For several years, the dynamism of the market of colour cosmetics is accompanied by a mushrooming of material effects, glitters and pearls, for example, are increasingly part of the products’ composition. Nail polishes, lipsticks, foundations, and to a lesser extent, mascaras often contain these multi-faceted particles. Even the skincare market is concerned, since some of these pigments can also be found in creams and serums.

Valued for their aesthetic properties, these particles however raise some practical issues. Indeed, their multiple reflection, their particle size, the variety of possible orientations make the control of the good reproducibility of formulas in an industrial process sometimes difficult. BYK-Gardner GmbH, a company of the Division BYK Additives & Instruments from the German Group, ALTANA, specialized in the manufacture, production and after-sales service of equipments for the measurement, control and quality assurance of coloured materials actually took a special interest in effect products developed in cosmetics.

"Since its inception in 1962, BYK-Gardner has a strong presence in the automotive field where we are the leader for measuring brightness, haze and transparency. Cosmetics accounts for, according to countries between 10 and 20% of our turnover and represents a very complementary field to our core expertise. We have worked with the biggest names in beauty to come up with new solutions to help control effects products, based on our expertise and on the very specific demands of this industry. Apply and observe a product in a repeatable manner is essential, but with no suitable equipment, this goal is difficult to achieve. Unlike the automotive industry where it is easy to spread paint, cosmetics require different protocols for each product. The constraints of a lipstick are different from those of a nail polish but also of a foundation" confirms Piéric Perret, Regional Sales Manager, BYK-Gardner France.

Methods tailored to the cosmetics

BYK-Gardner offers its customers specific application methods. They are to be used with their new multi-angle spectrophotometer, the BYK-mac that measures the colour hue, the scintillation effects as well and textures.

"It is a highly efficient equipment, the only one that gives information on the Sparkle effect. It also makes it possible to create a electronic standard corresponding to a digital fingerprint of the reference thus avoiding its use and physical conservation. This feature is very popular with our customers in particular those with multiple manufacturing sites," emphasised Perret.

Nail polishes, which are products very similar to paint are applied onto a contrast card or on false nails following a defined thickness. The contrast card displays a white side and a black side and it give information on the product’s coverage ability.

For the application of lipstick, an automatic applicator is used to spread a film of a defined thickness with a very good repeatability. To meet the different product viscosities, several tools exist The fact that it is a non-contact measurement, enables to be the closest as possible to the application of the product observed on the lips. For the bulk appearance, a spoon of the kind that is used for children syrups was developed. According to Perret, "these new methods simplify the control of lipsticks, their implementation required significant R & D studies both in-house and with our industrial partners."

Powders, foundations, emulsions, mascaras also have specific non contact measurement supports. This encompasses many formulas even if some customers dream of going even further by measuring for example the colour of a lipstick directly on the raisin. "All these methods enable to offer repeatable, fast and reliable measurements whatever the operator. We are continuing our researchwork on this subject to further facilitate the work of our customers," concluded Perret.

BYK-Gardner also offers solutions for the measurement of haze (blur) and transparency with the haze-gard plus. Two very important data material to determine the soft focus effect of a material.

With these methods within reach, controlling colours and effects will almost become a breeze.