Making a Clear and Long-Lasting Spray

Question

Hello, I used the following ingredients and the resulting spray water is white and cloudy. I want to make it clear. What should I add or reduce? The ingredients are: 1. Distilled water 92%, 2. Polysorbate 20 (Tween 20) 2%, 3. Fragrance oil 5%, 4. Phenoxyethanol 1%. Total ingredients are just these. Besides making it clear, if you have suggestions for other ingredients to buy to make it long-lasting, please advise.

MySkinRecipes Expert · Accepted Answer

Making Your Spray Clear and Long-Lasting

The cloudiness in your spray formulation is likely due to the fragrance oil not being fully dissolved in the water phase. While Polysorbate 20 is a solubilizer, the amount used (2%) might not be sufficient to solubilize 5% fragrance oil, depending on the specific fragrance.

To achieve a clear spray, you can try the following:

For Clarity:

Increase Polysorbate 20: You can try increasing the percentage of Polysorbate 20. However, achieving full clarity with 5% fragrance oil might require a relatively high amount of Polysorbate 20, which could affect the feel of the spray.
Use a More Effective Solubilizer: Consider using a dedicated fragrance solubilizer like Flora Solve™ Clear. This type of solubilizer is specifically designed to create clear solutions of fragrance oils in water. You would typically mix Flora Solve™ Clear with the fragrance oil first at a ratio of 2-5 parts solubilizer to 1 part fragrance oil, and then add this mixture to the water phase. For 5% fragrance oil, you might need around 10-25% Flora Solve™ Clear, depending on the specific fragrance. Start by testing a ratio like 3:1 or 4:1 (solubilizer:fragrance) and adjust as needed until clarity is achieved.

Remember to mix the solubilizer thoroughly with the fragrance oil before adding the water phase. Add the water phase gradually while stirring.

For Longer-Lasting Scent:

To make the scent last longer, you can consider adding a fixative or using a fragrance encapsulation technology.

Fixatives: Various ingredients can act as fixatives to help reduce the evaporation rate of the fragrance.
Fragrance Encapsulation: Services like AromaLock™ can encapsulate your fragrance oil into a water-soluble powder. This not only helps with water solubility for clear sprays but also provides controlled release of the fragrance, making the scent last significantly longer.

By adjusting the solubilizer and potentially adding a longevity enhancer, you should be able to achieve a clear spray with a more lasting fragrance.