One of the first questions we ask our customers before we even start a project is if they want their cosmetic formulations to showcase the native colour and fragrance of their natural ingredients.

Native Colour in your Cosmetic Formulations

Did you know that most virgin, unrefined and non-deodorized plant oils have a significant inherent native colour? This colour will most certainly show up in your finished product and make it very challenging to formulate a pure white cosmetic product.

Once an oil is refined, it is then stripped of its precious unsaponifiables such as squalene, phytosterols and lecithin (all of which can have beneficial effects on the skin) and loses most of its colour. Wheat germ oil, avocado oil, acai berry oil, buriti oil, sea buckthorn oil and tamanu oil are just a few examples.

I’m always astonished by the luxurious white appearance of the “good for nothing” mainstream products when they claim being rich in certain natural oils. How could an emulsion rich in wheat germ oil or hemp seed oil be as white as cotton? And which compounds remain in the oil when you strip it of its inherent colorants and unsaponifiables just so that you can include its name in the ingredients list?

Thanks to consumer awareness and appreciation of real natural and organic cosmetics, colourful products are no longer viewed as negative or unwanted. (Of course when I talk about colourful products, I mean those authentic colourful products where you can see the colour of the oils or plant extracts and not those fanciful mainstream colours deliberately added to the product.)

Native Fragrance in your Cosmetic Formulations

The same goes for the inherent scent of the product. We all know that the scent is one of the main pillars of marketing and sales but natural ingredients have their own scent. The best we can do is to mask them with a suitable blend of “safe” essential oils, hydrosols or aromatic infusions. Everybody who has had the pleasure of smelling native babassu oil or shea butter knows what I mean.

Before we start negotiating about the details of each project, we want you to think about the colour and fragrance of your product. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about cosmetic ingredients or are not entirely sure what you want. It is your customer who is most important in this decision. Is your customer aware of the difference between refined and virgin ingredients? Do they appreciate the native colours of natural ingredients or are they looking for a white bland cream? Do they appreciate the native fragrances of natural ingredients or are they looking for a candy floss scent to their ?