How to start a cosmetics brand

Creating your own beauty brand can be a great stand alone business or a worthy addition to your current small business.

If you are a stylist and already have a merchandising shelf for your shampoo and styling products, then why not add your own skincare, makeup or bath range?  After all, you have a client in your chair who likes to treat them self.  

It seems quite daunting at first when you see all of the UK cosmetic regulations, but once you know what to do, it's really quite simple.

You've decided what you'd like to sell, you've found your recipes and supplies.  Now all you need to do it get them ready for sale.

We break down into 5 steps below for how to be compliant:

1.  You need a CPSR - A cosmetic product safety report.  Completed by a lab or via a specialist website such as ours, allowing you to sell your formulation legally, as it will have been deemed safe by a qualified professional.

2. A PIF - Product information file.  This is a complete document about your product.  It contains your CPSR, all of your ingredients information, your method for making the product and more. 

3. GMP Statement - Good Manufacturing Practice.  This is a statement made by you, based on official GMP guidelines of how you manufacture your products to good, safe, clean, hygienic standards.  It also covers how your ingredients and products are stored and the procedures that you have in place for working in your business.

4. Proper labelling.  You products must include all of the ingredients and allergens, weight, shelf life, responsible person details, usage details, any warnings and a batch number.

5.Report on the UK Government cosmetics portal.  Every product including variations (but not each batch) should be reported.  

For more information on these, going into depth of how to go about completing these and templates to help you, have a look at our resources section whereby we have lots of downloadables ready to help.

We will soon be adding a range of pre-made cosmetic bases, fragrances, colours, flavours, oils and butters to help you create your dream products with ease.