Day cream with minimal smell easy to achieve?

[Olionerd]

Hi everyone,

May I ask you guy's to check this list with/for me? I am thinking about the ingredients for making a day cream. I am not a big fan of smelling my own face for a few hours after applying. So I am aiming for a cream that will not smell (too) much (although hard to clarify/quantify). I have a list of possible ingredients that I would like to incorporate into a cream (not per se all of them, I will keep it more simple in the beginning). Are there ingredients on that list that do smell strongly? Are there way's to reduce the scent of a cream? This list does not reflect my intentional recipe btw. I would just like to know if there are any strong smelling ingredients on the list already . And maybe get a tip on how to reduce smell if there are any?

Here is the list so far:
Jojoba oil
Argon oil
Evening primrose oil
Glycerine
Shea butter
Vitamin E
Vitamin C
Provitamin B5 d-panthenol 75
Sea Buckthorn extract
Turmeric extract
Punarnavaroot extract
Green tea extract
Licorice root extract
Hyaluronic Acid
Aloe Vera (Aloe-Vera-Basis a la Olionatura)
Collagen
Colloidal Oatmeal,
Bisabolol
Q10
SOME kind of SPF will eventually be part of it

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

[Lisbeth]

Argan Oil smells Special. I don‘t like ist…

[Nine]

Hi Olionerd,

although this will not answer your question directly, but do you know the basic recipes Heike has posted on Olionatura? Here you will find examples which will work as "starters"

What kind of preservative you will use, any idea yet? I´m asking because some substances used as preservative have odour-masking properties like e.g. the bencyl alcohol in Geogard.

Nine

[Helga]

Important raw material for a cream/lotion are:
Jojoba oil
Argon oil
Shea butter
Evening primrose oil (Active indigrient; put 1-2 drops on skin before you go to bed)

always: Glycerine
(I like it, take it always) Provitamin B5 d-panthenol 75, 1-2%
especially in winter, Hyaluronic Acid
some times: Aloe Vera (Aloe-Vera-Basis a la Olionatura)

All others are active indigrients you don't really need

They don't smell.

[Olionerd]

@ lisbeth: Argan oil does indeed smell a bit unpleasant I agree, but not too strong for me..

@Nine: Yeah, looks like a great starting point Nine, thanks. I took a peek . Good to know about Geogard. Sounds relatively mild for a preservative also. I might try that

@Helga: If I understand it well you are not a "believer" when it comes to actives at all?

[Helga]

@Helga: If I understand it well you are not a "believer" when it comes to actives at all?

Right There are only a few that I use. Our concept is mainly based on certain fatty acids. I've been making cosmetics for over 20 years, I no longer need a lot of active ingredients. (... but some times I buy them, then they wait in the fridge - and wait and wait an wait ... )

[Beauté]

Hrm, Emulgatoren? Milchsäure zur pH Korrektur? Gelbildner?

Auch unbedingt nötig...

LG - Beauté

[Helga]

Hrm, Emulgatoren? Milchsäure zur pH Korrektur? Gelbildner?

Auch unbedingt nötig...

Ja eh Nerdi will nur wissen ob diese Rohstoffe stinken:

I would just like to know if there are any strong smelling ingredients on the list already

[Judy]

There are also different kinds of Argan Oil (as well as in certified organic versions) which smell more ore less (refined smells less).
The same applies for Shea Butter.
I agree with the others - try out one of Heike’s basic recipes and you can adjust, time by time, the ingredients which are good for your skin.

Cheers,
Judy

BTW: There is also the option of choosing some lovely essential oils (in low concentrations) to mask a smell…

[Olionerd]

So basically start simple and change only one or two ingredients at the time so I can be methodical and keep track of what ingredients work for me? Sounds smart.

I actually think less ingredients is better. Just a theory. I think many will agree (and many not of course). The less you interfere with your natural processes the better. It always comes down to that in my opinion. "We" start seeing this in agriculture (with pest control being counter productive, with fertilizers causing the soil to become exhausted, ect). In the end moderation is the key. In the medical field we often see the same principles... You sometimes need drugs. EVERY drug though has side effects. The more ingredients you put on your skin, I think, the more "risks" you are introducing.. It doesn't have to be dramatical/noticable, but in principle I believe it holds true, I think.

But on the other hand we all like the claims isn't it? We want to believe them... Marketing can be powerful, damn... Must stay sensible though, hahaha

[Helga]

So basically start simple and change only one or two ingredients at the time so I can be methodical and keep track of what ingredients work for me?

Yes . If using too many different active ingredients and the skin shows an intolerance (or you don't like the skin feeling), to find the cause of intolerance is very difficult

[Mirimi]

hi olionerd,

apart from scent perception being rather subjective it also depends a lot on the quality and type of the oils. In general the scent of refinded oils and butters is less noticable.

Evening primrose oil is a very nice oil but can have a bit of a fishy smell in my opinion. Also we only use it in small quantities and it is not recommended for day care formulations since it is an unstable oil and can go rancid quickly (therefore i also recommend to only buy small quantities and store in a cool and dark place).

Vitamin C is very unstable and challenging to formulate with not at least because it requires a low ph. I recommend using more stable derivatives like sodium ascorbyl phosphate which is water soluble or ascorbyl palmitate which is oil soluble. You can find more information on these on the olionatura webpage. To me Vitamin C and its derivates does have a light metallic smell.

Dexpanthenol and Bisabolol are nice actives for soothing and calming the skin. both don't have any noticable smell in my opinion and are pretty straight forward to work with. Just be aware that Bisabolol is oil soluble which is not a problem when incorporating it in an emulsified product.

Same goes for these: Green tea extract, Licorice root extract, Hyaluronic Acid, Aloe Vera. I personally like and use all of these in my formulations. Just remember to check what solvant is used for the extracts. They often consist of 2/3 Glycerin. Just reduce the amount of pure glycerin accordingly since your cream may otherwise leave a pretty tacky feeling on the skin.

I am not familiar with the other plant extracts on your list and can't give you any feedback on them.

However I'd like to advice you not to rely on "homemade" Spf as a reliable protection since a reliable spf is hard to obtain with the methods that are available to us and we have no way of checking that we actually achieved the amount of protection that we aimed for. You can find more opinions and information on that here in the forum. I'll also leave you a link to a thread were GartenEden shares her experience and data on sunscreen that was produced in a school project by here students click

all the best and happy formulating

[Olionerd]

HI Mirimi,
Thanks for your elaborate reply. I really appreciate. That is a lot of usefull information. Good tip about the Evening primrose oil also. it's okay to me if it smells a little bit. It's unavoidable I guess and no big deal to me. As long as there are no ingredients in my cream that strongly smell I am happy...

I did notice the glycerine contents with extracts! I prefer it when glycerine is used as a solvent (or solventless is nice). But you need to take it into account when formulating indeed. I tried pure glycerine just to see what it feels like on the skin and I wasn't liking the tackyness...

About the SPF... I am not fully into that yet. I am just aware of the fact it's not possible to do it reliably/safely at home. Such a shame . When the time comes I might decide to include SPF or not. It's better then nothing (nothing is what I used all my life). On the other hand, now that I use a daycream I burn more easily because of the oils, I noticed. So I need SPF more then before. You run the risk of relying on a failing SPF that can't be relied on. Anyway's that's maybe something to discuss more extensively in a separate thread in the subforum you mentioned. I do have some questions on the subject! Definately thanks for pointing that out Mirimi! I will read that data on the schoolproject sunscreen! (I guess the test data underscored why it's a bad idear).