After exploring the deeply sensorial ingredients that can naturally scent our cosmetics, and then the ingredients that help make our formulas feel more pro, this third part of my Handymade review is dedicated to the power of actives.
Not always the most famous ones, but those that can completely change the personality of a formula, the hidden gems I love adding in my WonderLab.
Some of them bring ancient beauty rituals back to life, like fermented rice water, but in a more stable and reliable way. Some feel like summer in a bottle, rich in carotenoids, antioxidants, and golden botanical colour. Others are useful for soothing, barrier support, hydration or skin that needs a little extra comfort.
This is the kind of ingredient selection I love the most: where nature, tradition and cosmetic science meet in a more refined way.
In this part of the review, I’ll show you 12 natural cosmetic actives that you might not know yet, but that are very worth discovering. I’ll explain what they are, why I chose them, how I use them and which formulas they inspire me to create in my WonderLab.
As always, I also remind you that you can use my 7% discount code WONDERLAB on Handymade if you want to try some of these ingredients and start building your own little WonderLab treasure shelf.
Rice water rituals, made safer and smarter
Organic Fermented Rice Water is one of those beautiful ingredients that are able to connect tradition and modern formulation. Rice water belongs to ancestral Asian beauty rituals, especially in hair care, but as I often remind on Instagram, traditional does not automatically mean safe in a cosmetic formula. Homemade rice water and herbal infusions can be lovely when made fresh and used immediately, but they are also very prone to microbial contamination and oxidation.
This is different. Handymade’s Organic Fermented Rice Water is not homemade rice water, but a controlled and safe cosmetic ingredient. Thanks to fermentation, it is richer than non-fermented rice water, with a higher content of proteins, amino acids and antioxidants. At the recommended dosage of 3%, it supports skin hydration and elasticity. In hair care it helps reduce moisture loss, making it beautiful for hair mists and light conditioners.
I especially like the idea of pairing it with inulin, a wonderful prebiotic ingredient that supports the skin and scalp microbiome with softness and a light conditioning feel. I also use to add it to solid shampoos for conditioning purposes. Together they could create a lovely biome-inspired toner or a leave on hair conditioner. You’ll hear me talk about it soon…
Summer must haves
Aloe Vera 200:1 powder is one of those ingredients I think every DIY formulator should have, especially in summer. Aloe is perfect for after sun formulas and soothing gels that you can easily prepare following this recipe. I’m already planning to create some alternative versions using the natural gums I talked about in this article. In DIY cosmetics, I prefer using aloe powder because it is more stable and safer than fresh and food grade aloe gel, which can have preservation issues.
Another summer essential is Carrot CO₂ extract in jojoba oil. It is rich in carotenoids, the beautiful orange pigments that give carrot its warm colour and antioxidant value, making it lovely for summer and after sun formulas. This extract is obtained by supercritical CO₂ extraction from organic dried carrot roots and is very effective. I also love it for its natural colour: just a small amount can give formulas a soft golden-orange tone, perfect when I want a cosmetic to feel a little more sunny and joyful… the kind of ingredient that I love having in my WonderLab!
Sea Buckthorn Pulp CO₂ extract feels like a tiny drop of golden orange love. It is especially beautiful for after sun formulas, but also for dry, sensitive, cracked, mature or stressed skin that needs nourishment and comfort. Sea buckthorn is often found in luxury cosmetics because it is naturally rich in precious lipids, carotenoids, tocopherols, sterols and palmitoleic acid, a rare fatty acid that has an incredible feel and skin barrier support properties. I love that Handymade offers it at a very accessible price, making it a smart luxury ingredient really worth having.
It can bring antioxidant, regenerating, moisturising and barrier supporting benefits to face and body cosmetics, and even hair masks or conditioners for damaged hair. And of course, I also love its intense orange-red colour!
