This decadent Intense Hand Rescue Cream became an instant favourite of mine while it was still warm in the beaker. It’s thick and rich, with a very luxurious skin feel and stunning slip. It’s also loaded with all kinds of great-for-skin goodies like colloidal oatmeal, ceramides, allantoin, shea butter, and glycerin. I’ve been applying it to my hands and body constantly as crap-tons of handwashing and dry weather continue to do a number on my skin. I hope you love it as much as I do!
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The inspiration was a popular cream I’ve tried before at Sephora and read a lot of good things about, so I took a look at the ingredient list and decided to riff on it. Having tried the cream I had a decent idea of how thick and rich it was, so with that and an ingredient list I had a decent place to start formulating!
This is the glyceryl stearate SE.
The water phase is pretty simple; lots of water with some protective & soothing colloidal oatmeal, a hefty dose of moisturizing vegetable glycerine, and a titch of xanthan gum to stabilize the emulsion and add some really lovely slip. I’m having a bit of a love affair with 0.3% xanthan gum in emulsions at the moment—I can’t get enough of the luxurious body and slip it adds at such a low concentration. I find higher doses of xanthan gum to be a bit snotty/slimy, but at tiny concentrations—MUAH *kisses fingers like a chef*.
And then the oil phase… it’s less simple, though we can break it down to its component parts pretty easily. You’ll find 7% fatty thickeners (stearic acid + cetearyl alcohol) that give the end product some rich body and emolliency. There’s 9% lightweight liquid emollients—C12-15 alkyl benzoate, fractionated coconut oil, and olive squalane. If you’re going to change those up I would try to keep the C12-15 alkyl benzoate as I love the skin feel it brings to the cream, but there’s plenty of room to play with other lightweight oils to replace the fractionated coconut oil and/or olive squalane. Make sure you’re reading the substitutions list at the end of the formulation!
Some dimethicone 350 helps give this cream the most amazing slip and skin-protecting goodness, and shea butter rounds out our emollient goodies. The whole lot is emulsified with glyceryl stearate SE, an anionic emulsifier made from vegetable glycerin and stearic acid with a small amount of sodium stearate or potassium stearate present as the emulsifying element. I also used glyceryl stearate SE in my Moisturizing Repair Cream, and there I learned it needed a gum or carbomer to stabilize it. You can also use something like Polawax instead.
The finished cream is divine. Rich, creamy, and glossy, with amazing skin feel and really luxurious application. It hydrates and softens the skin, leaving it moisturized for several washes, which is downright necessary these days. I’ve left it unscented but you could easily swap out some of the water for a hydrosol or incorporate a bit of essential oil or fragrance in the cool-down phase if you prefer your creams to have a bit of scent. Enjoy!
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Intense Hand Rescue Cream
Heated water phase
15g | 15% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
0.3g | 0.3% xanthan gum54.15g | 54.15% distilled water
0.5g | 0.5% colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada)Heated oil phase
5.25g | 5.25% glyceryl stearate SE (USA / Canada)
4g | 4% stearic acid (USA / Canada / UK)
4g | 4% C12-15 alkyl benzoate (USA / Canada)
3g | 3% fractionated coconut oil
3g | 3% cetearyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
3g | 3% refined shea butter (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% dimethicone 350 (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% olive squalane (USA / Canada)Cool down phase
1.5g | 1.5% Optiphen™ Plus (USA / Canada)
0.3g | 0.3% allantoin (USA / Canada)
1g | 1% ceramide complex (USA / Canada)
1g | 1% calendula extractPrepare 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 heated water phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Weigh the entire lot (measuring cup + ingredients) and note that weight for use later. Weigh the heated oil phase into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat and weigh the water phase. Add enough hot distilled water to the heated water phase to bring the weight back up to what it was before heating, and then pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the cream, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid mixture doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the cream is thick and creamy.
When the cream is cool it’s time to incorporate our cool down ingredients. Because cool down ingredients are typically present at very low amounts you’ll need to use an accurate scale—preferably one accurate to 0.01g. As these more accurate scales tend to have fairly low (100–200g) maximum weights you won’t be able to put the entire batch of cream on that scale without blowing it out. So—grab a smaller dish. Add a scoop or two of cream, and then weigh the cool down ingredients into that, using the more accurate scale. Stir to thoroughly incorporate, and then stir all of that back into the master batch of cream. Doing it this way minimizes the amount of cool down ingredients lost to the secondary container.
