The invention is in the field of unit dose packaging for cosmetic or personal care products. More specifically, we disclose a disposable package that is designed to house and apply frozen cosmetic or personal care products that can provide a chilling effect during application.
For the convenience of the cosmetic user, cosmetic packaging often includes an applicator that is suitable for dispensing the particular cosmetic contained in the package reservoir. The applicator head or applicator tip is used to apply and spread the applied product, and may additionally serve to massage the skin of the user in the application area. It is also believed that cooling the skin can have a beneficial effect. For example, cooling the skin area below the eyes has been shown to reduce puffiness. In the past, applicator heads and applicator tips having a variety of shapes and configurations have been provided with means for cooling, but the effectiveness has generally been limited by the relatively small thermal mass of the components and by other limitations. Alternatively, pre-chilled creams or lotions, or chilled washcloths or cleansing pads have been used to reduce skin temperature, but not necessarily in convenient, single does forms, and the product, while chilled, may provide only a limited cooling effect. In contrast, a frozen product can deliver a much more significant chilling effect to the skin, than a merely chilled product or product applicator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,025 describes cosmetic products in the form of deep-frozen blocks or cakes, which are directly applicable to the skin. The relatively large blocks are molded around supports (sticks for example) made from wood, plastic material, whose ends projecting from the block will enable them to be easily handled. A user is able to withdraw the deep-frozen block from its mold without contact with the cosmetic substance. The process for packing the described blocks consists in pouring or compressing the cosmetic substance in a mold, and in cooling the substance rapidly and intensively to a complete deep-freeze, i.e. between −25° C. and −80° C. The relatively large blocks allow multiple applications with the block being returned to a freezer for storage between uses. A drawback of the '025 invention is the need to remove the entire block of cosmetic product from the freezer. Now, the block is so large such that, in a single application, only a small portion of the surface of the bock will ever contact the skin. The result is that some product near the surface of the block melts, but is not deposited on the skin. The amount of melting may be significant if the product block spends several minutes or longer out of the freezer. Subsequently, this melted product is returned to the freezer, thus being subject to at least one freeze thaw cycle (and probably several freeze thaw cycles) before it will actually be applied to a user's skin on some future application. On the one hand, the portion of product that was subject to at least one freeze thaw cycle may be degraded in appearance, or texture, or efficacy of its active ingredients or any combination thereof. Clearly then, thawing and refreezing any amount of the product should be avoided. On the other, depending on its melting point temperature and consistency, the melted product that does not get deposited on the skin may run down the handle or onto the hand of the user, or otherwise drip and create a messy situation.
Accordingly there is a need for unit dose packaging for cosmetic or personal care products wherein the package is designed to house and apply a single dose of frozen cosmetic or personal care products that can provide a significant chilling effect during application, while avoiding degradation of the product due to freeze-thaw, and avoiding the other problems described above.
The main components of the invention are a reservoir and an applicator. The reservoir may be interiorly divided to hold more than one product. The applicator comprises a handle and one or more applicator heads depending from the handle. The surface of the applicator head is contoured, embossed and/or dimpled. When not in use, the reservoir houses one or more products and one or more applicator heads. In use, a product in the reservoir is frozen, which causes the product to bond to the applicator head. The handle is used to lift the frozen product out of the reservoir, and draw the frozen product over the skin. As it melts from the heat of the skin, the product can be spread on the skin. Once all or enough product has melted off of the applicator head, the contoured surface of the applicator head contacts the skin, and is able to provide one or more effects, such as a massage effect, an exfoliation effect, an effect of driving active ingredients into the skin, etc.
The Reservoir (1)
The first main and essential component of the invention is a reservoir (1) that is able to be filled with and retain a personal care product (P) that is a liquid or semi-liquid at standard atmospheric pressure and temperature, and that freezes at lower temperatures. Many types of personal care products will freeze at temperatures substantially close to 0° C., but those that freeze at higher or lower temperatures may also be useful. The reservoir should be able to withstand product expansion and contraction without rupturing. It should also be non-reactive with the products that it is intended to hold. To that end, reservoirs of the invention may be fashioned out of elastic materials, such as thermoplastic elastomers or silicone rubbers. The reservoir components described herein, may be fashioned from these materials by various molding techniques, such as injection molding.
Referring to
All or a portion of the wall (1d) of the reservoir may be opaque, translucent or transparent.
The interior space (1c) of the reservoir (1) has a volume that is occupied by the one or more personal care products, as well as the applicator head (4) of an applicator (2) according to the present invention. The amount of volume taken up by the one or more personal care products is enough for at least one complete application of the product according to its intended use. As an example, in some embodiments, one application of a face product may require from 1 mL to 7 mL, while one application of a body product may require from 7 mL to 20 mL.
