Understanding Cream-Gel Texture and Formulating with Oil

Cream-gel is a cosmetic texture that combines the lightness and quick absorption of a gel with the moisturizing and nourishing properties of a cream. It achieves this by incorporating oil into a gel base, which requires specific ingredients that can thicken the water phase and also emulsify or stabilize the oil within the gel structure.

How to Make a Cream-Gel with Oil

To create a cream-gel that includes oil, you need a gelling agent that also possesses emulsifying or oil-stabilizing properties. These ingredients help to disperse the oil evenly throughout the water-based gel, preventing separation and creating a stable, homogenous texture.

Suitable ingredients for creating a cream-gel texture that can incorporate oil include:

• SepGEL 305: This acts as both a thickener and an emulsifier, allowing you to create a creamy texture without heat. It can incorporate up to 5% oil.
• Aristoflex AVC: This is a gel-forming agent for water formulas that can also emulsify or stabilize oil up to about 15-20%.
• CreamMaker EG: This functions as both a binder (emulsifier) and thickener, suitable for creams, lotions, and serums, and can be mixed in water.

These ingredients allow you to create a gel-like base that can hold and stabilize the oil phase, resulting in the desired cream-gel texture.

Argan Oil in Formulations: Serum or Cream-Gel?

When you include an oil like Argan Oil in a formula, the resulting texture (serum, cream-gel, lotion, or cream) depends on the other ingredients used, particularly the gelling agents and emulsifiers, and the overall proportion of oil and water.

• If you add Argan Oil to a water base using a gelling agent that can also emulsify or stabilize oil (such as SepGEL 305, Aristoflex AVC, or CreamMaker EG), you can successfully create a cream-gel texture.
• A serum can refer to a lightweight texture or a product with a high concentration of active ingredients. An oil serum would be primarily oil-based. A water-based serum that includes oil would typically require an emulsifier and might result in a light lotion or emulsion rather than a gel, unless a specific gelling emulsifier is used to maintain a gel-like consistency.

Therefore, adding Argan Oil can result in a cream-gel if you use a suitable gelling emulsifier that allows the oil to be incorporated and stabilized within the gel structure. The final texture will be a hybrid, offering the feel of a gel with the benefits of the oil.