3 Critical Issues to Consider When Sourcing Specific Cosmetic Ingredients

Nov 22
09:49

2016

Rosario Berry

Rosario Berry

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Creators and developers of popular cosmetic products rarely produce the individual cosmetic ingredients in-house. Instead they rely on outside manufacturers to provide the individual ingredients. While sourcing individual ingredients offer a variety of benefits, it make the ingredient selection process even more important. Selecting the right ingredients, from the right manufacturers, is a critical element to the success or failure the overall product. To do this effectively there are three critical issues buyers must consider.

mediaimage

The first issue to consider is whether to source cosmetic ingredients from a single or multiple manufacturers. Using a single vendor makes the selection and order management process simpler however it also puts the cosmetic developer at risk if an order would go unfulfilled because they would not have a backup vendor in place. The other option is to use multiple cosmetic ingredient vendors. While this may make managing orders and tracking invoices more difficult,3 Critical Issues to Consider When Sourcing Specific Cosmetic Ingredients Articles it does allow for direct ingredient comparison in terms of price and quality.


The second issue to consider when sourcing specific cosmetic ingredients is the overall quality and consistency of the manufacturer. There are a variety of seemingly identical individual ingredients which vary greatly in production quality. Carefully selecting where ingredients are sourced from will determine the overall quality and consistency of the final product.


The final critical issue is individual features or characteristics each ingredient offers. For example, the same type of ingredient is often available in both liquid and solid form. Depending on the overall construction of the final cosmetic product, it is essentially to choose a manufacturer which can provide the ingredients in a form which is consistent with the overall product design needs. Another example of this can be seen in ingredient base mixtures. Some mixtures can be porous, while others with identical ingredients can be non-porous.


To delve even deeper into individual characteristics, product developers can look at how well an ingredient provides the characteristics they promise. For example, a powder with titanium oxide, aluminum hydroxide, or zinc oxide are often used to provide protection from dangerous sun rays because these cosmetic ingredients offer a high level of reflectivity. Multiple manufacturers may have this type of ingredient available, but that does not mean they can all offer the same level of reflectivity.


When sourcing cosmetic ingredients, there are three critical issues to consider. They are whether a single or multiple vendor approach is better, what is the overall quality and consistency of a cosmetic ingredient can the manufacturer provide, and does the ingredient meet the specific characteristics or features a cosmetic product developer needs.