Cranberry face mask

Today's blog post is contributed by Jilly who is an amazing formulator and I'm sure you're already familiar with her creations. She has prepared a cranberry facial mask which although you can use all year around, is specifically prepared with oils that we recommend for skincare in winter.

I wish you fun making and using this mask (Elham)

We received so many lovely messages about the cute cranberry lip mousse! And I agree, because everything is better in pink . In Dutch we have a saying that goes like “seeing life through pink coloured glasses”, and I presume the meaning doesn’t get lost in translation.

Therefor we have another tutorial with cranberry, and this time in an emulsion!

During winter, our skin can become dryer and more sensitive. I know this is certainly my case! High time to pamper ourselves with a lovely mask!

You might remember this info-diagram Elham posted a while ago; about her favourite oils for winter care

We are going to use this as our guideline, and we’ll carefully choose wonderful winter oils with a high palmitic acid content.

Next up, some nourishing and indulging extracts for their anti-inflammatory properties, meant to take care of sensitive wintery skin.

Choice for our emulsifier is the palm oil free Dermofeel GSC. This is such a fun ànd easy ànd versatile hot process emulsifier! Up till now, this emulsifier has never let me down, and it was love at first sight from the very first emulsion I made with it. If you’d ask me, this is the perfect emulsifier for beginners because whatever you do, it always seems to work out very nicely. And advanced formulators will love this too for its fantastic skin feel with a nice glide and without soapiness; playing around with ratios to find that texture you are after. For our mask, I’d like a texture that is a bit thicker than a day cream emulsion; oils/butters/wax are adjusted according to this aim. If this is the first time you are working with Dermofeel GSC, this blogpost is absolutely worth reading for some background:

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/494-How-to-work-with-Dermofeel-GSC-Palm-oil-free.html

Since this is designed to be suited for very sensitive skin, I have chosen to keep this formula as low as possible on fragrance and allergens. The cranberry powder, pequi oil and lavender hydrosol impart a wonderful scent on their own. I am combining this with a small amount of lavender EO to enhance this a bit more, and simply because I love lavender so much .

Also, I will be using Versatil TBG as my preservative (combined with a booster and chelator). This is an effective, safe and globally accepted preservative blend for natural cosmetics. Foremost, it’s free from benzyl alcohol, so it’s very mild too and less sensitizing; perfect for our purpose!

I have run everything through my calculator, and the only sensitizers you’ll need to mention on your label for this formula are limonene and linalool. Sounds more than okay to me. Let’s make this little beauty!

Here is our formula:

Phase A

29,1% distilled water

0,1% Dermofeel PA3

Phase B

4% pequi fruit oil

3% myrica fruit wax

3% wild crafted cupuacu butter

7% organic macadamia nut oil

0,3% Dermosoft GMCY

3,5% Dermofeel GSC palm oil free

Phase C

25% Organic lavender hydrosol

1% panthenol

2% sodium PCA

Phase D

3% Organic elderberry oil

7% Organic watermelon seed oil

2,5% Organic St John’s wort macerated in sunflower oil

0,7% cranberry micronized powder

0,2% allantoin

1% Organic black cumin CO2 extract

1% Organic evening primrose CO2 extract

0,2% Natural alpha bisabolol

0,3% Organic lavender essential oil

0,5% Natural tocopherol

0,1% Organic rosemary CO2 extract

Phase E

4% organic and palm free glycerine

0,4% solagum AX

0,1% sclerotium

Phase F

1% Versatil TBG (preservative)

And our procedure:

1/ Blend your gums into the glycerine. This is always my first step. After mixing I set this aside, so the gums get nicely hydrated in the glycerine.

2/ Prepare your phases C and D at room temperature in separate beakers. Set this aside for later.

3/ Heat phases A and B in separate beakers in a water bath @ 65-75°C. We are using distilled water instead of a hydrosol in our phase A, so we can put it in the water bath right from the beginning.

4/ When phase B is completely melted to a homogenous blend, stop heating (the content of both our beakers is approx. 70°C by then).

5/ Remove both beakers from the water bath, and SLOWLY add the oil phase to the water phase while stirring.

6/ Add the rest of your water phase (phase C, which you have kept at room temperature), and stir further.

7/ Homogenize for a few minutes, my Blendia is amazingly helpful for this!

8/ Now you can add the second oil phase (phase D, which you have kept at room temperature), and blend in well. In the mean time, my beaker has cooled down enough (34°C) to add all these precious oils, extracts and EO without a problem.

9/ Add the gum glycerine blend, and homogenize everything again for 1-2 minutes.

10/ Now it’s almost time for our preservative (check if your emulsion is below 30°C by now to be sure). Versatil TBG will reduce the pH so we are going to adjust it to around 6. Make a 10% dilution to measure your pH first, and add a couple of drops of your 10% arginine stock solution (or NaOH or sodium bicarbonate).

If you’re not comfortable yet with measuring and adjusting your pH, please refer back to these helpful blogposts:

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/516-pH-measurement-in-cosmetic-lab-why-we-dilute-samples.html

and

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/497-How-to-adjust-the-pH-of-your-cosmetic-products.html

11/ Add the preservative and blend in well. Prepare another 10% dilution and measure the pH again. The pH should be between 5,2 and 5,5. If the pH is higher, add lactic acid or citric acid to reduce the pH. If the pH is lower, add arginine or sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate to increase the pH.

12/ When you have the pH within the desired range, take your micro-kit and stability samples and fill your mask into a suitable container! This is my result for the mask after two days which is perfectly OK.

Enjoy your moment of “old-rose” pink bliss .

Disclaimer: SkinChakra is responsible for the content of this blog post. Please send your comments and questions directly to SkinChakra and don't try to contact Jilly in private or via any other online forum/platform. Jilly or one of our team will happily come back to you.