Makeup Powders Preservation and Water Activity
By: Valerie Vignier, Anne-Marie Mounier and Veronique Heidet-Hommeau, Laboratoire de Biologie Végétale Yves Rocher; and Bernard Cahagnier, Expert en Microbiologie
Posted: December 23, 2005, from the January 2004 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.
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Article Keywords:
- preservation
- water activity
- equilibrium relative humidity
- makeup powders
- eyeshadow
- mold
- bacillus
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One of the problems still facing the cosmetics industry is microbiological pollution and its various consequences. For the manufacturer, contamination alters a product's organoleptic and psysiocochemical characteristics and degrades its active ingredients, which leads to a refusal of the product. For a consumer, the application of a product contaminated bty a pathogenic microorganism could result in infections, or at least could alter the balance of the skin/mucous membrane, our first barrier against infections.
Contamination may derive from a variety of sources: the raw materials, the manufacturing process, storage, packaging or use. To ensure that the microbiological quality remains good from manufacture to utilization, most products are preserved by the addition of antimicrobial agents.
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