Private Label Skin Products: A Guide For Small Brands
Private label skin products offer one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to launch a beauty brand - but they’re not all created equal.
With so many manufacturers and formulas on the market, how do you choose the right ones for your skin care business?
Innacos is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below reveals everything you need to know about private labeling.
We discuss how this manufacturing process compares to custom product creation and custom formulating, so you can make the right choice for your business.
Plus, we’ll walk you through a three-step vetting process to help you confidently choose the right private label manufacturer for your skin care brand’s specific needs.
What Is Private Label?
Private label is a manufacturing process that involves adding your own customized branding to a lab’s preexisting preformulated products.
It’s one of the most popular ways to source skin care for small cosmetics brands - without the time, cost, or complexity of customized manufacturing.
Unlike buying in bulk (which involves purchasing large quantities of preformulated product in large unbranded drums), private label typically includes filing services, and sometimes even offers packaging options as part of a turnkey manufacturing solution.
Pros and Cons of Private Labeling
Cons
Generic Formulas
The biggest downside of private label is that the formula will not be exclusive to your brand. Other brands on the market can sell the same product, which means it’s more difficult for your brand to stand out.
To succeed under the private label business model, your competitive edge needs to come from your branding and marketing, not from the formula itself.
No Adjustments Possible
Under private label, the formula is entirely preformulated and you cannot make any adjustments. While some labs allow tweaks to the color or fragrance of the formula, the entire ingredient list and formulating method are fixed.
If a private label formula you love is missing a hero ingredient that’s important to your brand, try Custom Product Creation (CPC) instead.
This method involves adding a limited number of ingredients to a lab’s base formula. Learn more about Custom Product Creation at Innacos here.
If an entirely customized formula is non-negotiable, custom formulating is the manufacturing method for you.
This process involves working with a team of highly trained chemists to create a brand-new skin care product from scratch. Learn more about custom formulating at Innacos Labs here.
Pros
Although your formula won’t be unique or customized, private labeling offers major advantages, which is why even larger skin care brands use it for certain product lines.
Less Expensive
First, private label is one of the most cost-effective ways to launch a skin care brand. For small businesses with limited upfront capital, this method has a low barrier to entry combined with higher profit margins.
In a tough economic climate, these cost based benefits matter more than ever.
Quick Process
Second, private label is fast. As all the formulas are decided in advance, you can move from signing the contract to launching your products in as little as 6 weeks.
Perfect for impatient entrepreneurs - no other method can match the speed of this timeline. Learn more about private labeling at Innacos Labs on our website here.
How To Find The Best Private Label Skin Products
Now that you understand what private label involves and have decided that it’s the right method for your brand, the next step is choosing the right manufacturer.
But be warned - not all labs are created equal. Each offers its own private label formulas, and no two will be exactly the same. Two manufacturers could charge similar prices, but the gulf in product quality could be huge.
Making the right supplier choice is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in building a high-quality skin care brand. Don’t rush it. Use the following 3-step process as a guide to evaluate your options and pick the right one:
1. Evaluate The Ingredient Lists
Before you sign any contract, take a closer look at the ingredients list for each product you are considering.
The effectiveness and quality of any skincare product come down to three things:
The ingredients used
The concentration of those ingredients
The way they’re combined in the formula
While so-called ‘filler’ ingredients (like water, thickeners, or emulsifiers) play a key role in helping skin care formulas come together and stay stable, your products should also contain standout ingredients that deliver on the product’s claims.
For example, a cream marketed as ultra-hydrating should contain several different proven hydrators like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, plant butters, and nourishing oils.
At Innacos, our Super Rich Cream is packed full of hydrating ingredients, including shea nut butter, squalene oil, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid. Try it for yourself! Order a sample of our Super Rich Cream here.
Pay Attention To Active Ingredients
Taking a closer look at the ingredients becomes even more important for products that contain actives - the ingredients that create measurable changes on the skin, like retinoids, vitamin C, or chemical exfoliants.
When evaluating products that contain actives, evaluate the following:
The form of the active used
The placement of the active on the ingredient list
Its suitability for your customer base (sensitive skin vs a focus on anti-aging effects)
While a higher placement on the ingredient list can be an indicator of potency, some forms of actives are effective at even a lower percentage, which can be important for sensitive skin types.
For example, at Innacos, our Luxury Vitamin C Serum contains Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate - one of the highest quality and most expensive vitamin C actives, known for deeper skin penetration.
It also includes Tocopheryl Acetate - a form of vitamin E that provides added soothing effects and barrier support. Order samples of our Luxury Vitamin C Serum from our website here.
Check For Clean & Ethical Skin Care Standards
Finally, consider what’s not in the formula.
If you are building a clean, vegan, cruelty-free brand, you need to find a manufacturing partner that aligns with these values. That means private label skin products with genuine cruelty-free claims, formulated without common ‘nasties’ or animal-derived ingredients.
At Innacos, we are experts at formulating clean, cruelty-free, vegan, and sustainable private label skin products. Learn more about our ethical standards on our website here.
2. Test Samples
Once you have given a lab’s ingredients your stamp of approval, it’s time to give each formula a try.
Order as many samples as possible, and give yourself enough time to properly evaluate each one.
Ask yourself:
Does the formula feel luxurious on the skin?
Does it deliver visible results with consistent use?
Would you repurchase it?
These are the same factors your customers will care about - and what will make them repurchase again and again. Every private label skin care product you choose needs to perform.
At Innacos, we offer over 60 high-quality private label skin products to sample.
Most samples fall within the $5-8 range, and ordering is simple: select your products, click ‘Add to Cart’, and checkout through the shopping bag icon in the top right-hand corner, just like any other e-commerce site. Order skin care, hair care, and color cosmetics samples directly from our website here.
3. Enquire About Timelines, Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs), & Pricing
Once you’ve found formulas that meet your ethical and performance standards, it’s time to think about logistics.
Cost is an unavoidable factor - you could find the lab of your dreams, but if their private label skin products are just too expensive for your stage of business, it’s not a realistic option.
If you are just getting started, look for manufacturers who specialize in helping small home-to-lab brands grow their business.
At Innacos, we pride ourselves on supporting founders at every stage of their business. Working on a tight budget? Looking to order smaller amounts of stock?
Not only do we provide tiered private label products to suit every budget and stage of business, but we also offer a relatively low MOQ of just 1k pieces per product.
Plus, our entire private label timeline from start to finish can take place in as little as 6 weeks. Looking to learn more? Check out our full private label skin care catalog on our website here.
In sum, finding the right private label skin products for your brand involves the following steps:
Understanding the pros and cons of private labeling compared with other methods like CPC or custom formulating
Searching for potential manufacturers that offer private labeling services
Making a shortlist of the most promising options based on the following three-step criteria: the ingredients list for each product, the quality of the product samples, and the price/minimum order quantity
Looking to source high-quality, clean, and cruelty-free private label skin products? Innacos would love to work with your brand! Get in touch by emailing: customerservice@innacos.com or calling: (812) 329-1105 for more information.
