With the holidays right around the corner, are you searching for the perfect gift for a natural beauty lover? 

This festive season we are delighted to recommend seven luxurious natural skincare products from inspirational students and graduates close to our heart.

We are incredibly proud to share with you these brands, from six different continents, all of which have been established by our students and graduates! 

These seven students once had a dream – to start their own beauty brand. Just look at them now! After studying with us, they went on to create successful natural skincare businesses, doing what they love. And they just so happen to be helping sustain our delicate planet, too!

We’re so proud of their creativity and achievements, and so impressed by their gorgeous, innovative products. 

Do YOU dream of starting your own natural skincare brand, too?

Let their success show what could be possible for YOU.

…In the meantime, check out their beautiful products in this Holiday Gift Guide – from anti-aging face serum, to luxurious body oil, they’ve got you covered!

Indagare’s luxurious, non-toxic products are designed to deeply impart their youth-preserving nutrients, restoring health to the skin – naturally.

Indagare Natural Beauty was born from more than two decades of frustration with dealing with congested, hormonal skin — and an awakening to the effects that modern-day, unsustainable living practices are having on our bodies and the world. An investigative journey into both these issues became a consuming personal project and passion, culminating in the formal study of Natural Skincare, and finally finding a solution to troublesome skin.

Product highlights: Illumino Youth Serum and Signature Night Recovery Oil

Indagare’s two flagship luxury facial oils were recipients of the Editor’s Choice Award at the International 2018 Beauty Shortlist Awards.

Lightweight and incredibly potent, Illumino Youth Serum is created from certified organic prickly pear seed oil. Containing an impressive 18 luxurious and regenerative ingredients, Signature Night Recovery Oil works to ensure hydration, suppleness and glowing health.

MZN is a family-run, small-batch artisan producer located in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. They are passionate about using natural and organic ingredients to create beautiful and effective skincare products. They care deeply about raising awareness of the natural alternatives to the dangerous compounds often present in commercial skincare products.

MZM Bodycare offers a variety of products for your skincare routine, and they also create natural products for men.  

Product highlight: LAVENDER Body Oil

MZN Bodycare’s Hydrating Body Oil is light and luxurious. It absorbs into the skin quickly and is rich with plant oils, such as date seed oil (very rich in antioxidants and vitamins), shea oil and prickly pear oil, which help to tone and firm the skin with intense hydration.

Kefyna Naturel prides itself on its bespoke luxury skincare products. They are passionate advocates of a natural and organic lifestyle, who want to help and educate people to live healthier lives and protect their natural habitat. They believe beauty should be natural and not synthetic. They love nature and are passionate about preserving the ecosystem. Honest and transparent, they believe you have the right to know what goes into your product, so they formulate beautiful, bespoke, personal skincare products that are natural, organic, vegan and a hundred percent non-toxic. Kfyna Naturel ensures that they are chemical-free products to make your skin brighter, and stay beautiful and healthy.  

Product highlight: Facial Serum

Kefyna Naturel’s Facial Serum is specially formulated with naturally occurring ingredients, loaded with Vitamin C, extracted from naturally occurring plants. This helps to vitalize and rejuvenate your skin, exuding wellness and freshness as you have never seen before.

Blossom seeks to be a natural alternative for skincare. They create hand-crafted products, using a knowledge of the botanical properties of plants and natural oils to extract the greatest benefits from them. Products are produced in small batches, in order to ensure the freshness of their ingredients. None of their products are tested on animals.

Product Highlight: Botanical Anti-aging Serums Pack: Botanical B Hidra and Botanical C Glow

Botanical B Hidra is a hydrating serum formulated with botanical extracts such as centella asiatica extract and aloe vera, plus panthenol (promoter of cellular regeneration) and two molecular weights of hyaluronic acid. Botanical C Glow is an illuminating and humectant serum, with Vitamin C, and botanical extracts rich in pro-Vitamin A (achiote, carrot seed extracts).

La Petite Main doesn’t use plastic at all. Instead, from their tools to the end of production they use beautiful amber glass, stylish aluminium containers and timber. Plus they offer a discount when people bring their washed empties to buy more products! They proudly say they have had over 100 bottles returned and reused. They keep the waste to a minimum. 

They believe their products do not only work well for your skin but they are also good for the environment. La Petite Main’s products are guaranteed not to contain any parabens, synthetics or other nasties. They are safe for you and your family, and they also do not cause any harm to the earth. 

Product Highlight: The Blue Floral Range, particularly the Blue Floral Healing Face Serum

This luxurious aqua-based serum is especially for oily and combination skin. It contains blue tansy, juniper berries, cedarwood and more to help balance, restore, moisturize and soothe stressed skin. Natural flower essential oil helps your skin to smell and feel lovely and you’ll quickly notice a visible difference to your skin.

At Good Flower Farm, they believe that plant-based products with zero added chemicals can work just as well, if not better, than high-end brands with hard-to-pronounce, unsafe ingredients. In addition, they grow organic herbs that are then used in their potent formulations to insure the highest quality, most vibrant plant potions possible.

They are deeply committed to being environmentally conscious and intentional to lessen their footprint – from the creation of products and the ingredients used to make them, to how they are packaged and shipped. 

Product Highlight: Magic Mushroom Moisture Cream

Good Flower Farm’s star product is especially good this time of year, with cold temperatures and harsh winds, since it is great for dry skin. This nourishing cream delivers the highest quality oils and butters – jojoba oil, shea butter, and evening primrose oil, filled with the plant properties of maitake and cordyceps mushrooms.

