Skin Care Manufacturing Explained [6 Step Process]
Ready to create skin care for your brand, but you’re not sure what to expect from the manufacturing process?
Our easy-to-follow guide below lifts the veil on the professional skin care lab manufacturing process from start to finish.
We reveal the crucial steps that you need to take before any skin care manufacturing begins. Plus, we give tips on how to find the best lab for your brand.
Finally, we reveal the final four key steps involved in the actual manufacturing process, and how each step differs depending on your chosen manufacturing method.
1. Prior Research and Planning
Get clear on your brand’s goals before you even think about ordering your first samples or stepping foot into a lab.
Start by identifying a narrow target market in the skin care niche. Next, conduct thorough market research into this specific demographic.
What skin concerns do they have?
Is their current routine fulfilling all of their skin wants and needs?
Identify gaps in the market where your skin care brand can deliver effective and unique solutions to this specific demographic’s unique problems.
Now that you have identified the key skin problems that you need to solve, it’s time to think about the solutions.
Can you find pre-formulated skin care on a private label or bulk basis that effectively addresses your customer base’s key skin issues?
Or does your skin care brand require some form of customized manufacturing?
Keep these questions in mind for the next step - finding your manufacturer.
At Genie Supply, we offer several different skin care manufacturing services to fulfill your future customers’ wants and needs. Learn more about all of our manufacturing processes here.
2. Finding The Best Skin Care Manufacturing Lab
Working with a quality professional lab will make manufacturing your skin care range much easier.
Don’t rush the selection process - spend some time scoping out all of your options and make a shortlist of the most promising suppliers.
First, evaluate any preformulated private label skin care and consider whether or not those formulas could work in your range. Order plenty of samples to test out the quality of the ingredients.
Samples of Genie Supply’s preformulated skin care are available to order on our website here.
It’s also important to select a lab that aligns with your brand’s values. If your skin care business is all about clean and vegan products, you need to prioritize these ethical values when you search for a manufacturer.
Next, evaluate each supplier’s customized skin care options.
If you are starting a skin care range on a budget, custom formulating could be too expensive at the initial stages of your business. If this is the case, look for alternative methods to make your formula unique like custom product creation.
If you create your own skin care products from home and want to stick with your original formulas, ensure that all of the manufacturers on your shortlist offer contract manufacturing as part of their production processes.
Learn more about how to identify the best skin care manufacturers in our full blog post.
3. The Initial Onboarding Process
Once you have identified the best manufacturer from your shortlist, the next step will depend on your chosen manufacturing process.
Ordering in bulk is straightforward. Simply add all of the skin care you want to your cart and checkout as normal - just like you would with any other online shopping service.
The first step in the private label process is ordering the formula and packaging samples and deciding on the specific sizes and quantities that you want for each chosen product.
Contract manufacturing and customization services like custom formulating or custom product creation require a more thorough review and onboarding process to ensure the lab can fulfill your brand’s requirements.
Every supplier has a slightly different approach, but generally this involves:
Completion of an onboarding form for consideration / a quote
A phone call with the team
An overview of the timeline for the entire R&D and production process
A further call to discuss final details
A statement of work (invoice) detailing the goods, services and price, along with any additional paperwork (like our Master Supply Agreement)
Private labeling also has a brief onboarding and packaging design development process after the sampling stage. This involves signing NDAs and filling out all of the necessary paperwork.
Learn more about the entire skin care manufacturing process at Genie Supply in our FAQ guide.
4. Formulation Development Stage*
Next, the actual formulation development takes place.
If you chose the private label route, the formula will correspond exactly to the samples you tested with no further customizations. It’s time for batching, no development needed!
For something custom, our professional chemists will develop your skin care formulation to the exact specifications needed using a combination of their expert knowledge and high-tech machinery.
For our custom formulating process at Genie Supply, the process includes follow-up samples roughly every two weeks (pending your feedback). Our custom product creation route - a hybrid between our private label and custom formulating - includes two customized sample rounds by default (though more can be added for a fee!).
Genie Supply’s contract manufacturing service also includes samples to ensure the skin care is a close replica of your at-home formulation.
5. Legal Safety Testing & Quality Control
Testing is a critical step in the skin care manufacturing process. Professional manufacturers will test in accordance with legal requirements and chemists’ recommendations.
There’s two types of testing in general: formulation testing and batch testing. Here are Genie Supply, we perform both! Private label and CPC products are pre-tested on the formulation side, whereas you’ll be part of the testing process for anything custom formulated. All formulations go through batch testing when made en masse.
As mentioned, this step is straightforward for pre-formulated private label skin care - all of the essential testing is performed in advance.
All new formulas require stability testing but additional testing requirements will vary depending on the composition of your customized formula.
For example, if your skin care contains water, it will require Preservative Efficacy Testing (PET) after the manufacturing process.
Testing times vary for customized skin care depending on your formula. This step will likely take longer if additional 3rd party tests or Repeat Insult Patch Tests (RIPTs) are needed.
Safety testing is crucial and a legal requirement, but it’s not the only testing step involved in manufacturing skin care. A solid quality control process is also essential.
At Genie Supply, every order is batched and tested fresh for quality control and to maximize the shelf life of your skin care products. Learn more about Genie Supply’s testing processes here.
6. Manufacturing, Batch Testing, Filling, and Assembly
Your skin care formula is all set - it has passed all of the legally required and quality control tests and is now ready for the manufacturing process.
The skin care production process brings the exact formula developed in the previous steps to life. For quality control purposes, the manufacturer will perform batch testing next.
At Genie Supply, we create and batch test each order fresh when it is ordered to maximize the shelf life.
There’s just one more step left in this process - filling and assembly.
Your skin care products will be placed onto the assembly line where they will be filled into your product packaging.
If you have provided your own packaging, this process takes on average 6 - 8 weeks.
If you choose to source your customized packaging from the same manufacturer, the packaging design and customization process will typically take place earlier in the manufacturing timeline to prevent delays at this stage.
Now that your skin care is filled into its packaging, it’s time to securely pack each product into boxes and place your stock into a clean, temperature-controlled storage facility until it’s ready to ship out to your customers.
Learn more about Genie Supply’s customized packaging services here.
In sum, the six major steps in the process of manufacturing skin care are:
Research and planning
Selecting your skin care manufacturing lab
Onboarding
Formula development
Safety testing & quality control
Manufacturing, batch testing, filling, and assembly
Ready to start your skin care manufacturing journey? We’d love to work with your brand! Simply email us at: customerservice@geniesupply.com or call: (812) 329-1105 to get started.