Current Advances of Nanocarrier Technology-Based Active Cosmetic Ingredients for Beauty Applications

Abstract

Nanocarrier technology has been effectively applied to the development of drug delivery systems to overcome the limitations of traditional preparation. Its application has been extended to various pharmaceutical fields from injection preparation to oral preparation and external preparation, and now it has appeared in the field of cosmetics for beauty applications. The widespread influence of nanocarrier in the cosmetics industry is due to the fact that nanocarrier can effectively promote the percutaneous penetration and significantly increase skin retention of active components in functional cosmetics. Meanwhile, nanocarrier can effectively improve the water dispersion of insoluble active cosmetic ingredients, enhance the stability of efficacy components and achieve the codelivery of diverse cosmetics active ingredients. In this review, we summarized the current progress of nanocarrier technology in the functional cosmetics, including the types and the routes of dermal/transdermal drug delivery nanocarriers used in the functional cosmetics, the mechanism of nanocarriers promoting the percutaneous penetration of active cosmetic ingredients, the application and efficacy evaluation of different active cosmetic ingredients in nanocarriers and discussing the potential risks to human. This will provide a useful reference for the further development of nanocarriers in the field of functional cosmetics.

Keywords: active cosmetic ingredients; codelivery nanocarriers; efficacy evaluation; functional cosmetics; nanocarrier technology; skin penetration and positioning.

Figure 1

Mechanisms of nanocarriers promoting percutaneous absorption of efficacy components.

Figure 2

Schematic of the mechanism of microemulsion-mediated intercellular infiltration in the stratum corneum. In step (a) the microemulsion drop loading the drug penetrates through the porous structure of the skin. In step (b) the drug is released from the microemulsion droplet into the surrounding cell space.

Figure 3

Different mechanisms of percutaneous infiltration of liposomes. (A) Liposomes release drugs outside the stratum corneum by the hydration; (B) Lipid flakes after rupture of liposomes play a role in promoting permeability; (C) Liposomes fuse with the stratum corneum; (D) Some deformable liposomes pass through the stratum corneum in their intact form; (E) Liposomes enter the skin via hair follicles and/or sebaceous glands.

Figure 4

Mechanism of skin permeation of drug from carbon nanotubes-based formulations including electrically tuneable carbon nanotubes films, hydrogels, and carbon nanotubes polymer composite microneedles.