This Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream is packed with great-for-skin actives and just a hint of mica for skin that positively glows. I was inspired to create a complexion-enhancing moisturizer by products like Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter and L’Oreal’s Lumi Glotion, but this Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream has some serious skincare credentials as well! You can use this gel cream alone or apply it under your foundation for a gorgeous glowing-from-within look—make sure you watch the video to see it in action. Let’s dive in!

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For humectants, I’ve included luxurious and silky hyaluronic acid and non-sticky propanediol 1,3. Panthenol (Vitamin B5) also brings some humectant-y goodness to the table, along with skin-soothing, anti-inflammatory, and healing-boosting benefits.

I’d say the star skincare ingredient in this Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream is the ceramide complex. Ceramide complex is a wobbly white gel that contains a blend of different types of ceramides as well as the ceramide precursor phytosphingosine, which encourages our skin to make more of its own ceramides. The best metaphor for ceramides I’ve found is that they are like the mortar in the “bricks and mortar” of the ceramides and skin cells (keratinocytes) structure of our upper epidermis. While our bodies do make ceramides, supplementing those DIY’ed ones with topically applied ones can help strengthen the skin.

The “glow” part of this formulation comes from two places. We get some immediate glow from the inclusion of 3% silver-white mica. At just 3% you won’t look shimmery or sparkly—your skin will just catch the light a bit more, giving a beautiful “glowing from within” look to your skin. If silver-white doesn’t sound like the sort of thing that will look lovely on your skin, feel free to choose a mica that will. I think bronze, copper, gold, and rose gold could all look utterly lovely!

The other glow component is all the deeply hydrating and barrier-boosting elements of this formulation because healthy, hydrated skin glows all on its own ❤️

For structure, gelling, and emulsifying, we’re using Polyacrylate crosspolymer-6, also known as Sepimax ZEN™. This ingredient was hard to find earlier this year as it gels ethanol well, but thankfully it seems to be mostly back in stock. As nothing needs to be melted the general gist of making this is that we’ll mix everything together, cover it, leave it so the Polyacrylate crosspolymer-6 can hydrate, and then blend until uniform. If you’re mixing by hand with a whisk I’d recommend leaving the mixture for a minimum of an hour, but longer if possible (overnight would be great). If you’ve got a mini mixer or some other type of motorized mixer that’s appropriate for the batch size you’re making, 30 minutes is more than enough.

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Ice Palace Ceramide Glow Gel Cream

1.75g | 7% Neossance® Hemisqualane (USA / Canada)
0.375g | 1.5% Polyacrylate crosspolymer-6 (USA / Canada / UK / Australia)
0.75g | 3% silver-white mica

0.75g | 3% Propanediol 1,3 (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 2% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
1.25g | 5% ceramide complex (USA / Canada)
0.1g | 0.4% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)

14.525g | 58.1% distilled water
5g | 20% low molecular weight 1% hyaluronic acid solution (USA / Canada / New Zealand)

Weigh the first three ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or beaker and whisk to combine.

Add the next four ingredients and whisk to combine. Finally, add the water and hyaluronic acid solution and whisk to combine.

Cover the mixture and leave it to hydrate for at least 30 minutes before giving the whole lot a thorough mixing until it is uniform, thick, and creamy. Once that’s done, package it up; I used a 30mL (1fl oz) glass jar from New Directions Aromatics.

To use, spread a small amount of the gel cream over your skin. I like to apply this at the end of my skincare routine, after sunscreen and before foundation. You could apply this before bed if you really wanted to, but I don’t recommend it as you will end up with a shiny pillow!

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this gel 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 may 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.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.

• As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 25g.
• To learn more about the ingredients used in this formulation, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list (panthenol, hyaluronic acid) please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
• You could try C12-15 alkyl benzoate instead of Neossance® Hemisqualane. A lightweight liquid carrier oil would also work, but using an oil will mean this formulation is no longer oil free.
• Aristoflex AVC will work instead of Sepimax ZEN. Gums like xanthan or hydroxyethylcellulose will not work.
• You could try glycerin instead of propanediol.
• I have no good suggestions for an alternative for the ceramide complex. If you can’t get it you can just replace it with more distilled water and accept the formulation will not perform in the same way.
• If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this FAQ and this chart.
• If you’d like to incorporate an essential oil, please read this.