WO2020126046A1

WO2020126046A1 - Cosmetic assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2020126046A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/086703
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lionel Drugeon; Cécile GUERMONPREZ
Original assignee: L'oreal
Priority date: 2018-12-21
Filing date: 2018-12-21
Publication date: 2020-06-25

Abstract

A cosmetic assembly (1) comprising: - a hand-held device (2) comprising a case (3), a cover (4) and a reservoir (5) comprising a porous material (6) housed in the case (3), - a container (10) containing at least one fluid cosmetic product (P) for makeup of keratinous materials and comprising at least one outlet orifice (11) for distributing the product (P) onto an external surface (9) of the reservoir (5), - a spreading member (13) for contacting the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5) so as to spread the product (P) thereon.

Description

Cosmetic assembly

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a cosmetic assembly, in particular for the makeup of keratinous materials. The present invention also relates to a method for making- up keratinous materials implementing such an assembly.

Background of the invention

Hand-held devices comprising a case, a cover and a reservoir comprising a porous material housed in the case and being impregnated by a cosmetic product are well- known. The porous material may be pressed by the user to restitute the product.

Many users carry such a device in their handbag so that they can use it during the day, for example for making up or makeup retouching.

One problem is that these devices usually contain between 13 and 15 ml, having therefore quite a big size. This is not completely convenient for transportation in a handbag during all day.

Another problem is that the dispensed product is fresh only at the beginning of the use. The aspect of the product may be altered during use.

There is a need to further improve hand-held devices comprising a case, a cover and a reservoir comprising a porous material housed in the case and being impregnated by a cosmetic product.

Summary of the invention

Assembly

According to one aspect, the invention provides a cosmetic assembly comprising:

- a hand-held device comprising a case, a cover and a reservoir comprising a porous material housed in the case,

- a container containing at least one fluid cosmetic product for makeup of keratinous materials, especially the skin, and comprising at least one outlet orifice for distributing the product onto an external surface of the reservoir,

- a spreading member for contacting the external surface of the reservoir to spread the cosmetic product thereon.

Thanks to the invention, the container acts as an external refill than can be used to refill the reservoir with cosmetic product in a limited quantity suitable for one day, two days or a week, for example. Thus, the hand-held device may have a smaller size, in particular may have a lower thickness, which is more convenient for carrying it in a handbag. The invention allows to have a reservoir with a small capacity of 5 ml or 10 ml, for example. The capacity of the container is preferably greater in order to be able to refill the reservoir multiple times.

Furthermore, the freshness of the product is preserved more easily, as product remains housed within the container before being dispensed to the hand-held device, and therefore can be protected more easily from outside conditions. In particular, the product may be protected more easily from drying or from being contaminated by contaminants present in the reservoir after some uses. The product can be dispensed progressively by the container to the reservoir, in response to the product being used.

“Cosmetic product” is used to denote any composition as defined in EC regulation N° 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and Council dated 30 November 2009, concerning cosmetic product. The makeup is meant to include care.

The keratinous material is preferably the skin.

The external surface of the reservoir may be the visible part of the upper surface of the reservoir once the cover of the hand-held device is open. The area of the external surface of the reservoir available to the user for dispensing the product from the container corresponds preferably to at least 50% of the total area of the upper surface of the reservoir, better more than 75%, better more than 85%, better still more than 95% of the total area of the upper surface of the reservoir. The external surface advantageously also plays the role of the dispensing surface of the reservoir on which the user collects a dose of the cosmetic product with an applicator or a finger for the make-up.

The spreading member may be attached to the container. It may be permanently attached to the container, being for example glued or welded to the container. In a variant, the spreading member is removably attached to the container, being for example screwed or snap-fastened to the container or attached otherwise. The spreading member may surround the at least one outlet orifice of the container.

In another variant, the spreading member is not attached to the container and is used separately from the container.

The spreading member advantageously comprises an elastically deformable material, preferably a porous material, for example a foam or a non-woven material. When the spreading member is a foam, such a foam may be chosen in the group consisting of a polyurethane, butadiene rubber (BR), butadiene- styrene rubber (SBR), natural rubber (NR), wet urethane, dry urethane, polyether, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), latex, silicone, styrene-isoprene- styrene (SIS), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), silicone elastomer, nitrile rubber, butyl rubber and neoprene. The foam of the spreading member may have open or closed cells.

The elastically deformable material of the spreading member has for example an elastic modulus which is harder, similar or lower than that of the reservoir. The hardness of the spreading member may depend on the results target. It may be of 10 Shore A or 15 Shore 00.

Alternatively, the spreading member comprises a rigid thermoplastic material.

