Perhaps the longest-lasting cosmetic product is lipstick. Throughout history, both sexes have colored their lips at different points in time; nevertheless, the trend has come and gone according to societal perceptions of beauty. The popularity of lip-painting changed with time, reflecting the moral austerity, modesty, and/or accepted social conventions of the time.
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Even though lip coloring has been associated with negative connotations, the practice has endured. Lip color has been used to represent a variety of meanings, not all of which have to do with improving one’s appearance. For instance, historically, lip coloring has been utilized as a protest tactic to symbolize liberation and social status2.3. Women have been using it more recently to improve their natural lip color and uplift their mood, or just to seize the glitz of Hollywood for themselves. On the other hand, lipstick sales are a good indicator of people’s moods because they have also been connected to a decline in global economies.4 Lipstick serves as much more than just a cosmetic; it’s an emblem, a ritual instrument, and a signifier of femininity, expressiveness, and seduction.
Manufacturing and Combination
The color of a lipstick is unquestionably its most striking feature, and red lipstick is particularly well-known these days. One of the most well-known historical personalities is perhaps Cleopatra, who is said to have dyed her lips crimson carmine by crushing cochineal bugs.5. Additionally, it is said that Egyptians used ochre and iodine to dye their lips more than 5,000 years ago, prior to the reign of Cleopatra.Six This and other pioneering attempts at makeup application gave rise to the global preoccupation with lip color application.
Thankfully, lipstick has evolved into far more complex products since these early, rudimentary techniques of manufacture. Consumers today expect lipstick to do more than just apply color, and women seem to have higher minimum expectations for performance with every decade that goes by. This has a knock-on effect for cosmetic companies, who must continuously live up to their brand promises, product performance claims, and ability to create looks that make them stand out from the crowd. Today’s lipsticks are still recognized as descendants of the mass-produced formulas that first appeared in the middle of the 20th century and are mostly made of alcohol, waxes, oils, and pigments. The lipstick business has undergone several evolutionary cycles over its history, but the basic formula type has stayed mostly same. Each component is crucial to the structural integrity and visual appeal of a lipstick.
For instance, typical waxes like candellila, carnauba, and beeswax give the finished product shape and solidity. Therefore, the formulator must take into account the importance of balancing the appropriate wax blend. The final product’s softness is influenced by the melting point of the wax; low-melting point waxes may produce a softer stick that is difficult to retain inside its pack and causes sloppy, uncontrolled application. An too firm texture might make the application challenging, uncomfortable, and provide a negative sensory experience.
Extra Advantages
Not only may coatings prolong the wear of lipsticks, but they can also have other advantages. Alkyl silicone, for instance, can improve skin feel, wear, and compatibility with other raw ingredients. Similar advantages are provided by isopropyl titanium triisostearate, which further enhances the formulation’s compatibility with oils. Specifically, this feature improves wear qualities by enabling more pigment loading for increased color coverage. Amino acid treatment of pigments increases skin adherence, yields greater coverage, and improves comfort and softness.
Prospects for the Future
What does the future hold for lipstick wear and color effects? Trimethylsiloxysilicate (TMS) has significant promise in augmenting wear, imparting a glossy appearance, and augmenting lip adhesion. TMS is a silicone resin with a high cross-linking strength that forms films. It retains colors in place, exhibits water resistance, and enhances wear because to its net-like structure and adhesive qualities.
New compounds that alter lipstick’s compatibility with raw materials to increase its affinity with skin and transfer resistance are also emerging on the international market. Polyphenylsilsesquioxane, a cross between silicone elastomers and TMS resin, is one such instance.
Another option for extending the life of lipstick is pigment encapsulation, albeit not all capsules work well with hot-pour formulations. A wider range of active ingredients may be used to improve lipstick performance if the encapsulating technique was highly functional and heat resistant. Although “encapsulation” refers to entrapment platforms that use polyurethane as a substrate, genuine encapsulation refers to technologies based on hydrolyzed corn starch and hydrated silica, such as those that offer flavor delivery. From a flavor and pigment standpoint, there could be room for improvement in this area.
In conclusion
Wear seems to be the main factor influencing lipstick performance, but it’s not the only one. There is a growing need for multi-functional and hybrid cosmetic solutions as the distinctions between skin care and color cosmetics become increasingly hazy. The desire among consumers to get the greatest outcomes in the simplest, fastest manner is growing. Because of this, industrial formulators have an even more interesting and hard job as they search for the newest innovations that propel cutting-edge products.