Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Cosmetic – antiperspirant – dentifrice
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-28
2001-06-12
Dodson, Shelley A. (Department: 1616)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Cosmetic, antiperspirant, dentifrice
C424S400000, C424S059000, C514S844000, C514S847000, C514S937000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06245344
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Area of the Art
The present invention relates to dual phase products. In particular, the present invention relates to a spirally disposed dual phased composition.
Description of the Prior Art
There are thousands of facial/body gels and facial/body lotions. Some of these products are good and some are bad. Making a two-or-more-phase product in one dispensing container can be very difficult and sometimes impossible due to chemical reactions or product instability (i.e., reacting with each other).
There has been a longstanding need to overcome the inability to effectively combine multi-phase products in a single container. This issue is based in large part on the chemical and the system chemistry and incompatibility; for example, putting water and oil together. After reviewing thousands of products, we have not seen a composition effective for use as a personal care product with two or more phases disposed in one dispensing container.
Part of the reason for this is that, generally, cosmetic materials may contain various types of coloring materials such as pigments and dyes. Such coloring materials are in some cases contained as masking agents for covering coloring derived from raw materials and are in some cases contained for the purpose of providing a particular effect in relation to skin makeup which is a positive function of those coloring materials.
Since consumers have recently shown an increasingly diverse sense of appreciation in regard to the value of cosmetic material, however, cosmetic materials of this kind are now required to possess certain additional merits related to their intrinsic appeal as objects of beauty which provide pleasure in use, as well as their basic functions of being useful and effective.
One known attempt to overcome this problem involved making a main cosmetic material transparent and forming a three-dimensional pattern in the transparent cosmetic material by using coloring materials. As explored further below, this did not work as expected, and has not adequately addressed the problem solved by the present invention.
Another example is found in the preparation of two or more differently colored products such as lipsticks, with the goal being to produce a two-tone or multi-colored effect on the lips. In such instances, to achieve the desired blending effect, one color is usually applied to the lips as a base and the other color or colors superimposed thereon for contrast. The desired final effect is then achieved by blending the superimposed colors while on the lips.
Likewise, attempts have been made to produce a unitary lipstick having a plurality of colors by assembling several individual segments in side-by-side relationship and thereafter pressing the segments together to form a unitary lipstick mass. Such lipsticks, however, have met with limited commercial success and one reason may be that these lipsticks have been more difficult and expensive to produce than conventional one-color lipsticks. In practice, of course, lipsticks which are formed by molding segments of different colors into a single multi-colored tube are usually applied to the lips by using the single color of each segment such that these lipsticks merely offer the convenience of two separate colors in one unitary mass.
Thus, the problem of making a duophase or multiphase cosmetic composition has remained prominent. Inasmuch as such a composition has a potential for combining two or more functional cosmetic compositions into a single product that may be applied to a subject's face or both in one application, the commercial need for the same is ongoing.
However, with any such multifunctional, multiphase cosmetic composition it is obviously important that the formed product be functional and effective and that such be maintained, preserved, and usable over a reasonable product life span.
One particular area of concern is in containerizing and packaging a multiphase cosmetic composition. Here, it is desirable that each of the phases comprising the total product be dispensed into a container such that the respective phases are generally maintained separately, remain stable, and that in viewing the product each phase, as packaged, is visually distinct. Of principal concern is that during the proposed life of a multiphase cosmetic product, respective phases comprising the total product do not blend and mix together such that the total product in the end is nearly or substantially homogeneous.
In addition, in containerizing a multifunctional, multiphase cosmetic composition, it is important that the respective phases comprising the composition be dispensed in a manner such that the particular phases are present and occur throughout the final product such that in gathering a single application from a container, the subject is likely to gather an adequate amount of each respective phase.
Related color-based issues must also be addressed. Many cosmetic products rely on color to provide beauty enhancement. Thus, such beauty aids as foundation, blush, mascara, brow products and the like rely on color enhancement provided by these products for effectiveness. In view of the criticality of color in such applications it is desirable to present the cosmetic product, which is ultimately applied to the face or other parts of the body to highlight that color, in a way that emphasizes its color. In the past such cosmetic products, if visible at all, were presented as a colored composition. Those skilled in the cosmetic arts appreciate that if the color of the cosmetic composition could be presented in a more dramatic manner, the product would be more desirable to the purchaser. For example, presenting the color in the form of a spiral, swirl or the like, against a background of a clear or color contrasted liquid dramatically emphasizes the attractiveness of the color of the cosmetic beauty aid.
It would be relatively simple to produce an oil-based pigment phase in a clear aqueous phase or vice versa. The immiscibility of the two phases would permit the production of a cosmetic product in which the above desired, highly attractive packaging could be provided. However, the inclusion of an oil-based phase would be undesirable for at least two reasons. First, it would be difficult to combine the immiscible phases to form the complete cosmetic composition. Second, even if the two immiscible phases could somehow be combined, the product, containing a non-water-soluble phase might be difficult to remove.
Ideally, a two-phase composition should include a color phase and clear or color contrasted gel phase which are miscible. However, when attempts were made to produce such a product in the past, a two-phase composition was obtained in which the color phase bled into the gel phase, producing a product that was aesthetically unattractive.
Thus, cosmetic products have not been produced in which a color phase, highlighting the tint or color of the cosmetic composition, is disposed as a discrete color phase against a background of a clear or color contrasted gel.
To compound the problem, conventional cosmetic vehicles for skin moisturization deliver moisture to the skin only on the initial application of the cosmetic moisturizer. The need for a cosmetic, dermatologic or medicinal multiphasic vehicle that will, in addition, provide sustained skin moisturization while blocking skin moisture loss has been long felt. There has also been a need for a multiphase vehicle that can be used to provide water-soluble and lipid-soluble active ingredients, such as vitamins, plant extracts, antioxidants, proteins, polymers, oils and the like. Most cosmetic vehicles consist of emulsions.
An emulsion is known to be a dispersed system comprising at least two immiscible liquid phases (
Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences,
18th Edition, 1990). The emulsion's immiscible liquid phase is composed of droplets between 0.005 to 2000 microns in diameter, although the range of droplet diameters may be narrower (e.g., between 0.1 to 100 microns). Emulsions are known to be thermodynamically unsta
Long Daniel
Thibiant Patrick
Witwit Moe
Dodson Shelley A.
Lamm Marina
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Thibiant Patrick
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