How stem cell technology can really work
Right now there are a bunch of cosmetic brand that claim to use stem cells to provide benefits. For example, there is the Swiss Botany…
Cosmetic science on tv
One of the fun aspects of what I do for a living is that I occasionally get invited to be a guest on TV shows.…
Don’t turn your cosmetic into a drug
Contrary to what you read on the Internet, the cosmetics industry in the US is regulated. It is regulated by the FDA and they do…
The largest natural and organic cosmetic companies
We’re in the process of launching a new course about formulating natural cosmetic products. You can see our latest video here. Formulating natural cosmetic products…
Hot trends to look for in 2015
Euromonitor is a market research company who covers the beauty market. They put together a white paper suggesting some trends that will be popular in…
How stable are your formulations?
I once made a shampoo formula that I kept for about 17 years. It was my first batch of anything and for some reason I…
Are people using cosmetics wrong?
People apply color cosmetics hoping to improve the way they look. But according to this research published in the The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, most…
Controlling Cosmetic Product Quality
A question was posed to us recently about creating consistent cosmetic products and formulations. Basically, the reader wanted to know how you do it. The…
Figuring out the 1% line
A fun activity for any cosmetic chemist is to look at a list of ingredients (LOI) and try to determine where is the 1% line.…
What are cosmetic product specifications?
When you create a formula in the lab it’s rather easy to create batches that are consistently the same in terms of their physical and…
Surfactants - Does the counterion matter?
There was an interesting discussion on LinkedIn about whether Magnesium Laureth Sulfate was more gentle than Sodium Laureth Sulfate. It’s a pretty good question and…
Weekend chemistry
On the weekend I like to look through Youtube and find cool chemistry videos. Here’s one from a series called Chemistry Life Hacks which gives…
So you want to formulate sulfate free?
Somewhere along the line surfactants which contain the name “sulfate” got a bad name. It’s difficult to say exactly how this negative reputation was developed…
Should your products be organically certified?
There was an excellent write-up of a debate between two cosmetic industry experts about the value of having your products certified by one of the…
7 Cosmetic claims that sound good but don’t mean much
It’s a common misconception that cosmetic companies lie to sell products. This is generally not true. In fact, in the US it is illegal to…
Cosmetic Formulating - Working with Base Formulas
When you start out as a cosmetic formulator you will not be asked to come up with your own formulas. There may be some exceptions…
The science of cosmetics
Here’s some good weekend reading about cosmetic science. They cover some good information but unfortunately, the non-science based EWG gets referenced at the end. It’s…
Soap bar in a microwave
This is pretty cool. Did you know what happens to a soap bar when you put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes? It…
The Three Types of Cosmetic Raw Materials
Did you know that there are only 3 main categories of cosmetic raw materials? Really all of the ingredients used in cosmetics can be put…
Where to find the list of ingredients for a cosmetic
It’s a requirement in the United States and around most places in the world that cosmetic products have their ingredients listed on their label. We’ve…