The interior surface of the wall (1d) of the reservoir (1) should be free of surface features that would significantly inhibit the removal of the frozen personal care product from the reservoir. On the other hand, any surface features on the interior surface of the wall of the reservoir would produce complementary features on the surface of the frozen product. Such surface features on the frozen product are optional, but may be desirable. Examples of surface features on the interior surface of the wall of the reservoir are shown in
With the exception of
The applicator (2) comprises a handle (3) and one or more applicator heads (4) depending from the handle. Referring to
The applicator head (4) depends from the handle (3), and is designed to hold the frozen personal care product (P). For ease of application, the connection between the handle and applicator head is preferably rigid. The applicator head and handle may be integrally molded out of one material, as shown in
To ensure that the frozen product (P) adheres to the applicator head (4), the outer surface (4a) of a applicator head is provided with contours and/or textural features (4b) that are able to increase the adherence of the frozen product to the bare applicator head. By “bare applicator head” we mean an applicator head (4) that has little or no product (P) adhered to it, either because the applicator head has not yet been immersed in a product reservoir (1), or because the product has been depleted from the applicator head, creating bare spots that are able to contact the skin of a user. Examples of textural features include grooves, indentations and raised dimples, as shown in the non-limiting examples of
The bare applicator head (4) is small enough to fit into the reservoir (1). Preferably, the applicator head is divided into as many sections as there are interior spaces (1c, 1c′, 1c″) of the reservoir, so that each interior space of the reservoir houses a section of the applicator head.
The applicator (2) may further comprise a sealing disk (2a) that is sandwiched between the handle (3) and the applicator head (4), and that is sized to fit snugly against the perimeter (1a) of the reservoir (1). The sealing disk helps to seal the reservoir and contain the product prior to use. The sealing disk may be molded separately from the handle (3) and applicator head (4), and sandwiched between them during assembly (as in
Optionally, but preferably, the handle (3) is able to lie flat. In
The applicator head (4) may be a plastic molded surface as shown in
The Product
The unit dose package of the present invention is designed to house and apply frozen cosmetic or personal care products. A reservoir (1) according to the invention, as described above, is filled with one or more products (P) that are non-solid when dispensed into the reservoir. Such product types include liquids, semi-liquids, gels, creams, lotions, pomades, etc. At the time of filling into the reservoir, the product must be sufficiently soft to allow a bare applicator head (4) to penetrate into the product, and sufficiently flowable to enclose around the applicator head and make continuous contact with the applicator head. At least one of the products in the one or more spaces (1c, 1c′, 1c″) of the reservoir must have a freezing point of no lower than −20° C., preferably no lower than −15° C., more preferably no lower than 0° C.
Filling and Using
A reservoir (1) may be filled by any means known in the field of personal care products, such as being dispensed under pressure through a filling nozzle. Most typically, the product will be filled in a liquid state at a temperature well above the freezing point of the product. Once all of the one or more spaces (1c, 1c′, 1c″) of the reservoir are filled with non-solid product (P), the bare applicator head (4) of an applicator (2) is inserted into the non-solid product until the sealing disk (2a) fits snugly against the perimeter (1a) of the reservoir. The perimeter of the sealing disk matches the shape of the perimeter (1a) of the reservoir, and helps to seal the reservoir and contain the product prior to use.
As noted above, each reservoir (1) has a flange (1b) that extends out from the perimeter of the reservoir. Preferably, a barrier seal (8) is affixed to the flange of the reservoir to provide either a primary or secondary seal of the reservoir. The barrier seal is a flexible, air-impermeable substrate that is detachably attached to the flange of the reservoir, and possibly to the sealing disk (2a). The barrier seal may be fashioned from paper, plastic, metal foil or any layered combination of these. Typically, the barrier seal will be glued or welded to the flange or sealing disk.
In
There is no need to immediately freeze the filled packages. Generally, the filled and sealed reservoirs (1) may be shipped at ambient temperatures, so that the product (P) in the reservoirs is not frozen. This greatly simplifies the handling and distribution process, compared, for example, to the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,025 which calls for rapid and intensive cooling to −25° C. to −80° C. at the time of filling, and maintaining the frozen state until use. With the present invention, when the consumer intends to use the product, she will have to store the reservoirs in a freezer for a time sufficient to freeze the product. Upon freezing, the product will adhere to the applicator head (4). When a user wants to apply the product which has previously been frozen, she peels the barrier seal (8) off of one of the reservoirs, grasps the applicator handle (3) and lifts the frozen product out of the reservoir. The frozen product is drawn across the skin at those locations where it is desired to be applied. As the surface of the product melts from the heat of the skin, the product is spread onto the skin. Product may be applied until all or most of the product is applied. Once all or enough product has melted off of the applicator head, the bare, contoured surface of the applicator head contacts the skin, and is able to provide one or more effects, such as a massage effect, an exfoliation effect, and an effect of driving active ingredients into the skin. Also, the bare applicator head may also be used to smooth, dress up or otherwise work the product as desired. Once application is complete, the applicator is discarded. Alternatively, if not all of the product is used up, and if it has not all melted, then the applicator may be returned to the reservoir for storing in a freezer. Preferably, however, the amount of product in one reservoir is sufficient for only a single use, after which the applicator is discarded.
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2946207 | Hulterstrum | Jul 1960 | A |
4378025 | Gaston | Mar 1983 | A |
7097626 | Louis | Aug 2006 | B2 |
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Number | Date | Country |
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WO-2008131804 | Nov 2008 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20190166978 A1 | Jun 2019 | US |