cosmetics formulation.

to begin inventing a cosmetic product, we need to actually know the actual formulation. that is, the actual ingredients to be put and mixed in. different types of product has different types of ingredients with particular purposes. ingredients for shampoos is obviously not the same for moisturizing cream ingredients because they have different purpose in which shampoos are more focusing on cleaning. therefore, shampoos have more cleaning agent or surfactants. each of the ingredients has their own purpose and maximum percentage amount should be mixed in. less or more of the range percentage could affect the efficiency of the product. the most important thing is the base formulation where the essential ingredients should be in before we add in the active ingredients or anti-aging ingredients for example. methods to do this are basically trial and error (with reference to past formulation/journals) or using a software called Design Expert where u key in all the possible ingredients and then you get quite a number of different formulations to be experimented and the software will analyse it for u of which is the best formulation.

this is the example of moisturizing cream formulation;

moisturizing cream

ingredients:

silicones or volatile silicones (eg: cyclomethicone) 50%

emollients (oil,waxes etc) 30%

moisturizing agents (eg: glycerin) 15%

additional ingredients (plant extracts, vitamins etc) 10%

fillers (eg: starch,kaolin,talc) 10%

emulsifying agents (eg: sorbitan stearate) 5%

cosmetic colorants (eg:iron oxides) 2%

preservatives, antimicrobials 2%

viscosity controlling agents (eg: cellulose gum) 1%

parfum 1%

aqua (water) to 100%



*the percentage is the maximum level of ingredient (w/w)


Source: COLIPA guidelines : Cosmetic Frame Formulations.


the purpose of each main ingredients will be explained later.