Anti-Oxidant Essence Formulation: Solubilizer Recommendation

Based on your formulation for an anti-oxidant essence, which includes ingredients like WhiteCumin™ (Tetrahydrodiferuloylmethane) and Pure-Melatonin™, both of which have limited water solubility, you will indeed need a component to help incorporate them into your water base to achieve a clear or translucent watery essence texture.

For a watery essence, you typically do not use a traditional emulsifier, as these are designed to create thicker, opaque emulsions like creams or lotions. Instead, you need a solubilizer. A solubilizer helps to disperse oil-soluble ingredients into a water phase, often resulting in a clear or near-clear solution.

Here's a breakdown and recommendation:

• Why a Solubilizer is Needed: Ingredients like WhiteCumin™ and Pure-Melatonin™ are not fully water-soluble. While Propanediol in your formula can help as a solvent, a dedicated solubilizer is usually necessary to ensure these ingredients are evenly dispersed and remain stable in a watery format, preventing separation or cloudiness over time.
• Recommended Solubilizers: Based on the available options, suitable solubilizers for your essence formulation include:
  • Flora Solve™ Clear: This is a good option specifically designed for incorporating oils and fragrances into water bases to create clear solutions without using alcohol. It works by forming micelles that suspend the oil-soluble ingredients.
  • Ultra Solve™: This is a high-performance solubilizer capable of dissolving a wider range of oils, including more difficult-to-dissolve ones. If you find Flora Solve™ Clear is not sufficient to achieve the desired clarity or stability with your specific ingredients and concentrations, Ultra Solve™ would be a stronger alternative.
  • Free Solve™ (PEG-Free Solubilizer): If you prefer a PEG-free option, Free Solve™ is a high-performance non-ionic solubilizer that can also effectively incorporate oils into water bases for clarity.
• How to Incorporate: The general method for using a solubilizer in a watery formula is to first mix your oil-soluble ingredients (WhiteCumin™ and Pure-Melatonin™) thoroughly with the chosen solubilizer. Once these are fully dispersed or dissolved in the solubilizer, you then gradually add this mixture to your water phase (containing Propanediol and Mild Preserved Eco™), stirring until fully incorporated and clear. The usage rate of the solubilizer will depend on the specific solubilizer and the amount of oil-soluble ingredients you are trying to incorporate, but typically you would use 2-5 parts solubilizer to 1 part oil-soluble ingredient. You may need to experiment to find the optimal ratio for your specific formula.
• Other Ingredients: Propanediol at 10% will contribute to the skin feel and can help boost the solubility of some ingredients, as well as acting as a humectant. Mild Preserved Eco™ provides preservation for your formula.