Caffeine & Escin Eye Cream DIY

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Hello there! 🙂

This new recipe for an Eye-Cream for my blue circles and puffiness. I felt it did help a little (even though cosmetics are never magic potions).
I am really satisfied!

I wrote “blue circles” and not the more generic “dark circles” because there are two different kinds of dark circles:

The first case is the dark circle caused by hyperpigmentation of the skin.
Some ethnic groups are more exposed to this kind of discoloration compared to others. Usually people of color tend to have more discoloration which can be helped more by the use of sun-block, rather than these active ingredients that I am adding to this cream.

The second case (which is my case and the reason I formulated this eye cream) are the bluish circles caused by leaking capillaries.
You see: the capillaries of the delicate under-eye area sometimes are so fragile that a bit of blood leaks out, the hemoglobin oxidizes (becoming bluish in color) and that’s it: we look as if we had a small hematoma just under the eyes. 😀

To help against leaking capillaries I have added in this formulation ESCIN!
ESCIN is a very good ingredient. Here are a few data on this ingredient:
– It is water soluble,
– It shouldn’t be heated (therefore in our recipes, if we are using emulsifiers which need to be heated, we add it in the Phase C)
– It can be added up to 2% of a formulation.
The main properties of Escin:
– Vasoprotector
– Vasocostrictor 
– Anty-Inflamatory
The bad thing about Escin is that it doesn’t smell good: it is not that bad, but it gives to the cream a “dusty” feeling. It can seem totally bearable in the beginning but it can be irritating after weeks of applying the cream 😀 (guess how I found out 😛 )

Another “Prince” Active-Ingredient of this recipe is, obviously, Caffeine (I have already written a post about Caffeine, you can read it HERE).
Caffeine helps mostly against puffiness because it improves the blood circulation (therefore helping the exceeding water to move out of the area).

Enough talking now! 🙂

FORMULA:

Phase A:
Water to 100 (HERE the explanation)
Betaine 5 (this is NOT the surfactant called “cocamidopropyl betaine” but this is the Trimethylglycine – this ingredient helps making the cream more soothing and more smooth at the touch)
Glycerin 2
Caffeine 1
Escin 1.5
Hyaluronic Acid Gel (My formula HERE) 3

Phase B:
Murumuru butter 2 
Cocoa butter 2 
Black Currant oil 2 (this oil composition is rich in linoleic acid which is supposed to be very good for the skin)
Abil Care 85 – 2 **[INCI: Bis-PEG/PPG-16/16 PEG/PPG16/16 Dimethicone; Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride]
Tinovis ADE – 1.2 **[INCI: Sodium Acrylates Copolymer (and) Hydrogenated Polydecene (and) PPG-1 Trideceth-6]

Phase C: 
Blueberry Powder Extract 0.4
Preservative (I used Cosgard at 1%)

Extra: I added a few drops of an allergen-free Fragrance Oil which I later omitted when I repeated this formula. The escin smell wasn’t anyway covered

** About this EMULSIFYING SYSTEM: Abil Care 85 is a silicone based emulsifier which can be used at room temperature and higher temperatures. It is silicon based and therefore it is not extremely eco-friendly. Tinovis ADE is a thickener which can be used without gelling the Phase A and must be used at room temperatures. Abil Care 85 and Tinovis ADE are a good combination for making creams with a good texture and in a fast way (since you don’t need to heat them to use them). I don’t like silicones on my skin but this is not a cream based on silicones, the amount of silicone in a cream emulsified with 2% Abil Care is lower than 2% and that is totally acceptable to my skin.

Now finally the HOW TO:

1) I measure and add in a becher the water and the Glycerin.

2) I add Caffeine


3) You can see that the caffeine doesn’t “melt” inside the water easily


4) So I heat up the water with caffeine just a little, until it becomes all transparent again.


5) When the water is not warm anymore, I add Escin

6) Eventually I add Hyaluronic acid gel and betaine (it is not transparent because of the escin, what is important is that there are no residues left on the bottom because it would mean that it is not “melted” in the water). I set it aside.

7) I measure the Murumuru butter and the Cocoa butter, then heat it up until they are melted


8) I add the remaining ingredients of the Phase B and add them to the Phase A


9) This is how bad it looked when I poured the Phase B into the Phase A


10) I mixed with the immersion mixer

11) Aside I measured the Blueberry Powder Extract and the Preservative. I added a little bit of cream and mixed in order to start “melting” the blueberry powder.

12) I added the Phase C to the cream.

This is it! 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this formulation: I love it 😀