Evaluation of Your Lotion Making Experience

It sounds like you had a challenging but ultimately successful experience making your lotion! Based on your description and the advice from the staff, here's an evaluation of what likely happened:

1. Emulsifier Type: You used Lotion Bliss and Cetyl Alcohol. As the staff explained, these types of ingredients typically require heating both the oil and water phases to a specific temperature range (around 70-80°C) and mixing them together as they cool to form a stable emulsion.

2. Heating Method: You mentioned using a microwave for heating. Microwaves can heat unevenly and make it difficult to control the exact temperature. Overheating, especially of natural oils and extracts, can degrade them and interfere with the emulsification process, potentially leading to instability.

3. Incomplete Initial Mixing: Your observation that the blender didn't reach the bottom of the tall, narrow container is significant. This means a portion of your ingredients at the bottom likely didn't get properly mixed or emulsified initially, even though the top part looked good.

4. Triggering Separation: When you stirred up the unmixed portion from the bottom and continued blending, you introduced a part that wasn't properly incorporated into the existing emulsion structure. This disruption, combined with the potential instability from temperature issues or incomplete initial emulsification, likely caused the emulsion to break (separate).

5. Successful Recovery: Your method of pouring off the separated water and continuing to blend for a long time worked because you essentially re-emulsified the remaining mixture. By reducing the water phase and applying prolonged shear (mixing), you were able to bring the components back together into a stable form. This shows resilience in your formulation and process, even after the initial separation.

Conclusion:

The primary reason for the separation was most likely related to the temperature control required for your emulsifier system (Lotion Bliss + Cetyl Alcohol) and the method of heating (microwave), combined with the incomplete initial mixing due to the equipment not reaching the bottom of the container. Using emulsifiers that require specific heat and cooling steps demands precise temperature management.

The staff's recommendation to use Light Cream Maker is a good one for future attempts, as it is designed to work without high heat, simplifying the process and reducing the risk of temperature-related issues and degradation of heat-sensitive ingredients like natural oils and extracts.

It's commendable that you were able to troubleshoot and successfully recover your lotion! This experience provides valuable learning for future formulations.