[EVchem]

The essential oil will likely have a stronger scent compared to the extract so keep that in mind. A high percentage of essential oil can also be sensitizing. Ultimately in the concentrations you would use either at, you’re just adding for marketing purposes.

[EVchem]

“an honest and accurate marketing claim”… well I applaud that idea but doubt it being a reality.

That aside, I think of unscented as meaning no scent intentionally added. If you’re concerned about a specific product, I think the easiest advice is to smell your raw materials individually first. As far as an example, people like to use phenoxyethanol as part of preservation, but it has a  “chemical” scent. 

[EVchem]

If it looks different on the stick than on the hand, that doesn’t indicate oxidation to me. What about writing on paper or not-skin? Does the color also appear pink there?

[EVchem]

This has been discussed in this forum a couple times already  (i think this thread is one of the most comprehensive) so maybe I’ll just recap my favorite points:

Your lab should mirror what you can achieve in larger scale production. Don’t buy something for the lab that can’t replicate what your facility does.

 We have a Brookfield and it’s a really nice piece of equipment, they provide a ton of resources and if anything ever goes wrong with ours (fingers crossed as no issues yet), I know they will be able to provide us replacement parts. The most important thing is you get a reliable piece of equipment that can give you repeatable results. I think it is very quick to use!

[EVchem]

well in that case you could do a knockout- one formula without PMMA, one without HA and see if you still observe the particles in either

[EVchem]

So first off if you use the phrase “natural colorant” someone here is going to post the FDA’s list of approved colorants (it’s me this time I guess), which are the only colorants you are allowed to use to ~intentionally~ color a product. 

So say you are adding the squid ink for claims purposes; the second issue I see is sourcing. How are you going to find squid ink with good lot to lot consistency?  On UL prospector I see only one material with squid ink and the SDS describes it as a brown liquid, which I doubt is the color you are going for. Additionally, I’m not experienced in bath bombs but shouldn’t your ingredients all come in powdered form or will require some drying? Not sure how that would affect squid ink.

[EVchem]

I don’t think this is enough information for people to help you. Listing all ingredients( the formula) and the process (do you use heat? ) will help pinpoint where the problem is coming from. 

If this is really “all of a sudden” you should also look at what’s changed. Have your raw materials come from a new supplier?  Did you change order of addition, or change production scale?

[EVchem]

cm^2 is for the area, that makes sense to me since it’s a plate. I’m not a microbio person; I don’t know how schulke converts from CFU per area to CFU per volume, I also don’t understand how the QC from your supplier converts to MPN since that looks to be based on dilutions and the FDA method says you need at least 3 dilutions.

If I were in your shoes, I would try to use another supplier and contact a schulke technical rep to try and get some data from them.

[EVchem]

is there any reason no one has suggested salt? 

[EVchem]

Well that’s fascinating but if you want advice you should probably post more detailed information.

Formula with INCI names of ingredients and percent breakdowns?

[EVchem]

@Moneyahoo  If you are only selling in US, then you don’t have to follow EU regulations where allergens must be declared (Essential oils usually have components like limonene that are known allergens, you would typically see these listed on the safety data sheets of your materials). 

I know California has separate requirements (like their Prop 65 statements) that changes what needs to be stated on label, but I would encourage you to do research on that before trying to sell there.

[EVchem]

I’m not very familiar with formulating cleansers, but from what I’ve heard  Potassium Oleate and Potassium Cocoate are somewhat harsh surfactants due to the smaller hydrophilic head group and chain length. Any truth to this?

[EVchem]

It’s going to depend on your order size too. Carrier oils can be found from so many suppliers, but sometimes the MOQ is in terms of 55 gallon drums
I like Jedwards https://bulknaturaloils.com/

[EVchem]

I think inserts are fine, you should read the FDA off-package labeling
 

[EVchem]

If that were all it took then what were all those other companies wasting their time on? 

Propylene Glycol might be better than an aqueous-solution in terms of stability but no I don’t think it would really prevent LAA oxidation, it will still degrade on its own, it will pick up water from the air too. 

[EVchem]

On the internet you’ll find opinions on everything in every possible configuration. Part of the research process means evaluating your information sources. What’s your source in this case?

