APPLICATOR FOR APPLYING MAKEUP TO HUMAN KERATIN FIBRES, IN PARTICULAR THE EYEBROWS

Abstract

Applicator for applying makeup to and/or caring for human keratin fibres, having a stem that extends along a longitudinal axis and is connected at one end to a gripping member and at the other end to an applicator member, the latter extending along a longitudinal axis that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stem, and having a hollow support of elongate overall shape including two opposite longitudinal arms that define an opening between one another and meet at the distal end of the applicator member, and at least one bridge of material that extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the applicator member and is connected to said arms of the support, protruding from the opening on the opposite side from the recess of the elbow formed by the applicator member and the stem.

Claims

1. An applicator for applying makeup to and/or caring for human keratin fibres, in particular for applying makeup to and/or caring for the eyebrows and/or hairs of the beard and/or the roots of the hair, having a stem that extends along a longitudinal axis and is connected at one end to a gripping member and at the other end to an applicator member, the latter extending along a longitudinal axis that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stem and forming an elbow therewith, and having a hollow support of elongate overall shape comprising: two opposite longitudinal arms that define an opening between one another and meet at the distal end of the applicator member, the support having an overall tapered shape in the direction of said distal end when viewed in a direction generally perpendicular to the opening, and at least one bridge of material that extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the applicator member and is connected to said arms of the support, protruding from the opening on the opposite side from the recess of the elbow formed by the applicator member and the stem.

2. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein said at least one bridge of material is arched, extending along a curved longitudinal axis.

3. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the applicator member further has at least one straight bridge of material, better still a plurality of straight bridges of material.

4. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the applicator member has an alternation of arched bridges of material and straight bridges of material.

5. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the applicator member further has at least one arched bridge of material protruding on the side of the recess of the elbow formed by the applicator member and the stem, the different arched bridges of material extending alternately above and below the opening defined by the support.

6. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein at least one bridge of material, better still all the bridges of material, extend(s) along an oblique axis with respect to the longitudinal axis of the applicator member.

7. The applicator according to claim 6, wherein the axis along which a bridge of material extends forms, with the longitudinal axis of the applicator member, an angle of between 10° and 80°, better still between 30° and 60°.

8. The applicator according to claim 7, wherein the bridges of material extend along mutually parallel axes.

9. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein flocking is present on at least a portion of the surface of at least one bridge of material, better still on at least a portion of the surface of each bridge of material, even better still on the entire surface of each bridge of material.

10. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein flocking is further present on the two opposite arms of the support, flocking further being present in particular on the front region of the support at the opposite end from the stem where the two opposite arms of the support meet.

11. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the bridges of material are devoid of spikes.

12. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the arms of the support have a variable thickness, in particular decreasing towards the distal end of the applicator member.

13. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the opposite arms of the support extend in a plane comprising the longitudinal axis of the applicator member.

14. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal axis of the applicator member forms, with the longitudinal axis of the stem, an angle of between 2° and 30°, better still between 5° and 10°.

15. The applicator according to claim 1, wherein the keratin fibres are the eyebrows.

16. A packaging and application device having an applicator as defined in claim 1 and a container containing a composition for making up and/or caring for human keratin fibres, in particular the eyebrows and/or hairs of the beard and/or roots of the hair, to be applied with the aid of said applicator.

17. A method for making up and/or caring for human keratin fibres, in particular method for making up and/or caring for the eyebrows, involving the application of a composition, in particular simultaneously to said fibres and to the underlying skin, by means of the applicator of the device as defined in claim 16.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0067] The invention may be understood better from reading the following detailed description of a non-limiting implementation example thereof and from studying the appended drawing, in which:

[0068] FIG. 1 schematically shows a packaging and application device according to the invention,

[0069] FIG. 2 shows a top view of the applicator member, as moulded, before it is optionally flocked and is mounted on the stem of the applicator,

[0070] FIG. 3 is a side view of the applicator member in FIG. 2,

[0071] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the applicator member in FIG. 2,

[0072] FIG. 5 shows a cross section through a bridge of material according to an embodiment variant of the invention, shown in section,

[0073] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a variant applicator member produced according to the invention, as moulded, before it is optionally flocked and is mounted on the stem of the applicator,

[0074] FIG. 7 shows a top view of the applicator member in FIG. 6 after flocking, and

[0075] FIG. 8 shows a side view of the applicator member in FIG. 6 after flocking.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0076] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a packaging and application device 1 according to one implementation example of the invention.

[0077] The device 1 has an applicator 2 according to the invention and a container 3 containing a composition P to be applied to the eyebrows.

[0078] The applicator 2 has an applicator member 10 situated at the end of a stem 4 that is connected at the other end to a gripping member 6, which further constitutes a member for closing the container 3.

[0079] The container 3 has a threaded neck 7 and a wiping member 8 for wiping the applicator member 10 as it leaves the container.

[0080] Referring in particular to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the applicator member 10 extends along a longitudinal axis X that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis Y of the stem 4.

[0081] The applicator member 10 has a hollow support 11 having the overall shape of an elongate frame, comprising a rear region 11c that is oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10 and is connected to the stem 4, and two opposite longitudinal arms 11a, 11b that define a planar opening 12 between one another and meet at the distal end 13 of the applicator member 10 in a front region 11d at the opposite end from the stem 4, advantageously forming a tip. The support 11 thus has an overall tapered shape in the direction of said distal end 13 when viewed in a direction generally perpendicular to the opening 12, as can be seen in particular in FIG. 2. The opposite arms 11a, 11b extend preferably in a plane P.sub.a comprising the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10.

