Lemon &Lavender Cleansing Oleo Scrub. How to Make Oleogels with 💜Sucrose Stearate (Sisterna SP70).
I’ve been experimenting with oleogels for a few weeks now and I’m blown away by their texture, glossiness, moisturizing, cleansing properties, and multi-functionality.
Oleogels are a hot trend now and we see more and more brands coming out with some kind of version of this oil gel magic I too fell under a spell of this product.
You can make oleogel masks, cleansers, gentle scrubs, lip products, balms, and salves just with a few ingredients!
One thing that had been stopping me from formulating oleogels was the price of Sucragel and the fact that you have to use about 25% of this emulsifier to make an oleogel. Luckily for me, I dug deep into the Data Sheets of Sisterna SP 70 and found a prototype formulation for oleo gel with this emulsifier (INCI: Sucrose Stearate).
There is a Sucrose Stearate Ingredient Overview post on my Patreon and if you want to learn more about this emulsifier then consider becoming my patron and get access to many posts, formulations, and formulation cards. I also shared a formula for Silky Oleogel primer over there.
For a super basic oleogel with Sucrose Stearate you only need 3 ingredients:
🌿Glycerine (99.5%)
🌿Sucrose Stearate
🌿Oil
By changing the glycerine to Sucrose Stearate ratio you can slightly increase or decrease the viscosity of your oleogel.
For a thick oleogel like in the picture below the recommended ratio is 2% Sisterna to 45% Glycerine. As you can see the jojoba beads are beautifully dispersed through the gel and it is quite glossy.
A fun fact about Sucrose Stearate &Glycerine oleogels is that the final product is self-preserving. Naturally, it is crucial to sanitize your equipment and working area and use packaging that allows as little contact with water as possible like these tubes down below. If you do choose to package your oleogel in a jar then make sure to scoop the product out with clean, dry hands or even better a dedicated spatula.
⚠️⚠️⚠️While formulation itself is pretty simple and easy to work with, the Sucrose Stearate oleogel processing method is very important, it is still less time-consuming than Sucragel oleogels though. Remember, you should mix Sucrose Stearate with glycerine and heat in a water bath to 70-75C in a separate beaker mix the oil phase, and also heat to the same temperature. You need to have a thermometer for this stage, better two for both beakers. Once both phases have reached the desired temperature very slowly, dropwise, add the oil phase to the glycerine and sisterna phase while constantly stirring and both beakers still in a water bath. YOU CAN NOT ADD ALL THE OIL AT ONCE! Start with a few drops and stir with a spatula or a glass rod. The key is to mix in the oil properly before adding the next portion.
If you do everything right you’ll have a beautiful, glossy, thick gel. If you hurry and don’t mix your oils properly your gel will not thicken, it could separate. I highly recommend starting with cheaper oils like sunflower, sweet almond, grapeseed, or oils that are about to expire. Also, make smaller batches like 50-100g, and once you get confident you can scale up and use some luxurious oils and actives.
Feel free to substitute the oils in my formulation for oil that you have on hand. Also, CO2 extracts can also be swapped for some kind of oil.
The A-phase ingredients are absolutely crucial, without GLycerine and Sisterna Sp 70 you can not make this product. You can use Sucragel and its variations but my goal was to create an oleogel without Sucragel because it's very expensive and you need about 25% of this component to create an oleogel.
You can substitute the B-phase ingredients with a variety of different oils or just one oil and still get a nice thick gel. I do recommend sticking to light oils when making face products especially when half of the product consists of lipids.
The C-phase ingredients are completely optional. Naturally, if you want to make a scrub you need to add some kind of exfoliating particles but for a basic oleogel, you can skip this part. An antioxidant is recommended but not required. I have many CO2 extracts collecting dust in my mini lab so I decided to add them to my formulation. But you can use any oil-soluble actives (I suggested some cool oil-soluble actives in this post ) your 💜heart desire.
‼️IMPORTANT: this formulation is ‼️💜SELF-PRESERVING💜 due to its high glycerine content and the lack of water-based ingredients. However, if you plan on dipping wet fingers into the jar with this gel then it's optimal to add 0.7-1% of Euxyl PE9010. Packaging is also crucial. If you choose a squeeze tube then your product won't come into contact with water and the preservative is not necessary. Remember, antioxidant prolongs the shelf life of your oils but it won't protect your product from growing bacteria and yeast.
Basic Oleogel
A 45.00% GlycerinA 2.00% Sisterna SP70-C (Sucorse Stearate)
B 53%.00 oil
Basic Oleoscrub
A 45.00% GlycerinA 2.00% Sisterna SP70-C (Sucorse Stearate)
B 52.00% oil
C 1.00% exfoliating particles
🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿INSTRUCTIONS are very important when making oleo gels with Sisterna. Please, read them through, make notes, and try to follow them as close as you can.
1. Combine A phase ingredients in a beaker.2. Combine B ingredients in another beaker.
3. Place both beakers in a water bath and heat until they reach 70-75C. Both phases should be about the same temperature. So you do need a 🌡️thermometer at this stage.
4. Slowly (!!!)add the A phase to the oil phase and stir each time while the beakers are still in a weather bath(!!!). Slowly in this case means adding a few drops per time, especially in the beginning, and stirring vigorously but carefully between each addition of oil to the glycerin phase.
If you have a magnetic stirrer or an overhead stirrer with a hot plate you can use it to help with all the stirring. A hand mixer with a dough hook also does the job. I stirred my 100g Batch gel with a spatula and it worked just fine. But please, take your time and do not hurry. Remember, oil drops have to be completely incorporated before adding more oil. Once about half of your oil phase is added to the A phase you can add your oils in larger portions but don't dump everything at once. it won't work
5. After all the oil phase is combined with the glycerine phase take the beaker off the heat and gently stir until the mixture cools down to 40C or lower.
6. Add the C-phase ingredients and stir carefully. Package up.
What do you think about this Formula? Would you like to make one? Do you have any questions? Feel free to comment down below or reach out to me via Facebook or Instagram.
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