BEESWAX-BASED EMULSIONS FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION.

Nowadays, emulsions have been increasingly studied due to their application in different fields such us cosmetic, agriculture, pharmaceutical, paint and oil industries. Essential oils were widely used in the cosmetic industry as antimicrobial and antioxidant agents. This study investigated essential oil entrapment in beeswax in order to prolong its biological activities as oil in water (O/W) emulsion. Moreover, one of this work aim was to achieve stable beeswax-essential oil (extracted from Rosmarinus Officinalis, Origanum Onites, Mentha Piperita and Lavandula Angustifolia) emulsions that could be used in cosmetic industry for topical applications. Beeswax-based O/W emulsions were prepared with different concentrations of beeswax (1.3, 2.7, 4.0 and 5.3 % w/v) and essential oils (4, 5.4, 6.7 and 8 % v/v). All prepared emulsions were stored at 23°C for 5 days. The stability of emulsions is a critical parameter for its further use in cosmetic industry. Therefore, in this study physical parameters (pH, conductivity) and emulsions stability (by analyzing stability index, turbidity and emulsifying activity index) were determined. Multi-wavelength UV-VIS spectroscopy for the characterization of prepared emulsions was utilized too. The results obtained from this study proved that the prepared emulsions’ stability depends on the interfacial surface, corresponding to the volume fraction of oil from emulsions, the nature of the essential oil, and also beeswax : essential oil ratio. The lowest stability presents the emulsion containing 1.3 % (w/v) beeswax and 4% (v/v) essential oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]