In today’s beauty and wellness landscape, consumer demand is high, but so is scrutiny. Whether it’s a tinted balm, gel cleanser, ingestible, or body serum, modern products must meet performance, regulatory, and emotional standards all at once.
As a formulator with 20+ years of experience across skincare, haircare, and wellness, I’ve watched trends come and go—but what stays is this: simplicity scales, complexity cracks. Designing clean, high-performance products isn’t about removing everything. It’s about building smarter.
Here’s how we build formulation frameworks that maintain clean label integrity, real efficacy, and contract manufacturing compatibility—from lab to line.
Start With Formulation Logic, Not Just Ingredients
When a brand sends over a Pinterest board of trending actives or 12 raw materials they “want to include,” we slow down. Because the truth is, most products break down at the systems level, not the ingredient level.
That’s why every formula starts with a function-first framework—a structure that prioritizes:
- Ingredient roles (not just INCI appearances)
- Compatibility by pH, charge, and phase
- Processing alignment (heating, shear, cooling)
- Scalable sensory performance (slip, spread, rinse-off)
Example: Instead of plugging in 3 humectants “for hydration,” we look at the full water phase structure. Will sodium PCA destabilize your preservative? Is your glycerin concentration pulling too much from the emulsifier? Do you need humectants at all—or is occlusion enough for the claim?
Build in Layers: Functional Formulation Architecture
To simplify manufacturing without sacrificing sophistication, I break down all scalable formulas into 4 key architecture layers:
| Layer | Purpose |
| Core System | Backbone ingredients (e.g., emulsifier + carrier oil) |
| Active Layer | Functional ingredients (e.g., niacinamide, panthenol) |
| Sensory Layer | Adjust skinfeel (e.g., starches, esters, emollients) |
| Claim Layer | Fragrance, botanicals, marketing actives |
This structure supports clean swaps, future variants, and scalability testing. It also provides flexibility when ingredients get discontinued, prices surge, or CMs request alternate suppliers. You don’t start from scratch—you replace within a defined structure.
Clean Label ≠ No Function
There’s a dangerous myth that “clean” means fewer ingredients or no preservatives. In reality, clean beauty can be about: transparency, intention, and safety—not elimination.
When developing a clean-label formula, I apply the following checkpoints:
- Is every ingredient purposeful? (No fillers or “trend-stuffing.”)
- Is the preservation system robust and compliant with your global markets and does this align with the Brand’s Identity?
- Are all ingredients readable by both the consumer and the chemist?
- Can this be manufactured without a pharma-grade facility?
What I avoid: overly complex emulsifier blends with poor stability profiles, untraceable extracts with variable actives, or exotic carrier oils that separate during transit or crystallize in colder climates.
Manufacturability Is Part of the Formula
Many lab-developed formulas work beautifully at 1kg but fall apart at 100kg because manufacturability was never built in. When formulating for scale, I ask:
- Will this formula emulsify without needing an invasive homogenizer?
- Do the mixing steps allow for batch tolerance and operator variability?
- Is the batch time under “x” hours to reduce production cost and risk?
- Will the sensory hold in transit—hot warehouse, cold truck, humid shelf?
If your formula requires triple-phase emulsification, high-shear cooling, or temperature-critical actives—you don’t have a formula. You have a liability.
The best formulas perform in a lab, at scale, and in a 100°F Amazon warehouse.
Design for Claims, Not Chaos
A product doesn’t need 15 actives to be effective. It needs clear positioning and supporting evidence. That’s why the framework must align with:
- Marketing language (What are you claiming, and can you support it?)
- Packaging decisions (Can the packaging protect and dispense this format?)
- Regulatory pathways (Does the formula cross into OTC, supplement, or medical claims?)
- Future expansion (Is this the base for a family or one-off SKU?)
If you’re building a hero serum, for instance, the goal is not to stuff 10 trend actives into one bottle. The goal is to develop a base that can support a future brightening, calming, or anti-aging variant—without requiring 3 new stability protocols.
Real-World Adjustments That Save Launches
Here are a few clean-labeled, scalable fixes I’ve used over the years when a “beautiful formula” didn’t cooperate:
-
- Thickener swap: Replacing xanthan gum with sclerotium gum for better skinfeel and pH range stability
- Preservative boost: Adding sodium levulinate/sodium anisate to boost weak phenoxyethanol systems for global compliance
- pH drift buffer: Incorporating sodium citrate to prevent pH drift in natural exfoliant systems over shelf life
- Viscosity shift: Using coconut alkanes instead of heavy oils for stability in oil serums without silicones
Final Thoughts: Frameworks Are Freedom
Founders and marketers often want “clean, beautiful formulas that work.” But what they also need is a repeatable, manufacturable, and compliant framework that enables growth, not just a launch.
A smart formulation framework allows you to:
- Develop hero SKUs and build line extensions without reinventing
- Adjust for raw material changes without destabilizing
- Align with clean marketing and regulatory standards across markets
- Confidently scale production—without compromising quality
After 20 years and hundreds of launches, here’s my takeaway:
Beautiful products come from beautiful systems.