Their deodorants are also always top-sellers, and their lip balms make great stocking stuffers, too!

theBeauvoir believes women have “the right to age and claim their age”. The products made use whole and unrefined ingredients, full of vitamins, minerals and other goodies, and is a brand of natural and organic skincare for women over 50. Ingredients are chosen to keep the skin strong, soft, supple, comfortable and healthy. They include: organic and unrefined vegetable oils, butters and waxes, botanicals, bee products, vitamins, minerals and clay. The brand aims to teach women de-stressing, soothing care habits to support them through the next phase of life.

Product Highlight: SUSIE serum oil for the face

SUSIE contains, amongst other ingredients, frankincense and myrrh essential oils. The mystical and chemistry meet in these fragrant essential oils, and theBeauvoir believes this aspect should be the mandatory basis for any skincare product aimed at women. Sea buckthorn oil, rosehip oil and vitamins help provide nutrition for your skin and repair dry, damaged and aging skin. Apart from using it on just your face, it can also be used to help meditation at home or during yoga practices; simply place a few drops in a dish of hot water nearby where you exercise, and breathe in deeply. 

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Where Indagare began

Tanya Joslin struggled with hormonal, severely congested skin for many years, and was running out of options.

Tanya was drawn to organic food, and making healthy choices – but she never previously considered what she was using on her skin.

And so Tanya started experimenting. She realised that she’d exhausted conventional methods – and now it was time to find out what natural options worked for her skin. Indagare was born! Indagare – meaning ‘to investigate’ – began with investigating ingredients for Tanya’s skin, and moved to investigating supply chains, and ultimately to Tanya becoming a more conscious consumer on many different levels.

Starting a business alongside a full-time job

Tanya’s full-time job at this stage was running a travel magazine, so Indagare was initially a hobby – a personal investigation. However, the word travelled fast about Tanya’s fledgling products, and she found herself being asked for samples by friends and family. Eventually she was giving away so much, her husband encouraged her to start a business.

Tanya joined the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, fitting it in around her full-time job and caring for her children, which naturally led on to building in time to develop her business.  

Tanya’s growing knowledge

After completing the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation course, Tanya saw her knowledge and confidence expand.

As Indagare grew, Tanya also learned about other aspects of building a beauty brand.

Ethos and brand values

Indagare’s brand ethos focuses on sustainability, fairness and quality. From seeking out the highest quality organic ingredients as a first choice and empowering women’s co-operatives in Morocco, to commissioning reusable and recyclable packaging materials, Indagare’s values shine through each luxurious, indulgent product.

Tanya’s advice for budding beauty entrepreneurs

Tanya has some advice for any would-be beauty entrepreneurs considering taking a course with the School of Natural Skincare:

To learn more about Tanya Joslin and Indagare, please visit their beautiful website at www.indagarebeauty.com. Thank you, Tanya! We’re so glad to have you as a student!

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When you’re ready to take your products to the next level, then you’ll want to start getting serious about the quality of the ingredients you’re choosing. But how can you tell whether your ingredients are high-quality or not? And what does high-quality even mean?

The Good, The Bad, and the… Questionable…

First of all, what is a high-quality ingredient?

While there are some general quality guidelines that apply across the board, for the most part, it depends on which type of ingredient you’re talking about. For essential oils, it means they are pure, without any additives like carrier oils, solvents, or synthetic aroma chemicals. For butters, it means they are made from properly harvested plant material, not damaged during processing, and stored properly to prevent oxidation. Overall, you’re looking for ingredients that are exactly what they say they are, created from the very best sources, well-labeled and easily-verified as safe.

So, where do you start? Rather than going in-depth on how to verify the quality of every single type of ingredient, here’s a quick guide to how to start reviewing ingredient and supplier quality like a professional formulator.

How to Find a Quality Cosmetic Ingredient Supplier

1. Firstly, who is the vendor of the raw material in question, and what do you know about them?

Where did you buy the raw material from? Who originally manufactured the raw material, or where was it sourced from? Does the manufacturer hold any pertinent certifications or memberships? For example, fair-trade certified, organic, vegan and so forth. What are those certifications? The more information you can find about the origin of the raw ingredient, the better.

Even if a company isn’t certified or a member of a specific organization, that doesn’t mean their raw materials are not safe, it just means you need to look more closely at each individual raw material.

Do you have a good recommendation from other industry professionals for this company? Again, it’s good to do your own research, but it’s also very useful to use the experience of other trusted professionals to help begin your search for the highest-quality ingredients.

Our courses include a comprehensive supplier list with hundreds of recommended suppliers from all over the world. We also have a shortened list of recommended suppliers available here. Our students’ discussion forums are also buzzing with requests and recommendations. We recommend only buying from well-established, specialist cosmetic raw material or essential oil suppliers, and being especially wary of materials sold on sites like ebay, Amazon and Etsy.

2. Next, what information does the vendor provide about the raw material?

Is the raw material itself certified, for example as organic? If so, by what organizations, and what do those certifications mean about the raw material quality? If it’s not, that doesn’t mean it’s unsafe, it may just mean that the company itself does not hold the certification, and therefore even if they’ve purchased their fair-trade shea butter, for example, from a distributor, they are not authorized to pass along those claims, even if the shea butter is still technically fair-trade.  

Is there a Certificate of Analysis (COA) and Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) available for the raw material? In the European Union, MSDS may not be required for materials which are not considered dangerous. A supplier may not have them for shea butter, and this doesn’t mean it’s not a safe or high-quality product. But most suppliers do keep an MSDS on file for all ingredients.

