TDA Logic.
Formulation logic beyond HLB.
TDA Logic (Tri-Domain Architecture logic) is the formulation framework Pensive Beauty® Nanoscience Labs defined in 2025 to describe how NanoBase™ works. HLB logic selects an emulsifier. TDA Logic places each ingredient.
- Term
- TDA Logic
- Stands for
- Tri-Domain Architecture logic
- Type
- Placement rule for a fixed nanoscale architecture
- Defined
- 2025, by Pensive Beauty® Nanoscience Labs, Seffner, Florida
- First Architecture
- NanoBase™, the first Architecture engineered to TDA Logic
- Replaces
- HLB emulsifier selection (Griffin, 1949)
- Reference
- Pensive Beauty® Nanoscience Labs (2026). TDA Logic: The Tri-Domain Placement Logic Succeeding 1940s HLB Logic in Nanoscale Cosmetic Formulation (Version 1.0) [Preprint]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23384911
HLB picks an emulsifier. TDA Logic places every ingredient.
HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance) is a 1949 method for choosing emulsifiers so oil and water stay mixed in the jar. It is still how most skincare creams, lotions and serums are designed. TDA Logic starts from a structure that is already built, and decides where each ingredient goes in it.
| HLB logic · 1949 | TDA Logic · 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type of rule | Selection: calculate the oil phase's required HLB, then pick emulsifiers to match it | Placement: the structure is fixed, and each ingredient is assigned to a domain by its properties |
| Inputs | Oil phase composition and emulsifier HLB values | Each ingredient's logP or logD at formula pH, its solubility and its charge |
| Output | An emulsifier blend and ratio for shelf stability | A domain for each ingredient, and the loading limits that follow from it |
| Particle size | Not specified | Specified as a design target, and measured by DLS every batch |
| Surface charge | Not specified | Specified: electrostatic stabilisation (DLVO design) |
| Where ingredients self-partition | Not specified | Specified for every ingredient |
| Emulsifier chosen by the formulator | Yes, that is the method | None: on NanoBase™ the emulsification is built into the Architecture |
Four destinations. One rule set.
Three domains coexist inside a continuous water phase: nanocolloidal, nanoliposomal and nanomicellar. That is the "tri" in Tri-Domain. Each ingredient self-partitions to the destination its chemistry favours, and TDA Logic reads that from the ingredient's properties before anything is mixed.
Humectants and water-soluble actives, including water-soluble peptides, stay in the continuous phase.
Ingredients that sit at an interface or need solubilising.
Ingredients with both water-loving and oil-loving parts associate with the phospholipid bilayer.
Lipophilic actives and emollient oils load into the nanocolloidal core.
Polarity decides the domain
logP, or logD at the formula's pH for ionisable ingredients, sets where an ingredient is designed to sit.
Domain decides the load
Each destination has a loading limit, so the formula is checked domain by domain, not against a single emulsifier ratio.
Charge is protected
The Architecture is sensitive to pH, salt and cationic ingredients. The Loader checks all three before bench work.
Formulation frameworks, 1949 to now.
Every earlier framework refines how an emulsifier is chosen. TDA Logic is a placement framework for an architecture where none is chosen.
HLB
Griffin's hydrophilic-lipophilic balance: a 0 to 20 scale for matching emulsifiers to an oil phase.
Davies group method
Calculates an HLB value from the chemical groups in a surfactant molecule.
Phase inversion temperature
Shinoda's PIT method uses the temperature at which non-ionic emulsions invert to make finer emulsions.
Hansen solubility parameters
Maps dispersion, polar and hydrogen-bonding forces to predict compatibility.
TDA Logic
Pensive Beauty®'s placement framework: each ingredient assigned to a domain of a fixed tri-domain architecture. NanoBase™ is the first Architecture engineered to it.
Every property tells you what it is.
| Property | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Particle size, ~185 nm | Specified | The design target for NanoBase™. |
| Z-average size | Measured | DLS-characterised every batch in our own nanoscience lab. |
| Electrostatic stabilisation | Specified | A DLVO design: surface charge keeps particles apart. |
| Three coexisting domains | Specified | DLS reports one average size for the whole dispersion; it does not identify individual domains. |
| Domain assignment per ingredient | Specified | Read from logP or logD, solubility and charge. Partition fractions are not measured. |
| Deposition of NanoBase™ itself | Not yet tested | No deposition claim is made for NanoBase™. |
How to evaluate a formulation's design basis.
Ten questions to ask any lab. We meet all ten; ask any lab the same questions. Adding high-cost actives to a conventional HLB emulsion specifies none of these.
TDA Logic, answered.
What is TDA Logic?
TDA Logic (Tri-Domain Architecture logic) is a formulation framework defined by Pensive Beauty® Nanoscience Labs in 2025. Where HLB selects an emulsifier to match an oil phase, TDA Logic places each ingredient in a domain of a fixed nanoscale architecture, using its logP or logD at formula pH, its solubility and its charge.
Who created TDA Logic?
Pensive Beauty® Nanoscience Labs in Seffner, Florida coined and defined TDA Logic in 2025 to describe the tri-domain design of NanoBase™.
How is TDA Logic different from HLB?
HLB is a selection rule: it chooses an emulsifier so oil and water stay mixed, and it does not specify particle size, surface charge or where ingredients self-partition. TDA Logic is a placement rule: the structure is already built, and each ingredient is assigned to the domain its chemistry favours.
How does TDA Logic relate to NanoBase™?
NanoBase™ is the first Architecture engineered to TDA Logic: a cosmetic raw material with nanocolloidal, nanoliposomal and nanomicellar domains inside a continuous water phase, made by Pensive Beauty® in its own facility. About NanoBase™ →
Do I still choose an emulsifier?
No. On NanoBase™ the emulsification is built into the Architecture, so the formulator selects no emulsifier. The finished formula is completed at room temperature on standard cosmetic equipment.
What is the Architecture sensitive to?
pH, salt and cationic ingredients. The NanoBase™ Loader flags all three for every ingredient on your list before any bench work.
Can DLS see the three domains?
No. DLS reports one intensity-weighted average size (the Z-average) for the whole dispersion. It does not identify individual domains, which is why domain assignment is labelled a design specification.
Build on TDA Logic.
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