When I was in Montreal last year I visited Coop Coco, a local DIY supplier, and poked around, looking for things I didn’t have that would fit in my suitcase. I ended up picking up a bottle of Sucragel, a cold-process emulsifier I’d never worked with before, brought it back to Calgary, and then pretty much forgot about. Until now! Ewelina sent in a recipe request for a very intriguing oily cleansing gel, and when I read through the ingredients, there was Sucragel, right in the thick of things. It was definitely time to pull Sucragel out of the pantry and start playing.
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Once I started reading about Sucragel I couldn’t believe I hadn’t played with it earlier! It’s so dang cool. The INCI of the stuff I have from Coop Coco is Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil & Glycerin (and) Aqua (and) Sucrose Laurate, but the INCI at Formulator Sample Shop is Glycerin (and) Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (and) Aqua (and) Sucrose Laurate. If you’re allergic to nuts you’ll want to be sure you’re getting the one that isn’t made with a nut oil. It’s both an emulsifier and a thickener—it can create oily gels that emulsify into a wonderful milky cleanser in when mixed with water, guys! At 5–10% it can be used as an emulsifier, and at 20–25% it creates oil gels. So. Cool. I was reading about this whilst on vacation (and away from my studio!) and I was so dang excited for my vacation to be over so I could go home and play with Sucragel. Aren’t I cool? Anywho.
Plain ol’ sucragel, right out of the bottle.
As soon as I got home I started playing. And I started getting frustrated. It turns out the process for working with Sucragel is quite finicky and very important, and really not well indicated in much of the documentation I found. There were vague mentions of “lots of stirring”. Coop Coco to the rescue! They created a series of wonderfully detailed, picture-rich blog posts to give you the low-down on how to use Sucragel and it turns out “lots of stirring” is more or less it, but, well… it is lots. It’s a bit of a pain, and takes a while, but if you follow their instructions you’re golden.
The first step of working with Sucragel is whipping it until it is white, like this.
The general gist of this cleansing gel is that it is pretty much a bunch of liquid oils that have been gelled used Sucragel and then fancied up a bit with some pretty smelling essential oils. The Sucragel is not only our gelling ingredient, but it’s also the ingredient that allows for great wash-off by emulsifying the oils in the cleanser with the water you’re washing with. The Sucragel really is the lynchpin ingredient of this recipe; there is no alternative, and if you want to make this recipe you need to get yourself some.
You’ll slowly add tiny bits of oil, beating between additions.
After lots of whipping and adding tiny amounts of oil you’ll end up with an oil gel.
Once you’ve got the “oh my goodness so much stirring” thing down this is pretty simple to make. Measure your ingredients, fire up your electric beaters, put on some hearing protection, and set to work. I think you’ll find the video for this one extra helpful to see how it all comes together.
The gel will become more pronounced as you add more oil and keep beating it.
SO THICK!
I made two different versions; the one in the blog is a clean turquoise colour and is scented with a blend of “Naughty by Nice” and “Oceanus” fragrances. The one in the video is coloured with a bit of orange mica and is scented with a blend of orange, palmarosa, and rose geranium essential oils—the blend is positively decadent! You can scent it however you like, but the scent I’ve specified in the post is the orange essential oil blend.
The end product is easily my new favourite oil cleanser. The gel-to-milk thing is so dang cool, and it leaves my skin feeling clean but not stripped. The consistency is super cool, too. If you like oil cleansing (and perhaps have been looking to avoid PEGs) I really recommend giving this a go!
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Oil Cleansing Gel
10g | 20% Sucragel (Canada / UK / Australia)
Oil phase
12.63g | 25.25% sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)
9g | 18% apricot kernel oil (USA / Canada)
8g | 16% safflower oilFinal phase
9.5g | 19% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
0.225g | 0.45% orange essential oil
0.1g | 0.20% palmarosa essential oil
0.05g | 0.10% rose geranium essential oil
0.25g | 0.50% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.25g | 0.50% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
1/64 tsp mica, for colour (totally optional)Weigh the Sucragel ingredients into a small, high-edged bowl that you can use a single electric beater in.
Weigh the oil phase into a small bowl or beaker and have a disposable pipette handy.
Beat the Sucragel with your electric beater until it is white, and then add a single pipette of oil. Beat for at least 30 seconds, and add another pipette of oil. Repeat, beating continuously, until the mixture thickens substantially and transforms into a translucent gel that forms soft peaks. At this point you can start adding the oil in slightly larger portions, continuing to beat thoroughly between additions.
