Rich in antioxidants and all kinds of fresh and citrussy, this face cream is rather brilliant for summer. It’s got a thick, almost balm-like consistency, but it spreads over the skin beautifully in a thin, fast-absorbing layer that you wouldn’t typically expect from a thicker cream. Thanks to some awesome added goodies like vitamin B3 and green tea extract it helps even out your complexion, reduce redness and sebum production, and reduce irritation as well as delivering a serious hydrating punch. It’s pretty rad, and it smells great to boot.
I’ve included a couple of my favourite skin goodies in the water part of this cream, including one new (to the blog) one. Vegetable glycerin and silk work to keep the skin hydrated, while allantoin helps protect the skin. For something new and wonderful: niacinamide, or vitamin B3. I’ve been using niacinamide on my face for a couple months now, and the difference it makes is astonishing. I find I get fewer blemishes, and when I do they are smaller, and heal faster. Niacinamide is pretty groovy stuff. It also helps reduce trans-dermal water loss (aka keeps your skin hydrated better), reduces sebum protection, shrinks pores, and is basically all around amazing.
Green tea (part 1) of this lotion comes from some green tea botanical extract. Green tea botanical extract is rich in antioxidants, and brings both anti-inflammatory and anti-redness goodness to our face cream (score!). Mine is powdered, but if you have liquid extract, feel free to use that as well. While you could use steeped green tea in place of water instead of using green tea extract, please don’t. Brewed green tea will oxidize and won’t offer most of the benefits we’re trying to get from the green tea after about 8 hours, and using brewed green tea creates a concoction that is extremely difficult to properly preserve, especially in our less-than-sterile home kitchens. So, basically, you’re not getting the benefits of including tea, and you’re creating a concoction that is going to be a delicious bacterial buffet.
The oil blend is a balanced mix of silky, light camellia seed oil, and richly hydrating shea butter. Camellia seed oil is doubly appropriate for this recipe as its pressed from the seeds of the tea plant, making this 2x the green tea lotion. Neat, no? If you don’t have camellia seed oil I’d recommend replacing it with another fast-absorbing carrier oil like grapeseed, hazelnut, or apricot kernel. Thanks to the light liquid carrier oil we can include some rich shea butter without worrying about it being too heavy, but if you want an even lighter cream, feel free to use mango butter instead of shea.
In continuation of the green tea theme, the essential oil blend stars tea-like palmarosa and citrussy litsea cubeba. A hint of sweet geranium and spicy frankincense round it out. I really love how this blend turned out; the tea and fruit really come through, but there’s something deeper going on that makes this cream smell rather high-end and quite special.
Green Tea Face Cream
72g | 2.54oz distilled water
5g | 0.18oz niacinamide (USA | Canada)
2g | 0.07oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
2g | 0.07oz hydrolyzed silk (USA / Canada) (wondering about substitutions?)
1g | 0.03oz allantoin (USA / Canada)10g | 0.35oz camellia seed oil
5g | 0.18oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.18oz BTMS-50 or Emulsifying Wax NF (USA / Canada / AU)
3g | 0.1oz cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)5 drops palmarosa essential oil
5 drops litsea cubeba essential oil
2 drops geranium essential oil
2 drops frankincense essential oil1g |0.03oz green tea extract (USA / Canada)
1g |0.03oz panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.017oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.017oz Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Weigh the water, niacinamide, allantoin, glycerin, and silk into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Cover that measuring cup with some foil, and place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through. Weigh the camellia seed oil, shea butter, cetyl alcohol, and BTMS-50 into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup and place that measuring cup in the water bath as well.
Heat both parts through for twenty minutes; this ensures the oil part is thoroughly melted, and helps the niacinamide, allantoin, and silk fully dissolve in the water part.
After twenty minutes, pour the water part into the oil part. Remove the measuring cup with the two parts from the water bath and set it on a dishtowel to insulate it from the counter top. Using an immersion blender (or a high powered buzzy milk frother—mine does 15,000 RPM), blend the solution together, in bursts to prevent the lotion from leaping out of the measuring cup. After a minute or two of blending, leave it to cool for ten minutes before returning to blend it some more.
Do that a few more times until the cream is only a bit warmer than room temperature, and then stir in the green tea extract, vitamin E, panthenol, liquid germall plus, and essential oils by hand. Transfer the cream into a 120mL/4oz plastic pump-top bottle or jar (I used this one).
To use, smooth a small amount of green tea face cream over just-washed skin. Enjoy!
