Method and composition for treating skin conditions

Abstract

A skin care composition and a method for treating skin, the method including the step of individually displaying a plurality of visual skin guides to a consumer. Each of the visual skin guides includes a plurality of visual representations of a categorical skin condition. Each of the visual representations correspond to a severity score for the categorical skin condition on the visual skin guide. The method further includes providing a skin care system that includes a base oil composition and one or more booster compositions selected based on the severity score for each of the categorical skin conditions for each of the visual skin guides that represent the customer's current skin condition. The booster compositions and oil base formulations are individually packaged and the booster compositions are readily dispersible in the oil base formulation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for forming a skin care composition, the method comprising: providing to a consumer visual guides for each of at least two categorical target skin conditions that may be treated with the treatment composition, the visual guides comprising two or more visual representations for each of the at least two categorical target skin conditions; obtaining from the consumer one selected visual representation from each of the visual guides, selection of the visual representations based on an assessment of the consumer's skin condition at the time of selection; providing the consumer with a skin care system that includes one or more booster compositions comprising one or more active ingredients for treating the categorical target skin condition corresponding to the visual representations selected by the consumer, the system further comprising a base oil composition comprising squalane, wherein each booster composition and the base oil composition are disposed in separate containers, and wherein the system is provided with a container that is suitable for combining and mixing the base oil composition and the booster compositions, each booster composition being readily dispersible in the base oil composition. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the consumer is provided the option to select visual guides based on one of ethnicity and skin type. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the visual guides are presented in the form of a skin diagnosis questionnaire that is one of assisted by a skin care expert or unassisted. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the categorical skin conditions are selected from skin brightness, skin lines, skin wrinkles, visibility of pores, skin texture, skin redness, skin firmness, and skin tone evenness. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a visual guide includes a series of visual representations in the form of photographs showing a categorical skin condition of varying degrees of severity. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the base oil composition comprising squalane comprises at least one or more of botanical oil, hexyldecanol, and tocopherol, octyldodecanol, dicaprylyl ether,  zea mays  (corn) oil,  passiflora edulis  seed oil,  oryza sativa  (rice) bran oil, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising pre-solubilizing the booster compositions with one or more ingredients also present in the base oil composition. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skin care system includes two or more booster compositions, each corresponding to a different categorical skin condition. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more oil-based booster compositions comprising one or more active ingredients includes one or more active ingredients corresponding to categorical skin conditions wherein:
 (a) the at least one active ingredient corresponding to skin brightness includes at least one active ingredient selected from the group consisting of ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, phenylethyl resorcinol, arbutin,  eperua falcata  bark extract, ceramides, punica granatum fruit extract, citrus  aurantium dulcis  (orange) peel essential oil, rapeseed oil,  cassia alata  leaf extract, purple rice extract, and combinations thereof, and   (b) wherein the at least one active ingredient corresponding to skin wrinkles includes at least one active ingredient selected from the group consisting of retinol, retinyl palmitate, punica granatum fruit extract,  pelargonium graveolens  flower oil,  melissa officinalis  leaf oil,  zingiber officinale  (ginger) root oil,  theobroma cacao  (cocoa) extract, purple rice extract, phytosphingosine, cinnamic acid, and combinations thereof, and   (c) wherein the at least one active ingredient corresponding to visibility of pores includes at least one active ingredient selected from the group consisting of ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, salicylic acid,  crithimum maritimum  extract, totarol,  ulkenia amoeboidea  oil, and combinations thereof, and   (d) wherein the at least one active ingredient corresponding to skin texture includes at least one active ingredient selected from the group consisting of glyceryl linoleate (and) glyceryl oleate (and) glyceryl linolenate, punica granatum fruit extract, shea butter, rice bran oil, safflower oil, phospholipids,  panax ginseng  root extract, and combinations thereof, and   (e) wherein the at least one active ingredient corresponding to skin redness includes at least one active ingredient selected from the group consisting of  helianthus annuus  (sunflower) seed oil unsaponifiables,  melissa officinalis  leaf oil,  zingiber officinale  (ginger) root oil,  anthemis nobilis  flower oil, and combinations thereof.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the base oil composition and the one or more booster compositions is anhydrous. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the base oil composition and the one or more booster compositions comprises at least 20 weight percent squalane. 
     
     
         12 . A method for forming a skin care composition, the method comprising: providing to a consumer visual guides for each of at least two categorical target skin conditions that may be treated with the treatment composition, each visual guide comprising a series of visual representations in the form of photographs showing a categorical skin condition of varying degrees of severity for a categorical target skin condition; obtaining from the consumer one selected visual representation from each of the visual guides, selection of the visual representations based on a self or professional assessment of the consumer's skin condition at the time of selection; providing the consumer with a skin care system that includes two or more booster compositions, each booster composition comprising one or more active ingredients for treating the categorical target skin condition corresponding to the visual representations selected by the consumer, the system further comprising a base oil composition comprising squalane, wherein each booster composition and the base oil composition are disposed in separate containers, and wherein the system is provided with a container that is suitable for combining and mixing the base oil composition and the booster compositions, each booster composition being readily dispersible in the base oil composition. 
     
     
         13 . A method for formulating a custom skin care system, comprising:
 (a) presenting a plurality of visual guides for each of at least two categorical skin conditions, each plurality of visual guides comprising two or more visual representations for the categorical skin condition;   (b) presenting prompts for a consumer to select no more than one visual representation from each plurality of visual guides;   (c) generating from the selections made by a consumer a skin care system comprising separately packaged components, the separately packaged components comprising:
 1. a base oil composition comprising squalane; and 
 2. one or more oil-based booster compositions comprising one or more active ingredient selected to treat a categorical skin condition based on the selected visual representation for the categorical skin condition, wherein each separately packaged booster composition is readily dispersible in the oil base formulation. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising a step prior to step (i) of presenting a prompt for a consumer to select from visual guides based on one of ethnicity and skin type, wherein the visual representations of skin conditions that are presented in step (i) correspond to the consumer-selected option for ethnicity and skin type. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein a plurality of visual guides includes visual representations selected from images and pictorial representations depicting a categorical skin condition. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein each visual representation in a plurality of visual guides has a corresponding severity score. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein each visual representation severity score is assigned a numerical value corresponding to a degree of severity of a categorical skin condition. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more active ingredients selected to treat a categorical skin condition is determined based on the numerical value corresponding to the severity scores for each of the consumer selected visual representations for the categorical skin conditions. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the categorical skin conditions are selected from skin brightness, skin lines, skin wrinkles, visibility of pores, skin texture, skin redness, skin firmness, and skin tone evenness. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the base oil comprises at least components selected from the group consisting of squalane, botanical oil, hexyldecanol, and tocopherol, octyldodecanol, dicaprylyl ether,  zea mays  (corn) oil,  passiflora edulis  seed oil,  oryza sativa  (rice) bran oil, and combinations thereof.