If you’re starting your own skincare line, having a moisturizer is one of the nonnegotiable basics, as it makes up the bare minimum of a skincare routine. However, it’s essential that you pay attention to the product details to avoid wasting your time and money. Use this article as a starter guide to selling your own face moisturizers.
Be Aware of FDA Regulations
Whether you’re selling product from your kitchen or brick and mortar store, , knowing the FDA regulations surrounding your product is absolutely critical if you want to avoid legal trouble and effectively sell your product. While you can work with a professional firm that will take care of the legalities for you, it’s still important to be aware of best practices, especially when moving to your own laboratory. This article will summarize two of the most important FDA guidelines for selling cosmetics: Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Guidelines and Cosmetic Labeling Requirements.
First and foremost, the legal definition of cosmetics according to the FDA is a product designed with the intention of being applied to the body for “cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions.” In addition, the GMP has nine separate sections in its guidelines, each with its own checklist that inspectors will go through: Building and Facilities, Equipment, Personnel, Raw Materials, Production, Laboratory Controls, Records, Labeling, and Complaints. Even if you’re buying from a manufacturer and simply adding your own scent or color, each one of these moving parts of your business must meet these standards.
In terms of cosmetic labeling requirements, there are a few important takeaways you need to know when working with facial moisturizers. All products must comply with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as well as the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. In addition, ingredients must be listed in order of predominance and must be “conspicuous” so a customer can easily notice and read the ingredients.
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When labeling your cosmetic products, we always recommend visiting the FDA website and doing your research to ensure that your labels are compliant and ready to go to market.
Know Your Market and Find Your Niche
Now that you’ve reviewed your labels for FDA compliance, , , you can move on to the more fun aspects of marketing. . The first thing you want to do is be aware of your market. This means giving serious thought to the main demographic you’re selling to, taking details like age, gender, and more into account. . While your audience doesn’t have to remain fixed and may change as your business grows, it’s much easier to start selling to a defined group first. In doing so, you’ll be able to market your product much more effectively.
For example, if you’re selling to a younger, female, eco-conscious audience, this will play a big role in how you sell your overall product and can even impact manufacturing. In this example, you may want to ensure that your product has been ethically sourced and cruelty-free. You may also want to make parts of your packaging biodegradable and include ingredients in your moisturizer that are found in nature as opposed to synthetically made. While this may make the price of your moisturizer a little higher, most eco-conscious consumers are willing to pay a little more to buy a product that aligns with their morals.
You may also want to spend some time analyzing the habits of your intended customers, such as where they shop, how much they spend, and other buying trends. For example, your customers may be more likely to shop at stores that sell organic products and may avoid strong or synthetic fragrances. It’s also worth considering the disposable income of your target audience when finalizing the overall price of your product.
Perfect Your Formula
With your specific audience in mind, you can begin perfecting your moisturizer formula. You will need to decide whether you want to work with cream bases or make your product from scratch. The viscosity of your formula will end up affecting your packaging as well. Be sure to test and retest your formula before it goes onto shelves. Testing is possibly the most important part of the process, as this ensures that your final product is stable, effective, and likely to bring your customers back for more.
If you haven’t tested how your product reacts with skin, it is important to take this step as soon as possible. Luckily, if you’re working with a manufacturer, they’ll take care of that for you. However, if your product hasn’t been tested, there are plenty of ways you can try out your formula without testing on animals. Many companies have started using human cells when testing cosmetics to get an accurate skin reaction while remaining cruelty-free. You’ll want to get this testing done as soon as possible, as there’s no point in doing additional testing like stability and efficacy testing if your product has adverse effects on human skin.
Once you’ve found a formula or a set of formulas that you like, they each need to be tested for their physical, chemical, microbiological, and packaging stability. If you use a base cream from a manufacturer and alter it yourself, it is imperative that you run these tests,, as different additives can affect the overall structure and shelf-life of a product.
Physical and chemical stability tests will show how well your product will resist everyday stresses such as light and temperature. Some of these tests include light exposure tests, extreme temperature tests, and centrifuge testing to see if your product will separate. Microbiological testing evaluates whether a product is contaminated, and in some cases you can get your own test kits to test your batches at home. However, to do a quantitative test that determines the level of mold and bacteria in a product, you need to take it to a professional laboratory. As a best practice, we recommend that you have any handmade products tested in an established lab before bringing them to market, as this ensures that your products are safe and stable.
Lastly, packaging stability tests how your product reacts with its intended container and how well the container protects the product from external factors. These tests include a weight loss test that determines whether or not evaporation occurs with the cap or lid of the product completely torqued and left at room temperature for three months. A leak test is also typically performed, where the product is tilted at various rotations and orientations to see if any product leaks out.
Once you’ve covered all the bases listed in this guide to selling your own face moisturizers, you’re ready to start working on the logo and pushing your product onto shelves. If you follow these best practices and guidelines, you can be sure that you’re putting your best foot forward as soon as your product hits the market. And if you’re in need of a high-quality manufacturer that sells white label products, Essential Wholesale & Labs has cruelty-free cream bases for you to add your own flare to or sell as-is.