This lotion has a pH of approximately 5.5 (using pH strips, hence the “approximately”!)
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
I do not recommend scaling this recipe up as 100g is quite a lot of face cream! After three weeks of 2–3x daily use I’ve barely made a dent in mine.
This sounds gorgeous- very intrigued by niacinamide…another thing for the shopping list! 😀
You’re going to fall in love, I promise!
I’m a curly girlie and struggling making a detangler. I know my ingredients are simple. I’m using Aloe Vera juice, panthenol, btms 50, glycerine, and a few carrier oils. It starts off soft and fluffy but by the end of the day I’m in tangles. Any suggestions?
Hey! Please give this a read 🙂 From the get-go I can see that you are lacking a preservative, so you will need to throw that away ASAP as it is unsafe to use. Other than that, I can’t make any more guesses without a lot more detail. Cetrimonium chloride is a great detangling ingredient; have you given it a look? It’s both conditioning and detangling, so you can easily make a spray detangler with it, some water (or hydrosol), and other water soluble ingredients + a preservative 🙂
This recipe looks wonderful Marie! Thanks!
I’ve been using niacinamide, panthenol, allantoin, and n-acetyl glucosamine in facial lotion for over a year now and it is DA BOMB! Any break outs I have heal lightening quick, the redness goes away within a few days, my pores look smaller, and my skin feels firmer to the touch. If you don’t have these ingredients, I second Marie. Get them! They are skin wonderful-ness! I have some green tea extract I tried in a toner two different times, and both times I broke out. I was bummed! The smell was so nice and I really wanted those antioxidants for my skin! Maybe I’ll try it again in this lotion recipe and see if it’ll work for me this time. If not, then I guess I’ll try it in CP soap!
Thank you for all your awesome work Marie!!
Dangit, Belinda. Just what I need—another ingredient on my wish list that I can only get in ‘murica. Drat 😛 Your lotion sounds like magic. Pity green tea seems to hate you, but at least you know what loves you!
Sorry Marie! Maybe you can make some suggestions to Windy Point…..
Sigh….I am soooo jealous of you, getting to do a workshop with Susan! Soooooo jealous……. As a fan of you both, it would have been sheer joy to be in the same room, formulating with y’all!!!
It was really fun! The best part might’ve been lunch, though—DIY chat with real humans!
Can you use the liquid silk instead of the powder silk?
Yup!
My dermatologist was just telling me about B3 and how some people on immune suppression drugs (transplant patients or otherwise) may be low in this and have more skin cancer issues. Of course check with your dr before taking supplements but excited to possibly use this topically! Perfect timing!
How interesting! I know my skin looooooves it 😀
What is the orange blossom face cream we are supposed to use? Before, after or instead of the green tea one?
That was a typo—I’ve fixed it!
This cream sounds awesome 🙂
I just started using “the ordinaries” niaciamide serum (works great) and it’s very exciting to try making something similar myself.
I see that in UK aromantic.co.uk sells niaciamide, has anybody tried this supplier?
Yup, I have and I am happy with them. They have quite unusual ingredients and I bought some lupin peptide as well to test.
Thank you 🙂
I LOVE the serum from The Ordinary! Made in Canada, has transformed my skin like a miracle, and crazy affordable. What’s not to love?!
Thank you Marie, this sounds heavenly! .. Can Polawax be used instead of NF or BTMS-50? Is there a difference in the emulsification you get?
Thank you!!
It can, but it does result in a waxier feel—BTMS-50 has a nice, almost powdery finish 🙂
Aahh, good to know! Thank you so much!
Thank you for an other amazing recipe, so excited about trying this one. I was just wondering where you got your niacinamide from? Can you pick it up as a supplement from the health store, would that work? Thank you, I love your site.
Mine is from Windy Point—see the link in the recipe I always recommend cosmetic grade ingredients as we can be sure they don’t have fillers in them and are properly soluble an what not 🙂
I’m very intrigued by the essential oil combination in this recipe, and I even have all four to try it out. Would substituting matcha for the green tea extract give the lotion the same antioxidant benefits or would it be too welcoming for bacteria?
Matcha green tea = food, not a cosmetic grade extract. Sadly, not recommended 🙁
Hi Marie,
In the Healing herbal hemp and Shea lotion, you infused chamomile, calendula, comfrey and marshmallow root in the water. I made this lotion yesterday but I didn’t have chamomile so I used the one in a tea bag instead. Would that (the tea) be considered as food and make the lotion go off quickly? I also put some hibiscus powder to get the lovely pink colour (I’ve tried mica before but didn’t like the shimmery part.), would it be ok or again not suitable as the matcha powder above?
