The process by which one of two immiscible liquids is turned into super fine particles and dispersed in the other is called
"emulsification". The emulsification technology is indispensable in the manufacture of creams, emulsions, liquid foundations, and hair care products. Shiseido developed proprietary emulsification technologies to meet customers' needs for a better feeling on use and to stably blend useful ingredients that are usually difficult to blend.
Shiseido will continue to develop emulsification technologies to create better feeling on use and improve the functions of cosmetics.

Multiple emulsification

There are 2 types of emulsification: "O/W emulsification," in which water takes in oil and "W/O emulsification" in which oil takes in water. Shiseido developed the technology of "O/W/O emulsification," in which super fine oil droplets are engulfed by water surrounded by oil, and put it into practical use. Such emulsification is called "multiple emulsification". This technology creates a unique feeling on use: the feel changes when the product is applied to the skin.

Small oil droplets are seen within water droplets in oil.

High-pressure emulsification
By applying high pressure during the emulsification process, the size of the emulsified particles dispersed in water (or oil) can be reduced to 1/30 to 1/500 of the original size.
Using the high-pressure emulsification technology, lotion having the same water/oil ratio as that of thick cream can be manufactured.



RIM emulsification
RIM emulsification is one of the liquid crystal emulsification technologies developed by Shiseido.
A complex (liquid crystal) insoluble in either water or oil is produced instantly when a water-soluble "ampholytic surfactant" and oil-soluble "higher fatty acid" are mixed at a certain ratio. A variety of emulsification became possible with the use of this complex as an emulsifying agent. The technology is called "Rigid Interfacial Membrane (RIM) emulsification".
In RIM emulsification, both O/W and W/O emulsification can be freely controlled by changing the ratio of the ampholytic surfactant and the higher fatty acid. For the "O/W emulsification", the amount of surfactant is reduced and the content of oil is increased. A large amount of hard-to-emulsify silicone oil can be mixed in products using this technology; the advantage of silicone oil that can be spread easily on the skin or hair can be fully used. Silicone oil is now used in a wide range of products, including hair mousses and treatments.
Water can be stably mixed in a product at a ratio of over 90% in "W/O emulsification", to produce creams with a light feeling on use.



Micro Aqua Ball - fresh thickener -
Thickener is one of the important components of many cosmetics. Thickeners improve the feeling on use when the cosmetic product is applied to the skin or prevent dripping by yielding thickness to or gelating the product. However, the traditional thickeners do not have the capacity to thicken formulations that contain a large amount of alcohol or weakly acidic formulations into transparent gel.
Focusing on the super fine gel particles called microgel, Shiseido successfully developed a novel thickener, "Micro Aqua Ball," comprised of super fine microgel particles about 1/100th the size of the currently used microgel particles, with a proprietary technology to manufacture microgel particles in a nano-size synthetic environment. Micro Aqua Ball enables the development of transparent gels of products containing a large amount of alcohol. The technology is now used in many of our products.


Shiseido has been conducting a basic study on the thickening mechanism of Micro Aqua Ball, and friction among the microgel particles was found to be involved in the thickening effect. A light and fresh feel on use, unlike the sticky feeling of the traditional thickeners (string-shaped polymeric thickeners), can be achieved because of the friction among the particles.
Wider use of Micro Aqua Ball as an innovative thickener breaking down the traditional concept of cosmetics is expected.