This gentle Pemberley Foaming Facial Cleanser boasts the loveliest dense, creamy lather and a mouth-watering scent blend. It’s bright, sweet, and slightly spicy with deep rose and juicy citrus notes. Making-wise, it comes together so quickly that I suspect it’ll take you longer to get your ingredients out than it’ll take to make this facial cleanser! Simply stir everything together in a beaker and you’re off to the foamy, sudsy races. Booyah!
Want to watch this recipe instead of reading it?
Our surfactant blend is mild—a gentle combination of non-ionic Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside and amphoteric Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Non-ionic surfactants are less likely to irritate the skin than anionic or cationic surfactants, and Cocamidopropyl Betaine works to make surfactants milder, so together they create a very gentle blend. I’ve also kept the active surfactant matter (ASM) really low. Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside is 60% active, so at 4% that’s 2.4% active surfactant matter. Cocamidopropyl Betaine is 30% active, so at a 2% usage rate, that’s 0.6% active surfactant matter. All together that makes for a grand total of 3% for the entire formulation. I find this ASM to be perfectly effective, but also gentle.
Another reason I’ve selected Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside is that it is a good solubilizer for fragrance and essential oils—using it removes the need for a secondary solubilizer like Polysorbate 20. It’s also got a skin-friendly pH of 5.5–6, reducing the need for pH adjusting. For this reason, I don’t recommend substituting it for a different glucoside surfactant, like coco glucoside or lauryl glucoside—they aren’t good solubilizers and have quite high pH values.
The lovely scent for this cleanser comes from a couple of places. First off, some juicy rose hydrosol from Mystic Moments brings that essential rose note. There’s some spice from cardamom essential oil, and some juicy fruitiness from grapefruit essential oil. I dropped the benzoin resinoid from this product as mine does not play well with thin hydrous products like this one. If you happen to have vanilla essential oil, which is water-soluble, including that at 0.1% would be lovely!
Some vegetable glycerin and hydrolyzed silk round off the formula, making the face wash a bit more moisturizing. As everything is liquid or readily water-soluble you don’t need any heat to make this—some alternating spells of measuring and stirring will do the trick. When made as written, this cleanser has a skin-friendly pH right around 5, so you shouldn’t need to test and adjust unless you make some big changes. Once you’ve stirred it together, just pop it in a foamer bottle and you’re good to go—enjoy!
Want to watch this recipe instead of reading it?
Pemberley Foaming Facial Cleanser
2g | 4% Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside (USA / Canada)
0.1g | 0.2% cardamom essential oil
0.1g | 0.2% lemon slices fragrance oil1g | 2% Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 1% hydrolyzed silk (USA / Canada)
7.5g | 15% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
0.25g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)28.55g | 57.1% distilled water
10g | 20% rose hydrosolWeigh the Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside and essential/fragrance oils into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or beaker. Stir to comvine.
Add the Cocamidopropyl Betaine, hydrolyzed silk, glycerine, and liquid germall plus one at a time, stirring to combine.
We’ll add the watery things last. Once you add them the mixture will be much more prone to foaming up, so make sure you’re stirring more gently once you add the water and hydrosol.
When everything is thoroughly blended, you’re done! Pour the mixture into a 50mL (1.69fl oz) foamer bottle and that’s it. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cleanser 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.
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.
- 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 please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this page.
- If you’d like to learn more about the surfactants used and compare them to ones you might already have so you can make substitutions, check out this page.
- You can use different essential/fragrance oils, but keep in mind that different essential oils/fragrance oils can have different solubilizing requirements. There should be enough solubilizer here to keep 0.4% essential oil/fragrance oil solubilized, but I haven’t tested everything.
- A citrus essential oil would work well in place of the lemon slices fragrance oil.
- You can use a different hydrolyzed protein, like rice or quinoa, instead of the silk.
- Please make sure to review this page if you want to use a different surfactant in place of the Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside.
- You could try propanediol 1,3 instead of glycerine.
- You can use a different hydrosol instead of rose, or more water.
Gifting Disclosure
The rose hydrosol was gifted by Mystic Moments.
Which facial cleanser is best to remove makeup off without having to wipe your face with a cloth to get all the makeup off after washing? Does this one work good? Thank you!
I usually double cleanse, using an oil cleanser first to get the majority of my makeup off. I also use a microfibre cloth, and I find that helps a lot! After that, I’ll follow up with a foaming cleanser like this one. It will depend on the sort of makeup you wear, but I find I need to wipe with a cloth to get off mascara 🙂 Happy making!
Can I add glycolic acid to this? If yes, then to substitute 10% GA, should I reduce the quantity of water?
In theory, yes, but I would encourage you to learn more about the formulation requirements when working with AHAs. Each has a specific pKa you’ll need to aim for in order to get the best effect. You’ll need to ensure you’re familiar with testing and adjusting pH in order to work with AHAs 🙂 happy making!
Hi there,
Big fan of your website and these recipes! I was wondering if I could substitute the surfactants you use here for sodium cocoyl apple amino acids instead? That’s the only surfactant I have currently. What percentage do you recommend for a gentle cleanser?
Hey! I recommend giving this FAQ a read 🙂
I also wanted to add some more soothing ingredients, similar to your soothing serum and soothing micellar water, do you think I could achieve something like that with the surfactant I mentioned above? What are your recommendations?
