The present application is related to copending application filed on the same day as this application, entitled “Carry-on Organizer” by the same inventor, Yong Hoon Cho. This application is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a cosmetic holder with a removable reservoir that can hold liquids, suspensions and solid compositions used for cosmetic purposes. This holder is specially applicable for holding suspensions and liquids such as the mascara, nail polish, eye liner, and eye shadow compositions inside the removable reservoir.
Mascara is one of the more sellable cosmetic product and significant resources have been devoted to the improvement of the mascara product. Consequently, this product was chosen to illustrate the claimed invention.
Mascara compositions are heavy, viscous, sticky and often times, messy. One of the major problem in mascara compositions is its tendency to dry-out quickly at ambient temperature. Because of this problem, mascara holders or containers are discarded more often than other cosmetic containers. Simply for differentiation, a holder here would also refer to the final packaging of a cosmetic product without an applicator while a container would be used here to refer to the final packaging of a cosmetic product having an applicator supplied with the holder. Mascara containers are sometimes designed in a fancy manner and its cost plays a major role in the pricing of the mascara product. Reducing the number of discarded mascara containers will also help environmentally because these containers are often made of non-recyclable plastic material. For some cosmetic containers, it is not only the holders that are discarded, there is also the applicator provided with every holder that gets discarded. Further, since the mascara composition dries out easily, the container or holder has to be designed so that the opening or mouth of the holder through which the applicator is immersed, must be as small as possible which also adds to the cost of developing and manufacturing a mascara container or holder.
It is not only the mascara composition that dries out quickly. Although not as severe a problem as the mascara, nail polish, liquid eyeliner, liquid eyeshadow also have the tendency to dry out. Like the mascara product, all of these products can also be placed in a removable reservoir. Further, even cosmetics that have powder and paste compositions can be placed in a removable reservoir, not because they dry out quickly but on these, removable reservoirs are used mainly for cost effectiveness and environmental concerns. The powder and paste cosmetic compositions are usually not quick drying and do not pose the same problem as that faced with quick drying compositions like the mascara and semi-quick drying compositions like the nail polish, liquid eyeliner and liquid eyeshadow, hereinafter referred simply as quick drying compositions. Consequently, developing a removable reservoir for these is not as complex as those used for quick drying compositions. There is a need to develop a holder or a container for these quick drying cosmetic products. A removable reservoir that can be discarded or replaced while keeping the holder or container housing the removable reservoir reusable and for containers, to have the matching applicator also removable and replaceable to reduce the number of times a cosmetic container is discarded is one solution.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a container or holder for a cosmetic product with a quick drying composition.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a mascara product with a removable reservoir for the mascara composition.
It is also still an object of this invention to provide a nail polish product with a removable reservoir for the nail polish composition.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cosmetic product with a removable and reusable reservoir for the quick drying compositions such as the mascara and the nail polish.
It is also a further object of this invention to provide a removable and reusable reservoir for the cosmetic products such as the mascara composition and the nail polish out of a recyclable plastic material.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a removable reservoir that can be detached from the mascara container or holder and warmed prior to use thereby making the mascara composition less viscous and therefore easier to apply to the eyelashes.
It is also still a further object of this invention to produce a disposable or removable and replaceable mascara applicator.
This invention relates to a cosmetic holder with a removable reservoir and a replaceable applicator to minimize the number of discarded cosmetic products. The cosmetic holder comprises a hollow shell having an outside surface and an interior compartment housing a removable reservoir, the removable reservoir containing the cosmetic composition and a replaceable applicator for the composition contained in the removable reservoir, the replaceable applicator having a handle acting as a cover for the removable reservoir, the handle inserting into an outer cover having an outside surface matching and complimenting the outside surface of the shell. With a removable reservoir and a removable and replaceable applicator, the shell and the outer cover can be preserved and reused. This provides a benefit because the shell and the outer cover complimenting it is made of a hard and sturdy material with an end finished outside surface while the removable reservoir and applicator both have unfinished outside surfaces made of inexpensive material but of a strength enough to withstand the push and pull exerted on them during the insertion and removal from the shell for the reservoir and from the outer cover for the applicator. The shell and the outer cover can have different shape, finish and design. The removable reservoir is disposable or reusable and is recommended to be made of a recyclable material. The removable reservoir engages with the shell in the same manner as the handle engages with the outer cover. There are different methods of engagement such as snap fitting, friction fitting and screw type connections. Described in detail is the engagement by snap fitting a protruding ring with a matching groove. As there are different methods of engaging the removable reservoir with the shell and the applicator with the outer cover, there are also different methods on how the handle of the applicator can cover the removable reservoir. Detailed here is a screw type connections by pairing the threading on the interior wall of the handle with the threading on the exterior top section of the removable reservoir.
While the cosmetic holder is illustrated using the mascara product and the nail polish as examples, this holder can also be applied to other cosmetic products. The removable reservoir for these products is tubular in shape to minimize the rate of dry-out of the mascara composition or the nail polish. The removable reservoir has an outside diameter slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the shell. For the mascara product, the removable reservoir has a tube cap with a tapered tip at an interior upper end of the removable reservoir to ward off excess mascara composition on the applicator head during usage. Aside from engaging the removable reservoir with the shell, a lip at a top section of the removable tubular reservoir sits on top of a peripheral top edge of the shell to prevent the removable reservoir from inserting too far into the shell and to cover any gap in space between the removable reservoir and the shell. The replaceable applicator for use with the mascara composition has a handle, a rod attached to the handle at one end and to an applicator head at another end. The most common applicator head for the mascara product is a spirally wound bristle while in a nail polish, the applicator head is a flock of straight bristles. The handle is detachable from the outer cover.
