Over a decade ago, we posted this video of students making
lipsticks in the labs that LCF we posted it on YouTube with no
context at all, and called it how to make a lipstick. To this
day. It's still one of our most viewed videos ever. Because who
wouldn't want to know how to make their own lipstick? Right?
The thing is people had questions and rightfully so. I
mean, check out some of these comments because we didn't
really tell you how to make a lipstick did we? What we should
have called it is looking at our labs people are making lipsticks
if you study cosmetic science at LCF this could be you which
would have been less catchy, the more accurate last year we
celebrated 20 years of cosmetic science at LCF a unique course
which for a long time was the only one of its kind to
celebrate we've made a new version how to make a lipstick
2.0 This time with a bit more detail. Still about lipstick,
kind of obviously we can't give away all our secrets can we
in the video that was made before they were using a wax
base and added a pearlescent pigment into it. What we've done
today is gone step by step so added our waxes, our butters our
liquids that I can't castor oil and the dispersion separately,
so it's more of a from scratch this way around we can control
how much of each of the waxes to put in with Ben affects the
outcome.
It's quite easy to make in a kitchen or home a lipstick that
you would pour into a pallet or go to a and apply using a brush,
but making a lipstick that will withstand mechanical pressure
and maybe fluctuations in temperature is another kettle of
fish. We cancel out the weight of our beaker on the balance and
then we add our least stickied materials so Kansa Lea wet then
the carnauba, then the beeswax, then the shea butter, then we
add our oil so we add capric Caprylic, triglyceride, and
Castor Oil Castor Oil is the main material in our lipstick.
And this is a very commonly used material. Because it's so
stable, it has the right viscosity to create a good small
crystal wax matrix
because we can change the formulation and adjust it we can
then go on to use specialist equipment to test it. So we can
use a texture analyzer and do cantilever tests and needle
probe tests and the rheometer. And what those are all testing
at the sensory things the structure of it. We
expect students to have an interest in chemistry and
biology. However, chemistry is the main core science. But the
biology is important because we apply cosmetic products in
biological tissues, the skin and the hair. For example, the
students should have an interest in being scientists and they
should have an interest in making innovative products,
sustainable products to meet consumer demands. They will be
experts in formulation when they leave, they will know how to
create products from scratch. They will know how different
materials affect product properties, including the
properties of the product, but also the sensory properties that
we feel when we use products. They will have good analytical
skills to interpret product testing results really good
critical skills on the making of new products, students will get
a great opportunity to work in the cosmetic industry for a
whole year, a year worth of experience in the cosmetic
industry that they have when they graduate and so they will
be very employable.
Hi, my name is Amna Janine. I'm an MSc cosmetic science student
at London College of Fashion. And this is come to lab with me,
I shadow edition. First things first, we had to choose a
pigment and pearlescent. So we went on the little switching
spree and ended up going for this beautiful blue. All these
products that we have at home and use every day, but we don't
really question what goes into making them or why, why they
work how they do. It's like the perfect combination of art and
science. When you understand what's in the products and what
these raw materials are, you can make more informed decisions
about what you use, and also learning about how marketing
plays a massive role. Because when you see lots of products
and shops with big label saying silicone free preservative free,
it makes you think as a consumer that it's not supposed to have
those things but the only reason why cosmetic companies put that
on the labelling is because it's appealing to consumers and
that's the current trend.
What interests me about lipsticks and why I pursued so
much studies on it is because of the science Lipsitz can be quite
simple and they can be quite complex. And the most
fascinating thing is that when you just change the ingredients
or the ratio or the concentration of them, you can
yield completely different results. It combines both
undergrad and postgrad, which is amazing plus the placement here.
While I was doing other grad studies, I was able to have a
first complete set of tools and after my place them I applied
them but I also expanded it even more. I'm looking into replacing
certain types of ingredients with others that are a bit more
sustainable others on the market demand we're actually looking at
the substance of sustainability. There's the lifecycle analysis
or assessment which looks holistically in the in the
environmental impact of a cosmetic.
The most unique thing about this course at LCF is that it is only
on cosmetic science, taught by cosmetic scientists, supported
by cosmetic scientists. This is what we do is just cosmetic
fire.
There's no stupid questions and everyone genuinely wants to help
you. It feels like a comfortable environment to learn and to
grow.