Coating implements with material supply – Supply container and independent applicator – Applicator includes container closure or overlies material
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2001-04-03
Walczak, David J. (Department: 3751)
Coating implements with material supply
Supply container and independent applicator
Applicator includes container closure or overlies material
C401S129000, C015S207200, C424S061000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210059
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a brush for the application of a make-up or beauty product, such as a nail varnish or a nail care product, a liquid lip product or a liquid foundation, of the kind comprising bristles which are arranged approximately parallel to each other in a tuft and are fastened to a support called a brush wand.
Nail varnishes are generally packaged in an application assembly comprising a container provided with a neck and with a stopper, wherein the stopper is integral with an applicator brush immersed, in a storage position, in the nail varnish product contained in the container.
For proper application of the nail varnish, it is important for the tuft of bristles of the brush to be uniform so as to deposit a uniform layer of varnish on the nails. However, during transportation and storage of the brush before it is packaged with the container containing the varnish product, the tuft of bristles may be deformed, for example, by one or more bristles of the tuft becoming bent or curved; the bristles are then splayed and no longer form a uniform tuft. Such a deformed tuft does not allow the product to be uniformly applied to the nails. In addition, the brush is difficult to introduce through the neck of the container, thus disturbing the proper execution of the industrial process of packaging the varnish.
To avoid deformation of the tuft of bristles, it is possible to treat the tuft of bristles, before it is packaged in the container, by impregnating it with a solution of a film-forming polymer, called a reinforcing solution. After drying, a coating of the film-forming polymer forms on the surface of the bristles, preventing the latter from becoming deformed or splayed; the bristles are thus reinforced.
The reinforcing solution must be sufficiently fluid to allow rapid impregnation of the tuft of bristles. The solution must be capable of impregnating, by capillary effect, enough of the tuft to ensure proper retention of the tuft. After being deposited on the tuft, the solution must dry rapidly in order to leave on the tuft a polymer coating that is not tacky, does not crumble and is flexible and unbrittle. The polymer coating must be able to dissolve rapidly when the tuft is immersed in the nail varnish product without disturbing the cosmetic properties of the product, or destabilizing it.
Nitrocellulose is one of the film-forming polymers most commonly used in nail varnishes in an organic solvent medium. For such varnishes, the reinforcing solution is a solution of nitrocellulose and a plasticizing agent. Nail varnishes in an aqueous medium comprising particles of film-forming polymers dispersed in the aqueous medium are also known, as described, for example, in European patent application EP-A-648,485; in these products, the film-forming polymer in the dispersed particle state is insoluble in water. To treat brushes intended for applying a water-based varnish, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer can be used as a reinforcing solution. This water-soluble polymer has a different nature from the water-insoluble film-forming polymer present in the varnish product. Unlike varnishes in a solvent medium comprising nitrocellulose, it is difficult to treat the tuft of the brush with the same film-forming polymer present in the varnish product.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a reinforced brush suitable for applying nail varnishes in an aqueous medium.
Surprisingly, the inventors have found that such a brush can be obtained by employing a particular polyvinyl alcohol to reinforce the tuft of bristles. This polymer is readily dissolved in water and makes it possible to obtain a fluid aqueous solution allowing the tuft to be rapidly impregnated; the aqueous solution deposited on the tuft dries rapidly and leaves a coating on the bristles that is not tacky and does not crumble. The bristles thus treated remain sufficiently flexible, while not splaying, and form a homogeneous tuft, even after the constraints of transporting and storing the brush before packaging it. Furthermore, after the brush has been fitted into the varnish container, the polymer coating rapidly dissolves in the varnish product containing water, without modifying the cosmetic properties of the varnish, or destabilizing the product.
Specifically, a subject of the invention is a brush for the application of a make-up or beauty product, comprising a tuft of bristles provided on a wand, characterized in that the bristles of the tuft are surface-impregnated with a partially acetylated polyvinyl alcohol comprising at least units of formulae (I) and (II):
in which the units of formula (II) are present in proportions ranging from 3 mol % to 40 mol % with respect to the polymer, the polyvinyl alcohol having a weight average molecular weight ranging from 10,000 to 190,000. In an embodiment of the invention, the bristles are approximately parallel and are fastened to the wand.
Another subject of the invention is a method of coating bristles of a tuft of a brush, for the application of a make-up product, comprising a tuft of bristles provided on a wand, characterized in that at least part of the tuft of bristles is brought into contact with an aqueous composition comprising a polyvinyl alcohol as defined above, the tuft of bristles is then removed from the composition and left to dry.
Another subject of the invention is a brush for the application of a make-up product capable of being obtained according to the method defined above.
Yet another subject of the invention is an application assembly for a nail varnish or nail care product, comprising a container provided with a neck and with a stopper integral with a brush, as defined above, which is immersed, in a storage position, in a nail varnish or nail care product including an aqueous medium contained in this container.
Still another subject of the invention is an application assembly for a nail varnish or nail care product, comprising a container provided with a neck and with a stopper integral with a brush immersed, in a storage position, in a nail varnish or nail care product contained in the container, wherein the product includes an aqueous medium containing at least one polyvinyl alcohol as defined above.
The polyvinyl alcohol used according to the invention has a weight-average molecular weight ranging from 10,000 to 190,000, preferably from 10,000 to 120,000, and even more preferably from 31,000 to 50,000, so as to obtain a reinforcing solution sufficiently fluid to be able to impregnate the tuft of bristles of the brush by capillary effect.
Advantageously, the units of formula (II) may be present in the polyvinyl alcohol in a proportion ranging from 10 to 15 mol %.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the polyvinyl alcohol consists essentially of units of formulae (I) and (II).
Usable polyvinyl alcohols according to the invention include those sold under the names “AIRVOL 203”, “AIRVOL 205”, “AIRVOL 6108”, “AIRVOL 523” AND “AIRVOL 540” by Air Products Chemical, “RHODOVIOL 4/125”, “RHODOVIOL 14/135” and “RHODOVIOL 25/140” by Rhône-Poulenc, “MOWIOL 4-88”, “MOWIOL 40-88” and “MOWIOL 18-88” by Hoechst, and “ELVANOL 51-05” and “ELVANOL 52-22” by DuPont.
The bristles of the tuft may be made of a material chosen from polyamides, polyesters, polyether-block amides, polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl chlorides, viscose, rayon, polyacetals, natural silks, and blends thereof.
The bristles making up the brush may, preferably, have a cross section inscribed in a circle (&phgr;) of diameter ranging, for example, from {fraction (4/100)} to {fraction (40/100)} of a millimeter.
According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the tuft may comprise a blend of small cross-sectional bristles, or fine bristles, and of larger cross-sectional bristles, or coarse bristles, the proportion of coarse bristles possibly ranging from 2% to 95%, and preferably from 10% to 90%, by volume with respect to the total volume of the tuft of the brush. In particular, the fine bristles may h
Lacoutiere Stéphane
Ramin Roland
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
L'Oreal
Walczak David J.
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