Functional roles of lipids in make-up products☆

Lipids are widely used in cosmetics regardless of intended application: skincare, make-up, toiletries. If they are found in all products, it is because they have many beneficial properties for the skin. A lipid is a nourishing ingredient, a penetration vector and an emollient agent all at the same time, hence, when a finished product contains lipids it allows its manufacturer to make various claims in terms of biological activity. In addition to their well-known efficacy that is often widely promoted in conferences and in scientific journals, lipids also have a structural and functional role in formulations. This is mainly what is used in makeup. Indeed, make-up products often highlight immediate performance such as brightness, matt effect, intensity of color, sumptuous consistency or length of time the make-up stays in place, but boast few results related to biological activity demonstrated in the long term such as anti-ageing, repair of the skin’s barrier, control of acne if we are talking about vitamin A ... Thus, the functional role of lipids being as great as their role of active ingredient, this publication aims to bring them out of the shadows and comprehensively set forth all the properties used in cosmetics. This article focuses on make-up products and on the lipids used in each of the textures. The reasons for which these lipids are present are detailed. The functions of each within different make-up preparations are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the new raw materials – or the old ones that are coming back into fashion – in the current context of eco-design formulations. Thus, we do not elaborate greatly on mineral waxes, ozokerite wax, paraffins, and petroleum jellies, since these are not the raw materials of the future. Changes in consumption patterns are driving formulators to replace controversial ingredients with raw materials that do not engender bad press and that have a lesser impact on the environment. We present the development of the lipids used in make-up product formulations together with the impact of the same on product performance.