Formulation Troubleshooting: Cream Separation

It sounds like you're experiencing a common challenge when combining water-soluble and oil-soluble ingredients: achieving a stable emulsion that thickens correctly. Your formula contains several water-soluble ingredients (Vitamin B3, N-Acetyl Cysteine, Mannitol, L-Carnosine, Olive Extract, Water Soluble Laurocapram, Mild Preserved Eco) and one oil-soluble ingredient (Retinyl Palmitate).

Silk Cream Maker is designed to act as both an emulsifier and thickener, helping to bind these different types of ingredients together and create a cream or lotion texture. The fact that it's separating suggests the emulsification process may not be happening effectively.

Here's a suggested approach to mixing your formulation to help achieve a stable cream:

1. Prepare the Water Phase: Combine all your water-soluble ingredients (Vitamin B3, N-Acetyl Cysteine, Mannitol, L-Carnosine, Water Soluble Laurocapram) in the water portion of your formula. Mix until everything is fully dissolved.
2. Prepare the Oil Phase: Combine your oil-soluble Retinyl Palmitate with any other oil components you might have (though none were listed, if you have a base oil, include it here). Gentle warming may be needed to fully dissolve the Retinyl Palmitate.
3. Incorporate Silk Cream Maker: Add the Silk Cream Maker to either your water phase or your oil phase, as its description indicates it can be added to either.
4. Emulsify: Slowly add the oil phase into the water phase while mixing continuously. Use a mixer that provides sufficient shear to create an emulsion, but avoid high-speed blending (above 2500 rpm) as this can damage the thickener/emulsifier polymer and cause instability.
5. Cooling and Final Additions: Once a uniform emulsion has formed and the mixture has cooled down (below 40°C), add your heat-sensitive ingredients like Olive Extract and Mild Preserved Eco.
6. Check pH: Verify the final pH of your formulation. N-Acetyl Cysteine, L-Carnosine, and Olive Extract all have recommended pH ranges (3-6, 3.5-7.0, and 4.0-6.5 respectively). Aiming for a final pH between 4.0 and 6.5 would be ideal for the stability and efficacy of most of these ingredients and is within the working range of Silk Cream Maker.

Increasing the Silk Cream Maker percentage helps with both thickening and stabilizing the emulsion, but proper mixing technique is crucial for it to work effectively. If you continue to have issues, you might consider adjusting the pH slightly within the recommended range or exploring the use of a co-emulsifier or a different primary thickener/emulsifier system, although Silk Cream Maker at 2.5% should typically be sufficient for a formula with 1% oil.

Ensure you are not over-blending, as this is a common cause of emulsion breakdown when using polymer-based emulsifiers like Silk Cream Maker.