Dempeaux

I got up this morning and while I was making my coffee, I decided to make a Green Tea Gel Hydrator to go underneath my MAP serum, moisturiser, and Rose Sunscreen.

I thought I might do a quick post demonstrating just how easy it is to formulate pretty much any actives you want to. In the time it took me to make my coffee, I also had a Green Tea Gel Hydrator.

Why did I choose Green Tea extract? Well, it’s a pretty impressive extract:

– promotes wound/ skin repair

– protects against UV damage and skin ageing

– thickens the skin to give a youthful look

– promotes proper barrier function of the skin

– slows down ageing of the skin

Let’s get on board!

Okay, so as I boiled the kettle I rummaged around at pulled out:

1. Green Tea from SEA

2. Sclerotium Gum stock serum from the fridge

3. Phenoxyethanol (preservative)

I also wanted to use Green Tea at a high percentage as I really wanted to test its effectiveness on my skin without other actives acround. I went to SEA’s brilliant batch size calculator (you can find it on the SEA home page) to figure out how much of everything I needed:

Green Tea Gel Hydrator

Ingredients:

Green Tea – 5%

Sclerotium Gum stock serum @ 1% –  94.5%

Phenoxyethanol 0.5%

I wanted to make 35 ml to go in to a 30 ml airless pump (make more because some will cling to the sides) so the batch calculator told me I needed:

Green Tea 1.75g

Sclerotium Gum 33.07g

Phenoxyethanol 0.18g

Now it’s just a matter of weighing everything and mixing it together:

Done!

Now to label it and add to my stash:

Very easy indeed!

See how easy it is to mix something for yourself? Moreover, as it’s fresh, the effects are going to be more pronounced than something that’s designed to sit on a shelf for two years.

I’m really liking this Green Tea Gel Hydrator. Sticky at first, but then after a few seconds sinks in to the skin and leaves it wonderfully soft and smooth. I’m using it on my hands too because they are always in need of some TLC. As for the anti-ageing benefits, I shall report back!

So there you have it. Don’t be scared by DIY – it’s so easy!

(P.S. Sorry for the crappy iphone pics – my usual camera is still broken)

The above is clearly a stock photo, but it’s also a pretty good representation of what this serum did for my skin.

You really need to try it.

If you have issues with dark circles, dull skin, pigmentation, sun damage, or sagging skin, this is the serum for you.

The key ingredients are chrysin, vitamin K1, and retinol. Of course, as with all DIY serums, you can sub actives in or out that particularly appeal to you, but I think this particular combination of actives is really effective for treating, well, pretty much any issue that you have with your skin.

Here is the list of ingredients:

Chrysalis Serum

Chrysin 1%

Retinol 2%

Vitamin E 1%

Egg Lecithin 5%

Sclerotium gum @1%  2% (or use Polysorbate 80/ lecithin/ SEA Silk/ Granny D SEA Silk)

Borage oil 30%

Distilled H2O 21.75%

Dex Panthenol 3%

Vitamin K1 2%

Sea Emollient 29.5%

1N NaOH 2.25%

Phenoxyethanol 0.5%

You will also need citric acid to adjust the pH and a blender to blend everything together. I just use the magic bullet I use for my sunscreen. Use pH strips or a meter to test the pH of the serum.

Instructions:

1. Place the Distilled H2O, Sea Emollient, Dex Panthenol (B5), Vitamin E, and Retinol together and blend thoroughly.

2. Put 0.39 grams of NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and 10 mls of distilled water together in a glass or stainless steel container. Wait for it to cool down (and always handle with caution!) before taking a dropper and putting enough on the chrysin that it dissolves. Quickly add this to the water phase. The rest of the NaOH goes down the sink.

3. Adjust your serum to a PH of 6.3 using a few specks of citric acid at a time and blending thoroughly.

4. Place the water phase in to a warm water bath and slowly sprinkle in the egg lecithin while stirring. Blend everything together.

5. Warm the oils in the warm water and combine with the water phase, blending everything together.

6. Allow to cool before adding the Vitamin K1 and phenoxyethanol.

The Chrysalis Serum is what gives me a glow in the photo above. I am not wearing any base apart from a touch of concealer and my Rose Sunscreen. If your skin has been missing its glow, give this a try!

As always, I buy all my ingredients from Skin Essential Actives and they are also reponsible for this wonderful serum! Genius!

Vitamin C is a staple of any good skincare regime.

My preference at the moment is MAP, or Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, because it doesn’t have the irritation of L-Ascorbic Acid and delivers great results. I love the way it sinks in to my skin.

However, it can be a touchy active to work with. I have discovered two things about creating a MAP serum:

1. Simple is best – don’t try and put lots of other actives in to the serum along with it.

2. In order for the serum not to split (which is not really a problem other than the fact that it’s not very elegant to look at) you need to ensure that the total percentage of the water phase is very close to the total percentage of the oil phase.

The MAP recipe I started out with is still a great formula, but when you DIY your own actives, you have the freedom to experiement and tweak things according to your changing preferences.

These days, I have a preference for adding AHYP, or N-Acetyl-L-Hydroxyproline. It plays nicely with temperamental MAP and makes the skin instantly soft. It stimulates collagen in the skin too, so there are long-term benefits to this very pleasant active. You can read more about it and studies on its effectiveness here.

The recipe I tend to use these days goes like this:

Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate 10%
Distilled H20 30%
Borage Oil (or whatever oils you prefer) 42%
Vitamin E 1%
Emulsifying wax 4%
AHYP 1%
Preservative 1%

Therefore, I have accounted for MAP, H2O, AHYP, and Vitamin E in the water phase (42%) and my oil of choice in the oil phase (42%). This formula will give you enough water to dissolve the MAP and AHYP, and will combine with the oil to give you a serum that won’t separate.

The new recipe reads like this:

New formula!

10% MAP Serum + AHYP

Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate 10%
Distilled H20 30%
Borage Oil (or whatever oils you prefer) 42%
Vitamin E 1%
Emulsifying wax 4%
AHYP 1%
Preservative 1%

Instructions:

1. Dissolve the MAP in your distilled water. Set it off to the side and stir occasionally

2. Measure out your oil in to a glass or stainless steel beaker which can be put in warm water (I just use an old glass jar).

3. Once your MAP is dissolved, add your Vitamin E and stir. Once it is dissolved, add your AHYP and stir. Make sure everything is dissolved.

4. Put some warm water in to a bowl (I also keep the kettle on standby in case I need to increase the temperature at some point) and stand your oil in it, swirling occassionally.

5. Heat up your emulsifying wax. You can use a double boiler, but I just pour the wax in to a spoon and heat it over two tea candles.

6. Once the wax is melted and the oil is warm, pour the wax in to the oil and stir. If the wax begins to ball up, raise the temperature of your water by pouring in a little hot water and continuing to stir.

7. Pour in your water phase (MAP, H2O, AHYP, and Vitamin E) and keep stiring until all is combined.

8. Add preservative and any essential oils you desire. Continue to stir until it cools down and pour in to airless pump containers (I use these).

Enjoy your new serum! It is GORGEOUS on the skin and easy to put together.

I still buy all my ingredients from Skin Essential Actives. They are the best around.