Skincare Customization 101: Full Guide For Small Brands
Skincare customization is one way brands can stand out in an increasingly crowded industry.
While bigger brands can customize on a large scale and even offer personalization at the manufacturing level, smaller brands have fewer options.
So how can your brand compete?
Innacos is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below covers everything you need to know about skincare customization for small home to lab brands like yours.
We cover the main customization manufacturing methods, how to tell if customization is the right path for you, and how to provide a personalized experience for consumers (even if you can’t personalize your formulas).
What Does Skincare Customization Mean?
Skincare customization refers to tailoring a product formula so that it’s unique to your brand.
Customization ranges from making slight adjustments to an existing formula by adding an ingredient or two or creating a completely new formula from scratch.
The level of customization possible ultimately comes down to the manufacturing method you choose.
There are three main types:
Preformulated: bulk or private label
Semi-customized: custom product creation
Fully customized: custom formulation
The right method for your brand will depend on your product vision and your budget.
At Innacos, we provide as many manufacturing choices for our clients as possible. Our manufacturing capabilities include bulk/private label, custom product creation, custom formulating, and contract manufacturing. Learn more about the right path for your brand by taking our quiz here.
Preformulated: Bulk / Private Label
This is the only manufacturing method that doesn’t involve any element of customization:
Bulk involves ordering large quantities of preformulated product in large unbranded drums.
Private label involves adding your own customized branding to a lab’s preformulated product.
The main advantages of preformulated skincare are that it’s much less expensive and quicker to bring to market than customized methods.
However, the trade-off is that other brands will have access to the exact same formulas, and you won’t own any of the intellectual property (IP) rights.
Preformulated skincare is a great starting point for most brands. While larger brands also private label many formulas, it’s especially common for beginners who don’t have the time or budget to invest in customization.
Many founders start here and then move into custom formulas later down the track, once they have proof of concept and some capital to invest.
At Innacos, we offer over 60 clean, vegan, and cruelty-free skincare formulas on a private label / bulk basis. Learn more in our private label catalog here.
Semi Customized: Custom Product Creation
Custom product creation involves adding a limited number of ingredients to a lab’s base formula.
It’s skincare customization without the steep price tag, but the level of customization is limited. Think of it as the middle ground between private label and full custom formulation.
This method of manufacturing works best when you have a signature ‘hero’ ingredient for your brand - one that offers clear skincare benefits to your target market and isn’t widely used by other brands.
It also allows you to build a cohesive product range - slight variations that share the same base formula but are adapted to different skin concerns.
For example, the brand Yes To’s highly successful ‘Say Yes To’ skin care range was formulated through custom product creation.
Each product in the range focused on a single hero ingredient linked to a specific skin type or concern. For example, Say Yes To Cucumber for sensitive skin, or Say Yes To Tomato for blemish-prone skin.
The base formulas in the range were largely the same, but the differentiating hero ingredients gave each one a distinct benefit.
This approach made the products stand out on the shelf while giving customers an easy way to personalize their skincare routine.
At Innacos, our custom product creation process carries a $2500 nominal fee per product. Up to 150% of that cost is refundable in the form of manufacturing credits against your first two manufacturing runs. Learn more about our custom product creation service on our website here.
Fully Customized: Custom Formulating
The most advanced form of skincare customization is custom formulating: working with a team of highly trained chemists to create brand new, innovative formulas from scratch.
There are three main benefits to this method:
You’ll own the intellectual property (IP)
You will have control over every single ingredient in the formula
You’ll be able to innovate in ways that aren’t possible with private label or custom product creation
Due to the extensive R&D involved, it’s by far the most expensive and time-consuming method of manufacturing. However, it can pay off massively if done strategically. The right customized skincare has the potential to set your brand apart from the rest and earn industry-wide attention.
For example, Codex collaborated with a French lab to custom-develop skin care products that find innovative solutions to common skin care issues, specifically through the skin-gut-brain connection.
Their innovations include a unique biotech-developed ferment-based preservative - a healthier alternative to traditional preservatives (and even clean options like phenoxyethanol) that also supports the skin microbiome.
In'oya Laboratory built an entire beauty brand around their research on melanogenesis and resulting genetic understanding of hyperpigmentation in people of color, and has patented a skin care treatment as a solution.
At Innacos, we specialize in novel chemical research, new product formats and concepts, hybrid products, and making skincare clean. Plus, up to 200% of your formulating fees are refundable in the form of manufacturing credits. Learn more about our custom formulating services here.
Is Customization The Right Move For Your Skin Care Brand?
Customized skincare is a lot pricier to manufacture, so it has to be worth the investment for your brand.
Start by getting clear on your vision for your product range.
Ask yourself: Do you genuinely need to custom formulate or semi-custom formulate to get the outcome you want?
Or could preformulated options meet most of your needs?
If preformulated products fulfill 90% of what you’re looking for, customizing likely isn’t worth the extra cost.
If you have a genuinely unique or revolutionary idea, and you’ve validated through market research that consumer demand for it exists, customization could be worth the investment.
Be sure to do extensive market research before you commit to the customization process, as it is a more expensive path.
Your brand’s stage of growth also matters. For new brands, investing in customized skincare from day one can be risky. Building a brand on a private label line first to validate your brand concept and build up some capital to invest is a good way to minimize risk.
Personalization: Involving Customers In The Customization Process
Some brands take customized skincare a step further and involve the customer directly in the process, offering personalized formulas.
According to GM Insights, the global personalized skin care market reached $25.1 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $47.4 billion in 2034, with a CAGR of 8.3%.
Meanwhile, Vogue’s 2023 Beauty Index found 76 per cent of respondents say they desire personalised product options, yet only 23 per cent of brands currently have this level of personalization available.
Larger brands like Function of Beauty can deliver fully personalized skincare and haircare formulas at scale.
However, when you’re a smaller brand working with a tighter budget and needing lower MOQs, personalization at the manufacturing level is typically out of reach.
Even if formula-level personalization isn’t realistic for your brand, you can still deliver some form of customization by tailoring the shopping experience.
Research by McKinsey found that the most important personalizations are making it easy for customers to navigate your website and giving them relevant product recommendations.
Try offering quizzes on your website, using AI or AR tools, or making your packaging feel more personal.
Learn more about implementing AR/AI into your brand’s website in our full blog post here.
In sum, implementing skincare customization for your brand involves the following key steps:
Understanding how customized methods (custom product creation and custom formulating) differ from preformulated methods like bulk and private label
Weighing up the pros and cons of each method and deciding if customization is right for your brand or not
Considering how you can take customization a step further by offering personalized formulas or by making the shopping experience more personal for customers through AI/AR website integrations or upgrading to more personalized packaging.
Looking to create custom skincare for your cosmetics brand? Innacos would love to help! Learn more about our custom formulating capabilities by calling: +18123291105 or emailing: customerservice@innacos.com.
