LAB NOTES & SAFETY NOTICE
These are personal experiments for educational use only— not instructions and not for commercial or consumer use. By proceeding, you assume all risks related to safety, testing, and regulatory compliance.
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Lab Note: The “Zombie Vaccine” Eye Serum-Gel
Hello Hello! 😀 Who doesn’t look like a zombie in the morning? (Okay, maybe you don’t… but I definitely do!). I saw the name “Zombie Vaccine” on a coffee cup once and I knew I had to steal it for this lifting eye serum.
I’m calling this a serum because it’s made of 100% active ingredients! There are no fillers here—just pure hydration and “wake-up” magic for that delicate eye area. yeheee!
The Active Duo:
- Caffeine: The ultimate “double espresso” for your face. It helps stimulate microcirculation to fight puffiness and those dark zombie circles.
- Sodium Hyaluronate: This is the salt form of Hyaluronic Acid. Just 1 gram is enough to turn this liquid into a beautiful, thick gel. It gives a slight “lifting” effect as it dries, while pulling hydration deep into the skin.
The Formula: Zombie Vaccine
- Water: to 100
- Rose Water: 30.0 (Soothing and smells like a dream)
- Glycerin: 3.0
- Sodium Hyaluronate: 1.0 (The gelling agent)
- Blueberry Powder Extract: 0.3 (Antioxidant power!)
- Caffeine: 2.0 (The anti-puffiness hero)
- Preservative (Cosgard): 1.0
Notes from my Beaker:
- The Caffeine Challenge: Caffeine can be a bit of a diva. I mixed the water, rose water, glycerin, and caffeine together and heated it very slowly, stirring constantly. You have to make sure it’s fully dissolved—and then I prayed it wouldn’t crystallize into needles as it cooled down! 😀 (Luckily, it stayed smooth).
- The “No-Stir” Gelling: Once the liquid was completely cool, I added the preservative and the blueberry extract. Then came the Sodium Hyaluronate. I just poured it on top and did not stir.
- The Waiting Game: I covered the beaker with plastic wrap and walked away. I gave it a tiny mix after a few hours, but mostly I just let it sit. It takes about a day and a half for the Hyaluronate to fully hydrate into a clear, thick gel.
- pH Check: I checked the pH and it was a neutral 7.0. Since it’s for the eyes, I left it right there!
Final Verdict: This serum is so refreshing in the morning! It’s light, it’s cold, and it really helps “tighten” things up so I look a bit more human and a bit less zombie. ENJOY! 😀 😀 😀
IT'S ALL IN MY HANDS 
I liked this recipe so much I’m going to add it to my next blog and I will give your page credit with a link and all 😉 Thanks for sharing this great recipe!!
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are all of the measurements in grams? Example: Water to 100 grams
Rose water 30 grams??? or am I WAAYYY off?? lol
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no no no no not like this!!! 😀
“water to 100” means that according to what you add in your recipe, you are going to reach 100 gr with water.
Let’s say that other ingredients all together are 10 gr, then in the end you calculate that you must add 90 gr of water.
It is easier to calculate it in the very end of the formulation… specially if you feel like changing anything in the recipe! (you need to keep the % of other ingredients stable in the recipe… so just change the amount of water and everything else will be stable! 😀 ).
Let’s say you have a different preservative than mine, which needs to be added at a different amount (you have to add 10 and i have to add only 0.6)… you will still be able to calculate the recipe for 100 gr and without confusing numbers! 😉
Hope this was clear now 😀 anyway it is explained in the early posts 😉
And thanks for the comment! sure you can use the recipe! 😉
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thanks 🙂
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Which preservative are you using for this gel. Thanks a lot.
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I mostly use Cosgard, which is a preservative which has been approved Ecocert 🙂
However, you can use any preservative you have (as long as it is water-soluble). 😉
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Thanks a lot for a quick reply. I am going to try to make this gel although I have no idea how to measure 0.3 Blueberry Powder Extract and 0.6 preseravtive 🙂
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You need a precision scale able to measure 0.01 grams!
They are pretty cheap also! I bought mine from some shop on ebay and it was around 6 euros! 🙂
Some shops of cosmetic ingredients sell them on their website also but usually they are more expensive!
