New Film-Forming Complex for all day lasting youthful look
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Presented by: Jotie Saini
In today’s world, the competition to put their “best face forward” has enhanced consumer interest in improved skin appearance and they often seek instant, dramatic changes for a more youthful appearance. While invasive and minimal-to-non-invasive cosmetic procedures have become commonplace among beauty savvy consumers, many of them still prefer at-home solutions with a lower cost and risk. Some of the major reported treatment areas include undereye bags, dark circles, fine-lines and wrinkles. Therefore, various skincare technologies have been developed to tackle this challenge. For example, reactive-silicone dispersion was reported to cure on skin and form a thin film to reduce sagging and puffing of undereye bags by altering skin mechanics for tightening or firming effects. Non-reactive film-formers, e.g., silicone-resin/film-former, latex dispersions and high molecular-weight polymers, have also been effective in enhancing the Young’s Modulus of skin, reducing deep wrinkle visibility and smoothing skin or eye bags Besides polymeric film technologies, sodium silicate, present in many marketed products, also makes skin-tightening films, which can reduce eye bags and wrinkles. However, all these film technologies suffer from the lack of lasting skin firmness due to film softening, film cracking or loss of adhesion to skin over time.
To deliver immediate, dramatic and natural-looking results, lasting all day long, a film-forming complex was developed with optimal skin adhesion, using core-shell copolymer particles as adhesive fillers dispersed in a thermoplastic elastomer either in volatile oils or in W/O emulsion. The amount of thermoplastic elastomer and core-shell particles dictates the softness or hardness of the film, respectively. Modulating their ratios in the complex allowed for the formation of a film, with desired elasticity and good adhesion, upon solvent evaporation. The elasticity and soft focus of the film can be further tuned by incorporating silica and silicone elastomer in the system.
The physical chemistry of this unique film-forming complex was systematically studied through solution-rheology of the formulation and, morphological and mechanical analyses of the film, e.g., elasticity, internal stress, wear-under-abrasion, tack evolution during film formation and after drying, and resistance to water and sebum. An ex vivo skin model was used to study the filling and lifting effect by optical coherence tomography (OCT), elasticity by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and adhesion by peeling test. The efficacy of the film on skin under facial movement, in vivo, was evaluated with 3D and 4D instrumental methods by characterizing topological properties of eye bags and quantifying skin-surface strain experienced during tightening. The efficacy of the system was further tested in an array of use-tests.
The in vivo results showed an instant and dramatic improvement in skin tightness and texture, with 2-3 grade improvement in undereye bags and wrinkles (evaluated based on skin aging atlas by experts), which correlated well and was consistent with in-vitro and ex-vivo observations. Modulating the ratio of core-shell particles to thermoplastic elastomer, allowed for the tuning of parameters like viscoelasticity, adhesion and internal stress, to optimize film performance. For example, a high amount of thermoplastic elastomer in anhydrous system, resulted in a film with high strain deformation and elastic modulus, significantly improving eye bags and wrinkles from grade 5 or 4 to grade 1 or 2. However, while such a film provides remarkable smoothing of skin for over 6 hours, it is difficult to remove. To ease removability, a higher amount of core shell particles in W/O emulsion was evaluated. As a result, both strain and elastic modulus decreased, and the film was less cohesive and tightening than the previous version but could still reduce eye bags from grade 4 to grade 2. The efficacy of the film-forming system in W/O emulsion was confirmed in use-tests with about 500 consumers where they reported experiencing instant eyelift or Botox-like deep wrinkle smoothing with slight tightening, compressing, and blurring effect, with good comfort, lastingness, resistance to facial movements and easy removability.
In conclusion, a film-forming complex with tunable physical and mechanical properties was engineered to cater to the consumers’ demand for an at-home solution for instant and dramatic reduction of undereye bags, and eye/glabellar/forehead wrinkles. This novel technology paves the way for future hybrid technologies at skincare-makeup interface, offering a new possibility for consumers to temporarily combat signs of fatigue and aging with easy application and removability.
To deliver immediate, dramatic and natural-looking results, lasting all day long, a film-forming complex was developed with optimal skin adhesion, using core-shell copolymer particles as adhesive fillers dispersed in a thermoplastic elastomer either in volatile oils or in W/O emulsion. The amount of thermoplastic elastomer and core-shell particles dictates the softness or hardness of the film, respectively. Modulating their ratios in the complex allowed for the formation of a film, with desired elasticity and good adhesion, upon solvent evaporation. The elasticity and soft focus of the film can be further tuned by incorporating silica and silicone elastomer in the system.
The physical chemistry of this unique film-forming complex was systematically studied through solution-rheology of the formulation and, morphological and mechanical analyses of the film, e.g., elasticity, internal stress, wear-under-abrasion, tack evolution during film formation and after drying, and resistance to water and sebum. An ex vivo skin model was used to study the filling and lifting effect by optical coherence tomography (OCT), elasticity by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and adhesion by peeling test. The efficacy of the film on skin under facial movement, in vivo, was evaluated with 3D and 4D instrumental methods by characterizing topological properties of eye bags and quantifying skin-surface strain experienced during tightening. The efficacy of the system was further tested in an array of use-tests.
The in vivo results showed an instant and dramatic improvement in skin tightness and texture, with 2-3 grade improvement in undereye bags and wrinkles (evaluated based on skin aging atlas by experts), which correlated well and was consistent with in-vitro and ex-vivo observations. Modulating the ratio of core-shell particles to thermoplastic elastomer, allowed for the tuning of parameters like viscoelasticity, adhesion and internal stress, to optimize film performance. For example, a high amount of thermoplastic elastomer in anhydrous system, resulted in a film with high strain deformation and elastic modulus, significantly improving eye bags and wrinkles from grade 5 or 4 to grade 1 or 2. However, while such a film provides remarkable smoothing of skin for over 6 hours, it is difficult to remove. To ease removability, a higher amount of core shell particles in W/O emulsion was evaluated. As a result, both strain and elastic modulus decreased, and the film was less cohesive and tightening than the previous version but could still reduce eye bags from grade 4 to grade 2. The efficacy of the film-forming system in W/O emulsion was confirmed in use-tests with about 500 consumers where they reported experiencing instant eyelift or Botox-like deep wrinkle smoothing with slight tightening, compressing, and blurring effect, with good comfort, lastingness, resistance to facial movements and easy removability.
In conclusion, a film-forming complex with tunable physical and mechanical properties was engineered to cater to the consumers’ demand for an at-home solution for instant and dramatic reduction of undereye bags, and eye/glabellar/forehead wrinkles. This novel technology paves the way for future hybrid technologies at skincare-makeup interface, offering a new possibility for consumers to temporarily combat signs of fatigue and aging with easy application and removability.