How To Launch A Luxury Brand With Private Label Skin Care
Luxury private label skin care could be the recipe for success for your brand. However, it also comes with risks that small home-to-lab businesses like yours cannot afford to ignore.
Picking the wrong manufacturer, choosing the wrong formulas, or poor branding can quickly turn a promising business into an expensive mistake.
So, how do you approach luxury private label in the right way?
Innacos is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below reveals everything you need to know about luxury private label skin care.
We discuss if it’s the right process for you, how to find the best manufacturer for your brand’s specific needs, and the three big luxury private labeling mistakes you can’t afford to make.
What Is Luxury Private Label Skin Care?
Private label involves adding your own customized branding to a lab’s preformulated formula.
It may sound unusual if you’re new to the cosmetics industry, but private labeling is an extremely common method to source products, even for giant brands.
For example, Seed Beauty, once the manufacturer behind Kylie Cosmetics (and KKW), famously produced almost identical lip kits for the brand Colour Pop (as outlined by beauty manufacturing expert Stephanie Nicole).
The Advantages Of Private Labeling For Luxury Brands
What’s the incentive to use preformulated, standardized products? It’s simple: lower cost and faster speed to market.
Because private label is the most cost-effective manufacturing method, it’s often associated with budget skin care.
However, it’s not limited to the lower end of the market. Many premium brands use this model to create high-quality products that perform (and sell) extremely well.
For example, as outlined by Allure, Victoria Beckham’s cosmetics brand used an Augustinus Bader formula to launch their first range.
Private label is particularly effective at bringing slightly more affordable premium products to market.
As discussed in The Guardian, Beauty Pie uses a private label strategy to deliver the same high-quality standard to customers at close to wholesale prices through a unique subscription pricing system.
If you want to build a luxury brand, but don’t have the budget to custom formulate just yet, private label can be a smart move.
Not only is it cost-effective, it’s also the fastest way to bring cosmetics to market - ideal for testing new concepts and confirming customer demand before scaling up.
Standard vs Luxury Private Label
The model is the same, so what’s the difference between standard and luxury private label?
Typically, a luxury private label brand involves both higher quality formulations paired with a higher quality brand experience, including premium product packaging.
From a formulation perspective, luxury customers expect higher quality ingredients, more advanced actives, cleaner formulations, and a luxe branded experience that truly feels high-end.
At Innacos, we’re experts at formulating clean, sustainable, cruelty-free, and vegan private label skin care.
We offer four separate tiers of private label formulas to suit a range of different budgets, including luxury and super luxury. Learn more in our full catalog here.
Best Alternatives To Private Label For Luxury Brands
You might hear the word ‘luxury’ and assume some type of customization is included.
Not in the case of private label.
Try Custom Product Creation (CPC)
If you want to add new ingredients or modify the formula, you need to explore custom product creation instead. This process involves adding a limited number of ingredients to a manufacturer’s base formula.
It’s not quite as cost-effective or quick compared to private label, however, it’s the best way to build a semi-customized luxury skin care line.
Learn more about custom product creation at Innacos here.
Level Up To Custom Formulating
If private label and custom product creation feel too standardized for a luxury skin care brand like yours, it’s time to take the leap and develop your own highly customized products.
Custom formulating involves working with a team of highly experienced chemists to formulate brand-new skin care from scratch.
At Innacos, we specialize in novel chemical research and its application, new-to-market concepts, hybrid products, and clean skin care. Learn more about custom formulating at Innacos here.
7 Criteria For Choosing A Quality Manufacturer
Finding private label suppliers isn’t the difficult part - a simple search online will help you find plenty of options.
The real challenge comes in vetting them for quality and finding the right match for your brand.
Just because a private label range is priced higher doesn’t automatically mean it’s higher quality. You need to carefully evaluate both the formula and the supplier to make sure it lives up to its price tag.
Start by creating a new spreadsheet to organize your research and evaluate your options on these seven key criteria:
1. Proper Product Fit
Does this private label manufacturer offer luxury products that align with your brand’s vision and ideal product selection? If not, it’s not a good fit for you, no matter how attractive the prices or services appear.
