Designed by combining the properties of natural Olive oil and our technical expertise, Liquicrystal Technology enables our skincare formulations to deliver unmatched performance in moisturisation, hydration, lower skin irritability and to deliver the complimentary high-tech actives to all parts of your skin.
What does LiquiCrystal do?
Whatever high-tech actives or exotic botanicals a skin care range contains, a delivery system is still an essential key to the product’s effectiveness. Without an effective delivery system, the key ingredients will not be able to penetrate the Extracellular Matrix to deeply nourish and condition your skin.
The structural complexity of the skin means that this route is only really suitable for active ingredients with quite a narrow profile in terms of molecular weight and lipophilicity. Even then, it can be difficult to achieve good bioavailability – a sufficient quantity of actives, delivered to the right location in the skin within a suitable time frame so as to be efficacious.
What are Liquid Crystals?
Liquid crystals are matter in a state which has properties between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. Liquid crystals are an organised state of matter (thus crystal), but they can still flow (thus liquid), so they form a unique family of materials.
Liquid Crystals are all around you, you might be using a liquid crystal display to view this website on. Liquid Crystals are also found in abundance in nature, for example, many proteins and cell membranes are liquid crystals.
How does it work?
From the moment that the formulation is applied to the skin, there is a finite amount of time within which the active ingredient has an opportunity to leave the formulation and penetrate the upper layers of the skin. Beyond this time the active is likely to have crystallised or been left stranded on the surface of the skin due to the evaporation of aqueous ingredients or the absorption of other ingredients into the skin.
One way to use this window of permeating opportunity effectively is to make sure that the active ingredient is being ‘pushed out’ of the formulation and into the skin. An elegant method is to formulate the active at or close to its maximum solubility, at high thermodynamic activity. This creates a driving force for the active ingredient to leave the formulation and penetrate the skin, to deeply nourish and condition your skin.
Pushing the Actives out of the formulation is only the start of a complex problem. Actives which are hydrophilic or lipophilic do not find it easy to penetrate the skin due to the alternating aqueous/non-aqueous regions of the Extracellular Matrix lipids and hydrophilic domains found in your skin.
The skin cells are held together by the Extracellular Matrix, which helps prevent moisture loss and creates the smooth appearance on the surface. This region is structured by liquid crystal regions, and lipids prevent evaporation & provide lubrication to the surface of skin. The Extracellular Matrix and the skin’s lipid content gives skin a good deal of its surface texture and feel. When the lipid content of skin is reduced, the result is surface roughness, flaking, fine lines and a tight, uncomfortable feeling. Moreover, the skin’s healing process is impaired.
To strengthen the Extracellular Matrix region, an emulsion of highly compatible ingredients is called for. In fact, there is a complex mixture of chemicals that contribute to healthy, attractive skin, and, as ingredients, these include cholesterol, fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids, amino acids, linoleic acid and glycerine.
The trick, therefore, is simply getting the liquid crystal emulsion formulas and liquid crystal structures in the Extracellular Matrix together in an effective way.
So why should you care?
Studies have shown that conventional emulsifiers, such as micelle’s can cause irritation to our skin by disrupting the skin’s lipid barrier, while the liquid crystal emulsions mimic the lipid bilayers in our stratum corneum, which means more actives or lipids from your skincare products can penetrate into your skin. This results in a reduction of transepidermal water loss when using a liquid crystal and an increase in moisturisation of our skin as your skincare products hold more water in contact with the skin for a longer period of time.
To put it simply, LiquiCrystal is a bi-layer structured transport mechanism which causes less disruption to your outer layer of skin, decreasing irritation, reinforcing its barrier function. LiquiCrystal works by helping to deliver the active ingredients into your skin which in turn helps to keep your skin moisturised and healthy.