How is lipstick made?

I actually never wondered how they make lipstick and I guess I am not the only one. I digged in and did a bit of researche for you guys. Lipstick has been around for a very long time now. Cleopatra used the pigment of crushed carmine beetles to paint her lips red five thousand years ago, but lipstick has evolved in time chemist and inventors tried to improve lipstick formula with many new ingredients and recipes.

Its basic formula always remains the same

In its most basic form lipstick is the mix of oils, waxes and pigments which form a mass that can easily be applied to our lips. Creating a viable formula is not an easy job, and for a good lipsticks a lot of time and sometimes hundreds variations of recipe is needed to make it perfect, and also many other substances can be introduced into the mix that will enhance certain parts of the final product and add in some new features such as fragrance, longevity and gloss. The most common secondary ingredients are preservatives, used to ensure longer shelf life. The most common lipstick manufacturing procedure is done in four stages.

Pigment milling

In which you chose desired pigment, or the combination of pigment and then carefully mix them. Then pigment is joined with oils and put through three-roll mill.

Combination of pigment phase into base wax

Is done with simple mixing of those liquids in a steam-jacketed kettle that is equipped with one propeller agitator. After successful mixing, resulting liquid is again put through three-roll mill and usually grinded down to particle sizes of 20 microns.

Molding

Is done at specific temperatures to eliminate certain unwanted products of fast cooling.. Lipsticks liquid that is heated to around 80 C is poured into vertical split molds that are kept at temperature of around 35 C. To prevent formation of air bubbles in the molds, manufacturers often use slightly tilted molds or use vacuuming to forcefully extract any air. The resulting lipstick is cooled down, extracted from the molds and prepared for flaming.This procedure will ensure better visual appearance of the lipstick, and protection from outside air and influences. Packaging and labeling is done with the requirements of the manufacturers of brand owner.

Thank you for reading

xoxo Deborah