How Can Liposomes Be Used in Cosmetics?

Posted by Jerry Carter on April 26th, 2022

How Can Liposomes Be Used in Cosmetics?

Liposomes have a phospholipid bilayer structure similar to cell membranes. Liposomes are closed ultramicrospheres, similar to an organelle-free artificial cell (only with cell membranes). The artificially manufactured liposome structure is also very similar to the exosomes and vesicles existing in nature. It is precisely due to this property similar to biofilm that it can be used as an efficient, safe, high bioavailability and other active ingredient carrier. Active ingredients such as drugs are delivered into cells at specific tissue sites through endocytosis and other mechanisms. After the medical drug delivery is opened for application, liposomes have also gained more and more attention in the fields of food, cosmetics, etc.

The first liposomal cosmetics were born in France, and a variety of new liposomal cosmetics have been commercialized in Europe and the United States. Many world-famous cosmetics companies are and continue to launch new liposome-containing cosmetics to the market. Unlike traditional cosmetics, functional cosmetics containing liposomes can make functional components penetrate deep cells of the skin as much as possible and can play a nutritional, protective and therapeutic role in tissues and cells for a long time. The characteristics of liposomes make cosmetics have the following characteristics:

Multiple power

Liposomes are amphiphilic and act as carriers that can bind a variety of soluble nutrients, such as water-soluble vitamin C and oil-soluble vitamin E. In addition, there are also many studies on composite liposomes, which can combine water-soluble drugs and oil-soluble drugs at the same time, expanding the nutritional components contained in cosmetics. Cosmetics containing vitamin C and vitamin E liposomes have the antioxidant capacity and can act on melanocytes in the deep layer of the skin, thereby effectively reducing skin pigmentation and enhancing the whitening and anti-wrinkle effect of cosmetics. Solid liposomes entrapped with oil-soluble and water-soluble nutrients can penetrate deep into the skin through the skin, and the encapsulated active ingredients can be deposited in the epidermis and dermis for a long time and form a reservoir of nutrients, which acts directly and persistently inside and outside the cell, thus playing a certain role in cosmetic health care of the skin (moisturizing, wrinkle removal, anti-oxidation, freckle elimination, acne prevention)

Nutrition is more long-acting

Liposomes have a certain protective effect and sustained release effect, and can effectively protect the unstable active ingredients in cosmetics, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, superoxide dismutase (SOD). The phospholipid bilayer of liposomes can effectively protect drugs and provide drug stability. In addition, the sustained release effect of liposomes can also prolong the action time of nutrients, thereby improving the action effect of cosmetics.

Ultra-strong absorption

Liposomes can make cosmetics achieve the ability of super absorption, which is mainly due to two reasons. On the one hand, due to the amphiphilic nature of liposomes, liposomes bind to the cell surface through two effects (electrostatic hydrophobic interaction and non-specific adsorption) under certain environmental conditions. In this case, liposomes can relieve adsorption with cells only under the action of proteolytic enzymes, so the time of liposome interaction with cells is prolonged, the intensity of drug action is improved, and nutrients can be more fully absorbed. On the other hand, due to the phospholipid bilayer of liposomes, its structure is similar to the bilayer membrane structure of human cells, with fusion. Liposomes can fuse its membrane into the cell membrane, thus releasing the encapsulated nutrients, so that the human body can directly and efficiently absorb the nutrients in cosmetics, so that cosmetics have ultra-strong absorption capacity.

Skin care

The makeup product containing liposome has strong skin care effect. First of all, liposomal cosmetics can enhance the moisturizing effect. After applying it to the skin, phospholipids can be lightly bonded to keratin, forming a layer of film that makes the skin surface lipophilic, so that the skin has a more comfortable and natural feeling; this layer of oily film not only makes it difficult to lose the water on the skin, but only slowly washed with detergent, but also its slight blocking effect blocks the damage of external pollutants to the skin; the combination of phospholipids and keratin is an interaction, which is different from the common humectant and has an action time.

Collected by Creative Biostructure that offers both products and services to support cosmetic formulation development with ready-to-use liposome for cosmetic, liposome manufacturing in bioactive and cosmetic grade, custom manufacturing with particular properties and Manufacturing of nano liposomes