Hope it helped 😀
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Yes, I need to buy one. I made some very simple creams up to now but I am tempted to make this gel and this recipe is more sophisticated. Thanks a lot for your replies. I love your website – thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience 🙂
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Oh well, thanks to you!!! 😀
Well this gel is very easy to make, really 😉 the only “difficulty” is to find the ingredients! So, once you have them, you can jump in the process (and then you are never going to stop: creams, shampoos, body butters, eye creams, refreshing summer gels blablablaaa… ehehehe 😀 )
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Hello, this recipe looks great and I would love to try to make it. Do you think it would be possible to substitute Sodium Hyaluronate for 1% Hyaluronic Acid Serum. I do not have pure powder. Thank you soooo much for all these recipes – this is my favorite site 🙂
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Hello Nina! 🙂
I am not sure I understood what you wanted to do:
– if you meant that you wanted to substitute all the water+rosewater+glycerin+sodiumhyaluronate+preservative unfortunately I have to say that caffeine won’t melt in your hyaluronic acid serum (so you could just use it straight without caffeine! 🙂 just as it is!).
– if, instead, you meant to use 1 gram of hyaluronic acid serum in substitution of the sodium hyaluronate powder… well it is a big difference: the gram of sodium hyaluronate added to 99 grams of water/glycerin/rosewater is the substance which makes it a serum (and also makes it a gel!) therefore you can understand that it wouldn’t be the same thing at all 🙂
This is, however, one very very simple recipe and I would suggest that you try to buy the ingredients online! 🙂 There are many websites that sell these ingredients (except for the blueberry powder, but that’s added mostly for the color here 🙂 so you could omit it) and it could be good for a start in the “world” of the HOMEMADE REAL COSMETICS! 🙂
Just think about this option! 🙂
I made a post called “Buying cosmetic ingredients online” and I added there the links to some of the websites which sell these ingredients (however, new websites of this sort are blossoming every day… so I am sure you will be able to find one that sounds good to you!).
Ciao and THANK YOU for the nice words!!! 🙂
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Yes, now that you explained it it does make sense. I was thinking would it be possible to substitute I-don’t-know-how-much-of hyaluronic acid serum in substitution of the sodium hyaluronate powder but that is already mixed with water….. I will look for the powder. Thanks a lot for your quick reply!
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Hi! Where do you get caffeine powder, getting confused with options on the internet
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You can find them on many websites depending where you live.
I made a post with a list of online cosmetic-ingredients reseller 🙂 most of them sell caffeine 🙂
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I wanted to ask if this “vaccine” can be prepared with retinol and collagen (these are what I have at home right now, I also have xanthan gum) instead of hyaluronic acid? I love your site very much, thanks for the recipes:)
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Collagen will gel the substance (don’t forget that it is exactly the hyaluronic acid which makes this “vaccine” a gel! 🙂 ) so it would be ok… even though it would be better to eat collagen than to apply it on the skin because its molecule are so big they barely manage to enter the skin (where they would be able to work 😉 ).
About retinol… in which form do you have it?
However I would NOT use it in a product intended for the delicate eye-area!
Also, keep in mind that it should be used only during dark winter days (so, depending where you live, you will know 🙂 ) because if you apply it and then go under the sun… it causes bad surprises (the least bad is pigmentation).
Hope this was helpful 🙂
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I love your recipes! Can I use ZOMBIE VACCINE serum for all areas of the face? Thanks for the reply in advance 🙂
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Sure! 🙂 At least I do 😀
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This sounds amazing and simple enough for me to try to dab into something a little more adventurous than sugar scrubs, may I ask you, could I use Leucidal as a preservative? I like the fact that is natural derived, also what do you mean by “waiting for it to cooled down?” Do you have to have the water and Rose water to a certain temperature before you add the HA powder? Thank you!
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You need to heat it up in order to dissolve the caffeine 🙂
What is the INCI of Leucidal?
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Hi, I love your recipe. I was wondering, if you were to add a little bit of oil as you mention at the end, would you add it at the very end or before adding the sodium hyaluronate?
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Sorry I saw this only now: it doesn’t matter much “when” but it should be definitely lower than 0.5%
Otherwise you should include a solubilizer… Which I don’t recommend for use in the eye area 🙂
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INCI of Leucidal Liquid SF. INCI: Lactobacillus Ferment
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Hola me encantó esta receta! Me gustaría saber si el ácido hialurónico es de alto o bajo peso molecular. Gracias ☺️
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Hi Bea, this was high molecular weight so the gel thickens, you could add 0.5 of low or very low weight for the added benefits.
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