Have you heard of encapsulated skincare?

At Twincraft, we’re always looking for ways to bring new ingredients, ideas, and technologies to our customers. A few times a year, our Product Innovation Team rolls out a collection of skincare product concepts that highlight new ingredients, formats, and capabilities.

Earlier this year, we launched a collection of skincare products that feature a variety of encapsulated ingredients. But what exactly are encapsulates, and why did we choose to use them? Let’s take a high-level look at what encapsulate technology is and why it can be a good choice for skincare products.

Skincare Benefits

For most active ingredients that are used in skincare, the goal is not only to deposit the ingredient onto the skin, but to deliver it to the living skin below the surface cells. Our skin is made up of many layers, including the outermost layer, the epidermis. The epidermis itself is made up of multiple layers that are called stratum. The outermost layer that we see when we look at skin is called the stratum corneum, and this layer is actually comprised of dead skin that is in the process of flaking off. For an active ingredient to really impact the skin, it needs to be delivered deeper into the epidermis, where the living skin cells reside.

However, some active ingredients struggle to reach the deeper living cells. Sometimes, the ingredient oxidizes before it has a chance to affect the skin, or maybe its molecular size doesn’t allow it an easy path through the stratum corneum to reach the cells below. While free (non-encapsulated) actives are still beneficial, they often aren’t as powerful as their encapsulated counterparts.

By encapsulating ingredients in a protective shell, we are able to circumvent these absorption challenges and deliver the actives deeper into the skin where the living cells are located. These encapsulates vary in construction and application, but in general, they assist the active materials in traveling around stratum corneum cells, through them, or into hair follicles, where they can be released and work most effectively.

In order to release the encapsulated active ingredient from its shell, it has to be triggered in some way. There are six common triggers for encapsulates:

• Friction
• Exposure of enzymes on the skin
• Water
• Changes in pH
• Light
• Temperature

Some encapsulates need a combination of triggers to release the active ingredient. For the product concepts that our team created, we primarily used encapsulates that are triggered by friction (rubbing the product into your skin) and/or enzymatic action (a reaction that occurs when the encapsulate interacts with the enzymes present on the skin).

Formulation Benefits

Besides being able to reach farther into the skin to target those living cells, there are also some formulation benefits when using encapsulates in skincare products. Oftentimes, an active ingredient is an oil-soluble material, but the shell of the encapsulate is made of a water-loving outer layer. The outer layer allows these ingredients to be suspended in water-based formulas, where they usually wouldn’t be able to, making them easier to incorporate into formulas.

Encapsulate technology is also great for protecting sensitive ingredients from environmental factors and degradation. This can be highly beneficial for sensitive and unstable ingredients, like vitamin C or retinol.

Our Product Innovation Team used encapsulated skincare in a collection of serums:

• The Brightening Serum features encapsulated arbutin and resveratrol, two ingredients that help reduce the appearance of dark spots and improve skin tone.
• The Plumping Serum contains encapsulated vegan collagen and hyaluronic acid to boost hydration and provide a powerful plumping effect.
• The Youth Serum uses encapsulated retinol, which improves the stability and efficacy of the ingredient, to promote a youthful appearance.
• The Summer Glow Serum features an encapsulated blend to help balance natural oils, using ingredients like rosemary, pumpkin seed oil, chamomile, and panthenol.

To learn more about these products or how your brand can use encapsulated skincare, contact our sales team today!