That’s it! For packaging I recommend a wide-mouthed jar or tub. This cream is far too thick for a pump-top bottle, and I have doubts about it working in a squeeze tube. To use, smooth a small amount over any skin that requires some extra TLC. Enjoy!
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 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 100g.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, 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 (colloidal oatmeal, shea butter, allantoin) please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- You could try propanediol or a homemade glycerite as an alternative to glycerin.
- You could try a different gum or carbomer (be sure to neutralize it if needed!) instead of xanthan gum.
- You could try a different emulsifying wax instead of glyceryl stearate SE.
- If you don’t have both stearic acid and cetearyl alcohol you could try using all of one or the other.
- There are three liquid emollients in this formulation: C12-15 alkyl benzoate, fractionated coconut oil, and olive squalane.
- You could group them all together to 9% and try using all of any one of them
- Medium chain triglycerides will work instead of fractionated coconut oil
- Neossance® Hemisqualane would work well in place of any of them
- You could also try incorporating some isopropyl myristate (IPM), possibly as an alternative to the C12-15 alkyl benzoate and leaving the fractionated coconut oil and squalane as-is.
- I don’t recommend swapping out the dimethicone as it really helps prevent this cream from being tacky.
- You could try a natural silicone alternative, like LuxGlide 350. Look for one that is marketed as a dimethicone alternative rather than a cyclomethicone alternative.
- You could try a slippy liquid oil, though no liquid oil will do the same job as dimethicone.
- Both of those alternatives will result in a stickier end product.
- I don’t recommend swapping out the ceramide complex. If you have to, choose something your skin loves, or just use more distilled water to keep the formulation balanced.
- You could try a different skin-loving botanical extract instead of calendula.
- If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this page.
- If you’d like to add some scent:
- You could swap 20–30% of the water for a hydrosol of choice
- You could reduce the water by 0.5–1% to make room for a essential oil or fragrance of choice (or blend) in the cool down phase
Fantastic Marie, my hands are getting sooo dry and my shop bought hand cream just isn’t cutting it. I haven’t got C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate though so will sub something for it lol I do have everything else, will be making this at the weekend.
Hope you are staying safe and well 🙂
I hope you love it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie, I just love your blog and recipes. One question… I have dimethicone 500. How much would use in place of dimethicone 350?
Thank you ma’am
The same amount 🙂 Learn more about Dimethicone 350 in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/)!
Can this cream go in a pump top or a squeeze tube top? If not, is there a way to make it thinner so it could without loosing the intense moisturizing? Thank you
No, you’ll want it in a tub or jar. To make it thinner you’d have to alter the phase sizes; honestly, I’d stick to making it as-is 🙂
Love it and ty so much for making this! I have chronic psoriasis and I use their cream to keep my body moisturised, this recipe is godsend! One question, I’m still learning about preservatives and find myself confused a lot lol… Why Optiphen Plus and not liquid germal plus? What other preservatives do you like?
Thx!
I’m so glad you’re excited about this formula! I used optiphen as that’s what was used in the original 🙂 I have been enjoying experimenting with it more, though—I’ve been recognizing it in tons of shop-bought products over the last few years + have been trying it in more of my things and finding it performs very well. I guess I’m just slowly branching out from LGP, which is also great, but does have limits in terms of maximum temp (50°C vs 80°C for Optiphen) + sometimes people prefer something more natural, and optiphen can suit that preference nicely. Happy making!
Hi Marie, do you mean Optionen plus (I only have Optionen) is accepted in natural skincare? I’m doing some courses with Formula Botanica and wonder if I could use Optiphen there? Thank you
I don’t believe FB accepts phenoxyethanol, but you would want to confirm with them. I consider Optiphen to be more natural than Liquid Germall Plus, but that’s a fairly soft and personal thing, ha.
Hi Huong,
When I was doing free FB class’es, I felt like we were encouraged to define our own shade of natural. I’m okay with phenoxyethanol as it’s nature identical compound and all. May I ask, did you end up useing optiphen plus?
Hello Marie! Thank you so much for this recipe! It is fantastic! ♡ And came at a much needed time 😀 Can’t wait to try it. Quick question though, can I use this to children as well? They are 1-2 years old. Also, can it be used on the face as well?
Thanks so much! Happy making!
