OIL-WATER (OR WATER-OIL) EMULSION CONTAINING SYNTHETIC POLYMER PARTICLES AS SKIN CARE PRODUCT

PRODUITS DE BEAUTE A BASE D'EMULSIONS HUILE DANS L'EAU (OU EAU DANS L'HUILE) COMPRENANT DES PARTICULES SPHERIQUES DE POLYMERES SYNTHETIQUES

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISLCOSURE
A skin-care product is disclosed which comprises an unpigmented
oil-in-water (or water-in-oil) emulsion containing from 60-90% by weight
of water and having dispersed therein from 3 to 10% by weight of
substantially spherical synthetic polymer or copolymer particles having an
average particle size in the range 5 to 15 microns.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE
IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A skin-care product in a cream or lotion form comprising an
unpigmented oil-in-water (or water-in-oil) emulsion containing from 60-90%
water by weight of emulsion, and having dispersed therein from 3 to 10% by
weight of substantially spherical synthetic polymer particles having an average
particle size in the range 5 to 15 microns, the oil being a non-volatile oil.
2. A skin-care product as claimed in claim 1, including a perfume and
containing substantially no free fatty acid.
3. A skin-care product as claimed in claim 1, containing from 3 to
5% by weight of the polymer particles.
4. A skin-care product as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2 or 3,
wherein substantially none of the polymer particles have a particle size greater
than 15 microns.
5. A skin-care product as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2 or 3,
wherein the polymer particles are polyethylene or cross-linked polystyrene or
polymethylmethacrylate microspheres.

Description

~ 99644
This invention relates to a skin-care product of cream-like
or lotion consistency, having a high water content and
containing tiny polymer particles. The product may be used
as a moisturising cream orlotion and has the advantage of
leaving the skin with a smooth feel.
Moisturising creams and lotions are widely u~sed as skin
cosmetics. They are generally unpigmented perfumed oil-
in-water emulsions (or, less commonly, water-in-oil
emulsions~ with a relatively high water content of from
about 60-9~ by weight. Such creams are absorbed by the
upper layers of skin cells, swelling them to some extent,
but otherwise leaving essentially no residual effect on
the skin other than a slight perfume. They differ from
so-called vanishing creams in that they contain essentially
no free fatty acid.
Powder products have traditionally been used for skin
smoothing purposes, the powder filling pores and fine
wrinkles on the skin surface. With the advent of polymer
technology, proposals were made to substitute polymer
particles for the powders, such as talc, used in these products.
British Specifications 774029, 818425, 1059970, 1093108,
1141994 and 1202796 all refer to the possible use of
polymer particles in cosmetics.
During the course of our investigations into the use of
polymer particles in moisturising creams or lotions we
found that spherical or substantially sphexical particles

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in the range 5 to 15 microns could be incorporated in amounts from about
3% to about 10~ by weight of the cream or lotion without adversely affecting the
stability and other desirable properties. Moreover, despite the very small
amount of polymer present, the resulting product rendered the skin particularly
smool:h and silky.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a skin-care product
comprising an unpigmented oil-in-water (or water-in-oil) emulsion containing
from 60-90% water by weight of emulsion and having dispersed therein from 3 to
10% by weight of substantially spherical synthetic polymer or copolymer
particles having an average particle size in the range 5 to 15 microns, the oil
being a non-w latile oil.
As used herein the term non-volatile oil means an oil which, when
applied as a thin film on a surface maintained at 37C does not evaporate to an
extent greater than 10% by weight of the applied quantity in a period of 3 hours.
Preferably the product should contain a perfume, and preferably
there should be substantially no free fatty acid present.
Usually the product will contain from 3 to 5% by weight of the
polymer or copolymer particles.
Preferably the polymer or copolymer particles shall have an
~0 average size of from 5 to 7 microns.
Preferably, substantially none of the polymer or copolymer
particles should exceed about 50 microns, and best results are achieved when
there are substantially no particles of a size greater than 15 microns.
r~ ~

~99644
The polymer or copolymer particles should preferably not swell
to any great extent in water or the oil used in the product.
Within thislimitation cross-linked polystyrene or polymethyl-
methacrylate microspheres would be suitable. However/ the
preferred polymer is polyethylene.
The following are Examples of the formulae of certain moisturis-
ing creams and lotions according to the invention:-
MOISTURISING LOTION (oil-in-water)
FORMULA % w/w % w/w
.
Mineral Oil 20.00 20.00
Stearic acid 4.00 4.00
Triethanolamine 1.30 1.30
Preservatives qs qs
Fragrance qs qs
Distilled water 71.70 65.70
* Polymist B-6 3.00 9.00
100. 00 100. 00
* Trade Mark

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MOISTURISING CREAM (water-in-oil)
FORMULA % w/w % w/w
Mineral Oil 22.00 22.00
Beeswax 5.00 5.00
Petroleum jelly 10.00 10.00
Cetyl alcohol 2.00 2.00
Borax 0.50 0.50
Magnesium Sulphate0.20 0.20
Preservatives qs qs
Fragrance qs qs
* Polymist B-12 3.00 9.00
Distilled water 57.30 51.30
100. 00100 . 00
* Polvmist is a Trade Mark of Allied Chemicals;
Station House, Stamford New Road, Altrincham, Cheshire
W~16 lEP, England
Polymist B-6 and B-12 are high density (0.96 gm/cc by ASTM
D-1505) polyethylene microspheres having an average particle
size o~ 6~ and 12~ respectively, a particle size range of
from 2-12f~ and 2-24J~ respectively with less than 2% and about
50~ respectiveIy o~ the particles larger than 10~ .