Thank you very much,
Huong
Chamomile is chamomile, in a tea bag or not—if it’s 100% dried chamomile, a tea bag is no different than purchased loose from the herb shop. That said, all those infused herbs definitely do present a preservation challenge, so do keep a close eye on that lotion and make it in small batches! It keeps just fine for me for months, while other readers can’t get it to keep for more than a week or two :/
My question is regarding heating the oil for 20 minutes. Does it really take that long to fully melt and incorporate the oils together? Does this long period of heat compromise the integrity of the benefits of the oils? Thanks much.
Hey! You can read more on heating and holding here—Susan can say it all far better than I can! Short answer: it’s not just for melting, and 60–70°C is far below what would damage a carrier oil—we’re trying to avoid the smoke point, which is typically well above the temperatures we can achieve in a water bath (the smoke point of olive oil is 207°C—more than 2x the temperature of boiling water at sea level—where I live it’s hard to get it much past 60°C in a water bath!).
Thank you for your thoughtful response – just made me more knowledgeable! I think your work is awesome.
Thank you! Happy making 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thanks for your reply above. I’ve also made this face cream using silk powder and allantoin in the water phase. I did heat the water and oil for 20 minutes (or even longer) and stirred the water many times but in the end there were still lots of white bits in the bottom. Do you think that was silk or allantoin? This’s happened three times now (I’ve made Winter solstice cream twice.) and I had to use a sieve to strain the water into the oil. My guess is it was the silk powder, so if it is, would grinding it help to dissolve it better?
Cheers,
Huong
Is your silk powder hydrolyzed, or just powdered silk? If it’s not hydrolyzed, it won’t ever dissolve, which is why the recipe calls for hydrolyzed silk.
Holy sweet crickets. I have all your new ingredients! BOOYAH! This month is going to be awesome!!! Speaking of which, which ingredients will I be needing to buy next month for your new recipes? LOL!
Belinda got me hooked on bloody hell. I can see it, but I cannot write it because I cannot say it. I’ve been using niacinamide, panthenol, allantoin, for ages. Belinda got me hooked on niacinamine, I cannot remember panthenol and you got me addicted to allantoin. And as for n-acetyl glucosamine, Belinda’s been on me for a while to get it. I’m looking! And I need to start using the INCI names for everything!
The green tea extract, thank you! I have 100mL of it in the supply closet and know the percentage to use, but just couldn’t figure out what to pair it with! OHHH! Have you tried hydrolised oat peptides? I am loving it!
Stop blaming me for your addictions! I am innocent, I tell you! But, my oh my, you need to try penstia powder!! INCI adipic acid/neopentyl glycol crosspolymer….. Use in oil or water phase of emulsion products at 3-5% and in makeup formulations too! Adds a silky, creamy, cushiony feel and exceptional slip to formulations. Increases thickening and can be used to absorb sebum. Niiiiiiiice!!
Come onnnnnnn. The Canadian dollar is so bad right now!
Sorry! I can’t help it! I have a cosmetic ingredient addiction, what can I say?!?! After my two orders last month, I got “the eye” from the hubster who was crazy enough to ask me “you need more??” I just looked at him and said “yes”. I’m really glad he’s out of town a lot lately cause I ordered from Lotioncrafter again yesterday…….
Hahahahaha 😛 Out of all the addictions to have at least this one leaves you looking lovely and in event of withdrawal you are unlikely to require clinical intervention 😛
Hmm. Errr. I’m not sure I’ve planned that far into the future LOL. I don’t think I have anything planned with anything too new and fancy, but I did just do those workshops with Susan Apparently Windy Point is going to be stocking cetrimonium chloride (aka amazing hair detangling ingredient) soon, so I’m obviously going to have to get some of that, but who knows when it’ll pop up on the blog 😛
You guys and your fancy actives. I need an American shopping trip or something haha. I haven’t tried hydrolized oat peptides, but I do have cromoist, which is hydrolized oat protein, which I believe just means the molecule is a bit bigger so it doesn’t penetrate the skin as well (though staying on the surface of the skin has its own advantages).
I bet Windy Point would stock it if you asked. It was $4 for 4 oz. here, so not too bad on price at all. Susan has been using it in some of her recipes, but she got it from Lotioncrafter.
