Why could the feel of your cosmetics be the deciding factor for customers?

Texture and sensory properties are some of the key aspects that influence the choice of personal care products by consumers. Providing a unique experience is fundamental to the success of a product in personal care. Textures not only provide a sensory experience for the consumer, but also provide a subconscious link to product performance. Capturing these effects within a formulation can win over a consumer from the first use of a product.

In recent years, multisensory products have gained popularity as texture and sensory appeal have become as important as performance attributes. These unique sensorials are mainly represented by the elastomers and silicones that exist nowadays in the market.

SILICONES

The chemistry of silicone is playing an increasingly important role in personal care and cosmetic formulations. Silicones are available in numerous forms that provide the formulator with endless possibilities to introduce softness and shine for haircare products, luxurious texture on the skin with excellent diffusion and lasting, protective effects.

For the hair, specialty silicones can provide conditioning and the ultimate hydration that repairs and restores softness, shine and manageability.

Silicones have been popular ingredients in skincare products for more than fifty years. These versatile materials are known for characteristics such as emollience, dampening and dispersion and the ability to provide a unique look. As technology continues to advance, silicones offer more and more multifunctional, high performance properties.

In this article, we review some of the newest silicone technologies available for the formulation of innovative skincare products.

Silicone Elastomers

These are often used as thickening agents favoring cold processes. They can act as stabilizers due to their inherent compatibility with a wide variety of lipophilic active ingredients, for example, perfumes, UV Filters, anti-ageing agents, amongst others. They provide silky and smooth results, reducing the stickiness of a given formulation. Its distinctive feeling on the skin has been described as dry, soft, silky and powdery. They are widely used in skincare, haircare, color, antiperspirants and sunscreen products.

Silicone elastomers favor the absorption and bioavailability of active cosmetics. In skincare applications, they have the ability to absorb various oil and grease, two of their most important properties.

Due to the characteristics of silicone elastomers absorption, various agents can be caught up within their structures, allowing them to act as management systems of active substances, which includes fragrances. The active agent is released when the gel is rubbed on the skin, with the important benefits of providing the uniquely powdery feel of the elastomer, which helps to mask undesirable feelings, such as those for propylene glycol for example.

This is also an elegant way to provide active moisturizing for the skin.

Silicone emulsifiers

There are also mixtures of dimethicones with PEG / PPG that are used as an emulsifier in the preparation of water-in-oil emulsions and silicone emulsions in water. They can be used to prepare products that contain low concentrations of wax and a high concentration of water, facilitating extensibility of skincareproducts, reducing the degree of irritation compared with commonly used emulsifiers. In addition, they provide better stability, favor cold processes and offer benefits in creams and less sticky or greasy lotions.

Silicone Resins

Currently, long-lasting products are most requested by consumers. Resins are responsible for this effect. However common resins have an extremely high hardness that in contact with the skin or lips goes so far as to dry them out.

An alternative in the cosmetics industry are silicone resins, which, like common ones, are resistant to water with remarkable non-transferable properties, but with a dusty effect when touched, flexible and soft.

Coated powders

Today there are different types of coated powder to meet the needs of the customer, from powder elastomers coated with silica, coated pigments to promote dispersion and talcs, amongst other. All these powders maintain their unique, silky and slippery feel.

These are suitable for applications in creams, lotions, gels, facial masks and products that exfoliate or offer sun protection, whitening or anti-aging benefits. There are numerous potential applications in color cosmetics, including loose and compact base powders, eye shadows, liquid bases, lipsticks and bronzers.

Advantages

• Extremely soft texture
• Excellent pigment dispersibility
• Matte finish and velvety skin for an 'airbrush' effect.
• Long-lasting
• For compact powders, compaction is favored, using less binder.
• They have the ability to moisturize the skin, acting as emollients.
• The best option for oily skin.
• Compatible with emulsions w / o, o / w and Si / w

The sensory benefits and the new textures are still profitable because low levels of use of these powders are required to bring about a sensory change. They have properties that guarantee easy distribution for good coverage. It is also important with basic products to achieve a uniform tone.

Each of these elementary categories represents a unique and beneficial sensory experience. Ingredients presented in this platform affect the texture of the formula in a distinctive and innovative way. Explore our textures and discover a universe of solutions.

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