FOAM APPLICATORS TO APPLY COSMETICS OR NAIL POLISH
A cosmetic foam applicator product applies cosmetics to the skin and a nail polish foam applicator applies nail polish to fingernails and toenails. Each foam applicator has a stem and an adjacent head. The stem for the cosmetic foam applicator has sidewalls contoured as finger grips and its head has elongated tips that extend away from the stem. The relative length of the tips determines whether the cosmetic foam applicator is soft tipped, firm tipped or medium (soft or firm) tipped. The stem for the nail polish foam applicator has parallel straight sidewalls and its head has a bulge with an elongated tip that extends from the bulge.
This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/294,255 filed Jan. 22, 2010.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to foam applicators to apply cosmetics to skin or nail polish to the fingernails and/or toenails.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The inventor is the owner of Advanced Enterprises, Inc., which is in the business of manufacturing cosmetic foam make-up applicators for women to apply liquid foundation, make-up, blush, eye shadow, concealer and other types of cosmetics to their skin.
Advanced Enterprises, Inc. is the manufacturer of a product line of cosmetic accessories and applicators that include cosmetic wedges, rounds, puffs, removers, and red rubber sponges; an assortment of sizes, shapes and materials of make-up applicators, powder puffs and specialty items. Advanced Enterprises, Inc. introduced the cosmetic wedges to the marketplace over 15 years ago and, in 1999, introduced the make-up remover cloth that removes make-up instantly upon contact, while gently exfoliating the skin. The make-up remover cloth is all natural, has a soft, velvety feel, and rinses completely clean in water—no stains remain and may be reused again and again.
Conventional make-up brushes carry bacteria from the skin into the make-up, allowing the bacteria to grow inside the make-up as well as on the brush. This bacteria is then transferred back to the skin when the make-up brush is used again. This bacteria can cause skin irritations which can lead to serious skin and eye infections.
It would be desirable to provide cosmetic applicators that avoid carrying bacteria from the skin into make-up, thereby preventing the growth of bacteria inside the make-up as well as on the brush.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne aspect of the invention resides in a foam applicator of cosmetics. The foam applicator may apply liquid foundation, make-up, blush, eye shadow, concealer and other types of cosmetics to skin, as well as loose powder and mineral make-up.
Preferably, the foam applicator has a stem whose sidewalls enable finger grips and has a head adjacent the stem with tips that are spaced apart from each other. The tips are configured to pick up the loose powder and spread the powder and mineral make-up evenly over the face. The foam applicator may be used like a brush without the negative aspects of standard cosmetic bristle brushes. Each head may have four or five tips.
A strip of foam may be die cut for forming a plurality of the foam applicators that may be manually separated from each other. While forming the strip, adjacent ones of the foam applicators may be retained to each other along side surfaces of outward ones of the tips. Side surfaces of the stems may be concavely curved or inclined or diverge toward the end of the stem.
Another aspect of the invention resides in a foam applicator of nail polish that includes a stem terminating at one end into a head with a tip. A strip of foam may be die cut for forming a plurality of the foam applicators that may be manually separated from each other. While forming the strip, adjacent ones of the foam applicators may be retained to each other along side surfaces of the stems, with every other one of the heads projecting from one side of the strip and the other heads projection from the opposite side.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, while the scope of the invention is set forth in the appended claims.
Turning to the drawing,
Foam applicators 1 and 5 have a periphery that includes a rounded base, diverging inclined surfaces that extend from opposite sides of the rounded base, parallel surfaces that extend away from respective ones of the diverging inclined surfaces and V-like formations at the opposite end that define rounded tips between them. The rounded tips do not form sharp points to help assure consistency in the tip appearance during manufacture of mass quantities.
Foam applicators 2 and 3 have a periphery that includes a flat base between two parallel edges, concave surfaces that each extend from respective ones of the parallel edges, parallel flat surfaces that extend from ends of respective ones of the concave surfaces, and V-like formations at the opposite end that define rounded tips between them. Opposite sides of the foam applicators are symmetric.
Foam applicator 4 is similar in shape to that of the foam applicators 2 and 3, except it has a shallower thickness and fewer V-like formations and more rigid due to a difference in its foam material over that of foam applicators 1-3 and 5.
Foam applicators 6, 7 and 10 have the same foam material as that of foam applicators 1, 2, 3 and 5 and similar shape to that of the foam applicators 2 and 3. Foam applicators 8 and 9 have the same foam material as that of the applicators 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10 and their shape resembles that of foam applicator 4 except as concerns their thickness and that the side surfaces that extend from the concave surfaces converge rather than remain parallel.
