Challenge testing

All our products have also passed Challenge Tests conducted by an independent research institute in the territory of the EU.

Challenge testing ensures that the used preservatives protect the cosmetic from microbial growth and secondary infection during use.

Effectiveness criteria: a preservative setting is considered effective if in the examination environment, after certain time, the microbial growth rate in the implanted product has decreased to a satisfactory level.

Use:

Challenge tests are performed at various stages of manufacturing and storing processes:

• at the stage of the product’s laboratory development to confirm the effectiveness of the selected preservative setting
• in production series to confirm the technological process has no negative effect on the preservatives' stability and effectiveness
• to confirm the preservatives' stability before expiry date and proper product protection while storing and using
• to protect the cosmetic from unpredicted infection during production or consumer use
• to assess the effect against environmental strains that cause microbiological problems

All our products have been subjected to product safety assessment carried out by a safety assessor.

Cosmetic safety assessment consists of the following procedures:

1. Conformity assessment of the ingredients against provisions of the law.
2. Toxicological assessment of the product's ingredients.
3. Exposure assessment.
4. Risk assessment of cosmetic ingredients.
5. Study result assessment of the ready-made cosmetic.
6. Undesired effects assessment.

The safety assessor inspects the cosmetic's safety basing on any existing data, including information obtained from the manufacturer (ingredients, specifications for particular ingredients and study results for the ready-made product). The safety assessor uses all the available literature on toxicology, including toxicology databases, data obtained to assess the safety of other products, e.g., food, medications, etc.

1. Conformity assessment of the ingredients against provisions of the law

At the first stage the safety assessor establishes that the product comprises no substances that are not allowed in cosmetic manufacturing, and that there are no interactions compromising product safety between different ingredients and no interactions between ingredients and the packaging.

2. Toxicological assessment of the product's ingredients

All the cosmetic ingredients have been toxicologically assessed.

The analysis is conducted basing on ingredient documentation and any other existing data, i.e., current scientific literature on toxicology, chemistry, medicine, toxicology databases and official documentation from various institutions, e.g., the European Commission (the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety).

3. Exposure assessment

The safety assessor calculates how much of each substance, i.e., the cosmetic’s ingredient can be applied onto skin per day.

The safety assessor accounts for the recommended and predictable use of the product:

• application method, i.e., how often and how much of the cosmetic will be applied (e.g. face, mouth, entire body; to be rinsed or not; to be used several times a day or once every several days),
• target group it is dedicated to

The safety assessor also establishes the rate of skin penetration, basing on study results, chemical structure and substance properties.

Basing on these data the safety assessor establishes how much of each ingredient is absorbed during normal use of the cosmetic.

4. Risk assessment of cosmetic ingredients

It is one of the crucial stages of the product's safety assessment, when the safety assessor evaluates the safety of every ingredient contained in the cosmetic, accounting for how much and in what way the substance is used in a given type of product. The analysis is conducted by selecting a specific parameter (MoS – Margin of Safety) for particular ingredients.

5. Study result assessment of the ready-made cosmetic

Another stage of the cosmetic's safety assessment is the evaluation of the ready-made product's properties, particularly microbiological quality, product's stability and dermatological properties.

6. Undesired effects assessment

Every product can cause undesired effects, even though it is safe for consumer use. The most common undesired effects relate to allergy reactions to a specific ingredient.

During the study no undesired or health-detrimental effects were detected.