You definitely can! I’d start by reading this FAQ 🙂
hello where did you buy the foamer bottle?
Mine are from Windy Point in Calgary; there’s also a link right in the recipe for you 😉
Can I increase the amount of surfactants? I almost found this to be too mild.
Yup, definitely! Start slow and reduce the amount of water to compensate 🙂 Happy making!
I tried adding crothix to this as I prefer a gel cleanser over a foam, but it doesn’t serum to want to incorporate and just floats around in a blob. Is there a reason why crothix might not work with this cleanser?
Hmm; it yours liquid or solid?
Liquid
Hmm; that’s usually very simple and fool-proof to work with! Did it sort itself out after a few days? (Sorry for the late reply!)
I substitute oil with kiwi seed oil and grapefruit essential oil. The cleanser came out cloudy not clear like yours. Is it because of the oils?
Yup! You introduced a carrier oil (the kiwi seed oil) where there are no carrier oils in the original. Here’s a post explaining the difference between carrier oils and essential oils. Carrier oils generally require more solubilizer than essential oils, so that explains why the mixture is cloudy. You may also see some separation as time goes on. It should still be fine to use, though. Happy making!
Hi Marie, how quickly would you say you go through 50ml of foaming facial cleanser? I’m wondering whether I should get a 150ml foaming bottle or 50ml. Also, I wish ND would stock clear foaming bottles because I don’t know why but I always tend to prefer clear/frosted packaging . Thank you Marie, I’m so looking forward to making this! I stocked up in foaming facial cleanser from the body shop when it was on sale so I would be all set until I receive my cocomidapropyl Betaine and caprylyl/capryl glucoside
Hmm….err. Maybe 3–4 weeks for 50mL? I’m not very confident in that number, though—I guess I don’t pay terribly close attention to that sort of thing, sorry!
Hi Marie, if we wanted to increase the amount of essential oil that can be solubilised, could we replace some water with polysorbate 20? And to increase the cleansing power, would I be able to replace maybe 1% of water with 1% of caprylyl/capryl glucoside? Thank you!
I would stick with the Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside as your solubilizer as it’s really quite good at solubilizing essential oils—dial that up as needed (removing water to make room) 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and recipes.
I made this cleanser, and I love it although I couldn’t find a lemon slices fragrance oil her in Europe. In your preamble, you mention grapeseed oil – can it be used instead?
As I never used foaming cleansers before, I’m not sure, shall I wash it off with water or dry the skin with a towel?
Thank you in advance.
Hey Irina! The pre-amble mentions grapefruit oil, which you can use instead—not grapeseed. And yes, you will need to wash this off your face in some way, just as you would with a foaming hand wash. Happy making!
Hi, I’m not sure if I’m overlooking it, but what are the benefits for the essential oils used in this recipe? I’m askin because though I have tons of essential oils on hand I don’t have either of these. I went to look in the Encyclopedia as suggested but couldn’t find anything on them.
Also, i’m looking to make a foaming face wash that’s good for acne-prone, oily, and sensitive skin. Will this recipe work for that? Oh and can I substitute the liquid germall for leucidal complete? its what i have on hand also. sorry for all the questions, just wanna make sure im making it effective. Hope to hear back soon, so i can get to making it.
Hi there,
I was wondering if I could substitute your surfactants out for liquid Castile soap instead since I have that on hand, and if so, what is your percentage rate for this?
Hey! You’ll find the answer to your question in my FAQ at https://humblebeeandme.com/faq/ Happy making!
Hello from Greece!! i am wondering what calculations we make in order to find the % of the surfactant that we will use in the formula knowing % active of the surfactant and the AMS we decide for the formula
Please read this post 🙂
An I just use only c/c and no cocamidopropyl beating as I don’t have it. If yes, how much do I need. Also, I have geogard preservative. Would it work. Thanks
At that point, you wouldn’t really be making this formulation anymore. Try it and see! And please read this FAQ re: preservatives. Happy making!
Hi Marie,
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and recipes.
can i use only 10% coco betaine as surfactant phase and use Polysorbate 20 to dissolve the essential oils ? if yes how much can i use the polysorbate 20 ?
Try it and see! Read this for more info. Happy making!
Hi Marie
I love the sound of this cleanser and want to give it a try.
I currently dont have capryl glucoside, instead I have coco glucoside and polysorbate 20 and 80 as suggested by you. Would you able to assist with amounts of each for this formulation?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
can i use kathon CG substitute as a Liquid Germall Plus™??
Please read this 🙂
Hi Marie, love your wonderful recipes and tried a lot of them. I want to put this cleanser into a squeeze bottle so replace 2% of water with Crothix, changes essential oil to chamomile EO, the cleanser was quite nice on the first day, but it turned into milky not transparent and also not that honey-like texture anymore on the next day. Is it because Crothix reacts to some of the ingredients? I tried your Wash a lots hand washer ( which is with Crothix) multiple times and they are always lovely transparent.
That sounds like a solubilizing issue; read this for more info 🙂
Hello! I just discovered your site and am having a great time watching your videos and reading up on things. I’d like to make this Pemberley Foaming Facial Cleanser but I don’t want to add any protein (like the silk etc.). How does this change the formulation and what should be increased to make up for not using it? Thanks!
I’d replace the protein with more distilled water. I don’t think you’ll notice a huge difference, it might be slightly more drying on the skin. Happy making!