2. Clean Beauty
Are the formulas free from ingredients linked to harmful health effects? Review the ingredient lists carefully for red flag ingredients, including alcohols, petroleum, synthetic fragrance, and mica.
Meeting clean standards is essential to get your products accepted at large retailers like Sephora, Credo, and Whole Foods, and for satisfying customers’ demand for health-conscious formulas.
3. Cruelty-Free & Vegan Formulas
Does the formula contain any animal-derived products? Are the products cruelty-free? Today’s luxury consumers expect cruelty-free products as standard, and demand for vegan products continues to grow each year.
If you want to be a luxury brand of the future, it’s time to make these values non-negotiable.
4. Sustainability & Ethics
Does the manufacturer prioritize sustainable ingredients sourcing and ethical labor practices? Are all workers fairly compensated throughout the entire supply chain?
Check the company’s mission statement, press releases, and homepage to find out if these ethics are a core value. Joining an ethical supply chain can influence both customer loyalty and retail partnerships down the line.
5. Ingredient Selection & Quality
Dig deeper into the ingredients list and look beyond the marketing buzzwords. How effective are the active ingredients? Do they combine effectively with all the other ingredients in the product?
Pay attention to the specific versions of key active ingredients being used.
For example, there are numerous different types of Vitamin C, and some forms, like tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, are a lot more stable (and therefore expensive) than others. High-quality ingredients signal true luxury.
Learn more about true luxury vitamin C skin care at Innacos here.
6. Low MOQs
What is the luxury private label manufacturer’s minimum order quantity (MOQ)?
As luxury formulas are more expensive, you need to consider how the MOQ will impact your cash flow at the early stages of your business. Look for suppliers that offer low or flexible MOQs to ease your upfront product investment.
7. Loyalty Perks
Does the private label lab offer any loyalty reward programs, discounts for larger orders, or other incentives as you scale?
These perks can make a huge difference over time, freeing up the budget to invest in luxury elevated packaging, strategic marketing, and new product development.
At Innacos, we are proudly clean, cruelty-free, diverse, and sustainable from top to bottom.
Our luxury and super luxury private label lines reflect true luxury, with high-quality ingredients, formulated carefully to deliver the most effective formulas possible.
Pricing starts at just 1k units, and if you choose to level up to CPC or CF later down the line, you can earn formulation fees back in the form of manufacturing credits. Learn more about private label at Innacos in our catalog here.
Mistakes To Avoid When Building A Luxury Private Label Skin Care Line
1. Insufficient Sample Testing
Always test samples thoroughly before making a decision. Just because a private label range carries a luxury price tag, it doesn’t mean it lives up to the hype!
Evaluate the texture, how the product feels on the skin, the scent, absorption, and most importantly, the effectiveness of the formula over time.
2. Moving Too Fast
One of the biggest mistakes is choosing speed over quality. It’s true that private label is the quickest manufacturing method for launching a luxury skin care product. But that doesn’t mean you should rush the process.
Take the necessary time to evaluate your options, research labs, sample products extensively, and carefully choose your packaging manufacturer. Big mistakes during the initial phases of your skin care brand could cost you later down the line.
3. Cutting Corners With Packaging
If you’re building a luxury brand, you must convey that with your packaging, not just your formulas. The truth is, customers do judge a book by its cover. Luxe formulations require equally impressive containers.
Carefully consider the customized branding on each container, and don’t forget about the box design, too. A cohesive, high-end aesthetic is key to justifying your price point to consumers and earning their trust.
In sum, sourcing high-quality private label skin care involves:
Understanding the process and how to differentiate luxury lines from standard ones
Searching for high quality private label manufacturers and evaluating your options on 7 key criteria: product fit, clean skin care, cruelty-free and vegan formulas, sustainability and ethics, ingredient selection and quality, MOQ, and loyalty programs.
Choose the best manufacturer for your brand, being sure to avoid making the three key private label mistakes: insufficient sample testing, moving too fast, and cutting corners with packaging.
Ready to source your own range of luxury private label skin care? Innacos would love to work with your brand! Get in touch by calling: (812) 329-1105 or emailing: customerservice@innacos.com to learn more.
