Rational formulation design

To be efficacious and to satisfy the requirements for claim substantiation, a cosmetic formulation must achieve effective targeting of an active in the skin. Although the basic principles governing the skin permeation and disposition of molecules have been known for many years, attention has been far less focused on the role of the vehicle, particularly at cosmetically relevant doses. In this article, we discuss the necessity to understand the fate of the formulation components as well as the active once applied onto skin. Recent data confirm that the residence time of the formulation constituents can have a profound impact on the fate of the active. Approaches to identify the ideal vehicle for skin delivery are considered critically, specifically the recent work on ‘formulating for efficacy’ (FFE) by the late Johann Wiechers. Essentially, FFE aims to match the active with the optimal vehicle for skin delivery based on matching polarity/solubility values of the trinity of skin, active and vehicle. The emerging importance of techniques that provide insight to how the vehicle distributes in and on skin is highlighted.