Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Micro encapsulated retinol - how?

  • Micro encapsulated retinol - how?

    Posted by zink on December 19, 2016 at 9:45 pm

    I’m looking at a PTR formula with:

    CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, SQUALANE, WATER/AQUA/EAU, RETINOL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, ASCORBYL PALMITATE, BISABOLOL, LECITHIN, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, PENTYLENE GLYCOL, POLYSORBATE 20, ALCOHOL.

    Is this really microencapsulated or is it simply a dispersion of oil droplets with retinol in silicone not giving any time release effect?

    I see some companies use “1% micro encapsulated retinol” btw, but it’s impossible to know how much retinol that is equal to. Making cosmetics sells microencapsulated retinol with 0.005% retinol..

    jeremien replied 7 years, 2 months ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • johnb

    Member
    December 20, 2016 at 11:30 am

    I always think that microencapsulation (especially microcapsules made by coacervation) is a good way of throwing ingredients into the trash without them ever having a chance to show their effect.

    You will find that the vast majority of microcapsules in any product remain as just that - microcapsules still containing their payload - even after use.

  • zink

    Member
    December 21, 2016 at 5:20 am

    Thanks John, good point, judging from the ingredients this doesn’t seem to be much of an encapsulation, just a droplet dispersion.

  • diycosmetics

    Member
    January 9, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    I am not an expert on this but have make liposomes by mixing retinol with lecithin at high speeds. It may not have any effect on whether the retinol is “time released” but my thoughts are it helps to stabilize it since it breaks down easily.

  • jeremien

    Member
    January 16, 2017 at 10:41 am

    Dear zink,

    Indeed, the formula you send corresponds to a
    simple dispersion. Liposomes are a good option of soft encapsulation, but it
    will not give you any efficiency in term of skin penetration. Check the
    bicosome technology (www.bicosome.com), soft encapsulation able to target the
    layer of the skin where you want your active to be active.

     

    Bests, 

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