Lipsticks are typically made by blending and heating a mixture of waxes, oils, pigments, and other additives. Beeswax, carnauba wax, castor oil, and different colours are among the components heated together and poured into moulds to solidify. To get the lipstick's ideal colour, texture, and longevity, meticulous formulation and precision are required.
Women have worn lipstick throughout history to enhance their appearance and make them more noticeable. Lipstick may make some women feel more confident about their appearance. Others enjoy expressing their unique artistic style. Although the ingredients and colours of lipstick have changed over the centuries, lipstick has always served the same purpose: to express inner beauty externally. In terms of colour and composition, lipstick offers excellent variety and versatility. Do you ever wonder how that small stick of colour goodness came to be as you swipe on your favourite lipstick every morning? What are lipstick ingredients, and how are lipsticks made? Keep reading to learn more about lipstick preparation and the composition of lipstick.
Did You Know? The leading lipstick manufacturer in India is Ariya Impex India. By 2016, the company began manufacturing, supplying, and exporting cosmetic products, including lipstick.
Lipstick and Its History
Many symbols and stories are associated with lipstick, from power to wealth to the devil.Sumerian communities in central Iraq were the first to use lip paint in 5000 BC. The ancient Greeks, however, allegedly manufactured lipstick from sheep sweat and crocodile excrement in 700 BC, when only limited information was available about lipstick's production. Regulations regarding health and safety weren't in place back then.You might have thought that the Romans could have done better, but they focused on their lips - a type of brown algae high in mercury. As a result, their life is a high price to pay for beauty. In England, however, people who wore lipstick during the Middle Ages were seen as representing Satan since some believed that using such makeup would alter the face God had given them. Queen Elizabeth-I invented a lip pencil during her reign in the 1500s by mixing dye with the plaster of Paris. Although wearing lipstick was regarded as a royal ritual, people perceived it as witchcraft used to entice men to marry in Elizabethan times.
Over time, lipstick gained popularity despite these problematic myths. In UK and US, the Suffragettes took to the streets to fight for women's suffrage in the early 1900s, using bright and bold lip colours as a sign of defiance and rebellion. After Adolf Hitler disliked red lipstick, women often wore lipstick during WWII as an act of patriotism. There is substantial evidence for this in the posters produced by the Allies at the time.In modern times, many makeup brands employ strong tones in their advertisements, like Revlon's 'On a bad day, there's always lipstick' (2001) and Secret's 'Strong like a woman' (2007).
Ingredients of Lipsticks
Wax, oil, alcohol, and pigment comprise most of the lipstick's ingredients.
- Commonly Used Wax Types: Beeswax, candelilla wax, and carnauba wax are the three most common wax types. Using wax simplifies the process of forming the cosmetic into a shape that can be easily recognised.
- Oil Types: Besides mineral oil, castor oil, lanolin oil, or vegetable oil can also be added to the wax.
- Adding Preservatives and Antioxidants: In addition to fragrance and pigment, lipstick contains preservatives and antioxidants to prevent rancidity.
- Other Ingredients: Besides these ingredients, lipstick can also have a variety of other elements that add smoothness, glossiness, or moisture to the lips.
Similarly, there are no standard lipstick sizes or shapes and no common types or proportions of ingredients. It is imperative to note that supplemental ingredients vary greatly beyond the base ingredients (wax, oil, and antioxidants). A lipstick's characteristics are determined by the proportions of its components, which range from complex organic compounds to entirely natural ones. As with all cosmetics, lipstick selection is an individual choice, so manufacturers have responded by providing consumers with various lipstick options.The lipstick comprises 60% wax and oil, 25% alcohol, and 15% pigment (by weight). Lipstick always contains fragrance but accounts for less than 1% of the composition. There are also lip liners and pencils used to colour the lips.
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Lipstick Manufacturing Process
Lipstick manufacturing involves these five stages:
- The milling of pigments
- The combination of pigments
- The moulding
- The flaming
- The product packaging
Once placed in the tube, lipstick packaging depends on marketing strategies.
The following five steps are usually involved in the manufacture of lipstick.
1. The Milling of Pigments
The process involves selecting the desired pigment, or a combination of pigments, and carefully mixing them. A three-roll mill grinds each particle to a size of about 20 microns after combining colouring and oils. There is a standard ratio of 2 to 1 between oil and pigment.
2. Combining Pigments
Pigment and base wax liquids are mixed in one propeller-agitated steam-jacketed kettle following simple mixing of the fluids. In most cases, the resulting liquid is put through a three-roll mill again after successful mixing and then ground down to a particle size of 20 microns by a three-roll mill.
3. Moulding
This process is performed at specific temperatures to eliminate certain unwanted effects of fast cooling (sometimes called "cold marks"). During manufacturing, lipstick liquid is heated to around 80 degrees Celsius and then poured into vertical split moulds at about 35 degrees Celsius. Moulds are often tilted slightly to prevent air bubbles from forming or vacuumed to remove air forcefully.
4. Flaming
The cooled-down lipstick is extracted from the moulds and prepared for flaming (passing the sticks near open flame torches to melt the small layer of gloss around the lipstick). The procedure will improve the lipstick's appearance and protect it from external influences (lipstick can become rancid when exposed to air, moisture and heat).
5. Packaging and Labelling
Manufacturers carry out this process as per the manufacturer or brand owner's requirements.
Quality Control of Lipsticks
Quality control procedures are strict, as the product must meet FDA standards. The only cosmetic ingested is lipstick, so there is strict quality control over its ingredients and production processes. Mixing and processing lipstick takes place in a controlled environment to avoid contamination. Testing is done on incoming materials to ensure they meet specifications. To control quality, every batch produced is sampled and stored at room temperature for the product's life.
As mentioned above, lipstick's appearance as a final product is significant. Therefore, all employees involved in the manufacturing process act as inspectors and non-standard products are reworked or scrapped. Consumers inspect every tube at the retail level, and if unsatisfied, they reject it. A manufacturer's colour selection indicates the importance of colour control in lipstick. Controlling pigment dispersion when making lipstick is essential, and the colour must be checked carefully when reheated. When a batch of lipstick is reheated, the mass's colour may change due to the heat. It is possible to control the shade of lipstick numerically using colourimetric equipment.
Quality Control Tests for Lipstick
Lipstick undergoes two special tests: the Heat and the Rupture Test.
1. Heat Test: A Lipstick Heat Test involves putting the lipstick in an upright position in a holder for 24 hours at 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius). Ensure that the lipstick does not droop or distort.
2. Rupture Test: During the Rupture Test, the lipstick is extended into two holders. The lipstick portion of the holder is weighted at 30-second intervals until it ruptures. The manufacturer's standards are then checked to determine how much pressure is needed to rupture the lipstick. Each manufacturer sets its own parameters for these tests since no industry standards exist.
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Conclusion
Lipstick is the most popular and least expensive cosmetic worldwide. The lipstick market is expanding, so it is difficult to estimate current sales. The variety of lipsticks available at moderate prices continues to increase as manufacturers introduce new types and shades. There is no indication that cosmetics will stop being fashionable. This means the lipstick market will continue to grow, adding markets in other countries and diversifying those already identified.
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