Lipstick bullet break resistance testing

Case study

Lipstick bullet broken by side cantilever force

Lipstick bullet sample loaded into the fixture with the test stand indicating load and speed

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.