This mascara product on a holder with a removable reservoir can be sold as an independent unit or it can be incorporated or carried along with other cosmetic products or beauty implements as a single piece in a carry-on organizer. A mascara product on a carry-on organizer comprises a long cap having a hollow interior compartment fused with a short cap having a hollow interior compartment with a removable reservoir inserted into the interior compartment of the long cap which acts as a shell for the removable reservoir and an applicator for a mascara composition contained in the removable reservoir. The handle of the applicator serves as the cover for the removable reservoir. The removable reservoir engages with the long cap by snap fitting a circular protruding ring with a matching circular groove, one on an outside surface of the removable reservoir and the other on an internal compartment of the long cap or by friction fitting so long as the removable reservoir snugly fit into the interior compartment of the long cap. A second beauty implement is inserted into the internal compartment of the short cap. The mascara product can be carried with more than one beauty implement in a single piece by increasing the number of fused covers, holders and containers on the carry-on organizer.
Other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein it shows and describes only certain embodiments of the invention by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
Aspects of the present invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
A holder for cosmetic products described herein has an outside shell having an outside surface and an interior compartment housing a removable reservoir, the removable reservoir containing the cosmetic composition. The cosmetic holder with removable reservoir will be applied here to the mascara product as the example even if this is also applicable to other cosmetic products like the nail polish, nail polish removers, liquid eyeliner, liquid eyeshadow, etc. that have a tendency to dry out when exposed or when air penetrates into the container when it is not sealed properly. A removable reservoir provides an additional advantage for the mascara product which has a mascara composition that is heavy, viscous and sticky because the reservoir, being removable, the mascara composition can be slightly warmed to render it less viscous and therefore more spreadable prior to use. Removable reservoirs can also be used for powder and paste cosmetic compositions which do not have a tendency to dry out quickly but its design and construction are not as stringent as those used for quick drying cosmetic compositions.
Mascara compositions are usually contained in cylindrical tubes or bottles of small cross sectional area to retard its dry-out. However, even with controlled geometry of the mascara holder, dry-out still occurs. Mascara compositions dry out even in an unopened holder when stored for a period of time. This has caused many mascara holders to be discarded even after little usage. Users who are hurt most are those who do not frequently apply mascara on their eyelashes and also those who use it very often because the repeated opening and immersion of the applicator into the mascara holder incorporate air into the product, thus accelerating the rate of dry-out. Consequently for rare and habitual users, both get less value for their money.
To minimize the number of discarded mascara holder, described herein is a mascara holder with a removable reservoir. The removable reservoir can be disposable, reusable and refillable. Reusable and refillable reservoirs are akin to the ink cartridges for printers, except for the shape, where they can be cleaned, refilled and reused. As shown in the drawings provided, the removable reservoir is tubular in shape to retard or minimize the dry-out of the mascara composition contained within the reservoir. Since the cover of the mascara holder is designed to match with the mascara holder and would be cost effective to also keep this, a removable and replaceable mascara applicator detachable from the cover is also a part of the improvement proposed herein. The mascara applicator is used for applying the mascara composition contained inside the removable reservoir. The removable and replaceable mascara applicator is hereinafter referred to simply as replaceable applicator. With a removable reservoir and a removable and replaceable applicator, the holder housing the removable reservoir and the cover detached from the applicator can be kept and reused over and over again thereby reducing the number of containers discarded. The mascara holder with the mascara applicator, when taken together as a cosmetic product is referred to as mascara container as stated above just to differentiate this from cosmetic products without an applicator which are also identified as cosmetic holders. However, the mascara holder housing a removable reservoir will be referred to as a shell and this shell has a matching outer cover for the replaceable mascara applicator.
The cost of a mascara container, holder and applicator, plays a major consideration in the pricing of a mascara product. The shell or holder 2 is often made of a hard and sturdy plastic material with an end finished outside surface. End finish means the final appearance of the of the shell or holder as sold in the market. Finish includes lamination, coloring, etching, polishing, designing and the like done on the outside surface of the holder or shell. Although
To be able to insert and remove the reservoir 6 from the shell 2, there should be a means for engaging the reservoir to the shell that will allow repeated insertion and removal. One method shown in
The replaceable applicator 1 comprises a handle 14, a rod 15 attached to the handle at one end and to an eyelash applicator head 7 on the other end. The handle inserts into an outer cover. The mechanism for removal and insertion of the handle 14 into the outer cover 8 is similar to the methods of engaging the reservoir with the shell as described above. As shown in
This mascara product 100 with a reservoir can be sold as an independent unit or it can be incorporated or carried along with other cosmetic products or beauty implements as a single piece in a carry-on organizer 200. The carry-on organizer comprise of fused covers, holders and containers in any number of combinations or with the carry-on organizers made of all fused covers, all fused holders, or all fused containers, these with varying or the same lengths and internal dimensions. The detailed description of the carry-on organizer is the subject of a separate patent application filed concurrently with this application by the same inventor which is incorporated herein by reference. The mascara product with a reservoir and replaceable applicator described above in a carry-on organizer is shown in
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described, it should be understood that various changes, adaptations, and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.