Author: It's all in my hands

Sensory Perfection Fragrance Oils Review

Hello Everyone!
Today I am going to write few words on some Sensory Perfection Fragrance Oils I have purchased. I haven’t tried them yet in cosmetics because I have just received the package today and it was the first time I purchased from them, so I won’t be able to say which scent will behave well in soap-making and which won’t (but I will keep this post updated!). 😉
I have tried them simply by putting a drop of the fragrance oil on a perfume paper slip: sniffing from the bottle is not enough since some perfume notes are too “big/heavy” to exit the bottle and therefore you cannot get the correct idea of the scent!
But enough of this: HERE WE GO! 🙂

Sensory Perfection Fragrance Oils

Black Raspberry & Vanilla: I didn’t know what to expect with this one so I bought the sample size only but it is adorable. I find it quite complex. Perfect for a body wash or a shampoo. Sweet (but not too sweet) and quite fresh.

Blueberry: more than a fresh blueberry this smells of blueberry tart. No, actually it smells of blueberries in a thick syrup.

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Glamour Cosmetics Fragrance Oils Review

Here is the list of fragrances I have tried from Glamour Cosmetics followed by a short review.
Just a couple of notes: I haven’t tried that many fragrances from this website but from what I have noticed, many of them tend to have a soapy/talc-like undertone. This is something I personally love, but it might not be for everyone (not all fragrances have this undertone, but those who do, I have pointed it out in the review).
Some of the fragrances they sell behave particularly well in soap-making: in such case the name of the fragrance is followed by the word “Savon”.

Glamour Cosmetics Fragrance oils Review

 

Aloe Savon – It smelled of clean soap. It was ok but I didn’t find it “special”.

Borotalco – Clean talc smell, I really like this one! I love it in shampoos.

Camay – I have purchased this one only after trying it from the fragrance box of a friend. It is a very “old school” soapy smell. I found it lovely but it is not for everyone.

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Manske Fragrance Oils Review

This is a list of Fragrance Oils I have purchased from the website: Manske Shop with few words on how I liked them (or not 🙂 ).

Manske Fragrance Oils Review

Apfelzimt – Spiced Apple – I liked it sniffed from the bottle, but it didn’t behave well in cold process soap (it increased trace and it also created some discoloration). It could be used for other kind of cosmetic products.

Aprikosenkuchen – Apricot Cake: I didn’t find it bad but honestly I haven’t used it yet because I don’t know where to put it. It is not that sweet, but it is not that good either.

Bananensplit – Yes! A sweet (sweet!) banana fragrance oil with a vanilla note. I have used it mostly in my hair conditioners as it did give a few issues in soap making (discoloration + fast trace).

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How to Formulate a Solid Shampoo

Hello everyone! 🙂

Today I talk about how to formulate a Solid Shampoo.

Solid Shampoo (10)

This is NOT a natural soap, it is a Syndet (synthetic detergent) made with powder surfactants and other ingredients. A normal soap won’t work well as a shampoo, no matter how many expensive oils you add to it or how much love you put into soap-making.
If you want to make a decent solid shampoo, it must be a syndet. 😉

The advantages of a shampoo bar are that it is compact, it doesn’t weight much, it is easy to use, easy to carry around (on a plane for example)… Yet, it is not at all common to find one in the stores.

The reasons for this are many but here are the main ones:
A Solid Shampoo is made with an extremely high percentage of surfactant matter (55%-85%) and this makes the production costs fly very high as well.
But this is not all: a shampoo bar looks extremely similar to a simple and cheap soap and therefore people don’t give to it even the same value they give to, let’s say, a fancy bottle of liquid shampoo (even if the liquid shampoo costs way less, to produce, than the solid one).
These two things, combined, already don’t make for a winning product…

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Simulgel EG test

Hello Everyone!

Today I made few tests to try and get an idea of Simulgel EG. 

Its INCI is: Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer/Isohexadecane/Polysorbate 80
and it is a liquid emulsifier.

This ingredient can be used:
– as a thickener: I haven’t tested this yet, but if you want to use it as a thickener you are supposed to add it after emulsification (it can bear up to 75° C) and mix as usual. The suggested concentration of use in this case is: 0.5%-2%
– as a sole emulsifier: in this case it can be added both to the water phase or the oily phase but Phase B seems to be the best option as the polymer is lipodispersible and therefore inversion and swelling are facilitated. The suggested concentration of use as a sole emulsifier is: 1%-5%.

Simulgel EG is supposed to be able to hold up to 40% oils in the formula and another great feature is that it can hold up very well silicone-based powders (this is something I will have to test very soon!!!). 😀
It can emulsify all oil phases (so no problems with natural oils or esters) and its ideal pH range is pH 5.5 – pH 11.

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Skin Structure

Hello everyone!
I have decided to write a couple of posts about the skin structure because it is very important to understand what goes on at “skin level” if we want to formulate effective and safe cosmetics.
Skin (layers, glands, vessels)
Our skin consists of two main layers (Epidermis and Dermis). Under the Dermis there is a third layer, the Hypodermis (in this picture called “Fatty Tissue”), which is not considered part of the skin organ and it is mainly made of fat cells.

EPIDERMIS: 

It is very interesting to know that our skin is so well organized: the deepest layer of the Epidermis is the layer where new keratinocytes are formed and with time they go through many of transformations until they reach the Stratum Corneum being eventually shed.

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The pH talk

Hello everyone! 🙂

I have received many questions about pH and therefore I have decided to make a brief post about it. In fact, to learn how to formulate and be able to make safe cosmetics at home, it is really essential that you understand what pH is and that you have a way to measure it.

strips
Well then! Let’s dive in:
“pH” stands for “power of hydrogen”, the capital “H” is because the symbol of the element hydrogen in the periodic table is “H” (always capital! Now it should be easier to remember how it is properly written 🙂 ).

“pH is a logarithmic measure of hydrogen ion concentration in an acqueous solution” (don’t you dare stop reading!!! 😀 )

pH = -log[H+]

Try to think of it this way: by measuring the concentration of something (the hydrogen ion: H+) in an acqueous solution (water, for instance) we get to know how acidic or alkaline the solution is. 🙂

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