Cool(s) Under Pressure

By Christine Esposito

Thanks to advancements in skin care science, the beauty industry continues to deliver consumers products that can help them freeze time, so to speak, by eliminating lines and wrinkles and giving them a more youthful appearance. Now Icy Beauty Paris is combining dramatically reduced lipid polymers with proprietary packaging to deliver one of the coolest solutions in the battle against aging skin.

Icy Beauty has found a means to reduce the size of hydrating and emollient liquid polymers so they can be better absorbed into the skin.Clinical studies have shown that within one hour of application, the company’s Ice-Source high speed cooling effect lifting treatment reduces deep wrinkles by 25 percent and medium wrinkles by 21 percent.

The secret behind Ice-Source is flash refrigeration and special patented packaging, developed by Thermagen SA, which cools the skin treatment from 72° to 36°F in less than two minutes.

To activate the packaging, users turn the jar over, remove the bottom label and press the bottom with both thumbs until it clicks, starting a rapid cooling process of the skin treatment.Ice-Source’s self-refrigerating system is inserted into a silk-screen polypropylene and varnish case. The lid is made of polypropylene metal-coated under vacuum, and a lid liner ensures air tightness (see schematic on next page). According to Thermagen, between the separation lid and the heat exchanger, there is approximately 4 mL of water under vacuum. When the actuator button is pushed, the valve opens, the water evaporates on contact with the heat exchanger and is adsorbed by the ceramics. The system acts as a heat pump: the cream gets colder and the ceramic heats up.

During the rapid cooling process, Icy Beauty says the size of Ice-Source’s hydrating and emollient liquid polymers is dramatically reduced, allowing for better absorption into the skin. Once under the surface of the skin, the polymers fill with water and return to their larger size and plump the skin instantly for up to 12 hours.

According to Fadi Khairallah, chairman and chief executive of Thermagen SA and chief executive and co-founder of Icy Beauty Paris, the packaging’s ability to rapidly cool the formulation is essential to the skin treatment’s effectiveness. “The packaging is vital to the formulation since it is an active part of the product; the formula is activated by the packaging and does not work if cooled down in a refrigerator,” he says.

Icy Beauty explored other potential cooling technologies for Ice-Source, such as gas expansion and chemical reactions. But this sorption cooling method was safer for the environment and for the consumer, Khairallah notes. “None of the other methods offered a route to the design and supply of viable self-cooling packaging with the needed cooling performance.”

While new for the cosmetics market, this type of cooling system isn’t necessarily revolutionary.In fact, it has been known for thousands of years—porous jugs and animal skins were used to cool items by evaporation. More modern approaches to this refrigeration technique have been used since the 1930s but hadn’t been used in disposable packaging until Thermagen began to explore various applications.

During the development process, Thermagen obtained use of a simulation tool through the European Space Agency’s Technology Transfer Program, which enabled it to optimize the cooling system so it could work for consumer applications. The company’s first success came when it created a rapid cooling system for beverages used by Percarolo Sports in the 2003 Dakar Rally.Now, Icy Beauty has exclusive rights to the skin treatment packaging, which Khairallah said will be used for other beauty products.

Icy Beauty’s focus on the cold doesn’t end with Thermagen’s packaging. Ice-Source contains cryogenically frozen, hand picked arctic raspberry. Freezing preserves the power of the plant, which is rich in anthocyans, tannins and organic acids, according to the company.

Sold in dry and normal skin formulations, Ice-Source, which launched in France in 2004 and made its U.S. debut last fall, retails for $300 and $330 at Bergdorf Goodman, Bliss Catalogue, Holt Renferew and Henri Bendel. Each jar—which needs to be refrigerated after activation—contains a 15-30 day supply of product.