How to Determine Cost of a Formulation
This video shows you how to figure out the cost per pound (or kg) of a formula using ingredient costs & percentages. A free downloadable spreadsheet …
Formulating Chemist Job - Big Company or Small?
Getting a degree in chemistry will teach you a lot about science but not much about having a chemist job. We’ve previously talked about what…
A Cosmetic Chemists Guide to Ingredient Lists
In the United States (and most other places around the world), beauty product manufacturers are required to list the ingredients used to make their products…
What is a Cosmetic Product?
Innovation from the cosmetic raw material companies always makes me smile. I remember when one particularly “innovative” company would come in for a visit and…
How Cosmetic Claims Can be Used to Make You a Better Cosmetic Chemist
As a cosmetic chemist, you should always keep an eye on products and try to figure out what other people in the industry are doing.…
Learn All You Need to Know About Business for Free
Congratulations!! You spent your days in college making it through some of the toughest courses the place had to offer like Physical Chemistry, Advanced Inorganic…
Can a Carcinogen Free Cosmetics be real?
I saw this article in the NYT about a cosmetic brand who is advertising themselves as “carcinogen free”. According to the founder of Bio-Spectra, their…
How to read a cosmetic patent
As a cosmetic chemist, you’ll find patents to be an extremely useful source of information. In them you will find starting formulations, novel test methods,…
3 Tips for Finding a Cosmetic Science Lab Job
The other day someone asked me for some tips on how to find a cosmetic science job in the cosmetic industry with personal care companies…
How to Label Cosmetic Products
My first experience with cosmetic labeling came in college when I turned over the bottle of a shampoo and looked at the ingredient list. It…
Career Advice to Impress Your Boss
Working in corporate America you will quickly learn that your success is not completely based on your scientific abilities. In fact, if you really want…
A great online community where you can engage consumers
I’m sure Perry has already told you this but as a cosmetic scientist it’s important for you to know your consumer. One way to understand…
75 Things a Formulation Scientist Does
“What does a formulation scientist do every day?” This was a question I received in an email from someone who was doing some research about…
What Makes one Cosmetic Ingredient Better than another?
As a cosmetic chemist, you will be often visited by chemical sales people and presented “new” raw materials to put in your formulas. Or you…
A Cosmetic Industry Overview for Cosmetic Chemists
In college, science majors spend their time learning complicated subjects like Calculus, Physics and Chemistry. Figuring out stuff like differential equations and bond angles of…
7 Reasons You Can Benefit From Going to a Cosmetic Chemistry Trade Show
Tomorrow is the Midwest SCC trade show featuring raw material suppliers from around the world. Here you will find companies with displays on new ingredients,…
How to Prevent Contamination in Cosmetic Products
This recent article about scientists discovering bacteria living in hairspray provides a good example of why cosmetic products need to be preserved. Microbes can grow…
The 10 Different Types of Cosmetic Formulas You Must Know
While there are literally thousands of different types of cosmetic products, there are actually only 10 different types of cosmetic formulas. Here is a brief…
The Basics of Cosmetic Chemistry
I found a couple of interesting articles that explain the absolute basic compounds used in modern day cosmetics. Neither of these are particularly thorough, but…
10 Science Topics for Cosmetic Chemists That Were Barely Covered in College
Review of the 10 most important science topics every cosmetic chemist needs to know to work successfully in the cosmetic industry. These are also fre…