How to choose oils, butters and emollients for cosmetic formulas

 

When it comes to creating a cosmetic formula, there are so many different cosmetic oils, butters, silicones, esters and other lipids to choose from, how do refine it to just a few? And what is the difference between all of these different oils, butters and emollient ingredients anyway?


Luckily, the Create Cosmetic Formulas program helps you pick and choose the right type of oils, butters and emollient ingredients, along with the right inputs, for each type of cosmetic formula. This blog will explain how those choices are made, and will also help you better understand the selection process when it comes to choosing from all the different cosmetic oils, butters and emollients out there.
 

How to choose oils, butters and emollients for cosmetic formulas

Emollients are the oily substance of a formula: they may be plant oils, butters, materials known as esters or silicones. They may also be highly refined synthetic oils. Cosmetic chemists refer to this class of materials as lipids; while consumers will typically think of them as the moisturizing element of the formula. This is not totally correct; humectants act as the moisturizing element (for example, propanediol and glycerin), while lipids or emollients are a moisture protective film that sits on the surface of the skin to prevent trans-epidermal water loss and help it feel softer and conditioned. In the create cosmetic formulas program, you’ll see us use the term lipids (oils and butters).

 

How to choose cosmetic oils tip #1: How natural do you want your cosmetic formula to be?

This is one of the first selection criteria: how natural do you want your cosmetic formula to be? If you want it to be totally natural, then you should only choose plant oils or butters; but if naturally derived is okay too, then your choices can include plant oils, butters and naturally derived esters.


Plant oils and butters contain a variety of vitamins and fatty acids that can be very nutritive to the skin and hair. If you want more detailed information on how to choose cosmetic oils but don’t want to study a full course, please visit our workshops: How to choose cosmetic ingredients


To keep the chemistry simple, esters are created by joining smaller, fractionated parts of different lipids together to create a new material. This is done to create cosmetic ingredients with different sensory and performance attributes. Esters may be made using totally natural oils at the start, a combination of natural and synthetic oils, or only synthetic oils. A common example is ethylhexyl palmitate (partially synthetic) or the totally naturally derived C13-15 alkane (also known as hemisqualane).


You can see how natural or not a cosmetic ester is by reading the description in the create cosmetic formulas program. For example, here are the descriptions of those two materials, to make your choice easy:
 

You may also want to use silicones (considered synthetic) or a mineral oil. These may be chosen for their skinfeel or performance – we’ll explore that in the next section. Despite what you read on the internet, these cosmetic ingredients are both completely safe. If you want to find out more, watch this video on silicones in skincare and haircare. The create cosmetic formulas program also lets you know that silicones are synthetic when making your selections:


 

How to choose cosmetic oils tip #2: How do you want your cosmetic formula to feel?

Besides how natural (or not) you want your cosmetic formula to be, the next selection criteria is what you want it to do; or more importantly, how you want it to feel.


Plant oils and butters tend to have a heavy emolliency – they can feel greasy and very moisture protective, which is great in moisturisers for dry and mature skin, but not at all suitable in a shampoo for oily hair or a skincream for a 20-something year old.


Triglycerides and esters tend to have a medium or even light skin feel. These suit younger skin types, as well as Asian skin types.


Silicones and mineral oils tend to have the lightest skin feel of all. These are especially good for younger skins, in foundations, and for those with oilier skin types.


Again, the Create Cosmetic Formulas program guides you in your selection – see the above examples where the sensory aspects of the cosmetic oil is also provided to help you decide what ingredients are best for your cosmetic formula, and what you want it to achieve.


If you want to find out more, watch this video on silicones in skincare and haircare.

 

How to choose cosmetic oils tip #3: How do you know how much oil to use in a cosmetic formula?

Now that you’ve decided on the cosmetic oils you want to use, how do you know how much to use in a cosmetic formula? Well, the create cosmetic formulas program helps you with that too!


You will need different inputs of oils, butters and emollient substances in the different types of cosmetic formulas you want to create. For example, in a face cream, the create cosmetic formulas program will guide you like this:

While for a conditioner, you don’t want a lot of oil (despite what marketing campaigns may lead you to think!) You want to leave the hair nice and soft but not oily or greasy, so the create cosmetic formulas program again guides you specific to that type of product:

All you need to do is choose which materials you want to include, and the program will guide you on how natural (or not) it is, as well as how much you need in each type of cosmetic formula.


Happy formulating!

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