Sneak Peek Into How We Design A Product for Launch + The Rigorous (and Numerous) Tests It Goes Through!
We’ve been in this business for a loooong time, and still to this day, every time we start prepping for a new product, whether it’s in the design process, or the formulation bit, or actually getting it out onto our website and social media, it’s both nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time.
Powders are definitely the most beautiful, but one of the most infuriating formulations to work with. We not only do all the various formulatory tests on them including toxicity, heavy metals and microbiological tests, but physical ones too especially the dreaded drop tests. The best formulations not only rely on the careful and accurate measurement of our pigments with a mixing medium (we personally prefer using a mix of vegan emollients such as ethylhexyl palmitate or cocoa butter, zinc stearate and kaolin clay for that ultra richness), but also the weight and pressure under which it’s pressed. Too much, and powders become hard and difficult to blend. Too little, and it cracks during transit.
We drop all powders from about 6 feet high, straight down, without their outer box. As you can see from the picture below (these are our Light Diffusers which haven’t been varnished yet), all mirrors have been removed for safety purposes in case they break, and our powders are still intact (only after 5 failed attempts and lots of reformulating!).
Once they have passed the drop tests (and yes, we do mean testssss as you never really get it right from the first try), our in-house designer whips up the Primary and Secondary artworks & barcode labels with as much info on them as possible for our packaging manufacturers (see below). I suppose this is the fun part as we get to really see as many permutations as she has time for ☺
It then goes through another batch of quality control, whereby every single piece is checked for glue residue (from gluing the mirrors), to powder fall-out, to fingerprints on the packaging during the production process. The final result is as flawless as we can make it (see below) without sacrificing color performance.
Liquids for us, are a happy medium to work with. They are normally 20% more expensive than powders as we infuse lots of skin-loving antioxidants (simply because most vitamins, botanical extracts and antioxidants are supplied in a liquid diluent, thereby making them easier to formulate with). We however do rigorous Preservative Efficacy Testing on all our liquid formulations as we have completely banned the use of Parabens or Phenoxyethanol in our products, and are only working with a preservative system that is as natural and food-based as possible which includes Sorbic Acid, a natural organic compound commonly used as a food preservative.
Here’s a little behind-the-scenes sneak peek into our Highlighting Drops (launching very soon!) and the various formulations it had to go through. We started with a 24K gold base (yes, that’s actual 24K gold pieces floating in the jars in the lab!) in a non-sticky Aloe Vera base before we added mica-coated pigments in them to make each color simply pop with extreme highlight.
A closer look at our celestial pink base where you can see more rainbow mica has been added in to create that awesome light-play in the formulation.
Here’s one where you can see that we’ve added a whole lot more highlighting pigments in that lovely pink jello concoction, before it’s mixed. It’s tested once again on actual skin to see how it swatches, and is then sent to an independent lab for another Preservative Efficacy Testing.
The final result is breathtakingly beautiful, both on skin as well as in their bottles. The filled bottles then go through yet another test i.e. a Packaging Compatibility Test for 3- 4 weeks to ensure there’s no leaking under various temperatures and that the formulation works well with its its glass partner.
Every single product that we design and release is done so with pride, and with the utmost care and consideration to every little detail. We hope you are thoroughly inspired to create your own magic and to work towards your dream product!
Happy formulating and here’s to living life passionately, colorfully, doing what you love always!