Suggestions for Water-Free Velvet Liquid Lipstick Formula

For your water-free liquid velvet lipstick formula based on silicones and oils, and your goal to reduce the oily/slippery feel, prevent separation, and enhance color longevity, you can consider using various ingredients as follows:

1. Other Recommended Ingredients Besides Polyisobutene to Reduce Oiliness

Polyisobutene is an emollient that provides slip and film formation. If you find it too oily, you can use thickeners or gelling agents suitable for oil and silicone bases to help increase viscosity, create a gel structure, and reduce the greasy feel. Recommended ingredients include:

• Disteardimonium Hectorite: A thickener commonly used in makeup formulations. It provides good formula stability and a pleasant skin feel. It can be dispersed in oil or silicone.
• Oil Thick™ Thixotropic (Dextrin Palmitate): An oil gelling agent that creates a thixotropic gel texture. This means the gel is viscous at rest but becomes more fluid when shear force is applied (like during application), making it easy to spread and then thickening up again on the lips. It helps improve formula stability.
• Trihydroxystearin: Also provides thixotropic thickening, suitable for makeup. It increases viscosity in the oil phase, enhances color pay-off, and helps prevent pigment settling in lip gloss formulas.
• Hectorite Gel™ (Isononyl Isononanoate Base): An oil gelling agent that effectively binds and suspends pigments and powders, preventing settling and ensuring even color distribution. This contributes to formula stability and reduces separation.

These ingredients will help increase the viscosity and create a gel structure in the oil/silicone phase, making the lipstick texture thicker and less liquid/slippery compared to using only oils and silicones.

2. The Effect of Adding Rice Bran Wax

Adding Rice Bran Wax to your water-free velvet liquid lipstick formula will help increase the viscosity and stability of the texture. Rice Bran Wax has the property of absorbing oil better than some other waxes and provides a smooth texture. It also helps prevent oil separation ("sweating") in the formula. Rice Bran Wax needs to be heated to melt and incorporated into the oil/silicone phase. The amount used depends on the desired thickness and texture.

3. How to Prevent Formula Separation

Separation in a water-free liquid lipstick formula is often caused by pigment settling or insufficient thickening/structuring of the oil/silicone phases. To prevent this, use ingredients that help build structure and suspend pigments in the formula. Recommended ingredients include:

• Thickeners/Gelling agents mentioned in point 1, such as Disteardimonium Hectorite, Oil Thick™ Thixotropic, Trihydroxystearin, and Hectorite Gel™. These ingredients increase viscosity and create a strong enough gel structure to suspend pigments and prevent them from settling.
• Rice Bran Wax also helps prevent oil separation.

Choosing appropriate thickeners and ensuring thorough dispersion of pigments into the oil/silicone phase are crucial for preventing separation.

4. How to Make the Color More Long-Lasting

To make the lipstick color long-lasting and resistant to transfer, you can add a film former suitable for oil/silicone bases to your formula. Film formers create a thin film layer on the lips that holds the pigment in place and resists touch or rubbing.

• Silicone Film (Powder, Hard Film, Very Long-Wear) (Trimethylsiloxysilicate) is a powder silicone film former that provides very high durability, is waterproof, and is specifically suitable for lip products. It helps the color stay put and prevents it from coming off easily when touched or kissed. It disperses well in silicones or Isododecane/Isohexadecane.

Using a suitable film former in the correct amount will help enhance the longevity of your velvet liquid lipstick color.