FEATURE ARTICLES

Dr Fernando Ibarra – Dr Straetmans GmbH, Germany

Alternative preservation is becoming more and more popular, and many products that claim to be “preservative free” or “free of synthetic preservatives”, “paraben free” etc are on the market.

Isabelle Imbert Ph.D., Anne-Francoise Clay, Joel Mantelin, Karine Cucumel Ph.D. – Vincience, ISP Global Skin Research Center, France

Mitochondria play a central role in metabolism and bioenergetics, and their main macromolecular structures have been determined down to the atomic level. However, the study of mitochondria is far from exhausted. Recent understanding of the essential role of mitochondria in the ageing process has raised considerable interest in a new anti-ageing approach that involves the development of new target molecules to protect against mitochondrial ageing and dysfunction.

James J. Ramirez, Larry S. Moroni – BioChemica International, USA

Contrary to what their name might otherwise imply, exotic butters being used in cosmetic formulations are not sourced from milk and contain no dairy by-products. By definition, exotic butters are naturally occurring, plant-derived lipids that are generally solid at room temperature, but melt readily on contact with the skin. The definition has been extended to include man-made butters produced via blending of natural (plant derived) oils with fractionated or hydrogenated oils to simulate the properties of a “butter”.

Sabine Hitzel – Merck, Germany

Within the past three years the cosmetic day care sector has been extended by a new cosmetic product class which brings the summer onto our skin – even in winter time. The labels of products of this new segment often include words such as “summer”, “holiday” and “sun” in connection with “natural tan”, “light hue” and especially with “glow”. All these products provide “A touch of summer for all seasons”, and the active ingredient which is providing the light coloration is dihydroxyacetone (DHA). DHA Rapid is a new composition based on DHA, and it is especially designed for the day care market.

Ulrike Marx, Torsten Krohn – Zschimmer & Schwarz, Germany

The development of personal wash formulations made a dramatic step forward during recent years. In the last century personal wash was just a step of cleaning the skin and not really seen as being a part of body care. Mildness has been an issue but more or less just under the aspect of skin irritation via protein denaturation. Moreover in focus are moisturising properties and influence on trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL). The main point is that beside mildness of cleaning the after treatment was the one seen as the “real” skin care, the repair and care function against influences of the environment and age, and damage via cleansing processes. The latter may not have been considered as such, because of the point that detailed information about structures of the skin and influences on the skin and its functions were not known that much in detail. Today we know that one of the very important points is to respect the skin’s own protective function. We know that water loss of the skin does not only mean dry skin, but may also influence skin metabolism, which may be slower in a less moisturised tissue. This can lead to increased ageing of the skin.1

Dr Michel De Poortere – Secretary General, Centre Européen des Silicones

Silicones are a great source of inspiration for innovation and their qualities are appreciated in thousands of products from wind turbines to fireproof clothing, prosthetic limbs and green tyres. Derived from sand, silicones are a wide family of products available as fluids, emulsions, resins, elastomers, waxes and blends.

Yoshihito Kawashima, Akinori Kiso, Naoko Kishida, Yoko Ito, Nobuaki Ohto and Toshimitsu Kambara – Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd, Japan

Conspicuous pores, which can be caused by excess of sebum secretion, sagging of the skin and parakeratosis, constitute one of the major skin problems faced by women.1,2 The size of facial pores, which is indicated by total area etc, is increased with age.3 Facial pore deformation is also induced by decreased elasticity with ageing. Young women are aware of conspicuous pores on the nose, which can be caused by excess of sebum secretion. On the other hand, middle-aged women are aware of conspicuous pores on the cheek, which can be caused by decreased skin elasticity.3

Sophie Viala, Sebastian Dörr, Steffen Hofacker – Bayer MaterialScience AG, Germany

Polymeric film formers are widely used in cosmetics for various purposes. Film formers are the main active ingredients commonly used in hair fixative and styling products to hold individual hairs by creating a transparent substantive film on the hair fibres.