The spreading material may have an outline of similar shape as the external surface of the reservoir, preferably a circular shape. The greatest dimension, e.g. the diameter, of a surface of the spreading member that comes into contact with the external surface of the reservoir, may be equal or less than the greatest dimension, e.g. the diameter, of the external surface.

The area of the external surface of the reservoir may range from 4 to 50 cm². The area of the surface of the spreading member that comes into contact with the external surface of the reservoir may range from 2 to 49 cm².

The porous material in the reservoir preferably comprises an elastically deformable material, e.g. a foam, a textile material, for example a woven, non-woven or knitted material, preferably a non-woven material, a sponge or a felt.

When the porous material is a foam, such a foam may be chosen in the group consisting of a polyurethane, butadiene rubber (BR), butadiene- styrene rubber (SBR), natural rubber (NR), wet urethane, dry urethane, polyether, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), latex, silicone, styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), silicone elastomer, nitrile rubber, butyl rubber and neoprene. The porous material may be a foam pad. The foam may have open cells.

A further advantage of the invention is that it allows to preserve more easily the properties of some actives or additives, such as UV filters, preserving agents, contained in the cosmetic product, as these agents may migrate into the porous material of the reservoir overtime if kept in prolonged storage. Thanks to the invention, at least a part of the cosmetic product is not kept in prolonged storage in the reservoir in contact with the material of the reservoir, so that the properties of its agents may be preserved.

The porous material is preferably compressible, the porous material being compressed to restore the composition with which it contains.

The material of the spreading material may be identical to the porous material of the reservoir, or not. The spreading material may have a foam of density close to or slightly greater or lower than the density of a foam forming the reservoir. The spreading material may be rigid and not compressible.

The porous material of the reservoir may alternatively be a non-compressible material, which does not undergo any major deformation under the effect of the pressure applied in the taking. Examples of non-compressible materials more particularly suited to the invention that can be cited are those that exhibit a 25% compression resistance greater than 40 kPa, preferably greater than 50 kPa, even more preferably greater than 150 kPa, better than 300 kPa. The compression resistance is determined notably according to the standards DIN 53577 / ISO 3386.

Advantageously, the non-compressible porous material is chosen from the sintered materials, notably the sintered plastics, for example polyethylene, ceramics, for example tile and/or brick, thermo-compressed foams, for example polyethylene or polyurethane foams; pumice stone, wood.

Such materials, in particular the sintered materials and the plastics, are relatively easy to shape and are economical. Their porosity is also easy to control.

The case may be configured to allow replacement by the user of the reservoir. In such embodiment, the case may comprise a detachable member configured to maintain the reservoir in the device.

The reservoir may be compressible enough to enable it to be extracted from or inserted into the case without damage by the user.

The reservoir may be free of product before the first use by the user. This provides the advantage of storing a device free of product, which reduces the conservation issues. Alternatively, the reservoir contains some product before the first use by the user. The product contained in the reservoir before the first use may or not be the same as the product contained in the container. The product capacity of the reservoir may be equal or lower than 10 ml, preferably equal or lower than 5 ml.

On the other hand, the container may contain before the first use a quantity of product that is strictly higher than the product capacity of the reservoir, the quantity of product in the container being for example of at least 15 ml, preferably at least 25 ml, for example of at least 50 ml.

The cover advantageously tightly closes the hand-held device.

The container and the hand-held device are preferably not made for attaching, removably or not, to one another.

The device may comprise an applicator, such as a puff, for collecting the product from the porous material of the reservoir and applying it on keratinous materials, such as the skin.

The container may be of several types, including tubes and bottles. It may be squeezable and/or equipped with a pump or valve. The container may comprise more than one outlet orifice for distributing the product. When the container comprises several outlet orifices, the spreading member may surround each outlet orifice or only some of them.

The cosmetic product may be selected in the group consisting of a foundation, preferably a liquid foundation, a concealer product, a complexion corrector and a care product.

The product is a fluid product. It is not in a powder form. The viscosity of the product may be between 40 and 90 UD (Deviation Unit), preferably between 55 and 80 UD, or between 366 and 569 cP (centiPoises), or between 0.37 and 0.57 Pa.s.

This viscosity is measured at 25°C with a Rheomat 180 (Lamy) equipped with an MS-R2 spindle, selected for a low to medium viscosity of the product, which rotates at a speed of 200 revolutions per minute. The measurement is taken after a rotation time of 10 minutes. The viscosity measurements are taken at the latest one week after manufacture. Such a viscosity makes it possible to improve the taking of the product from the reservoir and to avoid product flowing during use.

The product can be colored or not.

In one particular embodiment, the assembly comprises at least two cosmetic products contained in one or at least two containers. In that case, the cosmetic products are for example a foundation and a care product and/or an adjuvant, a serum or other cosmetic product providing different properties such as skin moisture, anti-pollution care, anti-aging agent.