[0082] The length l.sub.a of the front region 11d of the support 11, measured along the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10 between its distal end 13 and the start of the opening 12 on the distal side, may be between 1 mm and 5 mm.

[0083] The support 11 further comprises a plurality of bridges of material 14, which advantageously are devoid of spikes, extend transversely to the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10 and meet at said arms 11a, 11b. The bridges of material 14 protrude from the opening 12 on the opposite side from the recess 17 of the elbow formed by the applicator member 10 and the stem 4. In the example in question, the bridges of material 14 are arched, extending along a curved longitudinal axis Z. The applicator member 10 further has straight bridges of material 15 that extend along a straight longitudinal axis T. The applicator member 10 thus has, in this example, an alternation of arched bridges of material 14 and straight bridges of material 15 along its longitudinal axis X.

[0084] In the example described, the support 11 is continued on the proximal side by an end piece 18 for fastening in the stem 4, the end piece 18 preferably being moulded with the support 11 and forming an elbow with the latter, as can be seen in particular in FIG. 3. In the example described, the fastening end piece 18 is rounded but has a flat face 18a on the side of the elbow formed with the support 11, as shown in FIG. 4.

[0085] Preferably, and in the example in question, all the bridges of material 14, 15 are mutually parallel and extend along an oblique axis with respect to the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10. The axis T, Z along which a bridge of material 15, 14 extends may form, with the longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10, an angle α of between 10° and 80°, better still between 30° and 60°.

[0086] In the example in FIGS. 1 to 4, the bridges of material 14, 15 have a cross section of circular shape. In the variant shown in FIG. 5, the bridges of material 14, 15 have a cross section of square shape.

[0087] In the examples in question, the spacing E.sub.c between two consecutive bridges of material 14, 15 or 16 is between 0.5 mm and 2 mm, better still between 0.5 mm and 1 mm. Furthermore, the spacing E.sub.pbetween two bridges of material 14 protruding on the same side of the support 11 is between 0.6 mm and 2 mm, better still between 0.8 mm and 1 mm.

[0088] The bridges of material 14, 15, 16 advantageously protrude from the support 11 to a maximum height h.sub.p of between 2 mm and 5 mm, better still between 3 mm and 4 mm.

[0089] The thickness e.sub.p of the bridges of material 14, 15, 16 may be between 0.5 mm and 2 mm, better still between 0.5 mm and 1 mm.

[0090] In the example described, the arms 11a, 11b of the support 11 have a variable thickness, decreasing towards the distal end 13 of the applicator member 10.

[0091] As can be seen in particular in FIGS. 3 and 6, the applicator member 10 is advantageously asymmetric with respect to a plane P.sub.a intersecting the applicator member 10 half-way through the thickness thereof.

[0092] The longitudinal axis X of the applicator member 10 may form, with the longitudinal axis Y of the stem 4, an angle β of between 2° and 30°, better still between 5° and 10°.

[0093] The visible length L of the support 11 may be between 8 mm and 30 mm, better still between 10 mm and 20 mm, being for example around 15 mm.

[0094] As can be seen in FIG. 2 in particular, the support 11 has, in top view, a droplet shape, and its transverse dimension D.sub.s decreases in the direction of the distal end 13 over a distance m that is greater than the distance n over which the transverse dimension D.sub.s increases from the rear to the front.

[0095] Where the transverse dimension D.sub.s of the support 11 is at a maximum, said dimension is for example between 4 mm and 8 mm. The distance n is for example about 2 mm and the distance m for example about 12 mm.

[0096] In cross section, the sides 25 of the support 11 are slightly curved and convex towards the outside, as can be seen for example in FIG. 4.

[0097] In a variant shown in FIG. 6, the applicator member 10 has, besides the arched bridges of material 14 protruding on the opposite side from the recess 17 of the elbow formed by the applicator member 10 and the stem 4, arched brides of material 16 protruding on the side of the recess 17 of said elbow, the different arched bridges of material 14 and 16 extending alternately above and below the opening 12 defined by the support 11.

[0098] In the example shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, flocking is present on the entire surface of each bridge of material 14 and 16 and on the two opposite arms 11a, 11b of the support 11, and on the front region 11d of the latter. The length of the flocking may be between 0.9 mm and 2 mm, and the thickness thereof between 5 dtex and 8 dtex.

[0099] The composition P is suitable for making up the eyebrows, and may have a liquid to pasty consistency.

[0100] In order to manufacture the applicator 2, the applicator member 10 can be injection moulded, for example from a thermoplastic material, in particular a thermoplastic elastomer. Next, the applicator member 10 can be dipped at its end in an adhesive and then covered electrostatically with flocking.

[0101] In order to use the device 1, the user withdraws the applicator 2 from the container 3. The user can use the optimal consistent reserve of composition P created between the bridges of material 14, 15, 16 and the arms 11a, 11b of the support 11 to make up their eyebrows, the bridges of material 14 and/or 16 in the form of arches allowing gentle and precise combing and effective separation of the eyebrows. The user can then use the tapered and straight front region 11d of the applicator member 10 to precisely draw the outer tip of the eyebrows.

[0102] The hand actions remain simple, and the user does not have to change accessory while applying makeup. The user can make use of one side of the support 11 and then the other to make up one and the same eyebrow. The user dips the applicator member 10 back in the container 3 as many times as necessary.

[0103] The invention is not limited to the examples that have just been described.

[0104] For example, the disposition of the bridges of material may be modified, and it is possible in particular to modify the number, shape and/or orientation thereof.