In Australia the weather is finally starting to heat up. It's been a cold, rainy winter for us Tasmanian's, so I've been enjoying the change in temperature and bluer sky. The one downside to the increase in sunny weather though is sun damage! This is especially relevant down here, as due to Tasmania's location we are more prone to skin damage and the like. To help account for the damaging effects of the suns rays, I wanted to formulate a face cream light enough for sticky weather and packed with antioxidants and soothing oils to repair sun damage. It also contains CoEnzyme Q10, a powerful anti-aging active. What more could you want?
Avocado oil is my favorite summer oil as it is high in Vitamin E, a wonder antioxidant for healing the skin after a day out in the sun. Seabuckthorn berry and rose hip oil also lend a high antioxidant content to this cream, making it a great, all round anti-aging product. While the final feel of this cream is fairly light, I've also added in mango butter for an extra hydrating tropical punch. And who can forget the pomegranate oil! I've heard rave reviews of this oil so had to give it a try.
I wanted the fragrance for this cream to evoke warm tropical summer nights. I found the final blend of sweet jasmine, bright orange blossoms, and subtle rosewood utterly tantalizing, and I'm sure it will win you over too. My pomegranate oil has a strong, fruity aroma, which combined with the floral essential oils created a fragrance I just wanted to dive into.
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| And just look at those colours! |
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| I promise the final product won't leave you orange. |
The resulting product is a delightfully light, beautifully fragranced face cream that you won't be able to get enough of. I'll be using it as my night cream, but it is the perfect texture to use at any time of day. It has a balanced blend of linoleic and oleic acid which makes it a wonderful choice for all skin types.
Summer Dreams Face Cream
Percentages:
Water phase:- 42% Distilled Water
- 20% Chamomile Water
- 6% Strawberry Extract (I made my own, see here for directions)
- .5% Allantoin
- .3% Panthenol
- 1.2% Hydrolyzed Oats
- 5.50% Avocado Oil
- 3% Rosehip Oil
- 3% Jojoba Oil
- 2% Evening Primrose Oil
- 1% Pomegranate Oil (if you have a particularly pungent pomegranate oil, you may want to lower the percentage in place of more jojoba oil).
- .5% Seabuckthorn Berry Oil
- 5% Mango Butter
- 3% Cetyl Alcohol
- 5.45% E Wax
- 1% Optiphen Plus
- .1% COQ 10
- 4 drops Jasmine EO
- 2 drops Neroli EO
- 1 drop Rosewood EO
For an easy 100g, just read the % symbols as grams and make away! If you would like to create a larger or smaller batch, or convert it into a different measurement, use this batch calculator.
And that's the ingredients! Now lets get into making.
Directions:
- Prepare and sanitize your area.
- Set up two separate pots with simmering water on your stove pot so that you can create two water baths.
- Weigh your water phase ingredients into a pyrex bowl. To account for water loss, I typically add on an extra 20-25g of water (if you are heating and holding, you will need more). Once everything has been weighed into the bowl, take note of the bowls final weight (minus the additional water you added) and jot it down for future reference.
- Weigh your oil phase into a smaller pyrex bowl. Take care to be exact, too much seabuckthorn will produce a very orange cream!
- Take your two bowls and nestle each bowl into the previously prepared water baths.
- Allow each phase to reach 75 degrees Celsius, or heat and hold. Regularly weigh your water phase to ensure that it does not drop down the weight that you wrote down. If it does, account for the water lost with additional water till that number is reached (distilled and boiled).
- Take both bowls off of the stove top. The temperature of each should be around 75 degrees C. Add the COQ 10 into the oil phase now that it is off the heat.
- Using a stick blender, emulsify the oil phase into the water phase on a medium setting. Allow to cool while regularly blending.
- Add in your preservative. If using Optiphen Plus you may see slight thinning and separation, but if you continue to stick blend on high this will stop and the cream will remain emulsified.
- Add in your essential oils, and viola!
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