Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Adding off the shelf product into my formulation

Tagged: 

  • Adding off the shelf product into my formulation

    Posted by steamedrice on December 22, 2020 at 9:25 am

    Dear all,

    I have a question regarding adding off the shelf product into ones formulation.

    If I have Bosisto’s Pure Tea Tree oil, can I add it to my “Tea tree cream” formula and have it as an INCI name “Melaleuca Alternifolia oil?”

    What problems should I consider when I do this? Stability issues? Legality problems?

    Reason for this question is because I’m trying to formulate an hand repair cream with chamazulene (Chamomile extract) and I cant get hold of blue tansy oil (apparently highest content of chamazulene) so thinking of buying blue tansy oil off the shelf to incorporate into my formula.

    thank you!

    steamedrice replied 3 years, 3 months ago 5 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Benz3ne

    Member
    December 22, 2020 at 10:25 am

    Dear all,

    I have a question regarding adding off the shelf product into ones formulation.

    If I have Bosisto’s Pure Tea Tree oil, can I add it to my “Tea tree cream” formula and have it as an INCI name “Melaleuca Alternifolia oil?”

    What problems should I consider when I do this? Stability issues? Legality problems?

    Reason for this question is because I’m trying to formulate an hand repair cream with chamazulene (Chamomile extract) and I cant get hold of blue tansy oil (apparently highest content of chamazulene) so thinking of buying blue tansy oil off the shelf to incorporate into my formula.

    thank you!

    How are the ingredients listed on the pure tea tree oil? Could you perhaps contact them and have them supply it to you as a raw ingredient? 

    The other question to consider is why do you need the highest content of chamazulene? Have you tried it with less chamazulene containing species and if so how notable were the differences?

    I’d have said if you’ve a good relationship with an essential oil supplier they’d be able to offer insight into how much is good value for money, or whether you need blue tansy, or not, or whether they stock it!

    Sorry about the large amount of speculation, but really you’re paying over the odds if you’re buying a product that has both manufacturer’s margin and reseller’s margin on it, so that could make your product unprofitable or unsellable. 

  • steamedrice

    Member
    December 22, 2020 at 11:58 am

    Benz3ne said:
    How are the ingredients listed on the pure tea tree oil? Could you perhaps contact them and have them supply it to you as a raw ingredient? 

    The other question to consider is why do you need the highest content of chamazulene? Have you tried it with less chamazulene containing species and if so how notable were the differences?

    I’d have said if you’ve a good relationship with an essential oil supplier they’d be able to offer insight into how much is good value for money, or whether you need blue tansy, or not, or whether they stock it!

    Sorry about the large amount of speculation, but really you’re paying over the odds if you’re buying a product that has both manufacturer’s margin and reseller’s margin on it, so that could make your product unprofitable or unsellable. 

    Thank you so much for your reply!

    As with the Bosisto’s Tea Tree product, the ingredient list only list Melaleuca oil as the sole ingredient. I know there might be other excipient ingredients not listed. But taking the “cost” question out of the equation, I want to know if its feasible to take an off the shelf product and reformulate it for a commercial product?

    Because some raw ingredients (eg. plant extracts) also come as a solution or oil that has preservatives in it anyway which is often not listed in the final product.

    Basically taking someone elses work & add your midas touch to it & repackage to sell it @ a higher margin. 

  • Benz3ne

    Member
    December 22, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    Thank you so much for your reply!

    As with the Bosisto’s Tea Tree product, the ingredient list only list Melaleuca oil as the sole ingredient. I know there might be other excipient ingredients not listed. But taking the “cost” question out of the equation, I want to know if its feasible to take an off the shelf product and reformulate it for a commercial product?

    Because some raw ingredients (eg. plant extracts) also come as a solution or oil that has preservatives in it anyway which is often not listed in the final product.

    Basically taking someone elses work & add your midas touch to it & repackage to sell it @ a higher margin. 

    Yes, it probably is possible, but I don’t know where you’d stand with your country’s regulations. 
    You might have to prove that, e.g., you conform to good practices as laid out by your country’s regulatory authority. If you can’t prove that the ingredients you’re using are conforming to that guidance then it might result in your product being unsellable (though if the product you aim to use is on the shelf it might suffice as evidence?). 
    Similarly, if the product has ingredients that are not listed for whatever reason then you could not feasibly include them in your safety assessments as you pointed out above. 
    Lastly, if there are trademarks on the product you might not know about them just from observing the product packaging, which could create a legal headache.

    It seems to me like a lot of guesswork just to get a product on the shelf. I’d rather have control over the entirety of the formulation so you can aim to continue if, again e.g., the product you’re using in your formulation is discontinued. 

    You’re very welcome for the reply. :) 

  • Pattsi

    Member
    December 23, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    I think Legality issue is most likely.
    Their product have IP and using it without permission or using it out of intent 
    context might get you into legal problems.
    To avoid this you might try contact and pursuing from them directly.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 23, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    @steamedrice

    If the Bosisto’s Tea Tree Oil contains only Tea Tree Oil as its sole ingredient, then it is no different than adding Tea Tree Oil from any other supplier, so there is no issue with using it other than it may be more expensive than other suppliers of Tea Tree Oil.

    As long as you list in your LOI all of the ingredients on the LOI of the Bosisto’s product, there is no issue.  If you have concerns about it, why not just purchase pure Tea Tree Oil from a reputable supplier as opposed to using a branded product.

  • steamedrice

    Member
    December 24, 2020 at 3:59 pm

    Thanks all for the answers. Really appreciate it!
    Very interesting!

  • Graillotion

    Member
    December 25, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    Why not just buy it from the best EO supplier around???

    Tansy Blue Essential Oil at Wholesale prices (newdirectionsaromatics.com)

    They don’t sell fake stuff…like many of the sellers on the net.

  • Graillotion

    Member
    December 25, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    However…if your only goal is to get Chamazolene, then see the following link, it has 5X the amount of the blue Tansy.  One of the amazing parts of New Directions….They provide complete GCMS analysis of all their products, which I have found invaluable when I am looking for certain constituents. 

    If you look at the GCMS of all the types of Chamomile they sell….there is a HUGE variation in the Chamazolene content.  Below is 22%.  (just part of the GCMS pasted below.)

    Chamomile Moroc Essential Oil at Wholesale Prices (newdirectionsaromatics.com)

  • steamedrice

    Member
    December 26, 2020 at 5:05 am

    Oh my god! Thank you. I’ll look into it. Thanks all so much. This forum is a dream come true… 

Log in to reply.