Essential oils especially seem to be popping up on the market from all sorts of suppliers, but not all of them are of the highest quality. Is the manufacturer able to provide an International Fragrance Association (IFRA) certificate, or allergen certificate?

If you are going to be selling your products, you’ll need to keep a copy of the COA, MSDS, IFRA Certificate and/or Allergen report with your documentation. Some suppliers provide these documents as downloads, some require you to email them, and others will only provide for registered businesses. Others might make you pay for each document you need. None of this means the supplier isn’t legit, it just means that’s their policy, so check it out and ask!

Does the supplier provide guidance on how to use the raw material? Can they answer your questions about it? You’ll probably find it very helpful if they can. A supplier ought to provide information for how to appropriately use the product: Things like pH, temperature stability, solubility, and compatibility/incompatibility with other types of ingredients.

3. Is the raw material labelled properly?

Are the raw materials labelled with their proper INCI name? INCI stands for the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, and is a universal, worldwide system of ‘proper’ names for cosmetic ingredients based on the Latin or scientific name. The INCI name is required for labelling your finished product and to record in your documentation. It tells you precisely what the ingredient is, standardized across all products and manufacturers. If a material is labelled as something vague, like Emulsifying Wax, this can actually be many different things. An INCI name, on the other hand, will tell you exactly what it contains.

Do essential oils have their proper Latin name, or (if applicable) which part of the plant was used for distillation? Also, if the essential oils have several chemotypes, they should be written on the label, for example: Rosmarinus officinalis ct. Cineol: rosemary essential oil, chemotype cineole.

Does the product include best-before or best-after-opening dates on the label? Raw materials should have an expiration date noted on the label, either in the form of “best before” date or in the form of “period after opening.”

Also, in the European Union, materials considered dangerous ought to have specific pictograms on the label. If these are present, this means the supplier is serious and knows what they are doing.

Is a batch number clearly stated on the label? You’ll need this as part of your documentation if you sell your products.

How suitable is the packaging the raw material is sold in? We have bought oils before which had a hand written label attached to them. As soon as a trickle of oil ran down the side of the bottle, the label couldn’t be read clearly anymore! Information on labels should be indelible.

4. Does the product or company have any outrageous claims?

This is a bit of a tricker area, and in some ways, more subjective. Does the company make any extraordinary claims about their ingredients, or suggest that their ingredients can cure certain conditions or diseases with claims that are not verified? It’s worth it to be skeptical and stay safe.

Remember that things like essential oils should never be consumed or put on the skin undiluted, except when under the direction of a trained aromatherapist. Cosmetic ingredients should not be marketed as drugs or cures.

Here’s how she leveraged the School of Natural Skincare to grow her hobby into a business, develop multiple income streams, and blossom into an international market.

Where It All Started

Meg had always loved cooking and creating, but it wasn’t until she was made redundant from her job that her dreams of developing a skincare business really seemed like something she was being led to do. Like many of our students, her work began as a hobby, but it quickly became clear that there was a business idea just waiting to be born.

“I’d tried a few “recipes” on pinterest, then very quickly decided that I wanted to learn how to create products in a professional manner.”

When Meg decided to pursue formulating more seriously, she began looking online for courses—eventually finding us! She began with our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, and continued her education in the years that followed with our Advanced Certificate in Natural High Performance Serum Formulation and Build your Beauty Brand courses as well. Here’s what she had to say about her experience with us:

“I’ve done courses since with other schools but none really compare to School of Natural Skincare. The courses are so well researched and thorough and in an easy-to-learn format.”

With her new knowledge from the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation in mind, Meg was ready to take her hobby to the next level, and launch her business into the world.

Growing Strong

When Meg initially began Soultime Skincare, she struggled with maintaining confidence. However, she knew that it was worth the investment. “One of the things on my wish list from when I was younger was to create a brand from scratch and see it become successful,” she told us. Her brand, in the beginning, was like her baby, but as she developed it and remained open to new possibilities and new areas of growth, fresh opportunities began to emerge. She realized that there were areas of excellence that she hadn’t even imagined could be possible.

“I had started my business, but I was lacking confidence and felt the course would help me push through the barriers. I like the fact that Gareth and Gail are Life Coaches, and came from a different, almost spiritual perspective, one which resonated with me.”

After completing the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, Meg felt that she could create formulas with confidence. She gained a better understanding of the usage and function of both essential and carrier oils, as well as other active ingredients. And, she was able to formulate her products with confidence, knowing that they were based on good manufacturing processes.

The diploma course also gave Meg the confidence and knowledge of a professional formulator, which allows her to provide products that resolve specific solutions. For example, her Calm Skin Balm, for treating irritated skin, and her Pomegranate and Borage serum and moisturizer, for the anti-aging market. This training and specificity really allows her to formulate with her customers in mind, developing wholly unique and customized products that no one else offers.

Now, after five years in business, Meg’s business model for Soultime Skincare looks different from when she first started. She’s added in a baby range as well as a home fragrance range, which have become some of her top-selling items! As well as selling products from her online shop, she has created an income stream through custom product creation for other businesses. Blending her professional background in nursing, particularly in the age care industry, she has formed a partnership with a leading aged care provider to sell her products in their online shop. Soultime Skincare products can also be found internationally, with her baby range being exported to Hong Kong.

