RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

While we are responsible for ensuring we select a preservative that, in theory, will provide suitable long-term preservation of your product, the only sure way to know if it is actually effective is to conduct PET. PET is a way of ensuring your product is suitably preserved using practical methods. Is something likely to go wrong? Not in theory. Can something go wrong? In practice, unexpected results can occur. We can't know this without it being tested. Ensuring preservative efficacy in practice is your responsibility, so you should get this test done on al water-based products.

While we are responsible for ensuring we prepare a formulation that will be theoretically stable over 2-3 years, the only sure way to know if it is actually stable is to conduct stability for at least 30 months in 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? Not in theory. 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 help prevent product recalls, which would be your responsibility. If you plan to export a product or have a secondary sunscreen product (i.e. foundation or moisturiser with SPF), you will need to conduct stability testing as the shelf life justification for these products is required.

If you want to conduct evaluations of your product larger than the small samples we send you (for example, performance or stability evaluations) then yes, you should have a lab batch made.

Once we have provided you with the formulation, method and supplier details, you will need to approach manufacturers to get quotes on the product based on your batch size. You should ensure you get a "pre-production sample" from the manufacturer prior to manufacture being done, and this should be EXACTLY what we have prepared for you. We cannot emphasise this strongly enough. If it is not exactly the same, you need to ask your manufacturer if they have used the same suppliers we have listed and if they have followed our method. If they have, it should match. If they say they have and it doesn't match, we can investigate what has happened, but we will need to charge project management fees.

No. There are 2 big reasons for this.

• If they change any aspect of the formula, they often won't provide you with the changes if they make them, leaving you without the formula you take to market.
• If they change it and something goes wrong and you have authorised the change, you could be left with a failed batch that you have technically authorised without knowing what or why changes have occurred.

If all goes well, it will take 2 - 3 months to finalise your development, from first discussions to sample approvals. If all goes well, it will usually take an additional 9 months for most cosmetic products to move through accelerated stability and manufacture to be ready for launch. Short-cutting the process is unprofessional and can lead to product quality issues and, at worst, product recalls.