Finding high-quality skin care wholesale suppliers is more important for your business than ever. 

In the age of viral skin care reviews across beauty forums and TikTok, brands cannot hide behind pretty packaging and a good marketing strategy anymore. 

If you want to succeed in this industry for longer than 6 months, you need to source skin care that works. 

But how can you filter out the quality labs from the sea of average options?

Genie Supply is here to help! 

Our in-depth guide below reveals the four key steps to finding the best wholesale skin care suppliers for your brand.

From considering your budget, essential preparation before and after the product manufacturing stage, and the ethical values of your business, we cover everything you need to make the right supplier pick.  

1. Begin With Strategic Planning & A Clear Business Plan 

Let’s be real - it’s easy to get caught up tweaking logo designs or dreaming up product ideas, but the brands that succeed focus on the less glamorous strategic planning aspects of the business from the beginning. 

Before spending your time on branding, you need to know your business plan from top to bottom. 

Answer these questions to set your brand up for success:

• Who is your target market? 

• What are their main skin care concerns? 

• What is their skin care budget every month?

• Who are your key competitors? 

• What are the projected long-term trends in your skin care niche over the next 10 years? 

This work takes time and requires thorough market research, but it’s one of the highest returns on investment activities that you will ever do for your business. 

Effective planning at this stage will guide your product selection process, formulation method, and manufacturing budget, while also laying a solid foundation for your branding and marketing later down the line.

2. Pick Wholesale Suppliers Who Use Quality & Ethical Skin Care Ingredients

Now that you have a clear picture of the direction of your business, you can start looking for wholesale skin care suppliers with intention. 

The right manufacturer will align with your skin care niche, but the product range matters just as much. If you are creating a staple skin care range with a few standout products, look for an innovative lab that offers unique formulas or can custom formulate original products to your preferences. 

Assessing Product Quality 

Remember, although most modern manufacturers have a professional website and make all the right promises, no two labs are the same. The difference in quality from one skin care wholesale supplier to the next can be dramatic.

A heavy vetting process is a must to find the best products for your brand.

How do you determine product quality?

Start with the ingredient lists!

Long lists with tons of filler ingredients are a red flag.

Pay special attention to the active ingredients - are they effective enough to meet your expectations and high-quality enough to stand out?

For example, did you know that there are 7 different forms of vitamin C?

Some forms have significant advantages over the others. A 2002 study showed that tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate produces the same collagen-boosting benefits as many other forms of vitamin C but without the irritating side effects. 

While prioritizing quality is crucial, it’s important to remember that higher-quality ingredients often correlate with higher prices.

If you are targeting the budget-friendly skin care market, keeping costs low is essential, which often means opting for high-quality mid-range formulas instead of splurging on luxury options.

Searching For Clean & Ethical Skin Care 

While you are assessing a lab’s ingredients, take a moment to peek behind the manufacturing curtain.

Dig deeper into how these ingredients are sourced and how the products are created. This is especially important if your brand is all about clean, vegan, cruelty-free, ethical, and sustainable skin care. 

If you are a vegan brand, keep an eye out for animal-derived ingredients like carmine or lanolin. Clean skin care businesses should avoid products containing potentially harmful ingredients like silicones, mica, and petroleum derivatives. 

On the supplier's website, take a closer look at their commitment to ethical and sustainable skin care. 

• How do they source ingredients? 

• Where does their manufacturing take place? 

• Can they guarantee fair treatment for all workers? 

• Are they committed to the responsible use of non-renewable resources? 

Once you have vetted the ingredients for quality and ethics and narrowed down a shortlist of the most promising skin care wholesale suppliers, it’s time to order samples!

Give the testing process time. Examine the look, texture, and spreadability of the formulas, but don’t forget that it takes at least three weeks of use to truly assess their effectiveness on the skin.

At Genie Supply, we’re experts at creating high-quality clean, cruelty-free, vegan, and sustainable skin care.

Our catalog of preformulated products is formulated without over 2,000+ potentially damaging ingredients, and we offer four separate tiers of products to suit a range of different budgets. Learn more about our commitment to clean and ethical beauty here.  

3. Finding The Right Manufacturing Method For Your Brand

With a list of promising skin care wholesale suppliers in hand, it's time to refine your shortlist by finding the manufacturing method (or methods) that align with your current budget and business goals.

There are three main manufacturing processes:

Private Label 

This method involves adding your own customized branding to a wholesale skin care supplier’s existing formula. Although it’s the least expensive and quickest production method, private label formulas are never unique. 

At Genie Supply, we offer over 60 different high-quality, clean, and cruelty-free skin care products on a bulk/private label basis. Order samples directly from our website here. 

Custom Formulating

Dreaming of launching completely unique products that your customers won’t find anywhere else? Custom formulating is the manufacturing process for your brand.

This method involves working with a team of chemists to create brand-new formulas from scratch. The result is truly unique products, however, it’s both more expensive and more time-consuming relative to other methods.

At Genie Supply, we specialize in novel chemical research, new-to-market concepts, hybrid products, and clean beauty. Learn more about our custom formulating capabilities on our website here. 

Custom Product Creation 

What if your heart is set on custom formulating your skin care, but you don’t have the budget for it at the beginning stages of your business? Try custom product creation!

This process involves adding a limited number of customizations to a manufacturer’s existing base formula. It’s both less expensive and quicker than custom formulating, however the result is not as unique. 

At Genie Supply, we offer two separate custom product creation packages to suit different budgets. Read more about our custom product creation options here. 

Keep in mind that not all skin care wholesale suppliers will offer all three manufacturing methods. If they can't meet your requirements, it's time to cut them from the list.

4. Choose Manufacturers That Offer Filling Services

Finally, you must think ahead and consider your brand’s next steps after sourcing your wholesale skin care. 

Some suppliers handle everything - from manufacturing to filling, while others only supply the bulk product, leaving you to find third party logistics (3PL) services on your own. 

Narrow your shortlist to those suppliers who offer filling services. This will save you valuable time spent sourcing and coordinating with other suppliers, and can also speed up the entire product creation process from start to finish. (Note: packaging services are typically not included with filling).

At Genie Supply, we offer a broad range of services from the product creation stage to batch testing and filling. Learn more about Genie Supply on our website here.

In sum, the key four factors to find the best skin care wholesale suppliers for your brand are as follows: 

• Beginning with strategic planning and a clear business plan 

• Choosing wholesalers who use both ethical and high-quality ingredients to make their products 

• Finding a lab with a compatible manufacturing method to your goals 

• Selecting suppliers that offer filling services

Ready to source high-quality, clean, and ethical skin care for your brand? Genie Supply would love to work with you! Get in touch via email: customerservice@geniesupply.com or call: (812) 329-1105 to learn more.