Formulating With Montanov 68 MB

We recently received a shipment of an exciting new emulsifier: Montanov 68 MB. Also commonly nown as Vegetal, Sugarmulse or Emulgade, Montanov 68 MB has the INCI name of Cetearyl Alcohol & Cetearyl Glucoside.

It is non-ionic, and works in pH ranges of 3-10 making it pretty versatile for use in a range of different products.

For those following the HLB system it has an HLB of 10.

It employs liquid crystal technology, producing lamellar layers which mimic the lipid layers of the skin.

Leaning into Montanov 68

We couldn't wait to get our hands dirty and experiment with this emulsifier! It is really well known overseas but as many of you know, sometimes it can be a little hard to source interesting and functional ingredients in South Africa due to the high cost of shipping. So we were particularly excited to be able to get this emulsifier in stock.

When we experiment with new and unknown products we generally choose to make KISS formulations. KISS stands for Keep It Super Simple. When we have no experience working with ingredients the best way to learn is to use them in simple formulations to see how they behave, how they work with other ingredients, what they give to a product and how they feel on the skin.

Instructions on how to use Montanov 68 MB:

• Recommended usage rate: 2-8%

General Method:

1. Melt with the other oil phase ingredients to 75 degrees C.
2. Add the heated water phase into the heated oil phase.
3. Emulsify with high shear (eg. a stick blender) for 1-2 minutes. Reduce speed and stir by hand once emulsion forms.
4. Add preservative to cool down phase.

Since the recommended usage rate was 2-8%, we designed three KISS formulas to see how differing percentages of this emulsifier performed.

• 3% emulsifier, 15% oil
• 5% emulsifier, 20% oil
• 8% emulsifier, 30% oil

KISS formulas are simply the emulsifier, oil and water. We don't even bother with adding in a humectant, gum or preservative because it's just an experiment.

You can add in a gum for stability in cases where very little emulsifier is used and the formula runs the risk of splitting, but I actually like to play without it and test the limits before adding in a stabiliser.

Once you know how it plays then you can add in things like butters to adjust viscosity and feel, actives to make your formulation actually do something, a preservative for shelf life, etc.

Method & Results

Variant 1: 3% Montanov 68 MB, 15% sunflower oil, 82% water

• Method: heat water, melt emulsifier into oil, add water into oil, stir until cool down.
• Results: lotion-like, soft cream consistency. Barely any soaping effect when rubbed in, rich skin feel.
• Face feel: pretty quickly absorbed, lighter but moisturised feel.

Variant 2: 5% Montanov 68 MB, 20% sunflower oil, 75% water

• Method: heat water, melt emulsifier into oil, oil into water*, stir until cool down*Note this is different to the recommended instructions, but I didn't notice any difference in stability or end results. Meaning you can probably add oil to water or water oil.
• Results: rich, soft skin feel, whipped cream texture, minimal soaping effect.
• Face feel: lovely and soft and moisturised. This could be a really nice facial moisturiser for night time.

Variant 3: 8% Montanov 68 MB, 30% sunflower oil, 62% water

• Method: heat water, melt emulsifier into oil, water into oil, stir until cool down.
• Results: very very thick cream texture. Very rich skin feel. Slower absorbing. Almost similar to a barrier cream. In fact I think addition of a little wax or butter and it would be exactly like a barrier cream.Good for very dry skin, mature skin, babies.
• Face feel: this is a very rich and rather slow absorbing cream. Would make a very nice ultra moisturising night cream.

From left to right: Variant 1, Variant 2, and Variant 3. This shows their differences in consistency and texture.