**REVIEW** Isododecane

This is a cosmetic ingredient that I am using to "thin" out and moisturize some of my makeup:

The item is from Making Cosmetics, the same place I get my Wrinkle Blur from. While the Blur is easy to use, with this product,  I'm kind of experimenting.

Here is the description for Isododecane ("Iso" from here on out). This is straight from the product page:

"Description: Hydrocarbon that is most often used as an emollient and solvent in skin care products. Thanks to its low viscosity and density, it has a high spreadability. Colorless liquid. Water-insoluble, but completely soluble with silicones, hydrocarbons, isoparaffin & mineral spirits. CAS# 31807-55-3. INCI Name: Isododecane."  (my emphasis)

And some more info:

"Properties: Has a weightless feel on skin, enhances spreadability of products, helps prevent evaporation of water from the skin, excellent emollient and can be used as replacement to oils in emulsions. Compatible with silicones for imparting shine, slip, combability for hair care products, conditions hair & skin. Use: Can be added to formulas as is, add to oil phase, use level 2-15%. Storage: Stable when kept in a closed container at a cool & dry place. Application: Mascara, eyeliner, creams, lotions, hair care, conditioners, hairsprays, perfumes." (my emphasis)

What I plan to use it for is what a lot of laymen Cosmetics Kitchenistas seem to use it for. I'm going to be adding minute amounts to my foundations to help them spread better and also with my gel liners to help them not "clump". I also add a bit to the Vanilla-Grapefruit fragrance that I'm so in love with. I noticed that the Iso helps the scent "stay" longer. Maybe that's because of the whole evaporation prevention?

I will definitely not be using this to try getting more mileage out of my old and dried out cosmetics. It's not good to use old cosmetics - eyeliners and shadows, etc - simply because they can cause me skin issues. I won't try to tell you guys what to do with your old products, but I will suggest you be careful of them. I've read of people getting eye infections and having serious skin breakouts from working with their ancient makeup. LOL.

So far, I've had good results.

With my fragrance, I added the smallest amount I could manage. I put one drop into a 4ml vial of the fragrance.  As far as using with my makeup, I have some concealer that I use the Iso with. I will dampen only the very tip of my smallest makeup brush with the Iso, then run the brush across the concealer before applying to my skin. It really does help with diluting the concealer and making it spread better. This works for me because, even when I want more foundation coverage, I never want a heavily applied concealer. Pretty sure this might work for thinning out other creamy cosmetics. Haven't tried that yet.

The one way that I absolutely love using the Iso is when I have over-applied my mascara or get clumps on my lashes. I take a clean mascara wand (you can get these at beauty supply stores), dab on some Iso, then run the wand through your lashes to "clean" them up a bit. It also works to thin out heavy lipsticks. I have a couple of lipstick shades that I like to blend together on the back of my hand before applying to my lips. The Iso makes this easy.

I did have to get used to handling the Iso. It's very, very runny and it only takes a bit to work with. I find that best way to use it is with a clean dropper.

I haven't used the Iso with hair products yet. I'm going to experiment with it though. I know that I want to try thinning out some of the hair gel I use sometimes. What I'm thinking about is the moisture and evaporation factor. Wonder if this would help my hair retain more of the moisture I get from some products? Hmmm....

As you can tell, I'm still playing around with uses for this stuff. If any of you have used it before or have tips for using it, let me know. I'll try to keep you updated from this end.

Of course, there's a bunch of info online about the Pros and Cons of Isododecane. It's not one of the "natural" products, so I get that a lot of people might not like that. For myself, this is one of those cases where I'm going more for control of my beauty products - natural or not.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Cyclo-Dimethicone

Yes, I know. I didn't know what this was either. I still don't really know what it is, but I can tell you what it does for my hair.

This is what the product looks like:

This is This is Cyclo-Dimethicone - another one of the products I got with my birthday gift certificates, and part of my exploration into becoming a cosmetics kitchenista...

