Long thick eyelashes are now possible without fakes, says Symrise

According to the Germany-headquartered company, SymPeptide 226EL can noticeably strengthen, lengthen and thicken lashes in as little as two weeks.

The peptide has been designed to stimulate the keratin genes and the company says its in vitro​ tests showed significant stimulation of a number of genes (including KRT3, KRT19 and LUM) when epidermal keratinocytes treated with 10 ppm of the peptide were compared with an untreated control.

In addition, the company says in vivo​ tests on 15 subjects between the ages of 24 and 82, where a product containing SymPeptide 226EL was applied once a day for 2 weeks, showed a 25 per cent increase in lash length and thickness.

The company is quick to point out that the peptide is a cosmetics ingredient, and can be used in cosmetics products in most countries (excepting China as the pre-market approval necessary for the country has not yet been acquired).

Regulation of finished products​

Symrise told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com that it has not experienced any problems with the regulatory grey area that exists between the drug and cosmetic worlds, which has affected finished products in the US that made similar claims.

Although the definition is hotly debated particularly in the anti-ageing sphere, for regulatory purposes a cosmetic remains a product that does not affect the structure and function of the body.

California-based Jan Marini Skin Research was asked to remove an eyelash enhancing product from the US market in 2006 by the FDA for both its active ingredient bimatoprost, which was thought to be a drug compound found in glaucoma medication, and its marketing literature that claimed the product could physiologically alter the eyelashes.

Pharmaceutical player Allergan, which manufactures the bimatoprost-containing glaucoma medication, has now gained regulatory approval for a drug product, Latisse, that it claims can enhance eyelash growth without negative side effects.

Symrise claims that its new peptide can make the temporary solutions provided by mascaras and false lashes, as well as the prescription-based lash growth products, a thing of the past.