“The biggest obstacles for me were (and still are) maintaining my confidence and vision. Perseverance is the key, and fortunately, I am tenacious. It is slow progress but I would rather move forward in small increments than borrow money and go all out.”  

These results weren’t even something Meg imagined when she first started creating her products. But with training, dedication, and a continued commitment to her company’s goals and values, Soultime Skincare’s horizons has expanded, and will continue to grow in the coming years.

Looking to the Future

Where to go from here? Well, for Meg, her next goals are keeping things local, and continuing to expand into the international market she’s already established. With the combination of her native New Zealand’s green, clean image, and the inroads to the Asian market, Soultime Skincare is preparing for some big things.

But at the heart of it all is the vision that drives Meg, that has been there from the very start:

“I’ve always been interested in complementary medicines, and believe the mind plays such an important part in our health. I hope when someone uses our products, as well as nourishing their skin, they benefit from the essential oils emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.”

To new beauty entrepreneurs, or those looking to develop their own brands, Meg has some solid advice, based on her own experiences so far:

“Very much the advice Gail and Gareth gave us in the course: Start with a few really good products that you are really happy with. (I wasted a fortune originally on labels and then discontinued many of the products!)

Don’t expect an overnight success (although this may happen for some!) Be prepared to persevere and not give up at the first rejection. Be prepared to work hard! I still work at a “day” job, as anything I earn from the business I want to re-invest; this often means working 7 days a week (although I love what I do so it’s not really work!) Be open to income streams you have never thought of. Enjoy, and put your heart and soul into what you create.”

For Meg, this kind of growth might not have been possible without the training provided by the School of Natural Skincare, and our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation.

“The courses are so well researched; they are presented in a professional, easy to understand format. I refer back to the course often.”

We are truly honored to hear that our courses could make such an impact with Meg, and with many other beauty entrepreneurs. We truly believe that our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is perfect for you if you are going to be creating or growing a natural beauty business. It features:

• Bite-sized lessons and self-paced learning that you can fit around a busy schedule.
• Formulation templates and guides that take away the guesswork and save you time.
• Branding and business essentials to give you a head start in creating an awesome brand.
• A supportive community of other beauty entrepreneurs, brand owners, and formulation experts.

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Myth: You have to have a lot of free time to run a beauty business!

Fact: Actually, you can fit running a business into your life, so long as you plan well.

We’re not saying it’s going to be easy. Achieving your dreams and reaching your ambitions is going to take work… but with the right planning and perspective, running a business doesn’t have to take over your world, and it doesn’t have to be as time-consuming as you might think. With focus and determination, and plenty of little steps made each week, you can achieve a lot. You may feel like you have to devote hours and hours of every day, or most of every week, to accomplish your goals, but even small steps add up over time, and the compound effect is huge!

Also, remember: You don’t have to conquer the world by this time next year. If you break it down into smaller steps, keep sight of your target, and look at things over a longer period of time, your goals will seem much less daunting, and much more manageable.

Myth: You have to invest a lot of money to get started.

Fact: Actually you can make very economical choices and still succeed!

A key factor for success in this area is knowing where to spend, and where to save. Some of this will come with time, study, and experience, but some of it can be identified right from the start.

For example, knowing how to develop your products efficiently, without wasting money on too many ingredients, or unnecessary ones, means you’ll be avoiding costly waste. And knowing how to formulate products properly and professionally will help you save money in the long run. You’ll be able to create unique products that work using ingredients deliberately chosen to deliver the results you seek, without needing to be overly elaborate and costly to produce. It is possible to create magnificent, effective products that don’t cost a fortune to make!

The money you invest in getting your branding right, getting proper packaging and labeling, and developing your business will reward you over and over. Don’t sacrifice on quality here; hire a professional, and keep a decent budget for marketing and promoting your brand, and for selling your products.

Myth: You need to be a cosmetic scientist to formulate skin care products.

Fact: Nope. You can start right now, with the right training.

In fact, that belief—that anyone should be able to access this information in a comprehensive way—is why we started offering our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation. Being a cosmetic scientist is not a prerequisite for being an expert product formulator. Passion, desire, and enthusiasm for your field is often the best ingredient with which to start… the rest can be taught! Many of our students have successfully established their own skincare lines. You can see some examples here.

Myth: You need to compete with the big brands if you want to make any money at all.

Fact: Niche, artisan brands are on the rise!

Mintel has also reported the rising demand for locally-sourced, locally-produced, and small-batch products – which is exactly what niche, artisan brands deliver. “Consumers today are doing more research and reading up on the products and services they buy more than ever before. While naturals continue to be popular with a growing number of beauty consumers, many are choosing to ‘get back to basics’ by shopping small, buying locally-sourced, locally-produced, and small-batch products, and by ‘being green’, which is now not only trendy, but for many, a lifestyle choice” (Beauty and Personal Care Global Trends 2018 Report, Mintel).

The desire for small-batch, local and natural products pairs with the entrepreneurial development in the natural beauty and skin care markets to create a perfect environment for artisan brands to do amazingly well. Consumers are looking for locally-made products, personalized, natural, cruelty-free, organic beauty, and they’re not as reliant on the big brands to provide the solution. Indie brands are perfectly poised to deliver those products. Maybe yours is the one someone’s looking for right now!

Myth: You need a big, fancy launch.

Fact: It’s ok to start small and slow.