I got it because I was looking for something cheaper than the name brands items (such as those with the word "silk" on the label). My niece, whose hair runs more to a Caucasian straight texture, wanted something to condition and add shine and smoothness. For me, with my nappy locks, I was looking for something to add softness and a nice sheen. We both got what we want - though my niece has to dilute the product to keep it from being too heavy as a leave-in.

This is not a big bottle but, like I said, people with straighter/finer hair like my niece will need to dilute this with a little water before applying. I didn't dilute, but I found it worked much better when applied to wet hair.

I don't know enough about the product to know why or how it works, but I do know that it does smooth down my hair and locked in some of the moisture left from my water rinse. It also felt wonderful.

When my hair dried, adding more of the product didn't really help with anything but adding a bit of a sheen. For finer hair, the product works as well or better than the name-brand "silk" type products.

Where things got interesting was when I used this on my skin. I applied a teensy tiny bit to my hands just to see what the effects would be. The product felt amazing, but I didn't think that it did much moisturizing by itself. When I added about 3 drops to a 0.5 ounce tube of hand lotion, I loved the effects. The lotion is a good, plain, well-known brand and very affordable. Adding this product to the lotion gave my simple hand cream a little bit of oomph. The lotion became silkier and a smaller amount seemed to spread better than before. Very nice.

Though I intended to use this primarily for my hair, I think that I like it better for use on my skin. Like I mentioned, a little bit boosted my hand lotion, but I was in love with its effects body wide. After a shower, I used some regular moisturizer, then I palmed about 3 drops of the cyclo-dimethicone, rubbed it in my hands to warm it and spread it over my legs and arms. I went back and read the product description and, wow, I totally agree with the parts I boldfaced below:

Description: 100% mixture of 2 silicones dimethicone and cyclomethicone (octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane); silicones are polymers made up of oxgyen and silicon. Clear, viscous liquid, odorless. Insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, dispersible in oils and fats. CAS# 9006-65-9, 541-02-6 and 69430-24-6. INCI Name: Cyclomethicone, dimethicone. Properties: Non-greasy conditioner for skin and hair. On hair: detangles and conditions hair, improves wet and dry combing, gives softness and silky gloss. On skin: gives softness, velvety feel and lubricity, better spreadability of emulsions, makes colors better dispersible (solvent). Use: Typical use level 1 - 10% (up to 50% possible), add to oil phase of formulas but do not heated over 50C/125F. Can also be mixed into emulsions after the temperature dropped to 50C/125F. Applications: Hair and skin conditioning products as shampoos, conditioners, creams, lotions, but also color cosmetics (e. g. lipsticks, lip balms, makeup).

What I haven't yet done, but can't wait to try, is to add it to hair conditioner. I might have to add some to the leave-in spray I threw together.

As far as how long this will last, I can't say. I think it will depend on what it's used for. If I were only using this for my hair, it would last a while. I tend to moisturize my skin more than I wash my hair, so... ~shrug~ I'll have to try to remember to let you know.

The only downside to buying these Making Cosmetic products is that they are not Prime eligible, and they cannot be returned. So far, I haven't wanted to return anything I've gotten from this seller.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Vanilla Grapefruit & Coconut (fragrances by Making Cosmetics)

Instead of doing separate posts, I'm going to tell you about 2 fragrances from Making Cosmetics, all in one.

Vanilla Grapefruit & Coconut

First, my personal favorite of the two, is the Natural Vanilla Grapefruit fragrance.

Before I go on, let me share the Seller's description (with my boldfacing parts I want to highlight):

Blend of natural and synthetic fragrance, miscible in water and oil. High amounts may cloudy a clear product. Water-insoluble. CAS# none. INCI Name: Fragrance. Odor: Earthy, warm but fruity scent, well balanced. Use: Typical concentration in creams and lotions 0.2-0.5%, higher for shampoos and conditioners (1-5%). Miscible with other fragrances. Potential for discoloration of final product (dependent on cosmetic ingredients used). High amounts may cloudy a clear product. For external use only. Applications: All kinds of personal care products (e.g. creams, lotions, cleansers, shampoos, shower gels, conditioners).

I'm not sure I agree with the "fruity" part of the odor description. "Fruity" makes me think of "sweet" and this is not at all cloying. I smell the earth tones of the vanilla and the rind of grapefruit. It's a really nice combination.

