![Barry M logo](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_logo_255x156/public/logos/2024-04/barrym.png.webp?itok=pH3m_1wK)
Lipstick bullet break resistance testing
![Lipstick bullet broken by side cantilever force](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_540w/public/case-study/2024-07/Break-after-side-close-up.png.webp?itok=VBLsA5lb)
![Lipstick bullet sample loaded into the fixture with the test stand indicating load and speed](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_540w/public/case-study/2024-07/Break-display-close-up.png.webp?itok=PJUjW2OU)
Solution
- Compression tester and digital gauge
- Custom lower fixture to hold lipstick product
Benefits
- Quick and easy testing in the QC lab
- Clear indication of pass or fail values
The Mecmesin system has helped us deliver a better product to our customers with less breakages and leaks. The Tornado is used every 2 hours to ensure the torque of the nail varnish caps are within working range.
Gregorio Suarez, Quality Control and Production Manager
Barry M Cosmetics Ltd.
Requirement
Barry M Cosmetics Ltd. are the leading British colour cosmetics brand, offering a comprehensive range of lipsticks and lip paints. The company is famous for on trend innovation – bright colours, even colour changing, plus naturals, in a choice of finishes from matte to satin—all with the Cruelty-Free formulation/ingredients pledge. These products must provide a smooth flow onto the lips for application control and an expensive-feeling moisture-rich quality texture, whilst delivering a long-lasting effect and skin protection. The solid bullet’s material properties need to be resilient and durable under application stresses – typically a cantilever bending load.
Barry M’s skilled cosmetics product designers and formulation chemists needed a quick and straightforward breakage test procedure with clear, immediate results for R&D and QA purposes.
Solution
Mecmesin supplied a MultiTest 2.5-d motorised test stand with an AFG digital force gauge – the ideal configuration for quick and straightforward routine compression testing. The test stand is compact for a laboratory benchtop and the 50 N capacity of the gauge enables optimum accuracy for the load range expected. The gauge and the stand communicate seamlessly for control and ease-of-use.
Mecmesin’s custom lipstick fixture securely holds the test sample horizontally, perpendicular to the smooth, flat-tipped probe’s loading direction. The lipstick is therefore bent, not cut, although the material may fail in shear, which would be valuable information. This gripping solution also enables contact at a repeatable distance along the bullet, which is most vulnerable when new—at its initial maximum length—the worst time for the customer to experience a breakage resulting in maximum brand reputation damage. The peak force is captured by the gauge for ultimate break strength comparison.
Barry M aims to let its customer choose a lipstick for the look and to be confident it will perform; ground-breaking without breaking—or shearing, fracturing or crumbling.
Test equipment
- MultiTest 2.5-d motorised test stand (replaced by MultiTest 2.5-dV)
- AFG 50 N Advanced Force Gauge (or other digital gauge, VFG touchscreen)
- Special lower fixture for lipstick bullet testing
![Lipstick bullet broken by side cantilever force](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_540w/public/case-study/2024-07/Break-after-side-close-up.png.webp?itok=VBLsA5lb)
![Lipstick bullet sample loaded into the fixture with the test stand indicating load and speed](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_540w/public/case-study/2024-07/Break-display-close-up.png.webp?itok=PJUjW2OU)
![Testing equipment in use in the cosmetics formulation laboratory](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_540w/public/case-study/2024-07/Mecmesin-instruments-in-the-lab.png.webp?itok=eDPQmIGW)
![Lipstick product loaded into the cantilever bend fixture](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_640rct/public/2024-07/Break-before-side-close-up.png.webp?itok=sqwMrWLl)
![Compression tester and digital gauge with lipstick break fixture fitted](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_640rct/public/2024-07/Lipstick-break-test-setup-VFG-2024.png.webp?itok=_8KQ3hxL)
![Lipstick break fixture PDV12074](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_640rct/public/2024-07/PDV12074-lipstick-break-fixture.png.webp?itok=Vpqi5CSD)
![Software-controlled UTM lipstick break fixture fitted](/sites/default/files/styles/case_study_gallery_640rct/public/2024-07/PDV12074-lipstick-break-fixture-on-OmniTest.png.webp?itok=7i2yzze1)