Since I’m trying to send a package to a Canadian friend, I understand the frustration of cost of shipping, at least. Geez! We’re on one continent! What’s all this duties and customs stuff I have to list?!?! Haha! Maybe I’ll slip a bit of Penstia powder into the package for my friend to try…….
Speaking of Susan… did you see?
When I finally make it back to North America, we’ll have a shindig. Somewhere near Lotioncrafter.
(Pssst… I am inviting myself to this shindig.)
LOL! Marie, if you don’t come, we’d come and hunt you down. Beakers and stirring rods clanging! Just not too loudly, those things break!
Susan made her first soap! So taking this to the forums.
That’s my kind of mob
*Fingers crossed beyond all hope and reason that I am that friend, lol*
I recently started purchasing some extracts realizing they were the way to go for lotions. I can’t wait to make this once my order arrives.
Have fun! 😀
I’ve decided that powdered extracts suck. Even with very careful attention, they leave some grit. Liquids are the way to go!
I second that, Penny! I’m willing to pay extra for a liquid extract so I don’t have to deal with trying to dissolve the powdered ones. They’re a pain in the bum!! I guess I’ll toss my powdered extracts into some CP soap recipes and see if they’ll do better there.
And masks! They’re lovely in those, too 🙂
Of course finding liquid extracts in Canada is… not easy 😛 Of course, haha. I haven’t had grit issues (yet?), though! So I suppose that’s a small mercy.
Careful about putting them into soaps. I recently had a slight case of Green Tea Zombie Brain Soap the other day. Marie inspired me to to finally make that green tea soap! I added in a fair bit of green tea extract and my soap turned gray. Not just a little activated charcoal into titanium dioxide “fudge this I want a true black” sort of pretty gray. Death gray.
I had planned to add in some green iron oxide and added in some spirulina to try to get me a light green, but I got gray. That soap is so weird. The colour started to turn greenish. I moved it yesterday to its curing home so won’t see it again for a few weeks to see what happens.
Ahahahahah death zombie soap Like the complexion of a plague victim, perhaps? Sounds like it’ll do great at halloween!
Marie, About the green tea powdered extract, did you add the powder straight or did you dissolve it first? See instruction I found below:
For shampoos, creams, and other thick products:
Mix 5-10 ml of hot water (45˚C – 50˚C;
the temperature of the cool down phase) into the powdered extract until it dissolves.
I just added it straight to the product, though I typically combine all my cool down ingredients in a beaker first so it would’ve been all mixed up with the essential oils and other cool down ingredients. You could definitely remove a bit of water from the heated water phase post heat-and-hold and use that to dissolve the extract, and then incorporate all of that together in cool down 🙂
So glad to see niacinamide on the ingredients list! I love it. It has been super effective at 5% in winter wonderland base to drastically reduce hyperpygmentation (on its own, as i used no retinol or vitamin C when I tested it for 2 months).And boyfriend rocks the ordinaries niacinamide against breakouts (but ordinaries leave white film, so only evening applicaton possible).
A note of caution: I experienced “flashes” – skin turning red and burning pretty unpleasantly when I used rokonsal bsbn/ optiphen bsbn preservative, which contains benzoic acid. It works fine with phenoxyethanol / ethylhexylglycerin preservative. Also applying such cream right after an acidic toner may have similar reaction. At best wait 10-20 minutes after acidic toner application.
I am so in love with it! I’ve been using the serum from The Ordinary as well and it’s pretty much magic. I don’t get any white cast, though, so I use it morning and night. I heard they re-formulated somewhat recently, and since it’s made in Canada perhaps we get the new stock first? That would be a first for Canadians! 😛
Thanks for the application and preservative tips!
Can I exchange Jojoba oil for Camellia seed oil? I’ve got so much of it and want to us it up!
Thanks so much this cream looks lovely and can’t wait to try it!
Check this out for more information on carrier oil swaps 🙂
With the extracts, you said yours is powdered. Did you actually put 1% powdered green tea extract directly in to your emulsion? Thanks.
Yup!
Hi Marie! Firstly I must say that I’m in LOVE with your blog, I’ve recently started making my own cosmetics and you blog is truly an inspiration.
Second, I was wondering if the Litsea Cubeba could cause photosensitivity, as it’s some kind of citrusy essential oil.
Third and last, do you think I could make my own hydroglycerinated green tea extract with dry tea leaves?
