Self-Healing Polymer Additives for Cosmetics

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Fanair Inc. of Montreal specializes in products for the burgeoning industry in cosmetic nails, and has traditionally relied on outsourcing its formulations of compositions for making photo-curable cosmetic nail products, a reliance that had previously prevented the company from leveraging its own Intellectual Property, made the company a vulnerable client of a sole-source outside formulator, and curtailed activities to move the company into a better position of innovation for global competitiveness. Since 2014 however, Fanair is now active in its own Research and Development of proprietary materials and in control of its own formulations, competitive with the world leaders, and as a result has now expanded to add distribution in the US, Caribbean, and in Europe. This proposal seeks to develop a novel additive of self-healing polymers to their current formulations to provide a longer-lasting and higher quality product, which will position Fanair with a unique and superior product to competitors, and emerge as a world-leader in this niche market. From daily wear, cosmetic nail top coats can become chipped, scratched or (most often) dulled in lustre due to micro-scratching, typically within 1-2 weeks. The company seeks to solve lustre loss by adding small amounts of 'self-healing' self-assembly polymers, which when warmed in daily bathing water can soften sufficiently to 'fill in' micro-scratches and restore gloss and lustre. The company can assert itself as a global industry leader in its area by developing such IP-protected scratch-healing compositions and processes. It can only do so by enlisting the expertise of a research group that has extensive knowledge of polymer coatings, reflectivity optimization, and self-healing surface reflectivity transitions, such as the Barrett Group at McGill Chemistry.