Cosmetic Your Ways Blog

Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

If you want to Fix Your Formulations You Need to Do This!

I get asked a lot of formulation questions and they usually fall into three categories. Some, I have encountered and can give a solution to. Others it may take some research to figure out what it is. There are other times that I have no clue on what went wrong. 

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Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Adding Foaming Surfactants to Emulsions?

I have seen some formulators add forming surfactants to emulsions to make cream cleansers. I wanted to talk about the options and considerations for making them. Adding foaming surfactants to an emulsion is one way to make a cream cleanser.

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A Case in Solubility: Allantoin
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

A Case in Solubility: Allantoin

Without going too much into depth of what I was making; I wanted to make a very soothing gel. I wanted to use a high percentage of Allantoin and forgot that solubility is a factor when choosing the percentage. I am sharing this so you can learn from my mistake. In this post, I want to talk about solubility and how to get an ideal of how much you can add. ​

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Natural Cranberry Cream Cleanser
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Natural Cranberry Cream Cleanser

With the colder months coming, I see a lot of people gravitate towards cream based cleansers. They are such a gentle way to cleanse the face. As long as you know how to make an emulsion they are easy to make.

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Watermelon Body Lotion
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Watermelon Body Lotion

In California, we are having temperature extremes. It is either very hot or cool; leading to this is an in-between formulation. At the time of formulating, this for a summer theme of watermelon, which is a bit out of season now. This lotion formulation is light-weight, but very moisturizing. 

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Glycolic Acid Body Spray
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Glycolic Acid Body Spray

If you are a beginner and want to formulate with acids, I recommend my e-book on acids. I specifically wrote it for beginners. Formulating with acids is not a topic that is beginner-friendly. Disclaimer: you are at your own risk when formulating with acids. Please formulate with them responsibly.

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Cream Blush Formulation
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Cream Blush Formulation

I have been really wanting to really experiment and go out of my comfort zone with color cosmetic formulations. I have a ton of written formulations for crème makeup formulations. They are straight forward, liquid oil, wax, and pigment. You can go crazy with altering that. With this one I really wanted to get something that felt nice, high coverage and long wear. 

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Sodium Hydroxide Handling, Storage, and Safety
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Sodium Hydroxide Handling, Storage, and Safety

Disclaimer: You are at your own risk if you use sodium hydroxide after this.
Sodium hydroxide is one of the most dangerous substances that we work with in formulation (in my opinion). In this post, I want to talk about how to safely handle it. I have used quite a lot of sodium hydroxide from chemistry labs. It is important that we talk about everything as a lot of these topic get assumed. 

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*Naturally Compliant Body Wash 2 Thickened With Glucose-Sorb
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

*Naturally Compliant Body Wash 2 Thickened With Glucose-Sorb

In this post, I am going to be sharing a body wash formulation with a new-to-me surfactant thickener, Glucose-Sorb. I have a post on Glucose-Sorb here. I am going to talk about my experience using it and how to formulate with it. I will be sharing the formula at the end. 

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Salicylic Acid Face Wash
Zachariah Kovac Zachariah Kovac

Salicylic Acid Face Wash

I will share a face wash formulation with salicylic acid (SA). I know more people want to learn how to formulate with it. If you want to know the basics of acids, I recommend reading this. I do have a big post on salicylic acid here. Salicylic acid is not a beginner-friendly ingredient, so you are being warned now.

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Disclaimer:

You are at your own risk when making anything from this blog. I am not liable for any mishaps that may occur. I do my best to include everything in the procedure to minimize the likelihood of accidents. My recommendation is always to read the post entirely first and then make the product.
Please keep in mind that these recipes/formulations are NOT meant to be sold or reproduced in large quantities. None of my recipes has been appropriately stability tested. I recommend seeking professional help if you want to start your own line of business. (
link)
Always test a patch of new ingredients before using them.
Comments and opinions written by authors on Cosmetic Your Ways are their own and do not represent the views of any past, present, or future employers.

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