Mixtures of polyglycerol fatty esters obtainable by partial esterification of a polyglycerol mixture consisting offrom 0 to 5% by weight of monoglycerol,from 15 to 40% by weight of diglycerol,from 30 to 55% by weight of triglycerol,from 10 to 25% by weight of tetraglycerol,from 0 to 15% by weight of pentaglycerol,from 0 to 10% by weight of hexaglycerol andfrom 0 to 5% by weight of higher polyglycerolswith one or more saturated fatty acids of 12 to 22 carbon atoms or one or more unsaturated fatty acids of 16 to 22 carbon atoms, where the unsaturated fatty acid or fatty acid mixture used may furthermore contain up to 10% by weight of saturated fatty acids of 16 to 22 carbon atoms and the degree of esterification of the saturated or unsaturated fatty acids in the mixture is from 20 to 70%, are used as emulsifiers in cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations.