One great thing about being a chemist is, well, chemicals. I was looking through a catalogue the other day and saw Vitamin C serum. Allegedly it’s good for the skin and being an antioxidant, slows down the aging process. Here’s an aside–I have also read that oxidants are useful in getting rid of wrinkles so there’s conflicting advice out there. However, in my case, I just wanted to make and try my own serums and knew that Vitamin C is cheap. (Make sure to get the L form as in L-ascorbic acid.)

I store my Vitamin C serums in brown bottles and try to use them within two-three weeks.

1. Super Simple Recipe

1/4 tsp Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid)

1 tbs water + 1/2 tsp

2. Moisturizing recipe

1/4 tsp Vitamin C

1/2 tsp glycerin

1 tbs Water

3. Super Moisturizing recipe

1/4 tsp Vitamin C

1/2 tsp glycerin

1/4 tsp Vitamin E

1 tbs water

Shake before using

 

4. Oil-Vitamin C

1/4 tsp Vitamin C

2 tsp water

1/2 tsp Almond oil

1/4 tsp Vitamin E

1 tablet Coenzyme Q with lechithin –cut open and add contents

Shake well.  Shake well before use.

 

Here’s another product I’ve made

Easy Eye or Night Cream (kind of greasy)

1 tbs coconut oil

1/4 tsp niacin

Mix well.

If desired, add 1/8 tsp Vitamin A. Also optional 1/8 tsp orange oil

 

As you can imagine, you will need to try a tiny bit first to make sure you don’t have a bad reaction to any of the ingredients.Vitamin C is an acid and niacin (B3) can make some people look flushed so use with caution.

I also purchased a skin cream kit from Lotion Crafters. Here’s a warning on that–the lower volume kits need amounts so small that you can’t easily weigh them out with a kitchen scale.

All in all, I enjoyed making creams and lotions.Here’s what mine looked like when I was done:

Now the real question: did I save money? On the serums yes, probably. However, my formulas don’t have the emulsifiers needed to make them super smooth. They are low budget items. On the kit from LotionCrafters, I’m not certain. Unless you are into mixing chemicals, it might not be worth it. If you don’t enjoy careful measuring, it might not be safe. But I’m into mixing and probably will make these things again.