With respect to all the foam applicators 1-10, the underside (not shown) is symmetric to the top and they are depicted in a non-squeezed state in
If desired, the center finger or tine may be longer than the others. The two rounded tips immediately neighboring the center on either side may be of the same length but smaller than the center finger or tine. The remaining rounded tips may be of the same length but smaller in length than all the other rounded tips. The arrangement of the rounded tips is symmetric relative to the center.
The top end of the cosmetic applicator 2 may have longer fingers than is the case for the cosmetic applicator 1. Also, the bottom end of the cosmetic applicator 2 has sides that concave instead of tapering as is the case for the cosmetic applicator 1 and the bottom edge is flat or straight, rather than rounded.
The cosmetic applicator 3 is similar in structure to that of the cosmetic applicator 2, except that the rounded tips are closer to being the same length, although there is a gradual increase in length of the fingers or times from the right to the left in the drawing for four of them, with the leftmost one being shorter than its neighbor.
The cosmetic applicator 4 only has four rounded tips, but does have concavely curved sides. Also, is depth or thickness is about ⅔ shorter than is the case for the other cosmetic applicators. It is made of NBF, rather than SBF that the other cosmetic applicators in the photograph are made of.
The cosmetic applicator 5 is similar in construction to that of the cosmetic applicator 1, except that all the fingers/tines are of the same length.
Turning to
It may be useful for the user to spread the rounded tips further apart by squeezing the sides when the cosmetic applicator is being used to pick up loose or pressed powder and mineral make-up, liquid foundation, blush, eye shadow, concealer or cream.
Turning to
Turning to of
The lengths of the U-like or V-like formations 17a of
The lengths of the U-like or V-like formations 17c of
The remaining U-like or V-like formations 17b, 18b and 19c are shorter than the U-like or V-like formations 17a, 18a and 19a, respectively, and longer than the U-like or V-like formations 17c, 18c and 19c, respectively, and thus provide a texture of intermediate softness/firmness than the other U-like or V-like formations that are either longer or shorter in length.
The preferred foam materials for the foam applicator of the present invention is a closed foam material, such as styrene butadiene polymer synthetic foam and nitrile butadiene polymer synthetic foam.
All the foam applicators of
To make the foam applicator of the present invention, a strip of foam material is mounted on top of a steel ruled tool and then the material and tool are sent together through a roller press, which is actuated to form the brush type applicator or applicators. The steel ruled tool is configured to present a cutting surface that corresponds to any desired shape of the foam applicators depicted in the drawings of the present application so as to cut the strip of foam material accordingly.
The foam applicators that are formed are packaged and the ready to be sold through national retailers.
The insert in the packaging may contain printed material that sets forth directions on applying cosmetics to facial skin with the soft tipped, medium (or intermediate) tipped, or firm tipped foam applicator as the case may be. Indeed, the soft tipped, medium (or intermediate) tipped, or firm tipped foam applicators may be separately packages with an associated insert setting forth directions specific to the particular type of foam application in the package. The packaging may be a transparent plastic material.
The foam applicator of any of the embodiments of the present invention is naturally hypoallergenic, biodegradable, anti-bacterial and is latex free. Such contrasts with conventional cosmetic brushes that promote the spread of bacteria and other contaminants or pollutants to the facial skin. Such conventional cosmetic brushes typically promote the spread of bacteria into the make-up and then transfers the bacteria to the skin, which can lead to skin irritations or worse health problems caused by infections that result.
In addition, the foam applicator of any of the embodiments of the present invention may be disposed of after use to completely eliminate the risk of transferring bacteria to the skin if reused. As such, it is a safe and inexpensive alternative to conventional cosmetic brushes that typically are reused.
To use the foam applicator of any of the embodiments of the present invention, the following steps may be carried out:
(1) Hold the stem of the foam applicator between the index finger and thumb. That is, hold at the concave surfaces of the stem or at the inclined surfaces of the stem as the case may be.
(2) Dip the foam tips onto the loose powder make-up, foundation, concealer, blush and pressed powder.
(3) Wisp the foam applicator in the desired areas until the make-up is looking smoother, even and flawless.
(4) Apply the make-up to hard to reach places, such as around the nose and under and over the eyes and around the lips and mouth, by positioning the tips to contact such hard to reach places.
