Faber-Castell's cosmetics division is renowned for its premium cosmetic pencils designed for eyes, lips, brows, face, and nails. Working closely with clients, the company customizes proven standard textures and develops exclusive innovations. Using a flexible modular system that combines various formulations, formats, and accessories, Faber-Castell achieves the highest quality standards while meeting individual customer needs in record time. Current trends in fashion, color, care effects, longevity, and sustainability are integrated into every product. However, before a product reaches the market, it undergoes comprehensive quality tests aligned with strict international regulations and cosmetic GMP standards.
In the quality assurance lab, several Memmert cooled incubators (ICP 600) and climate chambers (ICH 750) are used. Dr. Maribel Salfner, Director of Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance, explains that the cosmetics industry lacks uniform international standards for stability testing. “We largely follow recommendations from PCPC (formerly CTFA) and Cosmetics Europe (formerly Colipa), while defining our test parameters in-house to align with the latest technical standards,” says Dr. Salfner.
These stability and shelf-life tests assess the effects of environmental conditions such as temperature, light, air pressure, and humidity over specific timeframes. The goal is to ensure that products and ingredients meet specifications throughout their entire shelf life and usage period.
Cosmetic pencils, applicators, and capillary systems made from wood or plastic are stored in the climate chamber for up to 12 weeks at various temperatures ranging from 5 °C to 50 °C with 50% relative humidity. Sensory properties like color, smell, and appearance, as well as physicochemical characteristics such as pH, viscosity, and active ingredient composition, are closely monitored. Additionally, the functionality and material changes of packaging, as well as potential migration of packaging components into the product, are analyzed in detail.
Liquid, viscous, and semi-solid products, including emulsions and intermediates, undergo automated freeze-thaw testing in Memmert cooled incubators to ensure durability under extreme transport and storage conditions. The programmable controls of Memmert PLUS models allow samples to cycle through 14 alternating temperature phases (-10 °C to +40 °C) without manual intervention, saving valuable time and resources. After each cycle, key parameters like usability, appearance, smell, viscosity, and pH are assessed at multiple time points to detect changes.
Since the storage tests are conducted under defined temperatures, temperature stability in Memmert cooled incubators is critical. The maximum allowable temporal and spatial temperature deviation is ±1 °C. In addition to high temperature stability, user-friendly programming and the ability to extract and analyze process parameters directly from the incubators were key factors in choosing Memmert devices.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to A.W. Faber-Castell Cosmetics, especially Dr. Maribel Salfner, Katrin Meyer zu Schlochtern-Maric, and Andreas Buchner, for their invaluable support in creating this article. This partnership demonstrates how collaboration and mutual support lead to innovative solutions that meet the high standards of both companies.