Hi Marie, is it a water in oil emulsion since Glyceryl Stearate SE a w/o emulsifier with a low HLB value ? My supplier (Pure Nature in New Zealand) states so on their website. I’ve got some but have only used it to help stabilise emulsions with Olivem 1000 and would like to learn how to make w/o emulsions with it. Thank you
Hey Huong! I don’t believe it is. The listings I’ve found for Glyceryl Stearate SE on UL Prospector say it’s oil-in-water (Making Cosmetics, Ashland, BASF, and Evonik Nutrition & Care GmbH all say so… though MC says it is water-in-oil on their product detail page on their website). Skin Chakra also has a good post on telling the difference between the two and all emulsions I’ve made with Glyceryl Stearate SE are consistent with O/W rather than W/O 🙂
Hi Marie!! I just to see your emails in my inbox 🙂 Hope you and your family are doing great! Stay safe 🙂
I wanted to know if this ceramide complex is available in some capsule form like we have vitamin E in the form of Evion. Thanks
Sounds beautifull! Unfortunately I’m still using latest versions of your barrier cream – it’s simply amazing (sorry, I’m broken record :D). I added 20 % lavender hydrosol in latest version + replaced propanediol with another humectant (betaine). I’ve also used it sometimes as sleeping mask. Just as feedback!
I like this a lot! I went a bit freestyle and used betaine to replace ceramides and left over oil blend featuring argan, camellia, primrose, calendula, and pomegranate CO2 in place of liquid oils. Endresult is a bit yellow’ish and helps keeping my hands lots of softer. It smells nice thanks to chamomile hydrosol. I think it feels less sticky than some other hand creams of mine.
Hi Marie,
I want to add a bit of fragrance, can i just reduce the water by the .3% then
Please refer to the end of the substitutions list 🙂
Bonjour Marie and greetings from the Netherlands! All around the world, our nurses and doctors are fighting hard. They have chapped hands. Maybe an idea to make several hand cream pots for them and distribute them to the hospital or old folkshome nearby? Do you have an easy recipe you could share with your fanclub made with common ingredients to make a very hydrating cream to give around in big quantities? Given the resrictions I am thinking about using what I have at home such as calendula oil and sheabutter for the fat component and home made oatmilk for the water component. As far as the emulsifying wax is concerned olivem or cetylalcohol should do the trick. With a nice soothing lavender or orange essential oil . Thanks for your comments
hi Claude, hoi-hoi from Maastricht!
I was thinking along similar lines these past few weeks. Although things are better, it might still be a nice gesture. Of course crediting Marie for the recipe.
I have myself been using Marie’s Heavenly Cocoa Lotion (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/heavenly-cocoa-lotion/) as a hand cream, it has a simple ingredient list all of which are available here.
Cheers
Ilo
Hi Marie!! Great recipe! 🙂
I replaced the C12-15 alkyl benzoate with IPM as you suggested. Also I don’t have the glyceryl stearate SE so I tried two versions : one with glycol disterate and one with polawax. The glycol disterate worked (stable so far) but it gives a thinner emulsion that is better off in a tottle or a pump tube. The polawax texture is closer to the original recipe.
The texture of both is amazinfg though: it has a nice slip forever but it’s not greasy at the same time!
OOoh cool, thank you so much for sharing! I will have to try the glycol disterate version as well 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi, my Ceramide Complex is about 5 months old. If I use it in this recipe, will my lotion expire in one month?
It won’t expire, but the ceramide element may be less effective. I’d say use it anyways as what do you have to lose? The lotion will still be a lovely lotion, and those ceramides will get older whether or not you use them (and they are pricey, so I say use ’em!).
Hi! I made this recipe and it is lovely! (Made a few substitutions as I didn’t have the ceramide or the C12-15 but I followed your suggestions such as substituting isopropyl myristate and everything worked great. However I added .5 grams of a fragrance oil and it was way too much for me. I’ve thought of remaking another batch and mixing it with this one but I’m also thinking of making a small batch of soap and using this to super fat it. Any thoughts on that? Thanks
Just made it. I find it to be greasy and next time will use a lighter oil like grapeseed, prickly pear or rice bran. I even used mango butter but still greasy. Otherwise, love it. Absolute and immediate improvement to appearance of hands.
Interesting, thanks for sharing! I wonder if the higher humidity in NYC is contributing to our differing perceptions of the skin feel? Hmmmm. I’ll have to bring some with me the next time I go to NYC 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi there,
I love your site and your wonderful ideas. I noticed your substitutions and although I know a fair bit about these ingredients, I don’t know the animal cruelty aspects of them all. Would it be possible for you to add whether ingredients you use are vegan as that would be a great help to me in all your recipes.
Thanks again and all the best, Susan.
Hey Susan! You’ll find the answer to your question in my FAQ at https://humblebeeandme.com/faq/ Happy making!