Once you’ve incorporated all the oil, weigh the final phase ingredients into the empty oil container and add those gradually—I did this in approximately four even-ish sized additions—beating thoroughly between additions.
And that’s it! Transfer the cleansing oil gel into a 60mL / 2oz jar.
To use, combine a pea-sized amount of the cleansing gel in your palm with a bit of water, massage into your face, and rinse off. I typically follow this up with a foaming cleanser, my actives, and then a few hydrating serums and lotions.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this oil cleansing gel both contains water, and is almost certain to be contaminated with water as you use it, 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.
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 50g.
- You must use Sucragel. There are no alternatives. If you do not have it, you cannot make this recipe.
- You can use a different blend of liquid oils—I typically recommend relatively light, inexpensive ones, but a project like this is also a good place to get rid of oils that are nearing the end of their shelf lives.
- You can use a different essential oil or fragrance blend at 0.75%. If you want to adjust that amount, use the sweet almond oil to compensate.
Gifting Disclosure
The transluscent plastic jar wa gifted by YellowBee.
This looks so gorgeous. I’ve been wanting to play with Sucragel, but it is really expensive, but maybe one day, I will get it. Have you thought of playing with gel scrubs? The pale sea blue one looks like it’d go well with a coconut lime scrub.
I definitely have! There are SO many things I can’t wait to play with now that I’ve got the basics of use under my belt 😀
I’m just wondering why this needs a preservative when it is oil based? Could it be stable without a preservative as long as water is not introduced when being used.
Read the INCI for the sucragel 😉
I just made a blooming bath oil using Belinda Carli’s formula. She used micromulse lb which also had aqua in it. (made by the same supplier) She doesn’t use a preservative nor does the supplier’s formula use a preservative which is interesting.
Hi Alana,
You can make the sucragel yourself. I’ve added a recipe in the commentary on this blog post.
Hi Marie! Great post! I’m curious how oils “gelled” with sucragel compares to oils gelled with cera bellina as far as skin feel? And is the sucragel water based?
It is much lighter, without any waxiness that you’ll get from cera bellina. The INCI is Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil & Glycerin (and) Aqua (and) Sucrose Laurate, so you can see it contains oil and water.
Thank you !!! Can the sucragel be replaced by anything?
Give the substitutions list a read, everything is there 🙂
I know that you mentioned that Sucragel itself contains Sweet Almond Oil, but you can purchase Sucragel CF from The Formulation Shop that contains Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides instead of the nut oil. I definitely plan on trying out this recipe with the CF version. Thanks for a great post. Love your blog.
Yup, that’s the second paragraph 😉 “The INCI of the stuff I have from Coop Coco is Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil & Glycerin (and) Aqua (and) Sucrose Laurate, but the INCI at Formulator Sample Shop is Glycerin (and) Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (and) Aqua (and) Sucrose Laurate. If you’re allergic to nuts you’ll want to be sure you’re getting the one that isn’t made with a nut oil.” Happy making!
What an intriguing post Marie! I went immediately to order some Sucragel, but it appears they only ship within Canada. :-(. What to do now?!
I provided links to places to buy it in Canada, the USA, and the UK—do none of those work for you?
Hi You said you provide the link to buy in the USA. I cant seem to find that link you spoke of. Can you point me to the usa link?
It’s the word “USA” right next to the ingredient in the formula above 🙂
Would this work as a body wash gel too? Thanks!
Technically yes, but it would be a very expensive way to cleanse your entire body. This isn’t a “gel” in the sense that most “shower gels” are—it will not lather up or bubble.
If you like playing around with oleo gels, you could use sucrose stearate instead of sucragel. It is a powder that you are to mix with vegetable glycerin. The process is even trickier than with sucragel but you seem to love challenges 😀 And oleo gels can serve as masks, cleansers, scrubs, it’s just amazing ! I’ve been in love with it the moment I discovered sucrose stearate.
Oooh, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it—I’ve never seen it for sale in Canada! Thanks for the tip 🙂
Ooh great Marie, I have a bottle of Sucragel which I bought last year and haven’t got round to playing with yet. I will definitely try this out over the weekend. The supplier I purchased mine from didn’t give any advice on how to use it either, so brilliant, thank you for your research. Have a great weekend Marie 🙂
I hope you have tons of fun! I’m sure enjoying this cleanser 🙂
Hi,
I made this and at first it was beautiful, just like yours. After a day, it “broke”. It is now watery and I’m not sure what I did wrong. I have pictures I can send to you.
