Bobzchemist
Forum Replies Created
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I suspect that we’ll be seeing a lot more of products like this:
http://www.eckart.net/markets/cosmetics/effects/optical-appearance/glitter.html
They won’t be able to ban glitter completely, just the plastic-based versions. If you read the article, the major concern is micro-plastic (which lead to the recent bans on plastic scrubbing micro-beads)
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Have you tried Sucragel CF?
And also, take marketing claims with a boatload of salt…
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The gold standard for TEWL reduction is actually petrolatum, if I recall correctly. Try it at 100% as a night-time product.
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I saw that too. Apparently, used long enough, it will actually dissolve finger/toe nails.
https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=27288
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-77924/re-urea-40-topical/details
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If you use a strong enough blender, you wouldn’t have to defrost the ice cubes before you start blending.
But, if you do this more than occasionally, a colloid mill might be a good purchase to look into. http://www.chemineer.com/products/greerco/colloid-mill.html
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Using a 3-roll mill is probably your best choice. Other grinding methods do not cope well with high-viscosity products like ointments.
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Two options - either reduce the particle size to the point where the spirulina doesn’t settle, or use a different green powder.
To reduce the particle size, you need to mill/grind it. For a test, you could use a coffee grinder or a kitchen blender. For production, you’d probably need something bigger. Be careful of heat buildup, though.
As an alternative, Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin works well here - of course, we use it only as a deodorizing ingredient, since it is not an approved colorant.
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Oh, and to correct a misapprehension - I said I thought 100,000 units would be a minimum order size for a large-scale contract manufacturer like Kolmar. Typical order sizes vary widely.
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There are so very many variables that it’s hard to say.
In general, for a basic standard formula made in the US without any bells and whistles, I’d expect about $0.20 - $0.30/unit, depending on color and pearl content. At that price, I’d expect full QC, guaranteed batch-to-batch shade matching, micro testing, cGMP certificate, etc. This price would slide up or down a bit depending on the number of shades in your line - buying 50 shades of 50,000 units each would be much cheaper than buying 3 or 4. But getting down to $0.04/per gram seems unrealistically low for a finished pressed powder, even if that does not include the cost of the pan.
But - at that (50,000+) level, contract negotiation comes into play. Are you willing to sign a multi-year contract with guaranteed minimum sales volumes? That could lower the price quite a bit. Would you be willing to allow the manufacturer to sub-contract out some/all of the manufacturing process to overseas manufacturers? That could also lower the price. Using a non-U.S. manufacturer entirely could also drop the price considerably (but QC then becomes a nightmare).
This is about as far as I can go without charging money for consulting, sorry.
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You will need to hire a consultant. This is an unusual project that will take quite some time to answer successfully.
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Order size discounts depend on each individual manufacturer.
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Wow.
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Can’t you just grind the urea into the anhydrous base? It’s so polar that it’s not really soluble in anything other than water or alcohol.
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5,000 units per shade is actually a very low volume order. At 0.75g per unit, that’s a 4 kilo batch, which is barely pilot plant size. Getting a custom formulation at that volume will be extremely difficult to impossible.
I would strongly recommend using a private label manufacturer instead. For your quantities, I’d estimate your costs at between $1-3 per unit including pan. If you want to use your own pans, the costs actually go up due to the need for the manufacturer to buy custom tooling.
Kolmar is a well-respected large contract manufacturer - but I’d be very surprised if they have a minimum volume per shade of less than 100,000 units.
I consult in this area myself, so I’d feel reluctant to recommend any other consultants. However, as a favor to one of my other clients who recently started up a powder manufacturing operation, I’d be willing to put you in touch with them to see if there’d be any advantage for both of you to start doing business with each other. I think there may be a lot of potential synergy in several areas.
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I learned something new. ICMAD issues GMP certificates.
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Zink, I’m a little confused - as a manufacturer, we issue our own cGMP certificates. Hypothetically, if we were to choose to claim to be a manufacturer in a case where some or all of the components of our product were not manufactured in our facility (which we would never actually do, since it would be unethical), what would stop us from issuing cGMP certificates? There’s no third party issuing, approving, or otherwise certifying these things - they are just a statement that cGMP procedures have been followed. Anyone can “issue” one - the only question is how credible the issuer is.
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No, it’s not a necessity, but without one it’s hard to see improvements in breakage as the formula is adjusted. Without one, the best you can measure is that sticks either break or they don’t.
Try using Silicone Resin (MQ Resin). It’s been known to help in situations like this: https://www.makingcosmetics.com/Silicone-Resin_p_1091.html
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Yes, it absolutely has to do with pigment particle size. On a home level, there’s not much you can do unless you buy grinding equipment or buy pre-ground pigment dispersions. A hand muller and a frosted glass grinding plate is what I usually recommend for home use. http://www.art-boards.com/Small%20Glass%20Muller.htm
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There are two methods to use monochromatics that I’ve used. I’m sure there are others:
1) Make the strongest possible monochromatics without TiO2. Make a TiO2 monochromatic. Make a colorless base without TiO2. Add monochromatics to a colorless base until your shade is where you want it. Calculate the amount of pigments used - that’s your formula. No reductions or additions are made.
Advantage: Small amounts of monochromatics can be used to adjust. Coverage can be adjusted for each shade.
Disadvantage: Harder to achieve uniform coverage across the shade range. Stability and viscosity will probably be different for each shade.2) Determine the amount of pigment you want in your batch. Determine the coverage level you want in your batch. For example, say you’ve decided on 10% pigments, 5% TiO2. Make all your monochromatics at those levels, i.e. 10% Black Iron Oxide + 5% TiO2. Make a colorless base with TiO2. (You don’t need a separate TiO2 monochromatic, since it’s in all of your monochromatics and your colorless base at the same level.) Add monochromatics to the colorless base until your shade is where you want it. Calculate the amount of pigments used - that’s your formula. Again, no reductions or additions are made.
Advantage: Easy to keep uniform coverage across the shade range.Harder to make mistakes when color adjusting. Stability and viscosity will be the same for each shade.
Disadvantage: Larger amounts of monochromatics need to be used. Coverage can’t be adjusted for each shade. Harder to achieve darker colors without chalkiness. -
The high spreading may well be what makes this work as a remover - have you tried jojoba oil or jojoba esters?
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Arginine bicarbonate may be proprietary technology and/or patented. It’s pretty advanced stuff for treating sensitive teeth. You’re skating on the edge of OTC products - not something I’d recommend.
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I don’t know. I got an urgent request from an old colleague of mine who has a VT phone number, so I just assumed they were in VT. It would make more sense for them to be in Chicago. I’m somewhat relieved, actually - Chicago isn’t a hotbed of cosmetic chemist jobs, but it’s better than being stranded in VT.
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First do what Belassi suggests.
Next, stick strength is usually improved by pouring as close to the solidification point as possible. It is also improved by cooling as rapidly as possible, so freezer cooling can be better than refrigerator cooling. Try it and see.
Do you have a breakage tester?
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I might do things differently - supply phases, methods, and percentages, but only use vague generic terms for the ingredients. If I am purchasing the ingredients myself, why should it matter to a price quote if I use one grade of microcrystalline wax over another, for example.
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Icy Hot sells a 4% lidocaine product OTC. I’ve never seen anything higher without a Rx.