Help! I've Caught The Beauty Bug!

Published on by

Help! I've Caught The Beauty Bug!

If this was the year when your New Years Resolution was to own your own skincare brand then you've come to the right place! The team at New Directions have helped thousands of people's cosmetic dreams come true whether it be a parent wanting to make their kids bubble bath, doting dog lover wanting to perfume their pooches bed with lavender room spray or the next Anita Roddick we've seen and helped them all!


Starting anything new can be daunting and making your own cosmetics involves getting to grips with many new skills. There's a whole new language to learn what with all of the fancy ingredients, equipment to get to grips with, safety measures to consider and the small question of how this new venture is going to be financed.

So, whether you are looking to stay a hobbyist or want to take over the world here are a few tips to get you off the starting blocks.

How to become a master chef in the cosmetic kitchen.

  1. What did I buy? Yes we know that the New Directions showroom is AWESOME and you want to buy one of everything but getting home with a bag of ingredients that mean nothing to you is not the best way to get started. Each ingredient that we sell is listed with a description that outlines a little about how and where it can be used. If you can't get enough information on there we can point you in the direction of a number of other great resources to help boost your knowledge. The tip here is to read up before you defrost your credit card.
     
  2. What will I make? Now this should really come first but speaking from experience, every year a few people come in and buy the ingredients before deciding on what they are actually going to make and how it might come together. Cooking cosmetics is no different to cooking up a meal in that respect. So, plan what you want to make and then do some research into recipes BEFORE you venture into the showroom.
     
  3. Find a recipe. Again, just as there are award winning chefs and chefs that should not cook your dogs breakfast there are formulations kicking around the place that span all sides of awesomeness. It can be very hard for a new starter to tell the difference between a good recipe (or formulation) and a bad one without trying a few and that can be frustrating. Our advice is to start off with formulations that can be found online at a number of respected industry websites. Two good places to start would be www.happi.com .

    Now just finding a recipe that sort of fits in line with your philosophy, budget and ingredient availability can be really hard so be prepared to spend a good amount of time researching this. One way of shortcutting this would be to employ the services of a professional cosmetic chemist to give you some starter formulations or lessons based on your ideas. Starter formulations are cheaper to buy than full-bodied versions as the formulator doesn't have to go through the fine-tuning of (for example) perfecting the colour, fragrance, thickness or stickiness. What you spend on having a cosmetic chemist get you to this bit is saving you on time so be realistic on the costs. Finding your own formulations may take over 30 hours each and cost you a few hundred dollars in materials to get it looking anywhere near right.
  4. Stick to the Recipe. Whether you downloaded some starter formulations or got someone to give you a leg up there will come a point when you need to get cooking yourself. While this is the bit that you are probably most excited about it can also be the most challenging and heartbreaking. Things will go from bad to worse if you don't stick to the recipe you wouldn't go into a top chef's restaurant and start telling them how to flambé would you? If you follow the recipe by the letter and it doesn't work out well at least you know its not because you didn't follow the recipe. Sounds simple but it happens. You can then either abandon ship or tweak one thing at a time until it starts to look better.
     
  5. The art of tweaking. Formulating is like opening Pandora's box. You usually have over a handful of ingredients each of which can vary from batch to batch (especially if they are organically derived) and then you are going to blend them in one of a billion different ways to get a product that could feel and look great to you but awful to your mother. It's difficult. The biggest advice that I can give here is to focus on one thing at a time. It may be the method first will it work better if I shove everything in together or do I have to add my oils to my water or you may chose to focus on one ingredient at a time what would happen if I added less glycerin 1% less, 2% less etc. Some experiments will be total failures from the point of view that you still won't have a usable formula but successful in as much as you will have learned some valuable lessons about the formula and each ingredient you focus on.
     
  6. Safety First. While this should always be the first step safety often gets overlooked because 'I'm only making a shampoo for granddad'..... However, safety is important and is especially so if you are thinking of selling what you are making. Ingredients for sale on our website have their MSDS online too. Make sure you download one for each ingredient you buy and check it out. This document will give you information on how likely a raw ingredient is to be hazardous or irritating to use (and some are until you pop them into a formula) so don't take it for granted that just because it's all cosmetic it won't hurt if you get that neat surfactant or thickener in your eye or into your lungs.
     
  7. Accountability. It is amazing how many times I still get over-excited and tweak my own formula only to forget to write it down. A formula is worthless if it can't be replicated so make sure you are meticulous in detailing the method used, the ingredient percentages, names and supplier details (all New Directions of course)! You will kick yourself if you don't as I have on many occasions.
     
  8. Weights and Measures. It is simply frightening the amount of times we see formulations that mix their units of measure. How do you know when you have got up to 100% if you have 10ml of this, 1 cup of that and 10 drops of the other? Keep your units of measure the same grams is good if you are making a solid product and ml will do for liquid. As long as it is the same and everything adds up to 100% at the end you are onto a winner.
     
  9. The issue of money. Everything you do costs you money and while some investments will be fun and exciting others will not. Many people get disheartened when they pay for an ingredient and it doesn't work or they pay for a formula only to find that their customers wanted something else. Your time costs money as does the time of others who may help you, materials, packaging, testing and claim substantiation all costs too and before you know it you could have easily spent anything from $100 $30,000 to get your formulation right (yes it really can be that diverse). As with anything in life it pays to step back and set a budget for each project you enter into. Start small and build from there, your customers will never know what didn't make it off the bench or out of your head unless you tell them but they will know if you launch 20 products of which 10 are rubbish because you ran out of funding. Most of all remember that learning costs you money too but what you gain will be worth it.
     
  10. Network.It can feel quite isolating to be cooking up your formulations at home as the chances are your friends won't have a clue how to make a lip balm or soap. These days the Internet is great and we encourage you to use it to make formulating friends and swap tips. New Directions has a vibrant Facebook page and is always happy to chat to you on their about your triumphs and trials.

    So, there you have our top ten tips to get you from the idea to the start of something beautiful. We wish you all the best on your journey and look forward to being of assistance as you and your brand blossom in the years ahead.

Amanda Foxon-Hill

24 January 2012

More about: Skincare

This post has been closed; further comments cannot be added.