Quality control of cosmetic mixtures by NIR spectroscopy

Cosmetic preparations typically consist of mixtures of various compounds of natural origin or their derivatives. Their analysis is made rather difficult by their usually high complexity and is utterly impossible with a single analytical method; also, there is usually little to be gained by determining every individual component of the mixture. Rather, analyses are aimed at ensuring a proper balance between the contents of each component and thus require the use of methods capable of delivering global information. The combined use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and multivariate spectral processing chemometric techniques has enabled the development of effective methods for establishing the composition of complex samples with acceptable levels of analytical properties, such as accuracy, precision and throughput. In this work, we developed partial least squares calibration models for the determination of each component in a cosmetic mixture, and global indices (viz. the hydroxyl value), simply from the NIR spectrum of the sample. The models thus obtained are accurate enough for use in quality control analyses of cosmetic preparations and provide an effective alternative to existing conventional global methods. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2007 Springer-Verlag.