FORMULATE A TRI-PHASE NAIL SERUM

Healthy, strong nails don’t just happen by chance—they need regular care. If you are like me, who refuses to wear gloves for washing up and, in fact, spends a lot of time washing up, you’ll know how horrible your nails, cuticles and hands can look.

This tri-phase nail serum is a fun formula that you can make with a handful of ingredients. It’s designed to hydrate, strengthen, and protect your nails and cuticles without leaving a greasy feeling behind.

So, how does it work? The tri-phase effect happens because the ingredients used have different polarities, meaning they don’t mix together. The water-based ingredients sit at the bottom; in the middle, you’ll have the castor oil, and then you’ll have a non-polar emollient. 

When you shake the bottle, the layers temporarily combine, allowing the phases to work together while applying to the nails and hands. The mixture then separates back into components, making the product so pretty. 

This serum is a unique blend of water-based hydration, rich oils, and active ingredients that work together to give your nails the best of everything. It also has a lovely skin feel. At first, I was a bit apprehensive. I don’t normally use this much castor oil in products, but this serum feels pleasant on the hands.  

Water layer: I used water as my base and added caramel colourant (organic colourant made from sugar) to achieve that gorgeous effect. I’m including the link to the sources below. I also added a little bit of panthenol and glycerine for hydration. You can add other water-soluble actives and hydrosols, too.

Middle layer: This layer is castor oil, and it has to be castor oil. In my first formula, I also used a small amount of carrot tissue oil and rosehip CO2, but some colour seeped over to the top layer. I personally didn’t mind it, but in the next round, I removed the carrot oil and kept the Rosehip CO2. 

The top layer needs to be a non-polar alkane. I used a product called Dry Touch from Aroma Zone; the INCI is dodecane. You can also use others, such as EMOGREEN™ L19 from Seppic ( INCI: C15-19 Alkane). You can’t use natural oils or even esters, as they won’t separate so clearly from the castor oil, if at all. You can also try Olive Squalane though and see how you get on. When I tried it and it was fine, perhaps the separation wasn’t so “clear”.