Recently, I’ve been studying how to formulate toners for different skin types. Facial toners are one of the easiest cosmetic formula to make if you’re only going to use water soluble ingredients. For this post, I decided to develop an alcohol-free facial toner specifically designed for people with oily and/or acne-prone skin.Normally, alcohol is used in oil-control facial toner for its astringent properties....

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 Image Credit: Christian Ferrer / Wikimedia CommonsINCI Name: Oenothera biennis (Evening Primrose) oilSource: SeedTypes: Refined / UnrefinedColor: Pale yellowAroma: Light odorViscosity: ThinAbsorption: SlowComedogenic Rating: 2Shelf Life: 6 months (if stored in cool, dry place and away from direct sunlight)SAP Value (for soap making): 180 - 195 (mg KOH), NaOH = 0.134 (g, oz or lb), KOH = 0.188 (g, oz or lb)Ideal for which...

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 Traditional cosmetic emulsifiers (a.k.a. hot process emulsifiers) are quite tricky to use for amateur cosmetic formulators like me. I can’t count the number of times that I wasted my raw materials because my lotion has separated after a few days. So when I finally got my hand on Novemer EC-2, making lotions and creams become easy peasy! It is a cold process emulsifier...

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 One of the struggles of being lactose intolerant is you can’t eat ice cream without suffering from stomach cramp and diarrhea. It’s all because the dairy (animal-derived milk) in ice cream contains lactose and people with lactose intolerance lack the enzyme lactase which makes them unable to digest lactose. However, lactose intolerance doesn’t mean you can’t eat ice cream. In fact, non-dairy vegan...

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