of any kind, and artificial fragrances. Ideally, the carrier lotion should contain as few ingredients as
possible.
When you come across a good carrier lotion, buy a larger size. It’s much easier to make a large
batch of an upgraded product and distribute it among friends and relatives than count drops in order to
safely blend one ounce of a potent cream. If you have a “holy grail” product you’ve been using for
ages, you can add active ingredients to it too, provided that they mix well.
I like to play with active ingredients, using large bottles of organic body moisturizers or organic
unscented face lotions for sensitive skin. By trial and error, I figured out that the strongest players
(idebenone, hyaluronic acid, various peptides, and EGF) behave best in Burt’s Bees Carrot Skin
Lotion and Jurlique Soothing Day Care Lotion. A tiny tube of palmitoyl pentapeptide makes a
whopping 8 ounces of Strivectin-strength antiaging lotion—without the steep price.
By all means, do not try to mix too many active ingredients in one product. You may think there
isn’t such a thing as too much of a good thing, but by trying to beef up your cream with every possible
anti oxidant, you are in fact nullifying their effectiveness. Moreover, too many active ingredients have
more chances to interact and synergize in unwanted directions, leading to side effects and irritation.
Keep your formulas simple with two or a maximum of three ingredients instead of turning your cream
into a fruit salad with high irritation potential.
Green Tip
If you try to combine more than three or four active ingredients, you may end up with a product that doesn’t blend
well, separates after just three days, or is plain irritating. All your efforts go directly down the drain!
According to Dr. Sivak, a cream with added actives will last as long as the shelf life of the starting
cream. If you add more than three active ingredients, limit the shelf life to six months. Make sure you
use good-quality actives. If a botanical extract was not prepared properly, it can add a large load of
bacteria and mold to the cream, and no amount of preservatives will be enough to cope with that.
Because a home-mixed product is less expensive, you should not feel guilty when using it often and
on areas in need, like hands, neck, and décolleté, which age even faster than the face.
A Few Words of Caution
Just as you can suffer adverse reactions to conventional cosmetics, natural, homemade lotions and
potions can also trigger sensitivity. Avocado oil, essential oils, glycerin, lanolin, a simple tincture of
benzoin, sweet almond oil, and wheat germ oil have all been known to cause irritation in some
people. Be aware that when you are under stress, your skin may be more sensitive than usual.
With many active ingredients, it’s important to use the exact amounts as specified by the
manufacturer.
Make sure you use ingredients that are fresh, and, of course, organic whenever possible. As a rule
of thumb, discard any ingredient or carrier that has developed an odd smell, discoloration, or has
become foggy and uneven in texture.
Green Tip
Resist the urge to make the potion more effective by doubling the amount of the active ingredient. You may end up
with irritated, inflamed skin.
No matter how you take your green beauty—buying it ready-made, working as a couturier creating