DIPL. ING. Katrin Steinbach, Dr Ulrich Schmidt – Eckart, Germany

Metal effect pigments have thin plateletlike particles composed of pure metals, e.g. aluminium and copper or metal alloys like bronze (copper/zinc). Unique beauty of the metallic colours derives from the play of light on the metal pigment surface caused by reflection and scattering of incident light. In the interplay with other colorants, metallic pigments are a versatile tool to adjust the shade of a colour as well as tinting strength and colour play.1 Aluminium pigments especially – as being additive to effects with many other colorants – can greatly increase the colour palette available to formulators if combined with organic absorption pigments and/or pearlescent pigments.

Mickey McDonnell – Honeywell Specialty Materials, US

What is a gel? Lots of products today are sold as gels, and many actually are correctly classified, although not all. Many people associate gels with thickness, and gels often do have that property, but not always. A gel has a distinct definition. If we know that definition and understand the basic physical principles governing gels, we will have good intuition to create and use gels to formulate better functioning and more innovative personal care products.

J.M. Carey, B. Moran, F. Shuster and B. Vondruska – Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Noveon Consumer Specialties, USA

Careful design of sensory properties can transform a skin care routine into a pleasant, memorable experience. Imagine being able to efficiently tailor sensory profiles to individual preferences. The Noveon Consumer Specialties group of Lubrizol Advanced Materials has developed visual tools that will enable formulators to easily select the appropriate products to meet desired formulation aesthetics and skin feel. These tools centre on proper selection of Carbopol polymer and Schercemol ester combinations to influence sensory properties, which is the essence of the SensiMap concept.

Marion Leschke, Wolfgang Siegert – Schülke & Mayr, Germany

The topic of preservation is always of importance to formulators and finished goods marketers. Formulators are aware of the necessity to adequately preserve their products in order to ensure product safety and be in compliance with legislation. This task is made much more difficult when marketing requirements are added to the factors influencing the preservative choice. Demands such as global approval, soft preservation, “free of…”, etc have limited the number of acceptable actives.

Kevin O’Lenick – SurfaTech Corporation, United States Tony O’Lenick – Siltech LLC, United States

A question asked by every formulator is: “How do I get the highly desirable properties of silicone in my formulation when formulating with silicone can provide its own set of problems? In short this is what we define as “The Silicone Conundrum”, an intricate and difficult problem. The selection of the proper silicone for a formulation requires the formulator to understand why the silicone is in the formula (for wetting, conditioning, emulsification, skin feel, film formation…) and which silicone provides that property most efficiently in the formula (with all the other ingredients). First and foremost, one must understand the chemistry of silicone polymers and the effect of structure on function.

Anthony C. Dweck FLS FRSC FRSH – Technical Editor

The in-cosmetics event held earlier this year in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, had the most international visitor line-up of any of the shows in the series. Well-presented stands had much to interest the visitors. The show seemed very busy and indeed it was sometimes difficult to get onto stands and make the necessary contacts.

Trevor Barker – Cornelius Group, UK

REACH, the new European Union (EU) regulation, which has its name formed from “Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals”, came into force a year ago and replaced a number of European Directives and Regulations with a single system.

PCHi, the dedicated event for the Chinese personal care and home care ingredients markets, will next be held in Guangzhou at the Jinhan Exhibition Centre (24-26 February 2009).

The event will continue to be a key networking and knowledge-driven platform with its international standard programme for hosting buyers and its first-rate conference.

Dr L. Fischer – AC Serendip, Germany Dr C. Thomas – Serendip AG, Switzerland

During recent decades, nanotechnology has become an integral part of research and development activity for cosmetic applications such as emulsions and sun care products.

Dr Jürgen Meyer – Evonik, Germany

Oil-in-water emulsions (O/W emulsions) play an important role in cosmetics: they are fundamental in the formulation of such products as body lotions, skin creams and sunscreens.

Reed Exhibitions, organiser of in-cosmetics India, has announced that Spectrum – a new show feature being launched at this year’s exhibition in Mumbai – will be rolled out in partnership with Mintel, the market research company, and Sensational Color, the US-based colour strategy consultancy.

Mickey McDonnell – Honeywell Specialty Materials, US

What is a gel? Lots of products today are sold as gels, and many actually are correctly classified, although not all. Many people associate gels with thickness, and gels often do have that property, but not always.