The Good Chemistry process to create a new product is:
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1. The client completes our briefing form that outlines your requirements and anticipated claims for the product you wish to create.
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2. The Good Chemistry team review your brief.
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3. We arrange a project call, to talk through the project brief and discuss any further opportunities or concerns, and to clarify the brief with our cosmetic chemist/product designers.  We ensure all parties are aligned on the product specifications and requirements before we move forward.
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4. A product development quote is submitted for review. Once the client approves the quote, an invoice for 50% of the total cost is payable by the client.
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5. Once the invoice is paid, the Good Chemistry team start doing any preliminary research, order in any speciality raw materials or actives required for your formula or product. Speciality ingredients are paid for by the client, with their preapproval. If they are coming from overseas, there could be a wait of say 1-2 weeks while these are sourced, paid and freighted.

6. Good Chemistry begin developing a formulation and experimenting. We work to create a formula that fits the requirements outlined in your brief. Once we believe that is achieved, we send you the first sample to review. This is usually sent 2-4 weeks after starting the process.

7. The client reviews the sample and provides detailed feedback on any changes required. Formulation tweaks are made up to and including 3 versions, which is included in the formulation price.

Once the formula is approved, and the final invoice is paid, product documentation is developed and issued, including product formula, proposed manufacturing method and product specifications, which become the intellectual property of the client. You can then take these to the manufacturer of your choice in your country get quotations.

8. If you’d like to have the product shelf-life substantiated, we can perform accelerated stability testing,and also recommend preservative efficacy testing. Whilst these tests are not required by law for cosmetic products in New Zealand and Australia they are highly recommended.  
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For further details on the full process, visit our 'Formulation, step by step' page
or tell us what you want to do, and we'll give you call.

This depends on the type of product you are creating, and what claims you would like to make about how the product performs. For cosmetic products, based on the assumption that they are formulated using approved cosmetic ingredients (according to the country you wish to sell in), then there is usually no testing is legally required prior to launch the product. The exception here would SPF products and be to able prove any label or product claims, such as ‘dermatologically tested’.

Despite this, we highly recommend undertaking both Preservative Efficacy Testing (PET) and Stability Testing. These tests help ensure your product is safe, the preservatives are working well and also help substantiate your shelf life and PAO (period after opening) claims. More on what cosmetic testing do I need?

Yes, absolutely. We help many clients to improve their formulations, troubleshoot product problems and we provide testing and consulting services. For some clients we review the formulas and challenge test them under a range of conditions to improve their stability and performance. We also help small brand owners take their home-based products to fully professionally and standardised level formulations.

We can formulate a large range of personal care products:

Skincare: Cleansers, toners, gels, serums, moisturisers, serums, treatments, cosmeceuticals, lotions, scrubs, masks, ointments, balms, eye products, baby products, mens products, whitening,  anti-aging, lip balms.

Bath and body: Body washes, hand wash, bubble bath, bath oils, body lotions, deodorants and antiperspirants.

Specialist body care: Sunscreen, depilatory products, tanning products, cellulite/toning products, personal hygiene products.

Hair: Shampoo, conditioner, treatments, serums, styling products, dry shampoo, aerosols, straightening products.

Home care: Essential oils, deodorising and room sprays, diffusers.

Petcare: Shampoo, conditioner, sprays and lotions.

Special registrations and standards: Certified natural, certified organic, clean beauty standards and sustainability standards.

Read more on our services page

Private labelled skincare  is when we make the products for you and then label it with your brand and logo so you can market and sell it as your own. It saves you the cost and time of R&D, formulating and manufacturing product and focus your time, energy and budget on your brand and marketing.

Your private label range may underpin a whole new brand, complement an existing brand (could be skincare, other home/beauty products, salon/spa etc) or extend your skincare line with supporting products. Lots of small, and very large, skincare brands use private label, it's more common then you may think!

When you private label, you own the brand but the lab owns the formula. We offer a range of premium, natural skincare in private label in either 'retail-ready' packaging (ready to label and sell) or bulk buy (bulk containers that you then fill into your own packaging and label). We also offer a customisation service which is the next step up from private label, but a step before, full custom or bespoke formulation.

Yes, our philosophy is focused on natural, vegan and clean. All our Private Label range is clean, petroleum free, vegan and cruelty free.

If you want to meet specific clean standards, like Sephora, please include that in your product brief for your custom formulation.

Yes we do! With high standards on innovative and natural skincare and beauty formulation, plus excellent value for money (especially with NZD exchange rates), we are an attractive partner for clients in the USA, Australia, Singapore and the UK. We've also worked with clients in China.  

When we develop a formula, we are creating the formula itself, a proposed manufacturing process and set of product specifications that make it easy for any cosmetic/personal care manufacturer to pick up and run with making your product.

We offer a limited Pilot Labs service, manufacturing in small batches for specific clients, but we don't have full scaled manufacturing.  We offer a consultancy service and the team are available at hourly rates to consult on manufacturing issues, or attend to batch scale up issues.  

‍Private label
We offer white, modern, recyclable packaging in our 'retail-ready' private label range that you can make your own with creative label design. We also provide a label design service with our partners.

