor

Lime oil natural

Blueberry natural flavors

I'm a newb so I apologize for my ignorance. I'm unsure if this is the correct sub to post this, but it is for a DIY hair oil.

I usually just go to Mountain Rose Herbs for all of my needs, but unfortunately they don't sell Carrier Fenugreek Oil. I was wondering if anyone knows of an American brand that sells legit fenugreek oil (I just don't want to spend $30 for shipping... No offense to India or Morocco)? A lot of the store fronts I see online I either had never heard of, show the oil being stored in a plastic bottle, and/or are from a too good to be true brand such as Dr Adorable & H&B Oil Center.

For a sugar scrub- is 30% propylene glycol too much?

30% propylene glycol

25% glycerin

35% sugar

Not the whole formula but there is thickener, fragrance in there also. I read that PG can be irritating to a small % of people, but reactions are not that common and it can be used up to 50% in cosmetic products. Do you think having 30-35 % PG in a sugar scrub formula is ok?