I have an overhead mixer and used this, so I made sure to mix it enough.
Oh no! From all my experience with sucragel, the #1 thing I’d suspect would be not enough mixing. I was easily mixing this for 15–20 minutes straight with excruciatingly small additions of oil between lots and lots of continuous, high-speed mixing. I know you said you mixed it enough, but it does require more mixing than seems at all reasonable—is it possible that’s the problem?
What is the name of mica that u used in the aqua looking batch? its beautiful & i want to make it with that exact color. where did u buy it from?
Thankfully I took a photo of the package, and I was just able to dig it out of my archives 🙂 The mica is “ColorJoy Mica – Basic Green” from Rustic Escentuals.
I’m trying to stick with the more “natural” preservatives, but there are so many, it’s very confusing! Could I switch out the Germall Plus with Geogard ECT, Leucidal Liquid Aloe (or one of the other Leucidal liquids), or even Optiphen? Thank you! Going to try this very soon!
I’d encourage you to read the information on this page and make your own decision 🙂 Happy making!
I tried to make it but I can never get that gelly texture its kore like milky gelly what am I doing wrong?
It sounds like you might have incorporated some water if it is going milky on you. Otherwise, are you certain you’re whipping/beating it enough? Have you watched the video? It really does need SO MUCH WHIPPING to do what we want it to do.
Love this!!!! You are so amazing and I have been following you since the beginning. I just watched your YouTube video on this and you used a really good spatula. Can you share which one you use? I tried searching on your blog because I remember an old post where you talk about your supplies but could not find. Also, is there any issues mixing the sucragel in a Pyrex measuring cup?
Thanks so much! The post on my fave equipment is here 🙂 I didn’t use a measuring cup because I wanted the more gentle slope of a bowl so I could really corner the sucragel for a thorough beating, but I’m sure you could make a Pyrex work!
Hi.
I just bought a jar of evolve gentle cleansing melt which is amazing and contains:
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Oil*, Sucrose Laurate, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Seed Oil*, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Water*, Vanilla Planifolia (Vanilla) Fruit Extract*, Tocopherol, Rosa Damascena Flower Oil*
I came across your YouTube video and it seems that this cleanser contains sucragel but no preseevative. The jar says the shelf life is 12 months.
So my question is, how this is possible without a preservative.
Hope to hear from you.
Regards Ilgar from Norway 🙂
Greetings Ilgar!
To answer your question, let’s look at glycerine. When glycerine is used in high amounts in a formula (generally over 50-60%), it self preserves. When I searched on the Evolve website, it lists these two ingredients first: Caprylic /Capric Triglyceride*, Glycerin*. Caprylic Triglyceride is a mixed triester derived from coconut oil and glycerin, and with glycerine listed second, there you go!
Oh…..this was an exercise in utter frustration, and it never did come together. I’m not giving up though, so I need some help troubleshooting. I tripled the batch, as I wanted to try several different fragrances before moving forward. I used sunflower oil, macadamia oil, and argan oil. I followed the directions from Coop Coco, and after about 15 minutes, when it wasn’t coming together, I started adding more oil than just half a dropper. The gel started to form and thicken! As I started adding more oil to the sucragel mixture, and it lost it’s thickness. I literally whipped for 35 more minutes and it never did come back together. It looks more gray now than translucent or white, and it’s runny. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, as I really want to be successful in making this, but it really has been very frustrating.
Hey Kristin! I’d like to recommend this great post from my friend Rebecca—she has done a lot more work with sucragel than I have, and you may find her method works better for you. Happy making!
Hello,
I made this cleanser with sucragel and it’s fantastic. I would like to add dragon’s blood to the recipe , but I don’t know if this tipe of dragon’s blood ( glycerin, croton lechleri resin extract…this is water soluble) it would be ok
Thank you so much 🙂
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! I would swap out some of the glycerin in this formula for your extract, keeping in mind the recommended usage rate for your extract. Happy making!
Love this blog post (and youtube video!), sucragel is a completely new concept to me, can’t wait to try it out for myself. I’m just curious if one could potentially mix some honey and aloe vera gel into this cleansing balm? Or would it ruin the emulsion all together?
Thank you!
