Here is an article about 100 incredibly useful and interesting websites. I’ve pared down the list to point out the ones that would be useful for anyone in the cosmetic industry.

Money

RetailMeNot – A place to find coupons for numerous stores.

Prosper – Need money for your business? Here is a place you can get crowdsourced loans.

Pageonce – If you have a problem keeping track of all your accounts, consolidate them with this website. It lets you keep track of everything in one spot.

Making things

HowStuffWorks – Look up any cosmetic or personal care product and you can get the basics of how it works. If we haven’t covered it here on Chemists Corner, it might be listed on HowStuffWorks.

TreeHugger- While I don’t put much faith in the scientific accuracy of this site, there is useful things you can learn about the Green consumer. If you are creating cosmetics for them, you should follow this website.

Getting stuff

Craigslist – If you are looking for something obscure (e.g. lab equipment) you might be able to find it here.

Freecycle – There could be some lab equipment here too. And if you want to get rid of something but you don’t want to throw it out, try Freecycle.

Traveling

Kayak- If you are looking to travel to a cosmetic science conference, Kayak is an excellent place to arrange your travel.

Publishing

Vimeo- Sure everyone knows about YouTube but Vimeo has a ton of videos and has a great collection of science videos that might be interesting for cosmetic chemists.

If you want to see the entire list go here.
100 useful websites

Do you know of some useful websites? Leave a comment below.

I was searching through some of my old bookmarks and was reminded of this website called the Martindale Center. The amount of information that they have is really quite amazing.

They have information on everything from science to language to fashion to business and beyond. You could get completely lost. It’s great!

You want to learn about Glass Blowing to make your own lab equipment? You can do that here. Glass blowing info.

Looking for lectures in first year chemistry? Find those chemistry lectures here.

And if you want some chemistry lab demonstrations…here’s a list of them right here. Chemistry lab demos

It really is an amazing collection of useful and interesting information.

If you find anything particularly cool, let us know!

While Chemists Corner is a great place to learn about the science of cosmetic formulating and some ins and outs of the cosmetics industry, there are other web resources that can provide you a different look on beauty products. Here are some of the best.

• Alltop – Headlines from some top beauty blogs.
• The Beauty Blog Network^* – The ultimate resource for beauty blogs.
• Cosmetics Business – Latest news stories in the cosmetic industry.
• Glam – The latest makeup trends, runway looks and posts from a network of beauty bloggers
• iVillage Beauty & Style Channel – Consumer focused site that features beauty tips, hairstyles and beauty news.
• Makeup Alley – A beauty community that features a message board and product reviews.
• Paula’s Choice – Paula Begoun, a.k.a. the “Cosmetics Cop” offers beauty advice and beauty product reviews.
• Total Beauty – Features beauty reviews, makeup tips and an active beauty blog community.

There was an interesting discussion on the SCC Linked-In group about what cosmetic chemists expect from suppliers. If you are a new cosmetic chemist you might not be familiar with some of the terms or what benefit raw material suppliers can have for you. Here are some ways your raw material suppliers can help make your job better. But first, let’s talk about how you will interact with a supplier.

Making supplier contact

There are basically four ways that you will connect with a supplier.
1. Sales person calls you
2. Distributor contacts you
3. You meet at an industry trade show or event
4. You contact the supplier
No matter the method, it almost always leads to a face to face meeting.

Education

Raw material suppliers should be experts in the field of whatever type of chemical they are selling. So, the surfactant suppliers should know about all surfactant chemistry. Preservative suppliers should be experts in preservative chemistry. You can ask them to give you general background information. Of course, they will push their own materials but that seems like an even trade.

Samples

When you hear about a compound or a sales person introduces it to you, they can also provide you with a (typically free) sample. They do this because it is the best way to ensure that you evaluate their raw materials and increases the chances that you will use it when you launch a product.

Technical support

When you run into a stability problem or batch problem, the raw material suppliers should be willing and able to help you fix the problem. If you run into a problem you can’t solve right away, contact your supplier.

Regulatory paperwork

With the way governments are changing regulations, the job of a cosmetic chemist is becoming more and more one where you have to track down and collect paperwork for every raw material you use. Your raw material supplier is the source for this paperwork. Use them.

