Ask the Expert: Skin Protection For Your Natural Barrier

July 2020 

Interview with: 

Dr. David Lee

Development & Innovation Personal Care Solutions, Care Chemicals, BASF Shanghai, China 

Dr. David Lee from Development & Innovation, Personal Care Solutions, talks about rising consumer trends in skin care, the benefits of BASF’s revolutionary new ingredient launch Mimiskin™ and its broad applications.

Mimiskin™ in Today’s Skincare

Proven Benefits & Applications

Tips for Formulators

Q&A Transcript

What are the most important product trends in skin care at the present?

Consumers are becoming more and more conscious of their health, in which skincare plays an integral role. They are no longer seeking one specific benefit from products they use, but a multitude of them that enables them to achieve a healthy look. We are increasingly seeing how consumers now expect to be technologically advanced, long-lasting, proven safe and sensitive skin-friendly and effective in repairing and protecting the skin from external aggressions.

Major market trends include anti-pollution, “derma” skincare, and the incorporation of high technology to improve the delivery of quickly perceivable results as well as lighter, no-burden formulations.  Hence, as our urban lifestyles evolve, we expect consumers awareness in the selection of skincare productions to continue or even accelerate.

What is Mimiskin™ and how is it “skin-mimicking”?

Seeing the rising trend in all-round skin protection, we have created a solution that resonates with urban consumers top needs – protection against dehydration and external aggressions.  Mimiskin™ is created based on advanced nanoparticle technology, which is protected under BASF IP. They are what create the magic. The structure and function of Mimiskin™ highly resembles the intercellular lipids in stratum corneum and forms a skin-fitting invisible film that protects our natural barrier.

As for classification, it is under oleochemical group. It is classified as an emollient, a lipidic film former.

Can we compare Mimiskin™ with ceramides? Which one is better in repairing the skin barrier?

The working mechanisms of ceramides and Mimiskin™ are very different. The way they repair our skin is also very different. Thus, it is not suitable to say which is better, because ceramide can exhibit mid-term skin barrier enhancement and Mimiskin can exhibit instant skin barrier enhancement. It could even be possible that combining the two can give a synergistic effect in the skin barrier function enhancement.

How does Mimiskin™ work?

When we apply Mimiskin™, the first thing that happens is that it melts on our skin. This is a very special feature. As Mimiskin™ melts on the skin, its particles form a film. With its unique melting point shifting behaviour, the melting point then shifts from 32⁰C to 38⁰C, and this enables it to exist as a solid film. Since our skin surface temperature is around 32-33⁰C, even under harsh conditions like in a hot summer, the Mimiskin™ film on skin surface would still remain as a solid protector. And you might be thinking, “would sweat take this protection off my skin?” Well, rest-assured, the answer is no. Sweat is cooler than warm water, and it is unlikely that the protection feature is compromised by sweat.

Which criteria under skin protection are covered by your assessment tools?

In regard to the anti-pollution trend, we carried out a few tests to assess the anti-dust adhesion, anti-chemical penetration and surface pollutant removability. We are happy to share that just 5% Mimiskin™ would offer significantly positive results in all three of the above tests. Some might be concerned that the good anti-chemical penetration results would impact the penetration of actives to the skin. Don’t worry - the average pore size for the film is around 0.4 nm, which is big enough to allow the penetration of active ingredients, and too small for pollutants to go through.

We understand that urban lifestyles have triggered more and more consumers to become aware of their easily irritated or even inflamed skin. Therefore, we performed a KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analysis on Mimiskin™ and discovered that a good handful of downregulating genes in the IL-17 signaling pathway was significantly enriched. The IL-17 pathway is one of the main pathways related to inflammations. In simple words, when these downregulating genes in the IL-17 signaling pathways are enriched, inflammations can be potentially reduced.  

On top of protection, does Mimiskin™ improve other aspects of our skin?

Absolutely. Mimiskin™ has showed multiple of perceivable benefits in our tests and demonstrations. Having well-hydrated skin has always been an important factor when consumers choose their skincare products, hence, you will be happy to learn that Mimiskin™ provides 24-hour moisturization to your skin, not to mention about the proven boost in skin radiance and smoothness in merely 4 hours.

