Salicylic acid has been used for a number of years as a cosmetic ingredient in products. Salicylic acid is a beta-hydroxy acid and acts in a similar manner to alpha-hydroxy acids on the skin, softening the stratum corneum, increasing cell turnover in the epidermis, and increasing hydration of the epidermal layer. The beta-hydroxy acids are believed to have some superior properties over the alpha-hydroxy acids. Salicylic acid has poor solubility in water, but very good solubility in alcohol, therefore many of the earliest preparations containing salicylic acid were alcohol-based, leading to undesirable drying of the skin. More recently several companies have utilized liposomes, phospholipid vesicles, to deliver salicylic acid in cosmetic preparations. Liposomes have the disadvantages that they are expensive and difficult to prepare.
Novasome® technology is a method for encapsulating chemical ingredients to aid in formulation, increase delivery to site of action and to stabilize chemical ingredients in the formulation. Novasomes® are non-phospholipid lipid vesicles that are paucilamellar lipid spherules. Novasome® vesicles have one or several lipid bilayer membranes surrounding a large amorphous core, which can be considered to be a cargo hold for the chemical entity encapsulated. Novasome® technology has applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, personal care, food, chemical and agrochemical industries.
The application of lipid vesicle encapsulation for cosmetic ingredients is fairly widespread and has become popular as an aid to stabilize formulations, improve delivery and aesthetics, and in some cases as controlled release systems. To reduce irritancy, aid in formulation and improve delivery we encapsulated salicylic acid into Novasomes® to produce a cosmetic ingredient to be utilized by formulation chemists to deliver salicylic acid.
Advantages of Novasomes