by Michael Lorence (https://linktr.ee/melorence1) and Emerson Bossi (bossiwriter.com/)
Creating new cosmetics or personal care products from the ground up presents many challenges. However, the main bottleneck when developing new products is finding experienced professionals able to make new products with quality, stability, and flexibility within a reasonable timeframe. A professional with extensive cosmetic chemistry knowledge is the best way to deal with the bottleneck.
A trained professional guarantees quality products and avoids technical mishaps during development and manufacturing. While new chemists can do basic formulation, it's only by hiring an expert that you can leverage their extensive knowledge to improve your development and production pipeline.
Flex Cosmetics' Approach to Cosmetic Development
I am Michael Lorence, the founder and visionary behind Flex Cosmetics. My hands-on approach to product development comes from my extensive background as a chemist. And I'd like to share with you all about my process when developing new cosmetics.
Our Cosmetic Development Process
In short, I research which products are currently most popular. Then, I apply my experience to reverse engineer, modify, and improve upon them. It's all about connecting to the consumer through high-quality products.
When conceptualizing a new product, I always keep a trending cosmetic in mind. By focusing on a specific product, I can tailor the raw materials, texture, fragrance, and other aspects around it. That way, I ensure the product always has greater chances to be accepted by customers since all its elements are already part of what the public enjoys.
Then, once we figure out the most relevant trends, it becomes simple to pick the appropriate cosmetic vehicle, marketing strategy, packaging design, and raw materials to use in our product. The cosmetics market is highly affected by trends, celebrities, influencers, and news. Therefore, for a product to be successful, its formulation and development should focus on marketing strategies that cater to them.
Providing Value Through Insight
One of the main reasons I chose to write these articles about the intricacies and details of the personal care industry is to provide our community with value.
In addition to giving you a better idea of what happens behind the curtains, these articles also help me solidify and expand my expertise, allowing me to create even better cosmetics in the future.
The idea of putting together something from scratch and making a new product that fits all the specifications you need goes way beyond general chemistry, raw material sourcing, troubleshooting, or tweaking. Formulating is a challenging but rewarding skill to master.
Going Beyond the Formula
Formulating is an art form on its own. A product can check all the boxes on a technical level and still be a market failure. However, it's only by leveraging experience and creativity that you can make the formula yours. Then, when perfected, it can deliver your message without words to the consumer.
Our first collection is all about understanding the cosmetic struggles of men. To perfect it, I will use my experience, expertise, and market sense to develop a stable cosmetic vehicle and then add my twist to it based on my struggles.