(5) Carry out a stippling technique for applying make-up by using a rounded end. The rounded end may be at the opposite end from the tips for some of he embodiments (see the foam applicators 1 and 5 of
To use the nail polish foam applicator of
(1) Hold the stem of the nail polish foam applicator between the index finger and thumb. That is, hold the parallel straight sides.
(2) Dip the desired end of the nail polish foam applicator into nail polish. That is, the user has the choice to use either the pointed end of the nail polish foam applicator or the opposite end that is rounded.
(3) Apply the nail polish at the desired end onto the fingernails and/or toe nails to color them or make them shiny.
Turning to
Soft tipped applicators of
Medium (or intermediate) tipped applicators of
Firm tipped applicators of
While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A foam applicator product, comprising a body having an elongated stem, the stem having sidewalls symmetric in configuration with each other that extend from a proximal end of the stem, a head adjacent the stem and having an elongated tip part that projects outward away from the stem in a direction of elongation of the stem to terminate into at least one tip, the body being made of a closed foam material that has memory, the body being deformable under manual force from a relaxed, non-tensioned state to a deformed, tensioned state and being configured because of the memory to resiliently return to the relaxed, non-tensioned state from the deformed, tensioned state once the manual force that deformed the body is removed.
2. The foam applicator product of claim 1, further comprising a foam strip that has a plurality of further bodies each substantially identical in shape to the body and that has the body, the plurality of further bodies and the body being arranged relative to each other so that all have respective tips that point outward from the foam strip, a pair of the further bodies having the proximal end of their stems abutting each other, the body and one of the further bodies having the proximal end of their stems abutting each other, the foam strip having separation cut lines between adjacent ones of the further bodies and the body so that the further bodies and the body may be separated from each other under manual force at the separation cut lines.
3. The foam applicator product of claim 2, further comprising voids between the sidewalls of the stem of neighboring ones of the further bodies and the body, further comprising inserts that fill the voids and that are made of the same closed foam material, the inserts by removable from the voids under manual force.
4. The foam applicator product of claim 2, further comprising a further foam strip spaced from that foam strip and that is substantially identical in shape to that of the foam strip except that lengths of the elongated tip part differ from lengths of the elongated tip part of the foam strip so as to provide a difference in level of softness and firmness.
5. The foam applicator product of 1, wherein the closed foam material is selected from a group consisting of styrene butadiene polymer synthetic foam and nitrile butadiene polymer synthetic foam.
6. The foam applicator product of 2, wherein the foam part includes a plurality of elongated tips spaced apart from each other.
7. The foam applicator product of 1, further comprising a cosmetic on the body, the cosmetic being selected from a group consisting of a liquid foundation, make-up, blush, eye shadow, concealer, loose powder, and mineral make-up.
8. The foam applicator product of 1, further comprising a nail polish on the body.
9. The foam applicator product of 7, wherein the sidewalls extend in a nonparallel manner relative to each other.
10. The foam applicator product of 8, wherein the sidewalls has portions that extend in a parallel manner relative to each other.
11. The foam applicator product of 1, wherein the sidewalls have portions that are concavely curved.
12. The foam applicator product of 1, wherein the sidewalls have portions that converge toward the proximal end.
13. The foam applicator product of 1, wherein the sidewalls have portions that extend in a nonparallel manner relative to each other.
14. The foam applicator product of 1, wherein the sidewalls have portions that extend in a parallel manner relative to each other.
15. The foam applicator product of claim 2, further comprising two foam strips that are substantially identical in shape to that of the foam strip except that lengths of their elongated tip part differ from lengths of the elongated tip part of the foam strip and with respect to each other so as to provide differences in level of softness and firmness, namely, soft tipped, firm tipped and intermediate tipped whose level of softness and firmness is between that for the soft tipped and the firm tipped, the foam strip and the two foam strips being spaced from each other.
16. The foam applicator product of claim 15, wherein each of the foam strip and the two foam strips are packaged with respective inserts, each of the inserts containing an associated set of directions for application of cosmetics, a content of the associated set of direction varying from insert to insert depending upon whether the directions concern the soft tipped, the firm tipped or the intermediate tipped foam applicators.
17. The foam applicator product of claim 1, wherein an entirety of the foam applicator is hypoallergenic, biodegradable, anti-bacterial and is latex free.
18. The foam applicator product of claim 1, wherein the tip has an outward contour selected from a group consisting of rounded, flattened and pointed.
Type: Application
Filed: May 3, 2010
Publication Date: Jul 14, 2011
Inventor: Eugene Polanish (Monroe, CT)
Application Number: 12/772,397
International Classification: A45D 29/00 (20060101); A45D 40/26 (20060101);