The cover can be arranged to be fixed by screwing, or otherwise, onto the case, notably be linked by a hinge thereto.

The assembly may comprise a package for packaging at least the container or containers, the hand-held device and the spreading member.

The assembly may optionally comprise at least one extra reservoir for replacing the used one, also comprised in the package, if any.

Method for making up keratinous materials

The invention also relates, according to another aspect, to a method for making- up keratinous materials, especially the skin, using an assembly as described above, comprising:

i. dispensing a quantity of the fluid cosmetic product contained in the container onto the external surface of the reservoir,

ii. spreading said quantity on the external surface using the spreading member,

iii. collecting product from the reservoir and applying it onto the keratinous materials.

The method may comprise a step of compressing the reservoir with the spreading member in step ii, for example by pressing 4 or 5 times the reservoir with the spreading member.

When the spreading member is attached to the container, the spreading may comprise rotating manually the container to move the spreading member relative to and in contact with the external surface of the reservoir.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention can be better understood on reading the following description of non-limiting embodiments thereof, and on examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows schematically and in perspective an example of an assembly according to the invention,

- Figures 2 to 6 show schematically and in perspective the steps of the method according to the invention implementing the assembly of figure 1 , - Figure 7 shows schematically an applicator that can be used with the assembly of figure 1,

- Figure 8 shows schematically another example of a spreading member for an assembly according to the invention,

- Figure 9 shows schematically and in perspective another example of a container for an assembly according to the invention, and

- Figure 10 is a cross sectional and schematic view of another example of a device for an assembly according to the invention.

Detailed description of the drawings

In the following, identical elements or elements having equivalent functions bear same reference signs. Their description may not be repeated for each of the figures as only the main differences between the embodiments may be highlighted.

Figure 1 shows a cosmetic assembly 1 according to an example of the invention, comprising a hand-held device 2 used for makeup of keratinous materials.

The device 2 comprises a case 3, a cover 4 hinged to the case 3 and a reservoir 5 comprising a porous material 6 housed in the case 3. The cover 4 may be removable from the case and attached thereto otherwise than by a hinge, for example by screwing.

In this example, the device 2 also comprises a sealing lid 7 articulated on the case 3 for receiving an applicator of the product, such as a puff, not shown in this example, and for separating the reservoir 5 from the cover 4. The cover 4 is provided in this example with a mirror 8 on its internal surface. The reservoir 5 of the porous material 6 comprises a visible external surface 9. In this example, the porous material is made of a foam of natural rubber NBR with open cells. It could be a non- woven PET. Figure 1 shows the hand-held device 2 in an open configuration.

The reservoir 5 has a capacity of 10 ml in this example.

The assembly 1 also comprises a container 10 containing a fluid cosmetic product. The container 10 is in this example a squeezable tube. The container 10 comprises at least one outlet orifice, in this example a single outlet orifice 11 for distributing the product onto the external surface 9 of the reservoir 5. The container 10 is provided with a closure cap 12. Figure 1 shows the container 10 in an open configuration, the cap 12 being disunited. The cap 12 comprises a sealing skirt 16 for closing the outlet orifice 11. The container 10 has a capacity greater than that of the reservoir 5. The capacity of the container 10 is for example 50 ml.

The assembly 1 also comprises a spreading member 13 for contacting the external surface 9 of the reservoir 5 to spread the cosmetic product thereon.

In this embodiment, the cosmetic product is a liquid foundation to be applied on the skin.

The spreading member 13, in this example, is attached to the container 10, for example by bonding, surrounding the outlet orifice 11. The outlet orifice 11 ends in a through-opening 15 made in the spreading member 13.

The spreading member 13 is made of a foam of TPE with open cells. The hardness of the spreading member 13 is for example similar to the hardness of the porous material 6 of the reservoir 5.

In this example, the external surface 9 has a circular shape. The surface 14 of the spreading member 13, which is to be in contact with the external surface 9, is also of circular shape. The diameter DE of the external surface 9 is greater than the diameter Ds of the surface 14 of the spreading element 13. For example, DE = 45 and Ds = 40.

Regarding figures 2 to 6, the method for using the assembly 1 comprises the following steps.

Before the first use, the device 2 here contains no cosmetic product within the reservoir 5.

In the first step of the method shown in figure 2, the user approaches the container 10 above the reservoir 5 so that the outlet orifice 11 is above the external surface

9.

Then, in a second step shown in figure 3, the user squeezes the opposite walls of the container 10 so that an amount of the liquid cosmetic product P contained in the container 10 flows onto the external surface 9 of the reservoir 5.

In the next step shown in figure 4, the user stops squeezing the container 10 so that no product flows anymore from the container 10. A pool of product P is formed on the external surface 9 of the reservoir 5.