This all circles back to learning how to spend wisely, work with what you have, and make the most of it. Make a plan for your business that includes all the information about where you intend to market your brand, how you’ll promote and sell your products, and you’ll have much more success with a small, targeted launch, as opposed to trying to make it huge and fancy and target everyone on the planet. The thing with massive launches like that is that unless you have millions of dollars behind them, they have a very short lifecycle. They can be incredibly expensive, with no guarantee of loyalty or even success. A wide and varied audience may see it, and then discard it, because it doesn’t relate to them or feel personalized.

On the other hand, small consistent steps towards a goal, taken regularly over a long time, builds momentum. The compound effect of all of that will likely bring greater results. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a solid natural beauty brand.

Myth: If you want to be successful, you must do everything.

Fact: You don’t have to go it alone!

Myth: The regulations for natural skin care products are too complicated.

Fact: Many of our students have successfully navigated the cosmetic regulations.

To assist you with this process our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation and Diploma in Natural Haircare Formulation include details of the regulations in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

Myth: You have to have everything set up before you start.

Fact: You can build your business as you go!

For these starting products, you’ll need to have the proper product documentation, your batch files, PIF, GMP, and so forth, as well as your good branding, packaging, and labels.

On the business side of things, you’ll be well ahead of the game with a business plan that outlines your short-term and long-term goals, as well as a marketing plan, even a simple one, that tells you who you want to target, where you might find them, and how you might attract them to you. Will you find them on social media, through searches, in local markets or shops? You should have a professional and authentic-looking place to sell your products, whether that’s online (via your own website, or a place like Etsy, for example) or in-person (via markets, fairs, and events.) This doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it does need to look and feel the part! Don’t just make do with photos, videos or the visual appearance of your brand.

For ongoing success and engagement with your customers, you’ll likely want to have a way of capturing email addresses, so you can stay in contact with your audience/customers. You’ll want to start thinking about email marketing, PR marketing, blog marketing, social media marketing, word of mouth – pick 1 or 2 that you think will be the most effective and channel everything into those).

You can build all of this over time; it doesn’t need to be done all at once or by next week! And when you are up and running, selling products you can build everything else from there!

There are three things you need to get right in setting up and running a business:

• Professional product formulation
• Professional branding
• Targeted, focused marketing

Everything else, really, is secondary! Get these three key things right, and you’ve every chance of success. Get them wrong and it could be an unnecessary uphill struggle.

Make great products. Ensure they look fabulous. Nail your marketing so you attract people, sell products and keep them coming back for more!

It’s a big step, starting a business and going on what feels like a leap of faith.

Investing time, money, and heart into a new endeavor can feel so risky. But it’s not impossible! Not if you have the skills, information, and support to succeed and thrive.

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People with big ideas have big goals, and they envision big results!

As exciting as it is to see this amazing potential in running your own beauty business, and know that you have the tools to actualize it, all of this can seem… pretty overwhelming—especially if you feel like you have to go from zero to one hundred in a week.

The good news is—you don’t have to do it overnight. You don’t have to go from product development to world domination in the next ten minutes, and you don’t have to quit your current job or abandon your current commitments to start to build your brand. And you absolutely can run a successful, thriving, amazing beauty business on the side, without feeling like you need to clone yourself, or invent a time machine.

How do we know? Well, not only do our students do it, but we did it successfully as well. Our own business was initially established alongside working at our regular day jobs. We dedicated our evenings and weekends to running workshops, building a website, and marketing—an investment of time and energy that really paid off in the long term. By the time running the School of Natural Skincare was our sole job, we had our baby daughter to look after and shortly after, two more when our twin boys were born! It’s not easy, but in our experience having constraints on our time has made us amazingly focused and productive. Coffee certainly helps too, especially after sleep-deprived nights!

Number One: Be Kind to Yourself

Thinking about proper skin care immediately brings to mind the idea of pampering, nourishing, and healing—and this can be true even outside of formulations and ingredients. You absolutely must take care of yourself. And sometimes, the best way to take excellent care of yourself is by setting healthy boundaries, knowing your own limits, and not overextending yourself.  

Amazing changes can be made with incremental improvements over time. Just like the marvelous benefits of a nightly cleansing and hydrating routine, setting aside even a few minutes a day for your business can make a huge difference. Knowing how to structure those minutes, and being specific about your time for each individual thing, can help you stay focused and not feel like you’re being pulled in twenty-seven directions at once. Time-management is a solid way to set yourself up for success and do it in a peaceful, mindful way.

As one of our students puts it:

We hear this over and over from our students, whether they’re just beginning to launch their brands, or have been out there for a while, but it’s true. If you set yourself up for success by carefully structuring your time, and making the most of each moment, you can keep your life in balance without having to compromise on the things which are most important to you, and the people who depend on you to be there.

Number Two: Get a Good Team

On top of structuring your time wisely, it’s also a very useful thing to have a team in place that can step in to support you. Whether it’s making more hours in the day, or filling in with an essential role, it’s a great idea to delegate tasks when you can.

For some, it means bringing on people who can support your everyday tasks, the responsibilities of home, family, and even pets. Investing in a sitter to give you just an hour of extra work time, or hiring a dog-walker, adjusting your hours at a current job, even friends and family can become your team in small but effective ways as you work to make your beauty business a reality. Even exchanging your products for their valuable support is one way to make things mutually beneficial.  

Further along in the process, building a team can mean bringing on people who can support your business in specific ways. This could mean simple, time-saving things like having someone else putting labels on bottles and jars, assembling packaging, or updating a sales website with new products. If branding and website design isn’t your strongest area, or you’d prefer to focus on formulation, you can always hire someone to support you with that, too.

