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Lime Crime?
  • Curses
    Hi, Brains & Company!

    I recently came across a cosmetics company that I want to like, but the creator keeps bashing cosmetic chemists. The nerve! Anyway, she has a post on lipstick formulation on her blog, and I was wondering if anyone can tell me how realistic it is. Also, what are the machines behind her in the photo at the top?

    http://www.doedeereblogazine.com/articles/so-how-do-you-make-lipstick

    Thanks for any help!
  • Left BrainLeft Brain
    Hello Curses - The machines behind her in the photos are a mixer (looks like a Lightnin' brand mixer) and a viscometer.
    Her story sounds about right from a process standpoint.  Colors are usually chosen by Marketing people and they are given to cosmetic chemists to match.  Her story is a bit naive however.  Every manner of color has been made and there is nothing unique about what she is doing.  The reason you don't see funky colors for sale is because people don't buy them in high enough volumes for companies to make them. 
    It is not the lack of creativity of cosmetic chemists, it's the lack of influence they have on what products get launched.  Chemists make the formulas that Marketing people want to launch.  The industry is really driven by Marketing departments.  Those departments are driven by consumer research.
    Hope that makes sense.
    Incidentally, she should really be wearing safety glasses in the lab. 
  • Curses
    That makes perfect sense.

    I've worked in various bio labs since I was 15, and the whole "Scientists are boring" stereotype has been grinding on me even longer. I've just never seen it turned into a marketing scheme before. I don't understand how someone who obviously needs to enlist the aid of a cadre of scientists to create her product has the gall to act like she's on a crusade against those mean ol' lab coats. They're not trying to stifle her creativity, they're enabling it! Lipstick wouldn't exist if it weren't for creative scientists! I can't stand anyone who perpetuates the utterly misinformed idea that science and rational thought are completely divorced from creativity, art, humor, expression, etc. Of course, my favorite pair of goggles are rhinestoned, so maybe I'm just hypersensitive on this issue.
  • Curses
    Follow-up question: What's up with the "One Stroke Opacity Test"? I'd be surprised if the industry didn't already have something similar in place to test the finish/wear of a product.
  • Left BrainLeft Brain
    There are no standard industry tests like the one called the "One Stroke Opacity Test" but this is a fairly common practice of people who develop lipsticks.  During production, lipstick batches are tested for hardness (using a cone penetrometer) and for stickiness (usually a trained panelist does this).
    The problem with the One Stroke Opacity Test is that products will behave differently on different types of skin.  It may work for her skin, but others may get a different result. 
  • lelalelalelalela
    Well at least she admits she's no scientist or formulator and doesn't try to posture as some expert.
    And Left Brain, absolutely, I agree. If women didn't want a million variations on the same nude-pink to choose from, they wouldn't be there. How much business sense does it make to make products that won't sell much?
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