Creating your own skincare product is one of the most exciting parts of launching your brand.

It’s your chance to create your ideal formula and bring your skincare dreams into reality.

What many people don’t realize when they start the journey of creating a custom formulation is how long the process takes.

Here are the steps you can expect to follow when creating a custom formulation for your new skincare product.

Step 1: Research and development

When you first start working with your manufacturer, you can expect to spend a long time on the research and development process.

For some it can be a quick process that takes a few weeks but, more often than not, it can take a year – or even more.

During this time, you’ll be testing different ingredients, seeing what formula works well on the skin and how long a product’s shelf life is.

Step 2: Testing your lab samples

Once you’ve come up with a formula that you think is going to work, your manufacturer will start sending out lab samples.

You’ll be given a few different options that contain slightly different formulas, and you’ll have time to test them all to see which one you prefer.

You can then give your feedback to your manufacturer, who can make any changes, or you can approve a formula if you’re completely happy with it.

Step 3: Think about your packaging

Once you’ve finalized a formula, it’s time to start thinking about the next important thing – packaging.

Packaging can be the difference between consumers loving your product or ignoring it, so it’s important to make it perfect.

You want your packaging to be a mixture of functional and aesthetic so that it looks pretty and works well.

Step 4: Market testing

You may now be happy with your product, but it’s time to make sure that your consumers love it just as much.

During the market testing phase, you’ll send samples out to testers who will try your product and provide feedback on what they think.

If they love the product – great! You’ll move on to the final stage. If they don’t like it at all, you may have to go back to an earlier stage and make some tweaks.

Step 5: Production starts

Now that you have your formula finalized, you can move on to the production stage of your new product.