Or, it could also mean looking for ways to simplify easily-automated, repetitive tasks that keep your business process going. Just because you can do it all, doesn’t mean you have to do it all by hand, the hard way. Why not lighten the load?

One of our students, Catalina Cazan, of In Green Beauty, says that it has been important for her to “prioritize, and establish priorities among priorities… If you can invest a bit to get help […] do it: pay for a logo, labels, website, etc. Maybe a business coach. It will save you a lot of time and headache later.”

Number Three: Keep Everything in Perspective

As we mentioned before, running a business and getting it off the ground is a long and often challenging process. It can be hard to keep things in perspective when you’re planning for a business launch, or even running a brand-new business, even in the very best of circumstances. Add on a full life and a busy work schedule outside of that, and it gets even more hazy.

Be sure to define your goals, and check in with them periodically, to make sure that you’re still heading in the direction you’ve planned for and prepared for. Take the long view; this isn’t an overnight process, and though it may seem like you’re not going anywhere, every little step gets you that much closer to where you want to be.

One key way to do this is to take your bigger goals and break them down into smaller, more manageable mini-goals. This can be challenging work! Don’t hesitate to tick off the boxes when you accomplish even something that might seem small.

Number Four: Keep Showing Up

Another key piece of advice that we have found useful, as well as our students, is to keep showing up for your work. This can mean setting a steady rhythm of work, not pushing so hard you burn out and lose steam and focus. Stay determined, and keep your eyes on the road ahead.

We think those are pretty solid tips!

Number Five: Focus on the Important Things

The key to launching and running a business on the side is becoming good at the important things in your business. That might mean you need to learn what those important things are, where you should direct your energy, before you can work on those important things properly. All too often, we see passionate people and budding beauty entrepreneurs either do the wrong things, or do the right things incorrectly or poorly. Sometimes we see both of these things happening at the same time!

If you’re going to run your own business, you need to get the basics right, and know how to do them well; if you’ve not invested in these areas, and confident that you know what you are doing, it might be tricky.

There are three things you absolutely need to get right.

1. Product formulation: The first thing you absolutely need is a winning product that you absolutely know is safe, stable and effective. If you follow a professional formula, you’ll also be able to make products that are unique to you, that conform to your values, beliefs and ethics. You’ll be able to draw your own personal story into your creation in a way that gives you a strong narrative that will help you attract people to buy from you. There is a skill and an art to this which comes from the right training, and from practice. You’ll save a HUGE amount of time, energy and money by knowing how to do it properly. Invest in learning how to formulate professionally.

2. Branding: Do not scrimp here. We see too many great products fall flat because the branding is poorly done, substandard, or just not quite right. This is often because the investment has not been put into branding, and likely that an expert has not been consulted. If a product doesn’t look good and if a brand image is not top-notch, it doesn’t matter how good the product is, people probably won’t try it. Here’s the truth: Whether we like it or not, if your branding is bad, people will not be attracted to it. If your branding is good, they will. Your branding is like your shop front—it tells the people who don’t know you (almost everyone btw!) what to think before they’ve actually tried it. Based on that image, will they want to pick up your product and try it, knowing nothing but what they see?

3. Marketing: This is the thing that gets you known… and if people don’t know you, haven’t heard about you, they’ll have difficulty finding you! Nail your marketing, and you’ll be helping people find you. If your branding is good and your products also good, they’ll want to spend money. And guess what? If you follow a professional formulating model, you’ll gather a lot of information during that process that will help you in marketing—defining your values, ethics and beliefs, identifying your target audience and niche, deciding on the problems you want to solve and coming up with solution you want to provide—all important in your marketing! You’ll also find this helps when you work with a professional designer!

Our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is perfect for you if you are going to be creating or growing a beauty business on the side. It features

• Bite-sized lessons and self-paced learning that you can fit around a busy schedule
• Formulation templates and guides that take away the guesswork and save you time
• Branding and business essentials to give you a headstart in creating an awesome brand
• A supportive community of other beauty entrepreneurs, brand owners and formulation experts

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So, you might be wondering ‘what happens after I’ve graduated? What next? What would I do with all this amazing new knowledge?!’ Well, we’ve got some great news for you! Graduating from the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation opens up some exciting career prospects, freeing your potential in the world of skincare formulation and manufacture!

The Diploma doesn’t just give you the knowledge to create safe, effective, and natural skincare products, it also gives you the skills you need to create products that customers will love, and a business that can grow and transform your whole career. From high-level business must-haves, to hands-on product creation, the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation has set our students up to develop the products – and the businesses – they’ve always dreamed of making!

1. Running your own beauty brand.
2. Contract manufacturing.
3. Private labeling.
4. White labeling.
5. Formulation consultancy.
6. Offering live training classes on skincare production and formulation.

In fact, our graduates and formulation tutors are already working in all of these areas!
Our formulation tutor Tina says:

In a couple of years I learned so much about formulation I got almost addicted to making new products!

With these formulation skills, Tina then went on to create her own brand and a line of products, developing new products according to her customers’ needs and wants, and also developing her brand vision.

Later in Tina’s career she was approached by a company to create a skincare line for them:

I was in charge of formulating and manufacturing. By then, I had very good knowledge about cosmetic formulating and I used it to advise on which products to include in the line… I was not completely free when it came to designing the products, but a real bonus was very little worry about finances, premises, retailers, marketing, and so on.