The touch of Mimiskin™ is light and burdenless. What makes this invisible protective film superior to other common film-formers like PVP is that it offers much higher air permeability and flexibility in thick. In other words, your skin can breathe under good protection.

In what kinds of applications can Mimiskin™ be applied?

So far, we have tested Mimiskin™ in not only skincare but also in cosmetics. Product types like toner, serum, cream, sleeping mask, BB cream and lip tint have been created with great success, showing light and loveable sensory while delivering popular skin benefits. For instance, for our Kiss On Pillow Sleeping Mask, it is pillow-proof, meaning that it has passed our stickiness test and that the transfer of the mask to other surfaces is minimal. As for cosmetic uses, our All Day Luminuous Skinveil BB Cream shows no noodling effect, and our lip tint, displays excellent pigment dispersion.

Is Mimiskin™ suitable for sensitive skin?

Mimiskin™ is suitable for delicate, sensitive skin. We have positive results in toxicology and safety assessments to support its application on very delicate skin. This means that it's OK to incorporate Mimiskin™ in even baby care products.

Could Mimiskin™ be used in sun care?

In general, we see very good potential in extending Mimiskin™’s application from facial care and cosmetics to sun care. Currently, more performance tests are being carried out to evaluate all potential benefits of in sun care applications.

One point I’d like to point out is that, the excellent pigment dispersion we have observed in the cosmetic formulations gives us a hint on the dispersion of particulate UV filters. Whenever the pigment or particulate UV filters are lipophilic, we are likely to observe similar effect. The plausible mechanism is the pigment is simultaneously distributed along with the film forming of Mimiskin™ due to the lipophilic interaction between the pigment and the particle/film. We can expect lipophilic particulate UV filters having similar performance. We hope to come back with more good news regarding sun care applications soon.

Is it difficult to keep Mimiskin™ stable?

Mimiskin™ passed the stability tests, which comprises of conditions of -20℃ (FT; frozen temperature), 25℃ (RT; room temperature), 40℃, 45℃. There is no need for a special storage but it is necessary to keep Mimiskin™ <30℃.  Generally speaking, pure Mimiskin™ is stable for 1.5 months at 45℃ and 1 month at 50℃. As for diluted Mimiskin™ (5-10%), it is stable for 2 months at 45℃.

All of our guide formulations passed the stability test at 45°C of 1.5 months, which represents shelf life at 25°C is 2 years.

One thing to note about the packaging is that Mimiskin™ is not compatible with glass and metal packaging in its raw material form. Once it is incorporated into a formulation, there is no compatibility issue with the two materials mentioned.

What kinds of ingredients does Mimiskin™ work well with?

There are a few things to bear in mind while formulating with Mimiskin™. Most ingredients, like anionic and non-ionic emulsifier are compatible with Mimiskin™. However, cationic ingredients are not recommended. Since Mimiskin™ has certain anionic components in its composition, issues like aggregation may arise if cationic ingredients are added. Lastly, Mimiskin™ is not compatible with glycol-only systems.

Any special tips for formulators using Mimiskin™ for the first time?

Sure. Let me share a few tips here:
Mimiskin™ is a water-dispersable ingredient with water content being around 40-60%.  Thus, it is compatible with formulations of gel, toner, O/W emulsions and some W/O emulsions which allow certain mixing after homogenization. While Mimiskin™ is not suitable for pure oil/wax formulation or any products need hot filling process, there would be no problem heating it to 60⁰C for no longer than 30 min. While Mimiskin™ is able to withstand homogenization, homogenization is optional for dispersion. Lastly, we recommended not to use in the pH condition of >10 and <4.5.

Mimiskin™ is very easy to be added to a formulation – simply add it towards the end of the manufacturing process. It is just like the addition of bioactives. Bioactives are usually added after the emulsification step. It is the same for Mimiskin™. During the addition step, make sure the temperature is below 42℃, just like for bioactives.