Innovation / New product ideas

Suppliers should be bringing you potential new product ideas and you should request them if they are not. Why would they give you new ideas? Well, they make money by selling chemicals to you. If they suggest an idea that you ultimately launch, they will (or should) get orders for some of their chemicals. Suppliers are an excellent source for new ideas but remember, they want to sell chemicals so they’ll give this idea to other companies too.

Industry news

Suppliers are like the bees of the cosmetic industry. They go around to all the different manufacturers picking up inside information and depositing the information to other places around the industry. At times, they may accidentally spill a secret, a bit of gossip, or some other useful bit of news (say a new job opening). When you build a personal relationship with your supplier, you’ll be more likely to learn inside information. Of course, this also raises the possibility that they will learn info from you that gets shared with other places around the industry so beware.

Perks

In an effort to cultivate relationships, suppliers will often take you out to lunch or dinner or otherwise entertain you as a potential client. Most companies do not have a problem with this and remember that there is no quid-pro-quo. That is, just because someone does something nice for you does not mean that you are otherwise obligated to use their stuff. Of course, some companies do not allow their chemists to accept any perks from suppliers so be sure to learn what your company’s policies are regarding the acceptance of gifts.

Suppliers can be a great resource for cosmetic chemists. Use them respectfully and wisely, and they can help make your job much easier.

How have suppliers helped you?  Leave a comment below

The most common types of questions that we get here on Chemists Corner are ones about formulating natural cosmetics. This is a hot trend in the cosmetic industry and formulators are struggling to find information about how to make their formulas more “green” and “natural”.

That led us to find industry experts who have been focused on formulating natural products and enlist their help in creating the next course in the Complete Cosmetic Chemist series.

The course isn’t quite ready but we have created a free download about formulating natural products. This is a primer or introduction to the field and will help prepare you for our upcoming course.

Free Natural Formulating Download

You can download the free naturals formulation primer by clicking on this page.

Formulating Natural Cosmetics

The course will open on December 9, 2011 but won’t officially get started until early January 2012. But if you sign up now, you’ll get the free ebook and a bunch of bonus material created just for people interested in formulating natural products.

So, click on the link and sign up today.

Formulating Natural Cosmetics

Perry, 44

PS. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll answer.

While you’re out on the black Friday shopping spree, don’t forget about the cosmetic chemist in your life.  Here are 10 gift ideas that any chemist would love.

1. Cosmetic Science books
Nothing says Happy Holidays like the gift of knowledge. Some excellent choices…

Beginning Cosmetic Chemistry

Harry’s Cosmeticology 8th Edition

Handbook of Cosmetic Science and Technology, Third Edition

2. Cosmetic Chemistry kits

While most cosmetic chemists will create formulas at work, the aspiring cosmetic chemist might not have access to all the chemicals she’ll need. Or she might want to share a creative activity with her children. Here are a couple of excellent cosmetic chemistry kits.

Sophisticated Science Perfume Science kit

Creative Cosmetics:The Science of Skincare

3. Lab Equipment

Digital Pocket Scale
- In case you are out of the lab and you need to do a little formulating on the run.

Or how about a cool mixer?
Talboys 101 Light Duty Overhead Mixer

4. Complete Cosmetic Chemist training program

You can never get enough training and if you don’t know about all the different areas of cosmetic science and formulating, this course will get you started.

Sign up here

5. DIY cosmetic books

Learning the science of cosmetics is great but you need some recipies to start somewhere. Here’s a book that will help the cosmetic chemist on your list make their own color cosmetics.

Recipes for Color Cosmetics

6. Music

You might not know that the coolest cosmetic chemists are really into cutting edge music. If you don’t know their tastes, try one of these science-themed albums.

Here Comes Science – They Might be Giants

Feed the Animals – Girl Talk

It’s Blitz! (Deluxe Version) – YYY 

7. Clever T-Shirts

Chemists are proud of their jobs so why not get them a shirt to show it off. I particularly like this shirt which has the saying “Bond…Ionic Bond” “Taken, not shared”.

Bond, Ionic Bond Chemistry Dark T-Shirt

Or how about this Chemistry Bacon t shirt

8. Molecular modeling kit

Sure you can do these things on the computer but having a molecular modeling kit right at your desk is a cool thing for a cosmetic chemist to have.