I’m interested in… running my own beauty brand

You’ve come to the right place! Once you have graduated from our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, you will be well on your way. The Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is a comprehensive, start-to-finish course that covers everything you need to know to begin formulating a range of natural products and developing your business, so you can start creating straightaway. We cover everything from ingredients to skin science to cosmetic regulations to packaging and product safety under one umbrella course.

When you run your own beauty brand you are completely free in terms of creativity, which is one of the biggest benefits of this option.

You can have fun creating a brand your way and letting your creativity loose on product formulation, too! It’s likely in the beginning that you’ll do everything yourself – you formulate, manufacture and market the products, you manage supplies and stock, you deal with business finances and formalities, you need to find a place for storage and manufacturing. Even though it can be hard at times, it is a very rewarding option, chosen by many of our graduates. As your business evolves you can start to outsource some of this if you wish, for example the manufacturing or finances.

You can read some of our student success stories here: https://www.schoolofnaturalskincare.com/student-success-stories/

We’re so proud!

I’m interested in… contract manufacturing

In contract manufacturing, you are contracted by an external skincare company to manufacture products for them, to their specifications. They provide the formula, you are contracted to manufacture it. There should be no formulation involved. However, you may find you enter into a contract manufacturing agreement, then end up having to charge a formulation consultancy fee (see below), if the client hasn’t provided a stable formula.

There are large contract manufacturing labs which require a high minimum order, and this could be challenging for small businesses just starting out, but there are also smaller brands who would be looking for talented individuals just like you to manufacture for them.

Contract manufacturing: The company owns the formula (which they provide), you manufacture, and the product is sold under their brand.

I’m interested in… private labeling

In private labeling, you’re the brains behind the products rather than the face of the brand. You are contracted by an external skincare company to create a formulation for them, to their specifications. You formulate and manufacture the product exclusively for your client. You may even create a whole line of products for them. The public will probably never know they are your formulations. Some people in our community have made a successful living from this for many years. You could offer this service alongside your own brand, or on its own.

Private labeling: The company owns the formula (which you create), you manufacture, and the product is sold under their brand.

I’m interested in… white labeling

Once your skincare business is up and running, and you’ve made a name for yourself, you might find yourself being approached by another brand – one which doesn’t offer the same kinds of products as yours, and which would like to sell yours, under their label. This is called white labeling.

In white labeling, you develop your own formula, ensuring it is stable and fully tested – and you can then offer it to multiple retailers. Benefits of this option include not having to deal with marketing, branding or sales yourself. Challenges include having to create the products up front, and sometimes having to slightly modify formulations. You could offer this service alongside your own brand, or on its own.

White labeling: You own the formula (which you create), you manufacture, or the manufacturing is outsourced, and the product is sold under multiple brands.

I’m interested in… formulation consultancy

Formulation consultancy involves creating a formula for another brand, or advising on a brand’s existing formula: modifying it, making it suitable for organic certification, and so on. Manufacturing is not necessarily involved – just working on the formula. Your client would provide details of the type of product they want, their target customer, cost price, etc and you would create something that meets that description, or adjust their existing formula to meet their requirements.

Formulation consultancy: The company owns the formula (which you either create or adjust), they manufacture, and the product is sold under their brand.

I’m interested in… offering live training courses

Upon graduating from our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, you will have all the knowledge you’ll need to formulate and create your own products – the next stage will be teaching it to others in live workshops! Many of our students have decided to do just that, for example: Mollies Coddles, Maid in the Meadow, and Clann Botanicals Ireland. This is a great way to do something you love and earn excellent money while you’re at it! There is a huge interest in natural skincare and so many people wanting to learn. There is also a huge shortage of teachers, workshops and classes. Which is great news for you!

What would it mean to you if creating skincare products could be more than just a hobby? Knowing that the passion you have could combine with skills and practical knowledge to allow you to share it with the world. Would it make your heart sing to be able to do something really successfully?

If you knew you had the skills to stand on your own two feet… what would you do with those skills?

Many of our students come to us with some amount of product creation under their belts, looking to expand their expertise and develop their products. They come to us with different dreams and goals, but all of them come to us because they love what they’re doing so much, they just have to share it. They take such pride in their creative work, and they’re ready to take the next steps to make their dreams a reality.

What does success mean to you?

In going through the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation coursework, each of our students gets the chance to define what success means for them. For some, the goal is to create the very best, most distinctive and effective products that nobody else is offering. For others, it’s to heal and treat a challenging skin problem area. Maybe your vision is to see your branded products on shelves in the stores you admire. Or your vision is to source ethical, sustainable, and effective ingredients to create skincare products that heal a little bit of the world, too.

We each have goals and dreams. What are yours?

And what could that be like, if your vision of success could become your reality?

For those of you who dream of having your own product line, your own business, what would it be like to be your own boss? In addition to creating and selling products, would you want to reinvest your skills as a teacher, work in contract manufacturing for others, become a consultant or run workshops? What is it that you value, and how might you develop that into the career you desire?

If this sounds exciting to you, we’d love to introduce you to someone who has done exactly that. Geraldine Quinlan, of Clann Botanicals.

Geraldine Quinlan: Clann Botanicals

Geraldine Quinlan is a student of ours who has done some amazing work, not only in the products she creates, but in the way she’s chosen to develop her business and branch out into so many other areas. We had a chance to sit down with her and chat about her experience, her goals, and the advice she’d give to those just beginning on the journey.

For Geraldine, there were a lot of things coming together in terms of making natural skincare products before she ever thought about it as a business. She’d worked for several years in the charity sector, and had wanted a change of scenery. After moving to the coast of Ireland, she found that many of the people in her area were small business owners. After meeting with a woman who was making her own skincare products, Geraldine got to thinking that perhaps she could do that as well.