The fragrance is so nice that I backed out of plans to use this as an additive to homemade personal care items. Instead, I am going to be using it almost solely as a perfume. Not only is the scent very nice, it lasts . Women who are older (okay, 50-ish) might notice how body chemistry changes affect perfume wear. For me, fragrances don't typically last forever the way they used to. Most go faint after and hour, then disappear almost entirely. This is why I have been using natural oils for fragrance. This one really lasts well and after I've had it on today for about 6 hours, I can still catch a whiff of it.

I will be ordering more of this so that I can (maybe) bring myself to use it in some hair care and bathing products. Probably, I will just keep using it all up as a perfume though! Also I have to mention that it takes very little of this to get a nice scent effect.

The Coconut fragrance is very plainly identifiable as coconut, no doubt. While some might like that for a perfume, it's my preference to use it as I intended with the Vanilla Grapefruit. I already added some to a hair moisturizer and I love the smell. The fragrance seems more potent than the V.G. scent. That might just be because coconut is such a clear fragrance. What I like about that is it took just 2 drops of it to scent one of my 18-oz bottles of (store bought) shampoo. The shampoo was originally fragrance-free, but I wanted something that smelled nice in the shower. I am going to also be adding the coconut to one of my scentless hair moisturizers that I am going to be using to make a leave-in*.

Here is the Seller's description of the Coconut fragrance:

Description: Blend of natural and synthetic fragrance, miscible in water and oil. High amounts may cloudy a clear product. Water-insoluble. CAS# none. INCI Name: Fragrance. Odor: Scent of coconuts. Use: Typical concentration in creams and lotions 0.2-0.5%, higher for shampoos and conditioners (1-5%). Miscible with other fragrances. Potential for discoloration of final product (dependent on cosmetic ingredients used). High amounts may cloudy a clear product. For external use only. Applications: All kinds of personal care products (e.g. creams, lotions, cleansers, shampoos, shower gels, conditioners).

Totally agree with their description of the fragrance. It's straight coconut, no frills, no distractions.

I could see the coconut fragrance being excellent in sesame or some other very light scented oil to use as a massage oil. The scent is definitely soothing and pleasant.  I like the idea of having that scent in hair products and bathing soaps (especially if I follow up with organic coconut oil as my moisturizer). This would also be nice as a room fragrance.

I think these are both wonderful products for adding to products or using as fragrances. I'm pretty happy that I was able to use part of my birthday gift certificates to try them out.

Speaking of "trying out" products, be aware that both these fragrances are labeled with this: "Item is Non-Returnable, Consists of Raw Materials".  And Seller tells you that right up front.

I also saw a notice of a "subscribe and save" offer for Prime members. It sounds like a great arrangement for thing like the Vanilla Grapefruit fragrance (since I would actually re-order this), however, since the Seller's products are not Prime eligible... :-(

If you are at all into being a cosmetics kitchenista (TM) Haha.. definitely check these out.

Peace
--Free

*I found several wonderful recipes online for leave-in conditioners. (I have to alert you to the awesome Naturally Curly site. Their recipes can be searched by options.) Some online recipes were from scratch, using pantry items, but my favorites were the ones using store-bought products. After checking out several recipes, I combined a few to come up with this for my use. (Keep in mind that I have, apparently, 4b/4c hair. It's very dry and kinky. I aim to ease breakage and add as much non-oily moisture as I can.)

In a spray bottle that will adjust to a fine mist (I got mine at Walmart for around a dollar), combine the following:

• 8 oz water (bottled if your tap water is hard or otherwise not great)
• apprx 1 Tbls Aussie Moist 3-in-1
• apprx 1 tsp oil (I used olive oil in one blend and in another I used non-fractionated coconut)
• a couple drops of fragrance oil

I tried the spray with the olive oil for just after I'd shampooed because it was a little heavier. For between shampoo upkeep, I did need to use a little more on my crown and nape.  I will be using the spray with the non-fractionated oil.

Next post, I will have to tell you how my Cherry Lola hair treatment went...