Júlia Scherer Santos is a pharmacist with a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is a specialist in cosmetology and aesthetic health. She works in the areas of cosmetology, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical technology, beauty, and aesthetics. Dr. Santos also has experience as a professor of graduate courses.
Nanocosmetics are personal care products containing nanocarriers or nanoparticles. Nanocarriers have been used in sunscreens, moisturizers, perfumes, and anti-aging and hair products. These carriers increase formulation efficacy and promote controlled release of active ingredients. Polymeric nanocarriers or lipid nanocarriers containing sunscreens have enhanced ultraviolet protection. In addition, these nanocarriers protect unstable ingredients from degrading ultraviolet radiations. Furthermore, nanocarriers also impart moisturizing effect due to their reduced particle size. This chapter describes issues related to nanocarrier-based cosmetics production, characterization, and biological evaluation.
Part of the book: Beauty
Vitamin E is fundamental for a proper function of human cells. Mostly obtained from vegetable oils, it has antioxidant and non-antioxidant actions. At times, its oral intake or skin application are employed. Oral intake is recommended in some cases. Differently, the topical application is a part of daily skin routine. Both in oral or in topical formulations, it is employed in its isoforms or derivatives. Tocopherols and tocotrienols are isoforms while derivatives are synthetic forms. In pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations, vitamin E and its derivatives are widely used due to its antioxidant and photoprotective properties. However, the clinical success treatment is often impaired by its low skin penetration, high lipophilicity, and chemical instability. A rational formulation design in the development of novel vitamin E dosage forms is required. In this chapter, the most successful and innovative approaches towards Vitamin E and its derivatives loaded in formulations for skin health promotion are reviewed. Conventional and nanoparticle-based formulations enable vitamin E chemical stabilization, and they are suitable vehicles for its release on the skin. Further, nano-sized carriers can increase vitamin E content in formulations as well as favor its skin penetration.
Part of the book: Vitamin E in Health and Disease
Essentials oils from citrus have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. Furthermore, terpenes are their main phytochemicals, namely limonene is the most important one. As terpenes are permeation promoters, they have been used to improve transdermal delivery of drugs. In addition, a proper oil source is a key factor to obtain desired phytochemicals. Recently, polymeric nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, nanoemulsions, liposomes and elastic liposomes as carriers of citrus essential oils or citrus terpenes have been developed to achieve more effective formulations. In this chapter, the most recent publications on nanocarriers containing citrus oils or citrus terpenes were addressed. In that regard, citrus oil or terpenes loaded in nanotechnological systems improve drugs skin permeation. Besides, terpenes loaded in nanoparticles also increase transdermal delivery of drugs. As essential oils and their respective terpenes are volatile compound and prone to oxidation, its encapsulations reduce oxidation and volatility. Hence, an improved antioxidant activity can be obtained. Therefore, nanoformulations of citrus oils or citrus terpenes are potential approaches to skin topical and transdermal delivery.
Part of the book: Citrus Research
The improvement of stability, solubility, spreadability and skin penetration of cosmetics as well as the reduction of oxidation may be achieved by nanocarriers. In that regard, many cosmetic industries have launched nanocosmetics due to their performance improvement. Sunscreens, moisturizers and anti-aging products based on nanotechnology are available worldwide. In addition, vegetable extracts loaded into nanocarriers have also been employed as a strategy to increase their skin penetration. In this chapter, the main contributions of polymeric nanocarriers, lipid nanocarriers and vesicular nanocarriers to skin care cosmetics were approached.
Part of the book: Cosmetic Products and Industry