Thanks in advance and congrats for you awesome blog (excuse my English, it’s not my 1st language)
Greetings from Barcelona1
Thanks, El! Litsea cubeba is not citrus, is just smells citrussy, which is why I chose it instead of a citrus essential oil. I don’t think you can make your own cosmetic grade green tea extract; I’m not sure what they do to make it more stable. You’d have to do more research 🙂
Love your face creams. 🙂 Was wondering if you could put clay in this recipe instead of the silk or if you could just add it in as is.
Hey! Clay is pretty much impossible to preserve in concoctions where it is mixed with water, so I really wouldn’t recommend it at anything greater than 1–2%—you’ll be creating a serious pot of bacterial temptation. Sigh 🙁
I can’t wait to have a crafting shindig with my bestest Bees!! It will be awesome! Of course you are invited Marie! That goes without saying. Although, I am wondering how Penny has planned for us to craft when none of us will be traveling with crafting supplies and we won’t be near anyone’s home that I know of….. Can you just imagine the look on the TSA agent’s face when (s)he looks through your bags and finds spatulas, beakers, butters, waxes, oils…….um, yeah. You might get some really weird looks!!
And, yes, you could be that friend!
AH! This sounds a lot like my trip to Philly for the photoshoot for my book. I was flying with a suitcase full of cosmetics, but also a coffee grinder, two precise scales, a couple dozen empty syringes, and a whole lotta baggies of white powders. I didn’t get stopped! I couldn’t believe it!
That’s funny! I’m really surprised you weren’t at least questioned with bags of powders in your suitcase.
Isaac flew right through customs with my new powders of adventure without a question.
I’ve never had any issues travelling with any of my little baggies of joy. Kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it?
Belinda, the plan is to go meet up near a supply shop. It could be WSP or Lotion Crafter or or or. We can explain our situation. “Dear fancy shop that has our much loved supplies! We bequeath you to let us play!” And maybe they will open their doors wide and say…. “for this meet up? I think the world should be scared! Mad scientist club shall never meet here! Go on to Lotion Crafters!”
The next time I go to the USA the customs agents will be confused. “What is the purpose of your trip?” “Micas… shiny, shimmery micas… ”
Uhh…
For all I know the sniffer dogs were set upon my bags and they declared them to be very boring smelling 😛
Hi Marie,
I wanted to share that i’m having a bad reaction to my ewax from amazon. I have super duper sensitive skin. have you tried this one that also conditions?
http://www.theherbarie.com/BTMS-Conditioning-Emulsifier.html
That e-wax looks to be BTMS-25, the cousin of the BTMS-50 I use in this recipe. I haven’t tried it myself as the sole emulsifier in creams, but from what I’ve read you should be able to swap them 1:1 🙂 I really love BTMS-50, but I don’t have super sensitive skin so I can’t comment on how it might work for you.
I have just made this cream and a I can say that IT’S AWESOME!!!!!
I made some swaps mango butter instead of shea and BTMS-25 instead of BTMS-50. The BTMS-50 is quite difficult to find in Spain, and Susan (We all love Susan, don’t we?) says it’s ok to swap them in same percentage.
Really nice cream Marie, Congrats!!!
Kisses from Madrid
xoxo
Yay! I’m so glad you’re loving it 😀 I’m pretty smitten with it, too!
I just made this last weekend and it is FANTASTIC for my sensitive skin! I just decided to go the DIY route after having a hard time finding products that don’t irritate my skin. Discovered your book on Amazon… and I am now addicted. I made the Calendula Eye Balm and the Gentle Chamomile Facial Cleanser as well. All three turned out perfectly. Thanks Marie! This has been one fun journey so far!
Fantastic! I’m so thrilled 😀 DIYing is da bomb!
Love this cream, Marie!
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it sinks in. I love a dense cream, it may be psychological but I just feel like they’re more moisturizing
Thank you!
That’s awesome! I had exactly the same surprise when I tried it the first time, haha 😛
My cream came out a bit grainy feeling, though it blends right in. I am thinking the panthenol did not dissolve all the way since it is added at the end. Is it supposed to be like that? This is a lovely cream, thick yet light and yes, smells devine as well. Now on the the rest of the Green Tea set.
If anything it was probably the allantoin—it’s pretty prone to being “shardy” in stuff, even with lots of encouragement to dissolve. Silly allantoin, being all awesome for skin and so irksome to work with! It’s definitely no supposed to be grainy/gritty, but hopefully that doesn’t ruin it for you. Happy making!