Custom formulation
Yes you'd usually need to source your own packaging for custom formulation and we can point you in the right direction to source packaging that suits your budget and brand. The type of packaging you need will depend on the product form (i.e. cream, gel, lotion) and application needed (e.g. pump for body lotion).

You can choose to have bespoke packaging designed and manufactured for a truly unique shape and design; customise an existing packaging design (colour, dispenser etc) or buy 'off the shelf' and ready to fill from local or overseas suppliers. We can also assist with brand and label design.

Yes, we're happy to work with you to review and optimise your formula. We can help get you out of the kitchen and into the lab and manufacturing by creating a replicable, stable and effectve formula, ready for scaled manufacture, and help with a range of tests.

You may have developed a recipe, made it as a hobby,  and then want to scale up. Or found a formula or recipe online and make it for the business. Often there's some great improvements we can recommend. Our chemists will note just because it's online doesn't mean it's ever been professionally developed or tested!

We can work with you to optimise the formula, putting forward improvements (or significant changes if they are needed) and ensure that it is:
- safe (the right type and level of preservative, chelators etc)
- is stable under a range of environments and conditions (won't oxidise, go off or separate)
- has a shelf life of 2-3 years
- active ingredients are bioavailable and effective (formula gives these the right support/conditions to work)
- optimal performance and sensory aspects - it feels wonderful to use, performs well and does what it says it will and smells good.

Yes! Have a read of our FAQ above why you need to invest properly in R&D for your brand.
While we're responsible for ensuring we prepare a formula that will be theoretically stable over 2-3 years, the only sure way to know if it is actually stable is to conduct stability testing to at least 30 months real time. Stability testing is a way of ensuring your product will have the anticipated shelf life using practical methods. Is something likely to go wrong? In theory, no. Can something go wrong? In practice, unexpected results can occur. We can't know this without it being tested.

Ensuring stability in practice is your responsibility, so you should get this done on all formulations. It should be part of your planned R&D investment and helps prevent product recalls, which would be your responsibility. If you are planning to export product or have a secondary sunscreen product (i.e. moisturiser with SPF) you will also need to conduct stability testing as the shelf justification for these products is required.

See 'What testing do I need' page for more information

Custom formulations:
Unless you have someone who can do this for you, you should get us to assist you with this. We ensure you label, including ingredient list, is compliant, as well as ensuring you have the evidence, and appropriate wording for any marketing claims.
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Private Label:
We provide the information to put on labels on if marketing in NZ or Australia. We also provide examples of marketing claims. If you wish to market your products in other jurisdictions, please book a consultation to ensure everything is compliant.

Yes you can! Go for it! Do some research on the markets you may want to enter and find the sales and distribution channels.

Ideally we need to know what countries you wish to sell in before we start formulating, do that we can ensure the ingredients and documentation required complies with the regulations in those countries. Regulations for cosmetic products, ingredients and claims vary considerably from country to country.

If you have an existing product, or one previously formulated, we can work with you to make any adjustments to comply with the necessary regulations.

Just a heads up on the exporting documents that may be needed including Safety Data Sheets, ingredient lists and Certificates of Analysis (COAs) for international shipping purposes, but as each country has its own requirements, we can't guarantee that you won't need to get more documentation developed.

Due to the bespoke nature of our work, we need an understanding of your product before we can accurately quote. We do offer set formulation packages from time to time, so that you can see our standard pricing model quite transparently.

Tell us about what you'd like to make and we can discuss your requirements. We would never share your great ideas outside the Good Chemistry team, however if you would like an Confidentiality Agreement  in place before we speak we have a template you can find it to download on our product brief page.

Preservative efficacy testing (PET) is an important evaluation of how effective a products preservative system is and how resilient it is to possible contamination. PET helps ensure that products remain safe and free of contamination throughout their shelf life.

Contamination can occur during manufacture, filling and consumer use. Effective preservatives helps to avoid spoilage, mould, bad odours or possibly causing irritation or infection.

PET is always conducted by a specialist microbiology laboratory, as the products are intentionally contaminated with a known concentration of microbes, including bacteria and yeasts. They are stored at controlled temperatures and periodically tested to ensure the microbes not able to survive with the preservatives present.

Key Steps:
‍Preparation: The cosmetic product is prepared under controlled conditions.
‍Inoculation: A standardised mix of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi) is added to the product.
‍Incubation: Samples are stored under specific conditions for up to 28 days.
‍Sampling: At intervals, samples are taken for analysis.
‍Microbial Enumeration: Diluted samples are plated to count viable microorganisms.
‍Analysis: Results determine if the preservatives effectively reduce or eliminate microbes.  The tests have set limits, that can describe whether it passes or fails.

Our chemists work with you to minimise possible contamination during manufacture and consumer use and we also adjust the product preservation system to suit the purpose and how consumers will use the product. For example, an airless serum pump means much less exposure to air, and consumers fingers, than say a jar.

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Good Chemistry doesn't supply packaging but we can recommend suppliers who will be able to assist you.

We'll also work with you to determine the most appropriate type of packaging for your product use.

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