The Beauty & Personal Care Brand Builder Series

Ingredient Deep Dive

Diisostearyl Malate

The Beauty & Personal Care Brand Builder Series

Ingredient Deep Dive

Diisostearyl Malate

The Cushiony Lip & Color Emollient

Diisostearyl Malate is a rich, viscous emollient ester prized in lip and color cosmetics for a cushiony, glossy feel and excellent pigment dispersion.

It conditions and plumps the look of lips, gives a comfortable, non-drying cushion, adds shine, and helps disperse pigments smoothly and evenly.

Quick Insights

Ingredient Rating:

GOOD

Type of Ingredient:

Emollient

Intended Function:

A rich emollient ester used for cushion, gloss and pigment dispersion in lip and color cosmetics.

Common Applications:

Used across moisturizers, serums and lotions and treatment formulas.

Target Audience:

Brands formulating lipsticks, glosses, balms and cream color cosmetics.

Also Known As:

Diisostearyl Malate

Benefits of Diisostearyl Malate

A rich emollient ester for cushiony, glossy lip and color formulas.

Cushiony Feel: Delivers a rich, comfortable, non-draggy cushion.
Glossy Finish: Adds shine and a plumped, healthy-looking finish to lips.
Pigment Dispersion: Wets and disperses pigments for smooth, even color.
Conditioning: Softens and conditions lips and skin.
Adhesion: Helps color adhere for better wear.

How It Works

Diisostearyl Malate is a branched, high-molecular-weight ester: its bulky isostearyl chains give a rich, cushiony emollience and gloss without a greasy slip, while its polarity makes it an excellent wetting agent for pigments — which is why it is a lipstick and cream-color staple.

Formulating with Diisostearyl Malate

Diisostearyl Malate is used in the oil phase of lip products, cream blushes and foundations at low to high levels for cushion, gloss and pigment dispersion. Observe good manufacturing and preservation practice.

Safety Analysis

Diisostearyl Malate is well tolerated with a strong safety profile. As always, substantiate the finished product’s safety (e.g. patch / HRIPT testing) in line with MoCRA requirements.

References

https://incidecoder.com/ingredients/diisostearyl-malate

https://cosmeticanalysis.com/cosmetic-ingredients/diisostearyl-malate

https://cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/diisostearyl-malate/

Ready to scale your next production run?

US-based private label, custom formulation, and contract manufacturing — GMP-certified and built to scale. We help established brands differentiate, reformulate, and secure reliable supply.

Explore product launch options for your brand today.

What is your primary goal?

Join the Brand Builder’s Newsletter

Sign up and access insider manufacturing strategy, product development tips, and resources to help you build a stronger brand.

Building something with this ingredient? We formulate and manufacture custom products for brands scaling in beauty and personal care. Explore our product development capabilities.