Oh, I hadn’t thought of allantoin…hmmm. I have been using it anyway, I have found that after applying, if I verily run my fingers under water then continue to rub the lotion in it dissolves right away. Loving the Greet Tea set, made some for a friends birthday, she is liking at as well
I’m glad you’ve found a way to use it anyways, and I’m super glad you’re loving the full set 🙂 I suppose I should dream up what my next one will be… hmmm…
Marie,
For me – our relationship started with soap-making and has now extended to “where as you go, I follow”! So,now that I have fun making soap and creating my own(thank you so very much), I’m taking on your recipes for lotions, face creme, etc.
Emollients, Humectants and Emulsifiers . . . OH MY!!! Between you, Susan and LisaLise, I’m ready to declare myself insane! I spend hours trying to figure out why this humectants (etc.) used here and not this one. I’m not unintelligent, but I’m feeling really stupid! In order to grow in my DIYing, I have to understand when/why to use a certain ingredient! Unfortunately I don’t have a money tree out back (damn!),so I have to look for those things that enhance a recipe not just because it’s something new that I want to try – although I understand that feeling much to my husband’s displeasure and Amazon’s delight!!
SOO Sorry – to explain what started this missal, I’m without panthenol(B5) and really want to make this. I see you are also using niacinamide (B3) and I’m trying to figure out why you also added the panthenol? What does it do to the overall finished product that is different from the niacinamide. On the web, I’ve gotten so many different explanations on these two products, I’m beyond confused . . . so have to ask you as I know you break things down so anyone can understand!!
Thanks!!
Micol
(PS- can I do without the panthenol?)
Hey Micol! It sounds like we’ve got the same brand of insansity 😉 Despite both niacinamide and panthenol being B-vitamins, they really do very different things. Panthenol is a humectant that helps with cellular regeneration, while niacinmide helps regulate and reduce sebum production, even out skin tone, and reduce trans-epidermal water loss. Super different stuff! Susan has posts on both, too—do a search on her blog to learn more 🙂 You can do without both, but they are both really lovely and if you were only going to have one it would be panthenol as it’s much more useful.
THANKS!!! Went and ordered the Panthenol! I can’t thank you enough for your recipes. When I look at all you put into just posting one recipe: the pictures, the narrative, the links, the thought-out substitutions, etc. You are just plain GREAT!!!!
Thank you so much, Micol! It definitely can feel like a lot of work, especially on days when I’d rather be outside basking in the sun on a patio with a cold beer But I do love making and sharing, so it’s all good in the end 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
Dear Marie
Thank you for all your grate recopies. I love them all 🙂
I tried this cream with the same exact ingredients but it become a little bit thick to my liking!
Should I increase the distilled water content? or decrease the BTMS-50 emulsifying wax to make it thinner?
Thanks for your kind help
Hey Rania! As described in the recipe, it’s got a thick, almost balm-like consistency—that’s just a core part of the formula. If you want something less thick I would make a different recipe (like this); definitely don’t mess with a pre-made lotion as that’ll likely break the emulsion as well as ruin your preservative 🙂
Hi Marie
I thought I was successful making this cream and using it happily. The jar I have was 80ml, so the remaining needed to be stored in another two sampler jars. I finished those two small ones first, and today I opened the main jar. I thought the color of this cream was almost white, and it came out very pinky. I don’t know whether mould took over the jar, or it is ok? I followed the instructions correctly, just that green tea extract was liquid.
How do you know when products get mouldy and spoiled? The pinky color is very evenly spread, and unless I thought it was white, I would have thought it was fine.
When products get spoiled, does it look like when food gets mouldy? Mouldy spots here and there, with some hairy area??
Please help. 🙂
Thank you
I believe this is simply oxidization, as mine did the same thing quite promptly after making 🙂
Oh, I see. So it is ok to use? Shall try…thank you!
Without a bacterial test it’s impossible to say for sure, but from everything you’ve said and from what I’ve experienced it does sound like oxidization rather than anything else.
Yes I think that’s very possible answer. When I opened the jar I noticed there was overflow of cream which means exposure to air and not sealed properly. Therefore oxidization…! It smells fine and my face responds well too ☺
Thanks Marie!
Any reason a person with rosacea should avoid this lotion? I’m having a hard time finding a non irritating lotion that doesn’t make my skin feel tacky/ weighed down, and this looks promising, but also don’t want to cause a flare up!
(Sorry, I didn’t know I was replying on a thread!)
I’m afraid I don’t know—that starts to stray into the realm of medical advice 🙂
Hey Marie. You had me right up till the green tea. Everything was going great, but the green tea’s not going anywhere. It’s still all speckled and brown. How did you get your lotion to be so pretty and white? I trust your wisdom, so I can assume there are reasons why the green tea can’t be added into the water part, but any secrets for how to get it to blend into the nicely into the cream?
