Lotion for a greasy face

Tonight I made an attempt at an item on my wish list, the lightweight moisturizer for my face. I decided to try out an emulsifier I got a little while ago but haven't used yet: Ritamulse SCG, aka glyceryl stearate (and) cetearyl alcohol (and) sodium stearoyl lactylate. Know your INCI names, people! I accidentally just ordered some more of this because I didn't remember the INCI! Thankfully the package I have and the package on the way are both smallish.

I wanted the oils to be minimal in this lotion, so I decided to put in only 1.5% tamanu oil, and I only caved and put that one in because I've had success using a lotion containing it to help get rid of post-acne hyper-pigmentation, which I've been having a fair bit of lately. Frankly, it smells bad, and it makes the lotion smell bad, but if it does what I want it to do I'll put up with it.

I included some cetyl alcohol for oil-free moisturizing and to add some structure to the lotion; I'll definitely reduce it by 1/3 or 1/2 if I make this again, because the lotion is super thick! I think the cetearyl alcohol that is part of the emulsifier probably thickens it up just fine.

I also went a bit crazy with the goodies. I included 5% niacinamide (because of which the lotion needed to have a pH of 6), some ceramide complex, allantoin, honeyquat (oops, Susan at Point of Interest recommends not using cationics with Ritamulse SCG, but it's just a tiny bit, and it looks thick and stable so far!), silk amino acids, and hyaluronic acid. You only get one face, best to look after it! ;)

Hopefully the niacinamide helps with my post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation (PIH) a bit.

Anyway, it was a regular heat and hold process. I drizzled the water phase into the oil phase slowly while mixing (with an Ikea milk frother), per Susan's recommendation. It thickened right up almost instantly. I didn't have to mix for long since I was only making a 10 g test batch and it cooled really quickly. Once it was good and cool (also per Susan's instructions, to prevent horrible curdling), I added the cool-down ingredients and gave it another stir with the frother. It is so thick that even the frother doesn't whip air into it. I gobbed it into an airless pump container and it was ready to go!

I tried it out after having a shower and using my acne meds. It felt crazy thick and heavy going on, but after a few minutes it had, rather remarkably, settled down to a soft, somewhat powdery, and maybe very slightly waxy feel. It is really quite light once dry. It isn't the greatest spreader because it is thick and dries quickly; I didn't include any 'cones in it because I didn't know how they'd fare with this emulsifier, but I'll probably add some next time. I do love my silicones!

Overall, not too shabby.