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:
Now to label it and add to my stash:
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)