Then, in a following step, as shown in figure 5, the user presses the spreading member 13 against the porous material 6 of the reservoir 5. It is possible to make it several times in order to homogenize and to mix in case of two cosmetic products. The user can rotate manually the container 10 so as to move the spreading member 13 relative to and in contact with the external surface 9. When the user removes the spreading member 13 from the external surface 9, the product is spread within the reservoir 5, across the porous material

6.

The user may then take an applicator 17, shown in figure 7, being a puff in this example, that can be housed in the sealing lid 7 of the device 2, and contact the external surface 9, press on it if necessary, so as to take product from the reservoir 5.

When the product in the reservoir 5 is totally or partially used, the user can repeat the steps of the method shown in figures 3 to 5 to refill the reservoir 5 with fresh product P.

The invention is not limited to the described embodiment.

In particular, as shown in figure 8, the spreading member 13 may be independent from the container 10, being for example connected to a stem 18 that can be handled by the user. The spreading member 13 may also serve as an applicator of the product. The spreading member 13 in this example may not comprise a porous material but a thermoplastic polymer.

The container 10 may have several outlet orifices 11. The spreading member 13 may surround all the outlet orifices 11. Such an embodiment is shown in figure 9.

The case 3 may be configured so that the reservoir 5 can be replaced by another reservoir 5. In such an embodiment, as for example shown in figure 10, the case 3 comprises a detachable member 20 that maintains the reservoir 5 in the device 2.

The reservoir 5 may also be elastically deformable and compressible enough to enable it to be extracted from or inserted into the case 3 without damage by the user. In such an embodiment, the assembly 1 may also comprise at least one extra reservoir 5 for replacing the one present in the case 3.

The container 10 may be a bottle or a rigid container and/or may be equipped with a valve or a pump, for example.

The assembly 1 can be housed in a same package before use, for example a cardboard box or a blister.

Claims

1. A cosmetic assembly (1) comprising:

- a hand-held device (2) comprising a case (3), a cover (4) and a reservoir (5) comprising a porous material (6) housed in the case (3),

- a container (10) containing at least one fluid cosmetic product (P) for makeup of keratinous materials and comprising at least one outlet orifice (11) for distributing the product (P) onto an external surface (9) of the reservoir

(5),

- a spreading member (13) for contacting the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5) to spread the product (P) thereon.

2. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the spreading member (13) is attached to the container (10).

3. The assembly (1) according to claim 2, the spreading member (13) surrounding the at least one outlet orifice (11) of the container (10).

4. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the spreading member (13) comprises an elastically deformable material, preferably a porous material.

5. The assembly (1) according to claim 4, wherein the elastically deformable material of the spreading member (13) has an elastic modulus which is similar or lower or higher than that of the reservoir (5).

6. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the spreading material (13) has an outline of similar shape as the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5), preferably a circular shape, the greatest dimension, e.g. the diameter, of a surface (14) of the spreading member (13) that comes into contact with the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5), being equal to or less than the greatest dimension, e.g. the diameter, of the external surface (9).

7. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the porous material (6) in the reservoir (5) comprises an elastically deformable material, e.g. a foam.

8. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the case (3) is configured to allow replacement by the user of the reservoir (5).

9. The assembly (1) of the preceding claim, the case (3) comprising a detachable member (20) configured to maintain the reservoir (5) in the device (2).

10. The assembly (1) of claim 8, the reservoir (5) being compressible enough to enable it to be extracted from or inserted into the case (3) without damage by the user.

11. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the reservoir (5) is free of product before the first use by the user.

12. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the product capacity of the reservoir (5) is equal or lower than 10 ml, preferably equal or lower than 5 ml.

13. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device (2) comprises an applicator (17) for collecting the product from the porous material (6) of the reservoir (5) and applying it on keratinous materials.

14. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the container (10) is squeezable and/or equipped with a pump or valve.

15. The assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the container (10) contains before the first use a quantity of product that is strictly higher than the product capacity of the reservoir (5), the quantity of product in the container (10) being of at least 15 ml, preferably at least 25 ml, for example of at least 50 ml.

16. A method for making-up keratinous materials using an assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, comprising:

i. dispensing a quantity of the fluid cosmetic product (P) contained in the container (10) onto the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5), ii. spreading said quantity on the external surface (9) using the spreading member (13),

iii. collecting product (P) from the reservoir (5) and applying it onto the keratinous materials.

17. The method according to the preceding claim, comprising pressing the reservoir (5) with the spreading member (13) in step ii.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, the spreading member (13) being attached to the container (10), the spreading comprising rotating manually the container (10) to move the spreading member (13) relative to and in contact with the external surface (9) of the reservoir (5).