The Preparation and Characterization of Emulsions with the Addition of Tannic Acid and Gallic Acid

Background: Polyphenols are natural compounds that show bioactive properties such as antioxidants. Thereby their application in the cosmetic industry may be considered. Methods: Tannic acid and gallic acid were used as an additive for emulsion preparation. The microscope observation was carried out to study the formation of the droplets. Also, the polyphenols release from the emulsion, its antioxidant activity and the color parameters were studied. Results: The results showed that the addition of polyphenols decreased the droplets’ diameter. Each emulsion showed antioxidant activity; however, the most effective was formulation containing 5% additive of gallic acid. The addition of tannic acid and gallic acid results in the change of color parameters of the studied formulation. Conclusion: In this study, we confirmed that tannic acid and gallic acid might be potentially used as additives in cosmetics formulations.