Mine really isn’t white—if you look at the three pictures in a row towards the end of white cream, then adding the extract, then all stirred in, you’ll see that it does brown up a bit. I think the super bright lights are making it look whiter than it is—it definitely was a sort of weak tea warmish colour 🙂
Hi Marie! I had a thought… Could I add some sericite mica and mineral foundation to make this into a tinted moisturizer?
You can try, but I’ve never had much success with that—it tends to pill quite badly and gives poor coverage.
Hi Marie,
Could I replace all of the distilled water with hydrosols? I have quite a few different ones and would love to use them.
Thank you,
Huong
Or if I can’t replace all the the water with hydrosol, what’s the maximum amount do you recommend?
Cheers,
Huong
I’d keep your hydrosols to 20–30% of the recipe to keep the scent from being overwhelming and help reduce bacterial temptation 🙂
I’d keep your hydrosols to 20–30% of the recipe to keep the scent from being overwhelming and help reduce bacterial temptation 🙂
Hi Marie
Thank you for amazing content. I’m about to make this cream for the first time. Could you please tell me what temperature you heated your oil and water phase to? How long did your batch of cream last before it turned bad? Thanks so much
You’re aiming for about 70°c, and the cream is still fine. Refer to this for more info 🙂
Marie, please help! I have made a lotion with 4% of shea butter however, it didnt sound like working at all… after all the procedures, the cream show two layers (oil and water) i did put e-wax though. is it because i used refined shea butter?
What e-wax did you use? It sounds like the e-wax is to blame, so it might not’ve been a complete ewax.
I am planning on making this face cream. Can I sub argan oil for the camellia seed oil? Reason being, you mentioned its your favorite face oil and good for blemishes. Also, I would use this oil more than the camellia seed oil.
Thank you!
Yup!
Hello Marie, i will like to make this green tea extract cream with maca Botanical extract. Do you think it will work?
Maca is suppose to be good for your skin too!
Provided it’s water soluble and has a similar usage rate you should be good to go 🙂
Hello Marie,
I’ve seen your recipes & tried some. I love almost your DIY. But sometime I doubt to try it because the different of weather in our country, like shea butter for face cream. Is it ok?
In my place, Indonesia, the weather is between 30-35 C. If rain it’s about 28-30 C.
Thank you for your kindness.
Elok, from Indonesia
The only place I’d be concerned about the temperature would be products that don’t use any wax and rely on solid butters, like mango or cocoa, for the consistency of the final product—so, basically, some body butters. Anything that uses wax should be ok, if not slightly softer, and lotions won’t change much unless you’re leaving them in your car in the sun, in which case they’d get well about 35°C and may start to separate 🙂
Thanks, Marie. I made this cream, finally! Have no doubt again using shea butter for face cream.
Wondering replace the green tea with tea tree extract for acne cream, is it possible?
Definitely! Just be sure you’re within the recommended usage rates supplied by your supplier 🙂
Asslam o Alaikun,
How to use this cream
And how much price
It’s a face cream, so apply it to your face. I cannot give you a price as that depends entirely on where you shop.
Your spirit, creativity, and enthusiasm is super inspiring. I haven’t been “able” to try out a lot of your recipe’s because I haven’t bought most of the ‘harder-to-pronouce’ ingredients. I have extracts, butters, oils, herbs, wax etc. What are the top ingredient suggestions you have? I mainly make soft solid things (salves, balms, etc). I know I need emulsifying wax, but what else would you recommend?
If you’re looking to branch out past anhydrous projects I’d get a complete emulsifying wax, a preservative, distilled water, and vegetable glycerin to start—that’ll set you up for some more basic lotions. I also like having hydrolyzed silk and panthenol around—I tend to put them into tons of things!
First, thank you for all your work and sharing!! question: If niacinamide decreases sebum production and I’m over 50 with naturally decreased sebum production would this make my skin drier? or would it still be beneficial?
Niacinamide does many wonderful things for the skin (read this for a broader idea), so my inclination would be to try it for a while and see how you go. From my personal experience with niacinamide (~1.5 years now) I haven’t found it makes my dry skin drier, it just makes my skin better.
This study found that the effects of B3 on sebum can vary with race, which is really interesting!
I’m getting some ingredients in today and I’m so excited to make some face creams and lotions!!
