The skin of the eye area is very delicate and thin.
If you are planning to make a cosmetic for this area, you have two options: or you make a gel or you make a light cream (I’d say maximum 8% fats).
The “Prince Ingredient” of this cream is CAFFEINE, which will contrast eye-puffiness.
Read the post about caffeine to know how to use it in cosmetics.
I write the full RECIPE now (if you just arrived on my blog, you can learn how to make creams HERE):
Phase A
– water to 100 (HERE the explanation)
– fleur-de-lis hydrolat – 10 (if you don’t have it, you can just delete it and use demineralized water)
– glycerin – 3
– xanthan gum – 0.1
– carbopol ultrez 21 – 0.3
– caffeine – 2
Phase B
– methyl glucose sesquistearate – 3 (this is the emulsifier)
– cetyl alcohol – 1 (thickener)
– cetyl palmitate – 0.5 (second thickener)
– avocado butter – 1
– shea butter – 2
– tocopherol (Vitamin E) – 1
– argan oil – 1
– evening primrose oil – 1
– jojoba oil – 1
(this grease-fall is not particularly articulated: I wanted a light cream but I wanted a slight thicker feeling to it: therefore I used more butters 🙂 notice that all the densities of fats are present in the cream).
Phase C
I have actually divided the Phase C into more phases, meaning that I prepared the ingredients in different bechers.
Phase C – Oil soluble ingredients:
– rose hip oil – 1 (this oil could be damaged by the heating of Phase B, this is why I chose to add it in Phase C)
– bisabolol – 0.5 (soothing ingredient and antibacterial)
– mixed complex of ceramides – 2 (this is an active ingredient which contains different ceramides)
Phase C – Water soluble ingredients:
– allantoin – 0.5
– hydrolized oat protein – 2 (usually I try to melt the allantoin in the hydrolized proteins. Allantoin can give problems in the final product if you don’t melt it very well, so always remember to do this step properly 🙂 )
– Dry Extract of blueberry (this is a powder, it also gave some color to the cream as you can see) 0.5
– hyaluronic acid solution 1% – 3
– preservative – 0.6%
– 2 or 3 drops of fragrance oil (or essential oil)
Step by Step:
Prepare Phase A as explained HERE separating it in two parts to let xanthan and carbopol open up evenly. Set aside.
Prepare Phase B.
Heat both Phase A (now put together) and Phase B in a double boiler until they both reach 70°C.
Add slowly Phase B into Phase A and mix with immersion mixer.
When it looks evenly white you can stop mixing with mixer and you can use a spatula instead.
Mix with a spatula until cooled down (might take up to 30 minutes).
Prepare Phase C separately as explained above. Add the oily Phase C and later the water Phase C to the cream.
Mix well with spatula.
Now add the preservative and mix with the immersion mixer one last time: it will improve the texture.
Add the 2 drops of fragrance.
Check the pH of the cream. For eye area it should be around 6.5 pH.
🙂
For more recipes click HERE
To learn how to formulate cosmetics click HERE
For a list of online cosmetic ingredients suppliers click HERE
ENJOY
It's all in my hands 
I know this is going to sound crazy but I can only find caffeine PILLS. I cannot find any powder or extract where did you buy yours? Also I followed your formula to the letter and my caffeine pills dissolved but recrystallized in some jars and not others – can you offer advice? I heated and held the two phases at 70c for 20 min. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!
Cait
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Yes Caffeine can be bad like that and become some kind of needle in some jars and not in others. I am making experiments right now about it to see how long it keeps separated in a gel because I have come to think that it re-cristalizes in more liquid compounds.
Did you keep stirring constantly until the cream cooled down completely?
I don’t know where you bought all the other ingredients of the recipe from… but I am guessing they should have caffeine as well. Anyway if the pills contain 100% caffeine and nothing else I don’t see why you shouldn’t use them 😀
If, instead, they contain also other ingredients, I made a post where you can find various links to websites that sell cosmetic ingredients (and I am quite sure most of them should be selling it).
BTW just now I am formulating a “lifting” (this is all to be seen… 😀 but that’s my intention) eye gel with caffeine 😉
Keep in touch! And let me know how your creams come out! 😀
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Wow! Thank you so much for replying lol I usually never get help when I ask questions 🙂 This just made my day! I did keep stirring it – I actually whipped it so it was light and fluffy with the hand blender. Lotion Crafter, The Chemistry Store, and The Herbarie carry most of the ingredients but they only carry green tea extract which has such a small amount of caffeine and is so expensive! 4 oz is 11.25 dollars. The other extract that they carry that might help in an eye cream is Cucumber extract which is $ 7.95 for 4 oz where is a bottle of caffeine pills cost 10 dollars for 120 pills that have 100 mg of caffeine a pill. I have found pure pharmaceutical grade caffeine powder but there is no information on the dosage – like how many mg is in a gram so that makes me really nervous. Should it? I mean can you do damage with an unmeasured substance like that? I would think so but I am usually over cautious like that – I like my eye sight 😀
I cannot wait for the lifting cream! Your site is so educational and one of my favorites. I love the formulas and how you choose each ingredient for a purpose, its lovely to read and I learn so much. I made another version of the eye cream using these ingredients and it still crystallized so I will def keep playing around with it and will keep you posted! By the way where did you get your caffeine powder? Its incredibly hard to find. Here is another version that I tried if your interested –
I had to modify it a bit but nothing that would cause a significant difference
WATER PHASE
– water 36.%
20% Witch Hazel for the astringent and anti-inflammatory effects
10% Aloe Vera for the soothing anti-itching effects
– glycerin – 3%
-Sodium Lactate 1% (It exhibits strong antimicrobial and humectant properties in cosmetic applications. Added to bar soap formulations to harden bar, increase moisture retention, and reduce cracking.)
