Nanocarrier technology has been effectively applied to the development of drug delivery systems to overcome the limitations of traditional preparation. Its application has been extended to various pharmaceutical fields from injection preparation to oral preparation and external preparation, and now it has appeared in the field of cosmetics for beauty applications. The widespread influence of nanocarrier in the cosmetics industry is due to the fact that nanocarrier can effectively promote the percutaneous penetration and significantly increase skin retention of active components in functional cosmetics. Meanwhile, nanocarrier can effectively improve the water dispersion of insoluble active cosmetic ingredients, enhance the stability of efficacy components and achieve the codelivery of diverse cosmetics active ingredients. In this review, we summarized the current progress of nanocarrier technology in the functional cosmetics, including the types and the routes of dermal/transdermal drug delivery nanocarriers used in the functional cosmetics, the mechanism of nanocarriers promoting the percutaneous penetration of active cosmetic ingredients, the application and efficacy evaluation of different active cosmetic ingredients in nanocarriers and discussing the potential risks to human. This will provide a useful reference for the further development of nanocarriers in the field of functional cosmetics.

Due to the stratum corneum barrier, resveratrol is difficult to be absorbed transdermally, limiting its anti-aging and skin-brightening effects. Furthermore, there is a lack of systematic studies on the efficacy of resveratrol in human skin, especially in three-dimensional skin models and clinical trials. To overcome the low transdermal delivery issue, we encapsulated resveratrol into nanoliposomes using the high-pressure homogenization method to develop an efficient transdermal drug delivery system, and systematically evaluated its anti-aging and skin-brightening efficacy via cell line models, a three-dimensional skin model and human skin. The resveratrol nanoliposomes effectively improved the transdermal penetration and retention of resveratrol and enhanced cellular uptake. In addition, compared to free resveratrol, resveratrol nanoliposomes remarkably enhanced the skin-care effects by promoting the antioxidant capacity and collagen synthesis, inhibiting the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases, tyrosine activity and melanin synthesis. Notably, human clinical trials proved the anti-wrinkle and skin-brightening effectiveness of resveratrol nanoliposomes. Three levels of systematic studies indicated that resveratrol nanoliposomes could be a promising transdermal drug delivery system to enhance the anti-aging and skin-brightening effects of resveratrol.

The intestinal epithelial and mucus barriers on the gastrointestinal tract limit the bioavailability of oral protein or peptide drugs. Therefore, efficient mucus permeability and cellular internalization are required properties for oral delivery systems. To overcome these two obstacles, porous silicon nanoparticles were modified with poly (pyridyl disulfide ethylene phosphate/sulfobetaine) polymers to make P(PyEP-g-SB_m)_n-AmPSiNPs (m = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and n = 10, 20, 30) nanoparticles (NPs). The insulin-loaded P(PyEP-g-SB)-AmPSiNPs showed favorable stability and good biocompatibility in vitro. The zwitterionic dodecyl sulfobetaine (SB) coated nanoparticles improved the mucus permeability. P(PyEP-g-SB_m)₂₀ with the optimal conjugated ratio (m = 0.3) of SB units was determined by evaluating the mucus diffusion rate of NPs. The cellular uptake of P(PyEP-g-SB_0.3)_n-AmPSiNPs (n = 10, 20, 30) was much higher than AmPSiNPs in the presence of inhibitors (N-acetylcysteine solution and sodium chlorate) (p < 0.01) due to the enhanced charge shielding effect of P(PyEP-g-SB) modification. The P(PyEP-g-SB_0.3)₂₀-AmPSiNPs showed about 1.4–1.7 fold increase in the apparent permeability of insulin across Caco-2/HT-29-MTX cell monolayers, compared to AmPSiNPs (p < 0.01). Finally, the in vivo study showed that insulin-loaded P(PyEP-g-SB_0.3)₂₀-AmPSiNPs generated 20% reduction of the blood glucose level with an 2-fold increase in oral bioavailability. These suggested that zwitterionic polyphosphoester modified porous silicon nanoparticles, which were of enhanced mucus permeability and cellular internalization, represent a promising carrier for oral delivery of peptide and protein.

The skin represents the exterior interface between the human body with the environment while providing a home to trillions of the commensal microorganisms—collectively referred to as the skin microbiota. These microbes that coexist in an established balance play a pivotal role in the protection of cutaneous health and the orchestration of skin homeostasis. However, the well-controlled but delicate balance can be perturbed by alterations in the skin microbial communities, namely, dysbiosis, often due to commensals defeated by pathogens competing for space and nutrients, which leads to the occurrence of multiple cutaneous disorders. In view of this, the analysis of skin microbiota constituents in skin diseases is crucial for defining the role of commensal microbes and treatment of skin diseases. Emerging evidence shows that the ecology-based therapy of microbial transplantation has been proven as a valid therapeutic strategy for cutaneous disorders caused by skin microbial dysbiosis. Although its mechanism is not well-understood, there are already some applications for ecology-based therapy with the aim of correcting the imbalances on the cutaneous ecosystem. In this review, we summarize the interactions between dysbiosis and the cutaneous disorders, including homeostasis and dysbiosis of skin microbiota, microbial composition in skin diseases, and the mechanisms and applications of reversing or ameliorating the dysbiosis by the targeted manipulation of the skin microbiota, which may contribute to aid development of therapeutic modality for ecology-based therapy.