The allantoin entry in your encyclopedia says to blend allantoin in during the cool down phase to prevent potential shardiness. Is this the way that you recommend using it now? (As in, add it in the cool down phase instead of the heated phase in any older recipes that have it in the heated phase)
Thanks so much for everything! I’ve learned so much and I’m sooooo excited to make this cream!
Yes, 100% go with what’s in the encyclopedia. Good catch! Happy making—I hope you love the cream!
My cream was sticky after it cooled down. What did I do wrong?
Hello Carol!
Can you tell me your formula and method of making so I can offer some advice?
Hello Marie, love the sound of this formula!
Wondered if you could help me. I’m having trouble with Emulsifying wax NF thickening. It’s super runny even after 3 days. I am a beginner, but I haven’t had problems with OliveM 1000 (but don’t like the soapy feel, smell etc. I also think it breaks me out – don’t want to use this again). Vegetal thickened ok (still need to test for breakouts), but with the Emuls wax NF no luck :’ (
I’ve tried 3 times so far. Saying that, the feel is real nice on the skin, so would like to make it work, it’s just too liquid & runny. I would like to at least use it up for body lotions/cream.
I’ve started off making a super basic formula, cos I’m testing it with my skin re breakouts etc. I used 5% Emulsifying wax NF, 3% cetyl alcohol, then just distilled water, safflower oil (face) & preservative. I’ve also tried with other carrier oils for the body. I’m just making small mixes of 50grams/ml & using a milk frother to mix with, because it’s too little for the emersion blender. I could add stearic acid, but don’t think I should have to, as I’ve seen formulas without it.
I’m confused because it seems like it’s meant to be easy to use & can’t find any info on problems with it.
Any clues or help would be appreciated : )
Hmm—how big is your oil phase? Unless it’s something like 12% I would continue to suspect the milk frother/lack of high shear mixing—try giving it a week and seeing if it ends up thickening over time. Every time I’ve made a lotion with Polawax or E-Wax NF without using a high-shear mixer I’ve had to wait several days for it to reach full thickness 🙂
Ah! I keep trying to post comments as a new thread but they end up as replies to other threads. Hopefully thist time it works.
I am wondering if this would be a non irritating lotion for rosacea? Also, I’m loving squalane right now, and would love to incorporate it in this recipe. Can I sub a portion of the camellia seed oil with squalane? It seems more watery to me than other carrier oils, so not sure if it would work or not! Any insight would be super helpful!
I’m afraid I can’t offer any advice on rosacea, but you can use squalane instead of camellia seed oil 🙂 Happy making!
By chance, do you have this formula written in percentage anywhere? Or can you tell me how I’d figure out the percentages based on grams?
Check out this blog post 🙂
You indicated “this face cream is rather brilliant for summer. It’s got a thick, almost balm-like consistency” and I’m confused. I would think “thick and almost balm-like consistency” is more for winter. I want to try this for my winter face cream though.
I guess a lot of that will be personal preference; I liked being able to glide a small amount of the cream over my face 🙂 Happy making!
Hi where can I buy the B3, niacinamide and the green tea extract?
Everything is linked in the formulation 😉
how many mg. of green tea polyphenols (725 mg. capsule) would you recommend putting in a homemade 8 oz. face lotion recipe for added UV protection to the skin?
Hi! I absolutely 100000% would not recommend doing this. Please read this for more info. Sorry to be a bummer + happy making!
I love this! Question: have you ever dibe formulations with albumin extract? I used to love too cool for school’s egg mellow cream but it was so pricey! I’d love to create something similar since it had such wonderful plumping effects.
*Edit: done
Hi Marie, Can I use sweet almond oil as a substitute? It works well on my face.
Thanks!
Yup!
This has been my daily face cream since July and I’ve made a few variations. This time I used blueberry seed oil and blueberry extract. It smells really nice without fragrance.
Hello Marie, thanks so much for sharing this recipe and the many recipes you’ve shared and the rest that you are yet to share. I am so shocked to see someone give so freely. I’m enrolled at Formula Botanica and they referred me to your page. Thank you so much and for that reason, I’m going to support you in best way I could. Keep up the good work.
Hello,I would like to recreate this recipe unscented. Do the essential oils listed represent 1% of the formula, so I need to adjust the 1% or are they added after?thank you
In this formulation I believe I just added them on top (I don’t anymore, so you were right to ask 🙂 ). So, you can just drop them. Happy making!
Thank you!!!
Hi Marie, could I replace the distilled water with tea made with the distilled water?