You should be able to as sucragel is an emulsifier and can be used to create lotions/creams. Honey would play a similar role to the glycerin, but you’d likely want to keep the amount at 5% or less to ensure preserve-ability. Give this and this a read re: aloe, just in case you didn’t already know 🙂 Happy making!
hi marie. i made a batch of this and it is awesome! however, my sister and husband both experienced warmth when using this on skin. my sister’s skin turned red and itchy. i did some search and seems to be glycerin causing that. can i either lower the percentage of glycerin or remove that entirely? since sucragel already contains glycerin. thank you!
How strange! I haven’t heard of anyone having issues with glycerin in that way before. Yes, you could replace the glycerin with more oil 🙂
I’d love to try this but after doing some research I’m seeing that many people are finding the sucragel difficult to work with. You didn’t have any problems? Did it hold together after you were finished? For how long? Thanks…I LOVE your recipes.
Hey Michelle! It definitely is a bit of a pain to work with. The versions I made for this post and video were great; stable for months (until I used them up—they never split), came together beautifully, all that. Previous and later attempts have been more of a gamble. I’d recommend checking out this guide for an alternative way to work with it. I tried it and it worked for me, though it did split after a couple of weeks—but Rebecca (the author) assures me hers are typically super stable, so I think it’s worth a try 🙂 Good luck!
Have you heard of sodium surfactin? It is produced by fermentation of Bactillus and can also make oily gels (I’m not sure if it’s gel to milk) that can rinse off. You can purchase from LotionCrafter or Formulator Sample Shop.
I haven’t! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I wish it was available in Canada!
I want to make this SO BAD, but the link to buy Sucragel in USA is not working and my usual sources for supplies do not carry it. (lotion crafters, Windy Point, WSP…)
Thanks
Linda
It looks like Formulator Sample Shop still sells some varieties of Sucragel—do a search on their website 🙂
I am making a gel/oil formula using sucragel and oils (no water added). I am assuming that I will still need to use a preservative given that the sucragel contains water. I noticed you used Liquid Germall Plus in your formula & it is a natural preservative which is a plus. If I choose to use another preservative are there any others that you recommend for this type of formulation? Is Liquid Germall Plus more versatile to use across many types of formulations?
Hi Marie, I just made this (well almost your recipe) and so far its holding. I tweaked it a little as I wanted it primarily as an eye makeup removing gel and wanted it a little lighter. I used 10% veg glycerin (instead of 19%) and added the other percentage as distilled water, slowly, right at the end. It was a real pig to bottle (in 50ml amber glass pumps). I use Geogard as my preservative. Oils were calendula in EVOO (20%) and safflower (39%). EO was .2% lemon. It is very tedious to make but Sucragel (mine was AOF) is a coool ingredient. It is a lovely oil gel to use on the eyes. Thanks for your formula! Hayley
I’m thrilled you’ve created something you love! Heartily agreed on the tedium as well, LOL.
Hi Marie,
On the website Olionatura of Heike Käser (Germany) I found a recipe to make sucragel yourself. I tried it, and also made an oil gel with it. It works!
So:
You need:
– 25.0 g glycerine 99.5% (this corresponds to approx. 50% pure glycerine in the gel)
– 15.0 g vegetable oil (corresponds to 30%)
– 5.0 g sucrose stearate (corresponds to 10%)
– 5.0 g hydrosol or water (corresponds to 10%)
How?
– Mix the glycerine and water in a beaker until largely homogeneous,
– add sucrose stearate,
– stir and then heat the mixture on the stove (possibly in a water bath) to approx. 70-80 °C until the sucrose stearate has completely melted. The mass must be homogeneous.
– Slowly add the oil, which is immediately heated to 70-80°C, to this mixture and stir until a milky cream gel forms (dough hooks or stirrers on a low speed are well suited; do not use an immersion blender or milk frother).
– Pour the finished sucro-gel into a disinfected jar (also disinfect the lid) and label it with the name and production date.
I went looking for a recipe because Sucragel is not available in Europe (as far as I know anyway). So: thanks to Heike Käser.
OOooh, VERY COOL! Thank you so much for finding this and for sharing!
Hi Marie,
I made a portion of sucragel -according to the recipe of Heike Käser- with a raspberry glycerate à la LisaLise. Works perfectly in your recipe.
Oh my goodness, this sounds utterly DIVINE! Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
Here is a EU site https://www.elemental.eu/en/en/1254-alfa-emulsifier.html
I hope I’m not breaking any of Marie’s rules to share this.