Pucker Up!
by Darian B.
2nd Place (Tie) - Chemistry

QUESTION - My question is why are emollients used in cosmetics?

RESEARCH - My sources are listed in my bibliography.

HYPOTHESIS - My hypothesis is emollients are agents that are used in cosmetics to make them go on smoothly.

EXPERIMENT - The ingredients I used for my experiment were beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, petroleum jelly, aloe vera gel, vitamin E liquid, peppermint oil, sweet almond oil, and coconut oil.  Then the materials I used were pyrex glass measuring cups, small plastic containers, a microwave, a stove, wooden stirrers measuring spoons, a hand mirror and pot holders. The steps of my experiment lasted for a total of six weeks. First gather all your ingredients. Then melt together the basic ingredients of each recipe. Use low to medium heat and check the mixture every 15 to 30 seconds. Make sure you stir the samples really well! Next, carefully remove from heat and add the appropriate flavorings or vitamin E. Stir the mixture again and pour into clean containers. Finally, let the samples cool and seal with a tight lid. Wait a day and see the results.

ANALYSIS - I tested my experiment six times.  The first time was in the microwave for the three different glosses.  Then I tested the three glosses using the stove.

Gloss A (Almond Honey Lip Balm)
Microwave - The balm had a nice texture and smelled really good.  It gave the lips a really nice shine.
Stove - The balm had a really nice look to it. It actually looked the best compared to all three glosses. It had an okay smell. The testers thought it came in second with smell, but it came in third for the gloss they liked the best.

Gloss B (Vanilla Lip Gloss)
Microwave - The gloss had an awesome smell, however it was very chunky. It did not go on the lips well; more aloe vera gel was needed.
Stove - The gloss smelled very good. It smelled mostly like coconut. It still had chunks but not as much as the test done in the microwave. It was the second favorite among my testers.

Gloss C (Cocoa Mint Lip Balm)
Microwave - The balm had a nice texture and was all the same color; however it did not smell very good. It did go on the lips the best though.
Stove - The balm was all the same color. It still did not smell very well. It had a minty medicine smell to it.  However this was the best gloss to my testers.            

DISCOVERY - In this experiment I learned that my hypothesis was correct. Emollients are used in cosmetics to make them rub on smoothly, as I had thought. The cocoa mint lip balm turned out to be the best, followed by the vanilla lip gloss and the almond honey lip balm. I found that this experiment was very messy and expensive. However, it was really cool to apply basic chemistry to create my own homemade cosmetics.
                                   
BIBLIOGRAPHY -
http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_solution.html
http://www.halderman.net/cgi-bin/showrecipe.pl?lip
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/recipecollections/a/bllipgloss.htm