How to Make a Soothing Shimmering Body Oil formulation

Consumers love skin care with shimmer. It makes using the cosmetic feel like play.

People love to get glowing and shimmering for weddings, parties, or a special evening out.
The best part is you can make it with our fun, easy formula.

This body oil goes beyond glamour. It helps your skin look beautiful by nourishing it and keeps it feeling its best. You’ll look amazing while your shimmery body oil soothes and promotes healthy skin.

Let’s dive in and have some fun with this formula.

Since the shimmering oil has an oil base, you, the formulator, need to determine the right selection of pleasant dry oils.

Dry oils are easily absorbed by the skin, so they don’t leave the skin feeling heavy or greasy following application.

The perfect match is a larger proportion of lightweight oils with a small amount of natural plant oils.

Adding vitamins and oil-soluble extracts like tocopherol adds even more benefits to attracting consumers and boosting skin well-being.

You can start with our formula and then explore the different oils and their benefits to find the combination you like best.

We included the antioxidant tocopherol for its skin benefits and to extend the formula’s shelf life. (The antioxidant slows down the oxidative process by scavenging free radicals.)

Essential oils have a pleasant scent that your consumers welcome. If your audience are younger buyers, they may relate aroma to mental health.

This is another space where you can use your creativity based on the sensory experience you want to create.

The key ingredient in this oil is the shimmering particles called mica. This naturally occurring mineral has garnered a lot of discussion in the cosmetic industry.

It’s widely used in cosmetics.

Pros & cons of shimmer

However, some concerns exist about the sustainability and ecological impact of mica mining and processing.

Mica extraction is often linked to child labour, as discussed in an insightful podcast episode that highlights the efforts of the Responsible Mica Initiative, a global coalition.

As formulators, verifying the ethical sourcing of natural mica can be challenging.

Natural mica can be contaminated with heavy metals, posing safety concerns. Synthetic mica, however, is created through a controlled laboratory process, ensuring a product free of dangerous impurities. This results in a more uniform, easily standardized ingredient, making it a safer, more ethical choice for our cosmetics.

Although Formula Botanica focuses on organic cosmetic formulations, in this case, we chose to prioritise ethics and sustainability over the natural origin of our mica.

Trade-offs

Synthetic mica is also not a perfect choice. The podcast we hosted with the Responsible Mica Initiative highlights that the carbon footprint of synthetic mica may be even higher than naturally mined mica.

We have to make trade-offs in our ingredient choices.

As formulators, we routinely face these ingredient trade-off decisions. This is why we teach our students in our award-winning online courses to get to know their ingredients so they have the knowledge to make these choices.

We want to be completely transparent with you in this article so you can decide whether you wish to use naturally mined or synthetic mica for your own formulations.

Formulators use mica in eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, and highlighters for the glow and luminosity. For this project, we chose Ecosparks®, a mineral-based eco-glitter created using synthetic mica that is plastic-free and eco-friendly.

We love the soft skin feel. It is not abrasive and does not scratch the skin.
We added a small amount of these particles to ensure a pretty colour and just the right shimmering effect.

Ecosparks® particles are quite large, which makes them heavy. Due to the density differences between the oils and the shimmer particles, these are prone to natural separation. This happens regardless of whether you are a home formulator or a big brand.

Their size contributes to their sinking to the bottom of the container. The only way to suspend them is to thicken the formula using an oil gelling agent or a gum depending on your formulation. However, this would drastically alter the skin feel and user experience.

We chose to keep the light texture, so a gentle shake before application will ensure even distribution on the skin.

Ingredient Overview

Caprylic/ capric triglyceride  
This is a lightweight emollient moisturiser with a pleasant skin feel. It is ideal for oil-based formulations where a dry skin feel is desired.

Apricot kernel oil

Is a natural plant oil obtained from apricot kernels. It’s rich in fatty acids, vitamins, and phytosterols that let it rapidly absorb into the skin. This also helps it act as a protective moisturising agent. The vitamins, fatty acids, and phytosterols help keep skin healthy and support skin elasticity, clarity, and suppleness.

For more information on apricot kernel oil, here’s a guide to 10 botanical oils every formulator needs.

10 botanical oils every formulator needs

Watermelon seed oil

Another natural plant-derived oil rich in antioxidants like tocopherols and carotenoids. Watermelon seed oil helps protect the skin from free radical damage caused by environmental stressors such as UV radiation and pollution. You might enjoy discovering these carrier oils.

10 best winter carrier oils

Evening primrose oil

Derived from the seeds of the evening primrose plant, this oil is rich in essential fatty acids. The gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is an omega-6 fatty acid that plays a crucial role in maintaining skin health.

Essential oils

Using different combinations of essential oils will bring different benefits to the skin, along with a pleasant scent and uplifting mood. Select them for the experience you want to create. We chose mandarin and manuka for their fresh, light, sweet aroma. Before you start with essential oils, here’s valuable information on why we weigh them.

Never measure essential oils in drops

Tocopherol

This potent antioxidant helps neutralise free radicals, so it has protective benefits for the skin. It also protects the natural plant oils, essential oils, and extracts from oxidation and thus prolongs the product’s shelf life. Here’s more information on natural preservatives.

Natural preservatives

Ecosparks®  

This mica is a blend of synthetic and mineral pigments. We love that it is 100% plastic-free and eco-friendly. The particles glide on the skin with no abrasive feel. Clients will love the luxurious shimmering effect. It is available in a variety of colours. We chose gold for the luminous enhancement it offers all skin tones. 

Our formulation: Soothing, Shimmering Body Oil

Makes: Recommended batch size is approx. 100g
Formulation:  This is a cold-process formulation.
Time taken: 10 minutes.
Level: beginner-level formulation to personalise and adapt.

Equipment:

• Scales (high precision scales)
• Glass beakers
• Stainless steel spoons
• Glass rod
• Disposable pipettes
• Suitable container

Customisation

You can easily modify or personalise this shimmering body oil. Consider how you can shift your oil choices, the essential oils you include and the shimmer.

Since this oil is fully oil-based, we do not recommend adding any water-based ingredients (like humectants or active ingredients) such as glycerine. Without water, we did not need to add preservatives.

We encourage you to experiment with oils with different skin and spread feel. Find your perfect match of natural plant oils, extracts, and essential oils.

Suppliers:

Many of the suppliers below ship internationally. We show their country or regional base.

Aromazone (EU).
Aromantic (UK)
Alexmo Cosmetics (EU)
Manske (EU)
Soap Kitchen (UK)
Elemental (EU)
Lotioncrafter (USA)
Essential Wholesale (USA)
Go Native (New Zealand)
Naturally Balmy (UK)
O&3 – The Oil Family (UK, EU)
Soap & More (Canada)

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Miroslava Korenova

Miroslava is a grading tutor at Formula Botanica. She has a Ph.D in neuroscience, expertise in biology and chemistry, and a lifelong passion for natural cosmetic formulation.