Cosmetics & Personal Care | Monthly bulletin | May 2023

Eurofins monthly bulletin Cosmetics and Personal Care

Is the vegetable oil you are putting on your skin safe?

Essential in cosmetics, either in pure form or incorporated into a formula, vegetable oils are ever-increasing in popularity. They are widely used for manufacturing modern skincare products, thanks to their many benefits for the skin and hair, including antioxidant, soothing, and nourishing effects, and more.

Although of natural origin, these multifunctional ingredients are not free from risk of contamination or degradation. To ensure the safety of cosmetic products according to European and national legislation, it is essential to conduct chemical analyses of the oil itself, as well as to prepare a precise risk assessment for the cosmetic more generally. Depending on the relevant focus, different testing strategies can be applied.

Contamination: May occur during the production, preparation or storage of vegetable oils and fats.
Identity: To ensure the product conforms fully with its declaration, the vegetable oil can be identified in order to detect or exclude any blending with low-quality oils. Depending on the product composition, different analytical methods can be used to provide regulatory peace of mind.
Quality parameters: Quality parameters are used to estimate the degree of freshness of the oil. Chemical reactions, such as progressive oxidation of the vegetable oil, can lead to unwanted changes in the finished product.

Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care leverages its network of analytical laboratories and experts to guarantee the safety, conformity and quality of your vegetable oils.

Analysing and preventing the presence of heavy metals in your cosmetic products

In 2021, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) published the new standard EN ISO 21392:2021 (Measurement of traces of heavy metals in cosmetic finished products using ICP/MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer technique).

Most heavy metals are listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) No.1223/2009 and are therefore forbidden in cosmetic products. However, many raw materials or manufacturing processes could be introduce heavy metals into the product. According to Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, even the unintentional presence of heavy metals in cosmetic products is only permissible if this is technically unavoidable in good manufacturing practice and, moreover, does not pose a hazard to human health. To ensure the safety of cosmetics, it is important to be aware of the potential amount of these substances in your product.

The Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care network of laboratories can offer you a complete range of tests to prevent or measure the presence of heavy metals in your cosmetic products, providing solutions to meet the regulatory requirements at each step of the product’s life cycle:

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass - Spectrometer (ICP/MS)
Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry - (FAAS)
Ion Chromatography-Liquid - Chromatography (IC-LC)
Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry and - Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AFS/AAS)
Thermal decomposition – atomic absorption spectrometry (Direct mercury analyser) following ISO 23674

Our team of experts are highly skilled at generating comprehensive, cost-effective and practical customised test plans and offers.

Express and characterise emotions

With the same embryological origin, the link between our skin and our brain is very strong. This explains the impact of skin discomfort on general wellbeing, which can lead to psychological stress. Conversely, psychological stress can itself be the cause of skin problems, due to the synthesis of stress mediators that act directly on the skin's homeostasis. Thus, cosmetic products have an influence not only on our skin, but also on our wellbeing and emotions.

Emotions are complex processes that are difficult to understand directly. In fact, there is no device to evaluate emotions. This is why objective analytical methods have been developed to take into account the different components of emotion, such as the affective sphere, the physiological sphere and the expressive sphere.

Several major components allow us to characterise emotions:

Cognitive or subjective component: Psychometric measures (validated questionnaires, Lickert-type scales, neuro-genitive tests, implicit associations, free speech structuring (text mining), etc.)
Behavioural component: Behavioural/ethological analysis (posture, gestures, facial expression, eye tracking, specific acts, vocalisations, etc.)
Physiological component: Visceral component (electrodermal response, skin temperature, cardiac activity, respiratory rate, mydriasis, hormonal levels, electromyography, electroencephalography, brain imaging, etc.)
Specific methods

This multidimensional approach allows us to measure the impact of cosmetic products, to explore the emotional dynamics at play in the use of make-up products, and even to evaluate the importance of the brand label on the packaging in terms of a client's overall satisfaction and hedonism.

In partnership with specialists in psychology and neuroscience, the Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care network of companies has been exploring the pleasure and wellbeing associated with the use of skincare, make-up and fragrance products for over 20 years.