A fatty acid ester of pentaerythritol, a pentaerythritol oligomer, or mixtures thereof, where the fatty acid has 6 to 22 carbon atoms, and the ester contains less than 0.3% by weight C17 fatty acid acyl groups and has a melting point of at least 30° C. is provided. A process for the production of a C16/C18 fatty acid pentaerythritol ester including (A) providing about 1.8 to about 2.2 mol of a fatty acid mixture per mol of pentaerythritol (B) esterifying component (A) at temperatures ranging from about 180° C. to about 250° C. in an inert gas atmosphere in the absence of solvent to form a reaction mixture (C) stirring the reaction mixture in vacuo until it has an acid value of less than 1 and an OH value of 145 to 158 is provided. A cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical composition including the above-described ester is also provided.
