Step 1. Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

Although your natural cosmetic formulation and business plans are safe with us, we fully understand that you might want a legal agreement to protect your ideas. We are happy to sign an agreement of your choosing, or we can provide an agreement.

Step 2. Discuss the Outline of your Project

We will ask you questions such as:

1. What kind of products would you like us to formulate for you?
2. What part of the body are they for?
3. What is the main ‘theme’ of these products?
4. What is the Unique Selling Point of your cosmetics range?
5. How many samples will you require?
6. Will you require stability testing?
7. Will you require challenge testing?
8. Will you require safety assessment?

Please note that we are not willing to copy other brands’ products. We are happy to take guidance from you on products that inspire your overall designs, but we are not prepared to make a carbon copy of other products on the market. We value uniqueness and product design and we can only encourage you to come up with your original ideas.

Step 3. Provide you with a Quote

We will then provide you with a cost estimate and an idea of time delivery. Our prices typically start around £1,500 (British Pounds) + VAT for a simple cosmetic product. Please note that this doesn’t include stability testing, challenge testing or safety assessment.

Step 4. Acceptance of the Quote

At this point we get started! Your formulation designs are now underway.

Step 5. Complete a Detailed Questionnaire

Now we start gathering as much information as possible about your natural cosmetic formulation project.  We will ask you questions such as:

1. What is your definition of ‘natural’?
2. Will you be aiming to have your products certified as organic?
3. Do you require us to use organic ingredients?
4. Do you prefer native or refined oils?
5. Do you have any preservative preference?
6. Are there any ingredients which we must avoid at all cost?
7. Will you be manufacturing these products yourself or outsourcing their production?
8. Where do you normally purchase your bulk ingredients?
9. What are the minimum quantities of ingredients you normally purchase?
10. What is your desired shelf life for the product?
11. What is the approximate cost price per unit you are aiming for?

We will ask you to complete a questionnaire for us and then we’ll discuss it in detail with you in a phone call or Skype meeting.

Step 6. Start Formulating!

Now that we have all of your detailed information, our team can get started. In our professional cosmetics lab, we will create samples of your formulation – and talk to you throughout the process.

Step 7. Receive your First Samples

We then post you samples of your product to see what you think. Typically we would send you 2 samples of 50-100ml for you to try out but we can discuss your sample needs during our initial quotation. We then ask you to give us feedback and tell us what you do and don’t like.

Step 8. Back to the Drawing Board

You might love your first samples so much that you don’t want any modifications to your products. However, if you do want any tweaks or adjustments made, we are happy to go through a further 3 adjustments where we use your detailed feedback as guidance. Each time we will ship a further 2 samples to you of 50-100ml.

Please note that this step would be minor adjustments where we modify the fragrance, skin feel, or balance of the product. This stage wouldn’t cover a complete overhaul of the product concept and design.

Step 9. Stability Testing

Now we want to make sure that your finished product will remain stable, so we put it through various rigorous stability tests in our professional cosmetics lab. Please note that stability testing will take around 4-6 weeks to complete. We will need your final packaging in order to undertake the stability tests.

It is possible to skip this step if you wish to undertake stability testing in your own cosmetics lab, although we strongly recommend that you include it in the overall project.

Step 10. Challenge Testing

If your product contains water, then we will send it to a microbiological testing laboratory to have it challenge tested and to demonstrate that your preservation strategy is completely safe.

If you have included stability testing in your overall natural cosmetic formulation package, then we will have already undertaken some of our own tests to demonstrate that the preservation system is adequate, but ideally we will also have the finished formulation professionally challenged. It is mandatory to undertake this step in the EU but we strongly recommend it for all of our customers.

Please note that challenge testing will take around 4-6 weeks to complete and the lab will require your product to be in its final packaging. The cost of a typical challenge test is approximately £350 / €500 / US$550.

Step 11. Prepare a Product Information File (PIF)

If you intend to sell your products to customers in the EU (even if you are located elsewhere in the world), then you will need a Product Information File which contains all the relevant information about your product, its ingredients and its test results. We are happy to prepare this file for you.

Step 12. Safety Assessment

If you intend to sell your products to customers in the EU (even if you are located elsewhere in the world), then you will need a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) prepared for each of your products. This report contains your PIF, challenge test results and relevant information about your formulation.

We can project manage the development of your safety assessment for you. We work with our preferred safety assessor in the UK who can turn around a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) within a few days (as long as it has been stability tested and challenge tested, where applicable). The cost of a typical safety assessment is approximately £150 / €210 / US$240.

Step 13. Finish the Project

At this point we send you all your completed project files. This will include:

1. The INCI list of ingredients in percentages
2. The detailed method of manufacture
3. The stability test results (where applicable)
4. The challenge test results (where applicable)
5. The Product Information File (where applicable)
6. The Cosmetic Product Safety Report (where applicable)
7. The estimation of cost price per unit

Step 14. Sign over the Intellectual Property

As we have designed your natural cosmetic formulation for you, we are happy to sign over all Intellectual Property relating to the project. We are happy to sign your agreement, or we can provide an agreement for your business.