Liposomes in the cosmetics: present and outlook

Abstract

Liposomes are small spherical vesicles composed of phospholipid bilayers capable of encapsulating a variety of ingredients, including water- and oil-soluble compound, which are one of the most commonly used piggybacking and delivery techniques for many active ingredients and different compounds in biology, medicine and cosmetics. With the increasing number of active cosmetic ingredients, the concomitant challenge is to effectively protect, transport, and utilize these substances in a judicious manner. Many cosmetic ingredients are ineffective both topically and systemically when applied to the skin, thus changing the method of delivery and interaction with the skin of the active ingredients is a crucial step toward improving their effectiveness. Liposomes can improve the delivery of active ingredients to the skin, enhance their stability, and ultimately, improve the efficacy of cosmetics and and pharmaceuticals. In this review, we summarized the basic properties of liposomes and their recent advances of functionalities in cosmetics and and pharmaceuticals. Also, the current state of the art in the field is discussed and the prospects for future research areas are highlighted. We hope that this review will provide ideas and inspiration on the application and development of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Keywords:

• Liposomes
• delivery
• cosmetics
• skin
• transdermal
• pharmaceuticals

Authors’ contributions

Zhaohe Huang and Li Xu: Writing-original draft. Jie Xiong, Xin Zhan and Shujing Li: Editing. Yanan Wang and Yifan He: Project administration, Writing - review, Supervision. Hong Meng and Xiaojing Pei: Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. All authors are agreed with the content of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22004005).