A new approach to powder dispersion in liquid foundations

Cosmetic formulations containing high amount of powders are a big challenge to the formulator and represent one of the most difficult compounding tasks in the cosmetic field. The problems posed by powders are due to the difficulty in handling them in the production run and in matching the selected shades during their production. More than in other cosmetic emulsions, production technology and the energy provided in the mixing steps strongly influence the final results in terms of colour and stability. In this respect things have been improved with silicone- or amino-acids coated oxides but production difficulties, concerning the addition or the side predispersion of powders remain to be solved. We describe the basic evaluations and the development work carried out with the aim of obtaining stable concentrated dispersions of pigments by employing a new polymeric dispersant. Such dispersant is a newly developed surfactant, whose good potential of wetting pigments, that was already known in other technological fields, was applied to foundations formulation and to pigment dispersion. Dispersions were prepared with several coated and uncoated pigments, both iron oxides and titanium dioxide, with various oils, at variable percentages of the emulsifier, in order to obtain the most stable suspensions using the lowest amount of emulsifier. The selected suspensions were used to prepare finished formulations.