Since finishing the Herbal Apprenticeship, I have loved making skin care products. This is a rich face cream based on a recipe from gonative.co.nz – organic creams and ointment recipes It contains an abundance of gorgeous oils and Neroli hydrosol- distilled water from the flowers of a type of orange tree.
This recipe is combining a water phase and oil phase, so uses an emulsifier wax made from olives.
Because this cream contains a water, you usually need a preservative. But in this case I am using vacuum airless pump bottles, which means no preservative is needed and the shelf life is a good 6 months.
Ingredients here are:
Water phase : Neroli hydrosol (Neroli distilled water), Glycerin.
Oil phase: Argan oil, Jojoba oil, Sea buckthorn oil, Marula oil, Rosehip oil, Emulsifier wax
Late phase is added when the mixture has cooled: Vitamin E oil, Carrot oil, Essential oils of Rose and Geranium
The water phase ingredients are in one jug and the oil phase ingredients in the other jug. The Sea buckthorn oil is almost red and the rosehip oil is quite orange, hence this dramatic colour.
Each jug is sitting on a cookie cutter so not in direct contact with the heat and the pan filled up partly with water. I heat the pans (a double boiler method) and bring the temperatures of both water and oil phase to 65 degrees celsius.
Then I pour the water phase into the oil phase and whisk steadily, like making mayonnaise, to make an emulsion. The face cream is super deep yellow in colour reflecting the colour of those dark oils. (It doesn’t leave any colour on the skin).
Once the temperature reduces to 50 degrees celsius, I add the Vitamin E, Carrot oil and essential oils. I have to work fast as the cream gets more challenging to pour into the bottles as it thickens.
You can see the vacuum bottles behind, ready to fill using a little funnel.
And the finished Vital face creams. I make 2 at a time (100 ml each), so have them ready to send to family and give to friends as gifts. Plus of course enough for us at home too. I hope you enjoyed seeing those photos of how many face creams are made. It brings the love of cooking into other realms for me.
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