Well, I always would have bought my skincare in a health food shop, thinking it was natural… but I started to realize actually that it’s not as natural as I think it is. I had never met anyone who was making their own skincare before, I just thought, “This is absolutely amazing.” That sort of got me thinking, and then when she left the country I just thought, “Well, what am I gonna do now?” So, I just started looking online.

Geraldine decided to further her skills in product development. Because of what she’d learned, she was able to create products that were custom-crafted for the needs of people in her life. Both her sister, who had been going through cancer treatments which made her skin painfully sensitive, and her nephew, who had struggled with stress-related breakouts, found that Geraldine’s products were soothing and effective, without being irritating.

It was these successes, and the encouragement of her sister, which persuaded Geraldine to truly consider making a business of the hobby she loved so much.

Geraldine’s products soon became known as the go-to treatment for frustrating and painful conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea. Her business, Clann Botanicals, was named after the Irish word for family, and she centered her family story—being able to help her sister and her nephew—within the heart of her business.

I enjoyed selling the personal touch… because I don’t really feel like I’m selling, I stand behind what I do, people are always amazed as well that I actually make them.

As her business grew, Geraldine began offering workshops and classes to those who were interested in learning more about natural skincare formulation. Although her initial vision for her business was simply to provide the best natural products to help these skincare issues, her business’ values were centered around nurturing and developing her own community. After a local paper picked up her story, she ran one initial class, and the demand afterwards made her consider running them regularly.

When it comes to workshops, they’re so enthusiastic, they’re so happy to be there. It was just great to do something that brought so much joy to people… they arrive in knowing nothing, and then they come away with four products that they learned to make, and it’s really empowering.

She initially began offering classes out of her own house, where she also had her workspace, but soon moved into a larger space for both of those needs. The classes, she reports, sell out every month.

Running the classes truly combined her passions and her experience; it brought together her background in community and group work with her new passion and skincare business. Geraldine found that it became very complimentary, running the classes and selling the products. “It’s about wanting to be generous with my knowledge,” Geraldine said. Her most recent avenues for sharing knowledge have been Facebook livestreams of product creation as well as showing her facial cleanses using her new favorite ingredient: Honey.

When Geraldine began creating her first products, she didn’t necessarily anticipate her business growing in all of these wonderful ways. And to hear her tell it, the business side of things still isn’t her favorite part of what she does.

I think I found when I started looking at the retail side of things, it was so much about margins and about all the business things that are obviously important, and they’re not my values, you know, I found myself going down a road that’s not me, it’s what I thought I should be doing, or something like that.

The process hasn’t always been easy, and the road hasn’t always been smooth; a recent health challenge caused her to reevaluate what her brand’s goals and vision truly were, and whether she had the energy to continue on the way she’d been going, trying to do it all. Currently, she sells her products via markets, events, word-of-mouth, Facebook, and the occasional Etsy purchase. At the start, her vision was to get her products into more shops than just the one, but she decided not to grow that side of her business, instead focusing on teaching and keeping her batches small and local.

For those just starting out on the journey, Geraldine offers some advice:

I would say learn how to formulate, know what you’re doing, and do your research in terms of being able to formulate creams. Have your niche, even if that might change, but it’s such a competitive market, I don’t think it’s enough to say, “I’m a natural product.” Because everybody’s saying that, even the ones that aren’t natural, and so I think have a niche in that.

In my experience, it’s going to take a lot longer than you think it will to grow your business, so have patience with that, and that’s okay.

And get help, because we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Have a mentor, someone who’s ahead of you, who will give you some good advice.

She also highlighted what she felt was her number one tip for selling a successful product: Being very clear and specific about the problem that your product is meant to solve. Just coming out with a natural product isn’t always enough to meet a customer’s needs.

It’s about having your messaging clear as well. I mean, there are lots of things that are key, but if you know why you’re making a product, then you know what type of ingredients you want to put in that product. Otherwise, you’re just looking at all the masses of amazing ingredients to put into a product.

In Geraldine’s case, all of her products contain two ingredients: Calendula oil, which she makes herself, and a local seaweed, which is still harvested by hand. Not only are those two ingredients wonderful for sensitive, irritated skin, they connect her to the land, and to the community that she serves.

Visit her on Facebook or at her Etsy Shop

Where can you go from here?

Geraldine’s story, and the story of Clann Botanicals, is a wonderful example of how much bigger a hobby can become when it grows out of the soil of your own personal values. When you are able to tap into those core values, then the rest of your business follows. Ultimately, we’re always most successful when we’re true to ourselves, and we stick to our own values and what’s important and what we enjoy. Following that inner truth means creating a more meaningful success, because you’re doing it your way.

Developing a skincare business isn’t just about making products, researching ingredients, and trying out different formulations. It can be about sharing knowledge and educating others on the topic. It can be about networking through social media, connecting through a website, standing on your own two feet in a store or at a marketplace.

If you are driven to create beautiful products which really change lives, or if you want to be able to customize products to create things you can’t find anywhere else, or if you just want to do something creative, meaningful, and passion-driven, you can find a way there. Our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation has helped countless others level up their skincare skills and begin to take the first steps towards crafting a business that is uniquely their own. We’ve worked with students who hate being stuck in an office, or want more time with their family, or just feel driven to define success on their own terms.

To learn more, head on over to the information page for the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation today.

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