Molecular Modeling Kit

9. Chemistry Mug

Almost every cosmetic chemist drinks coffee and the ones that don’t drink hot tea. A chemistry mug is a great gift idea. Here are a couple of options.

Glass Beaker Mug with Handle 400ml

Konitz 15-Ounce Science Chemistry Mugs

10. Chemistry Set

If you don’t have a lab at home, can you really consider yourself a chemist? hmmm. Get the cosmetic chemist in your life this chemistry set so they can work on their ideas any time they want.

Chemistry Lab Set – Advanced Level AA

What do you want for the holidays this year? Leave a comment below.

Are you familiar with the Khan Academy?  If you aren’t, you should be!

The Khan Academy was started by Salman Khan in 2006 with the expressed mission of “providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.”  And he does just that.

Take a look at the chemistry lectures.  There are over 100 high quality talks about various chemistry subjects.

If you are looking for a refresher on chemistry, this is an excellent place to go and it is all FREE.

Of course, most of this won’t directly apply to cosmetic chemistry (that’s why we’re here) but if you’re looking to get caught up to speed on basic chemistry, this is a great place to start.

In my talk about using the Internet to do cosmetic chemistry, I frequently say people should use Twitter. But I think people are having a hard time seeing the benefits. In this video, I will show you exactly how Twitter can be useful to a cosmetic formulator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNOLWyJzOPA

Here are the basic points.

1. Keeping up with industry news
2. Getting questions answered
3. Finding experts
4. Keeping track of competitors
5. Establishing yourself as an expert.
6. Finding out what consumers care about
7. Finding a job

Click on this link if you would like to find other cosmetic chemists on twitter.

One of the most useful things about the Internet is that you can get free consumer research (if you know where to look). The way you can do this is to peruse various beauty blogs, forums, and opinion sites. Ideally, you’ll participate and can get people to respond to your questions. You might have to do it anonymously if you’re working for a company, but that’s ok, as these sites typically allow for anonymous participants.

Here are some of the top beauty forums where you can interact with consumers who are rabid fans of beauty products.

7 beauty forums to talk to consumers

The Beauty Brains forum – You’ll find a number of smarter, skeptical consumers here. Site has over 6000 members but a few hundred are active.

Top Beauty Care forum – Skin care, hair care and make-up are their top categories. Difficult to say but likely a few hundred active users.

Make-up Talk – If you are looking for some consumer insights related to make-up, this is a pretty good place to go.

Allure forums – Lots of views so there will be plenty of consumer information to be gleaned here.

Make-up alley – One of the best forums for all kinds of beauty products. They talk about almost any product that there is.

The Fashion Spot forums – This site specializes in fashion but they have a huge skin care, makeup and hair care section.

Womens health forum – I wanted to round it out with 7 sites so I included this one. It seems to have good traffic and there are lots of good consumer insights you can glean. Just not sure how active it is.

Communicating with Consumers

To come up with new products and formulations that will set you apart in the cosmetic industry, you need to listen to the consumer. Learn what problems they have and how they have tried to solve them. The Internet makes it easy to get information that years ago could only have been gotten through a big consumer research group.

Good luck and have fun!

The Society of Cosmetic Chemists is probably the best organization for any cosmetic chemist to join.  It connects you with cosmetic chemists around your area, around the country and even around the world.  There are scientific conferences, a bimonthly journal of cosmetic science (peer reviewed research) and a host of chapter events every month.

Also, if you are looking for a job there are often jobs posted in the various SCC chapter newsletters.

SCC Chapters around the country

Here is a list of all the chapters for the SCC around the country including 2 in Canada.  If you are not sure which chapter you belong to click on the map (to enlarge it) then click on your area of the country.  You’ll be taken to the correct website.

Here is a list of all the website included on the map.
California Chapter
Carolina Chapter
Connecticut Chapter
Florida Chapter
Intermountain West Chapter
Lake Erie Chapter
Long Island Chapter
Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Midwest Chapter
New England Chapter
New York Chapter
Ohio Valley Chapter
Ontario Chapter
Quebec Chapter
Southeast Chapter
Southwest Chapter
St. Louis Chapter
Twin Cities Chapter

National Chapter

Maybe in a future post we’ll put a map of the entire world and connect to all the IFSCC websites.