-Honeyquat – 2% (double duty as a humectant and a skin conditioning agent)
– caffeine – 2%
– allantoin – 0.5 (I added the Allantoin and Oat protein to the water phase because it seems to dissolve better and I’ve never **knocks on wood** had it recrystallize.)
– hydrolyzed oat protein – 1%
– Hydrolyzed Silk Protein 1%
– Butchers Broom Extract .5%
Oil Phase (20.5%)
– Incroquat Behenyl TMS-50 – 4.5% (I like the after feeling of this emulsifier and It has not failed on me yet. I did the 25% rule you take the sum of the oil phase and multiply it by 25% to get the amount of emulsifier one needs. I added a little more to it just in case I go over a little with the oils by accident.)
– cetyl alcohol – 2% (thickener)
– shea butter – 4% (regenerates cells, reduces redness, prevents premature aging)
-Avocado oil – 3% (medium oil, easily absorbed by skin and offers a light sunscreen property’s – iit is great for red irritated skin)
– argan oil – 1% (skin protection )
– evening primrose oil – 2% (eases inflammatory and great for fine lines)
– Camellia Seed Oil 2% (Dry feeling oil with oleic acid)
Sea BuckThorn Oil 1% (Anti-inflam effects, free radical scavenging, skin regenerating and moisturizing property’s)
IPM 1% – I wanted skin penetration but I found out later this could be irritating to the skin – it has not had any adverse effects yet, and I’ve been using this for at least a month now.
COOL DOWN PHASE
— tocopherol (Vitamin E) – 1%
– DL Panthenol 2% (It is approved by the FDA at 2% to be in anti-itching. It improves Stratum corneum hydration, reduces inflammation stimulates skin epithelialization, skin barrier mechanism repair and is a humectant. I realized that the IPM is irritating and I was hoping this would counter the irritation which it seems to)
– preservative – (Germall Plus) 0.5%
It came out thick and really light, I just smooth it on and let it dry for about 10 min the brush the crystallized caffeine away lol. Your products work amazingly and gave me a great starting point. 🙂 thank you so much! It is very hard to find valid information about making cosmetics and some of the things out there – just Wow I am sure you have seen them – they could really go wrong very quickly. Have a great day!
Cait
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Well 😀 thank you so much! 😀
I am happy to finally have met someone who is learning to make creams too!!! 😀
It’s nice to share!
About the pharmaceutical caffeine I believe that by its name “pure pharmaceutical grade caffeine powder” it should be 100% caffeine pure 🙂 and the pharmaceutical grade makes it even better than the cosmetic grade (it means it is even more pure!) so I would definitely go for it! 😀
I do not know the website you wrote me about, but surely caffeine is one of the most unexpensive ingredients online so, in case, check other websites also 😉
For your version of the eye-cream it sounds cool!
Also I discovered that hydrolized oat proteins dissolve allantoin much better than anything else!!! 😉
Just one suggestion about your eye-cream version: I would put the proteins in the cool down phase because proteins get spoiled at temperature over 45° 😉
Have you been making also other cosmetics? 😀
Lately I have been trying to formulate a good recipe similar to the L*SH bubble bars but I haven’t been very satisfied yet! 😀
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Wow that was odd. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
Regardless, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
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Well, thank you 🙂
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Hi. I was wondering if you would mind simply sharing the site or direct link to where you purchase your caffeine from??? I, too, am having difficulty finding it.
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Depends where you live cause most of the websites where I bought it don’t ship outside of Italy.
Here is the link with a list of sites that sell cosmetic ingredients:
However, I bought it from different ones and here is the list:
– Dermolife.it
– farmaciavernile.it
– glamourcosmetics.it
– I never bought it from dragonspice.de but they have it as well and they ship at least in Europe http://www.dragonspice.de/index.php?cl=details&anid=b77e7a023b671a36f23ab359c61d9291&force_sid=1bb8dd1af34573df74447b021a241f50
– same for this Polish website http://www.zrobsobiekrem.pl/pl/p/Kofeina-farmaceutyczna/221
– and this french one http://www.aroma-zone.com/info/fiche-technique/actif-cosmetique-cafeine-naturelle-aroma-zone
🙂
hope it was helpful 🙂
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