Alpha-Bisabolol is one of those small but precious actives I use all the time… and I’m always surprised that not many people talk about it! It was actually one of the first cosmetic ingredients I ever bought and since then I have added it to almost every formula with an oil phase. I love it because it is soothing, antioxidant and useful even at low dosages. I usually add it around 0.5%, so it does not take much space, especially in emulsions where the cool-down phase can easily become too crowded. It is beautiful for sensitive, irritated, after sun and acne prone skin, where it can also give some antimicrobial support, and I also like it in deodorant formulas as a gentle supporting active.
Coenzyme Q10 is very well known in anti-aging skincare, but not everyone knows it is also a beautiful summer must have. It is a powerful antioxidant that helps fight free radicals and supports the skin after UV exposure and damage, making it especially interesting for after sun formulas and summer creams and face oils. I usually use pure Q10 powder at 0.3–0.5%. Since it is oil-soluble, I suggest dissolving it first in a small amount of oil, warming it around 40°C before adding it to the formula.
As you may have noticed, carrot CO₂ extract, sea buckthorn CO₂ extract, and Q10 can all bring a beautiful yellow/orange tone to cosmetics. I love this natural colour effect, especially in summer formulas, but they should be used with care to avoid staining the skin or clothes. I usually use carrot CO₂ and sea buckthorn CO₂ around 1–3%, depending on the formula and the intensity of the colour I want, while Q10 is normally enough at 0.3%.
Precious natural actives you may not know yet
GlucodOX Liquid is one of those hidden gem actives that immediately caught my attention. It is a CO₂ total extract of guggul, the resin of Commiphora mukul, a plant traditionally used in Ayurveda and now transformed into this precious cosmetic active. What makes it so interesting is its content of guggulsterones and guggulsterols, compounds with regenerating, antioxidant and anti-aging benefits. It’s also soothing and anti-inflammatory and traditionally used for acne prone skin as well. You can use it at 0.5–3%.
Chia Seed CO₂-to Extract is another little treasure for formulas that need barrier support and soothing. It is a total CO₂ extract from organic chia seeds, so it keeps all the properties. It has a high content of alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid, making it especially interesting for both sensitive and oily/combination skin.
Cybright G is a very interesting active to use after holidays, when the skin often comes back with uneven tone and new pigmentation spots due to UV exposure. It brighten the skin and reduces the appearance of hyperpigmentation by reducing melanogenesis, limiting melanin transfer to keratinocytes and supporting pigment degradation, making it lovely for post-summer serums and brightening formulas. Not an after sun ingredient but definitely an active to take note of for September, when we come back from holidays and want to work on those little pigmentation marks the sun may have left behind.
Oat treasures for sensitive and sun stressed skin
Oat Lipid e and AvenaPlex were impossible for me to ignore, because oat oil is one of my favourite ingredients for soothing formulas. I love it for sensitive, stressed or sun stressed skin, and also because it is non-comedogenic and has that subtle and comforting oat smell that makes a formula feel soft before it even touches the skin.
They sound very similar… so what’s the difference? Oat Lipid e is a premium oat oil, very rich in oat lipids, antioxidants, phospholipids, sterols and ceramides, perfect when you want an oil for soothing and barrier-supporting properties. AvenaPlex is the more concentrated oat lipid complex, designed as a potent active for barrier repair, hydration, soothing, anti-aging formulas and after-sun care. So, I prefer Oat Lipid e when I want the comforting lipid touch of oat in the formula, usually around 5%, and AvenaPlex when I want a more targeted oat active, at 1–1.5%.
More discoveries are coming in part 4!
More discoveries are coming in part 4 of this Handymade review and I think it will be one of the most playful chapters of all. If you missed them, go to Part 1 and Part 2 to discover even more ingredients.
We’ll open the full treasure chest and explore oils and butters you may not know yet, or at least some of them may be new little gems for your WonderLab. We’ll also talk more about the colour side of cosmetics, with an interesting trick that can make a real difference in bath bombs, and I’ll show you some lovely containers that made my formulator eyes very happy. And there is also a little surprise you probably don’t expect…
Also, I remind you that if you want to try something from Handymade, don’t forget that you can use my 7% discount code WONDERLAB to save on your order and start discovering some new ingredients for your own formulas!