Personally, I start with the Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Phenoxyethanol was first reviewed in 1990 and again briefly in 2011. You can also check out the European Scientific Commmittee’s opinion from 2016.

I know these are long documents and if you’re not from a science background it seems a lot easier to read someone’s article about ingredient safety. I like these sources because they give the conditions of the studies and they help show the history of phenoxyethanol’s use in cosmetics (not to mention they are free to access).  You can also ask your supplier for safety data, they are biased of course but it’s in their best interest to demonstrate their material’s safety. I’m sure others on this forum have their own sources, and I’d recommend you make your own list of criteria for why you might accept/reject  a source, it’ll help you in the future when you have other ingredient concerns.

[EVchem]

Thanks @Dirtnap1, I reached out to their distributor for our region and they are sending a sample. Fingers crossed it smells  right to the customer!

[EVchem]

Check out reddit.com/r/skincareaddiction . The people in that forum are a pretty diverse group, and they talk pretty consistently about what they would like to see in sunscreen products. 

I know you’re going for redheads, but a lot of “ethnic” groups don’t wear sunscreen because they either think their pigmented skin doesn’t need it, or the don’t like the white cast that many sunscreens leave behind. So if you can work to target that demographic and respond to their requests  you might have a pretty interested following 

[EVchem]

Thank you both, making cosmetics only has the extract, and my concern is that most cucumber seed oils don’t have a strong cucumber scent. I think we might have to go with fragrance/hydrosol since cucumber oil doesn’t seem to pack enough punch

[EVchem]

@Perry, very true  but I think intent is something that would be difficult to prove either way.

As for colorant safety, I understand that’s because  traditionally pigments used were mineral-based or coal-tar  and frequent culprits of heavy metal contamination. 

With the amount of extracts that are used in cosmetics, there are plenty that have color and none of them are subjected to certification (even the accepted FDA ‘natural’ colors are exempt from certification). And that leads me to the bigger question- Shouldn’t all cosmetic ingredients be under the same regulations to prove safety? As formulators we have an obligation to ‘prove’ our formulas are safe, but suppliers are not held to any  standard, it’s up to them to provide whatever testing the feel is necessary. Is that enough? Bit of a tangent because this has been on my mind lately.

[EVchem]

@Microformulation & @ngarayeva001  thank you both! It was on prospector but wasn’t coming up by the INCI name. Definitely looks worth a try. It can be used cold-process?

[EVchem]

Depends on where you are  located/selling and the level of risk you are willing to take. If you are using the product only to color the lipstick, then it is a color additive and those are controlled by the FDA and there are only a few accepted natural colors and here they are .

However, if the bark is an extract that has any skin moisturizing benefits, then that is what you are using the ingredient for in your formulation.

[EVchem]

@ngarayeva001 I’m interested in polyacrylate crosspolymer-6. We have been looking for a thickener that can handle large amounts of electrolytes but other than xanthan gum we haven’t found much. I don’t see it on UL prospector, do you know any suppliers?

[EVchem]

There are specifics about the font size and spacing and such, but as far as contents here’s what i can think of:

• Name of product prominently displayed on PDP

• net wt on PDP (if you’re starting  small you can take a weight of the bottle before filling, tare it, and then weigh again for net wt.)
• on side panel you can list your address  and say “distributed by”
• you’ll also need ingredients in descending order until you hit 1%, then any order is fine
• we include directions for use and a general warning about external use only, avoid contact with eyes and such.

I’m not 100% sure here but I think you need this information on your outermost packaging only, not necessarily on the cosmetic itself unless you’re not packaging it into anything else.

Are you selling only in US? Are you selling in California? 

[EVchem]

@Microformulation well that’s depressing but honestly something I think most of us know in the back of our heads. But I don’t think that skincare is all snake oil and magic marketing claims. There are ingredients that have shown promise (niacinamide comes to mind) through simple topical application. Then again,there is the poorly-hidden elephant in the room of cosmetics: our products are  not supposed to penetrate/to modify the skins function.They are only meant to hydrate.But that’s a whole new discusion so I’ll leave it at that.