NourishUs Naturals Blog

Are you looking to offer a more diverse product range and make your brand more versatile? Read on to learn how wholesale skincare can boost your beauty brand.

Emulsifiers and solubilizers both help you combine oil and water in cosmetic formulas, but it's important to know how they work and which to choose.

Looking to help your customers suffering from dry, flakey skin? This article will introduce you to a range of wholesale products that can help their skin shine.

From refining your brand identity to mastering the art of digital marketing, read on to explore actionable strategies that can elevate your small beauty brand.

Cosmetic businesses are seeing a brisk pickup in sales of products containing skincare oils. We’ll talk about why they’re gaining popularity here.

One of the easiest ways to add a new, unique product to your existing line is to use a concentrate base. At NourishUs Naturals we have two cream bases, each designed to be used with cosmetic ingredients of your choice. They function as easy and personalizable bases that are stable enough to have a significant portion of ingredients added. Let’s discuss how you can alter, use, and enjoy these excellent bases to make a wonderful new product. First let’s note: none of the bases should be used “as-is”, they all need additional ingredients to be safe (otherwise the preservative balance will be off and potentially irritating). Please see the section on the individual creams towards the end. As you most likely know, creating a stable emulsion every time can be a major challenge, and source of frustration. When using the concentrates, you can get the hard part out of the way and have a chance to get creative with additions you and your customers most want. Adding to Your Concentrate What you choose to add to your concentrate creams is really a matter of preference and experimentation, however we recommend ingredients like vitamins, distillates, extracts, oil infusions, and whatever else you might dream up. In general, if your chosen additives are water soluble, you can mix them straight into the creams. If they are oil soluble, we recommend heating both the additive and the cream to about 120F to help the emulsion. There are a few exceptions to the rule, including Hyaluronic Acid that is water soluble but should be added to a heated cream, so it is up to you to research the ingredients you wish to add. As always, we recommend testing in small batches by taking just a pound of your base and mixing in the % of your desired addition and then adding it to the rest of your base. If you do break the emulsion, you can follow this video to fix it. However if it simply starts getting too thin but isn’t “broken”, you might start here. Popular Additions for Creams It is up to you what you choose to add, but below are a few popular suggestions and how you might use them. Retinol/Vitamin A. Retinol is a wonderful form of Vitamin A and widely touted as a great addition for maturing skin. We recommend using it from 0.02 - 0.05% of the final cream, and you do not need to heat it when adding, though we do recommend a gentle warming of the product before adding to your emulsion to avoid waxy beads from occurring. This makes the cream ideal as a night cream. DL Panthenol/ProVitamin B5. DL Panthenol has soothing and conditioning benefits for both hair and skin, and should be used in small amounts up to 2% for skin care, and can be used up to 5% in haircare. Niacinamide/Vitamin B3. Like many vitamins this has a rejuvenating effect ideal for aging skin, while also helping to hydrate. It should be used at no more than 6%. For this in particular, it’s recommended that the end product be set to a pH of 6 so you would also want to avoid adding acids in the formula, as the pH would not be balanced correctly. Distillates and Liquid Extracts. Choose any distillate or extract of your choice, to provide nutrients, smell, or both! Our concentrates are designed to handle a good amount of these but do be aware it will make the cream more fluid and like a lotion. Oil Infusions. If you have created your own oil infusion, it is an ideal ingredient to add. In some cases, depending on the oil you used for your infusion, you may need to heat both the oil and the cream to ~120F to ensure it all emulsifies uniformly. The Concentrates & How to Use Them NourishUs Naturals has two concentrates available, the Basic Concentrate Cream and the Premium Concentrate Cream. Basic Concentrate Cream This is as the name implies—basic but moisturizing and reliable. It is designed to hold 54% more ingredients, depending on the ingredients used. Please do note we highly recommend testing in small batches as you go, and as with any product that you manipulate, do ensure to get a preservative efficacy test (PET) ordered from a third party lab. Premium Concentrate Cream This cream sets itself apart by using premium oils, such as Sweet Almond Oil, to create a rich profile of fatty acids, vitamins, and other nutrients your skin will love. It is designed to accept 30% more ingredients by final weight percentage.As we highlighted before, there are several videos detailing how to thicken or thin product depending on your need, but do be sure to check the pH of your finished cream or lotion. It should typically lie somewhere between 4.2 – 5.5 pH, and if you need to adjust it we have a video to guide you on the process. Please do note we highly recommend testing in small batches as you go, and as with any product that you manipulate, do ensure to get a preservative efficacy test (PET) ordered from a third party lab. Summary Concentrates offer an easy and effective way to create a new product, so we hope you’ll experiment and make the perfect lotion or cream for you! It’s also a wonderful way to make a whole range of products, allowing greater personalization for your customers’ needs. Skin types, environmental factors, age and more all become easily addressable when the hassle of creating an emulsion is taken care of. We hope you’ll let us know how you have used or plan to use these concentrates, and happy making!

Skincare is a learned action. The skin should feel and look hydrated, not greasy and not dry. Normal. It takes work to get to that point. There are four types of skin, Oily, Normal, Dry and Chaotic or troubled. Each needing its own system of skincare to help get to its ideal state. We also have those in-between types (sometimes known as combination) like Normal to Oily, or Normal to Dry, which can be swayed with certain ingredients to appear more normal. And of course, there are aging skin issues with wrinkles, pigmentation, lack of elasticity and firmness. But don’t fear, there are many products with specific ingredients that can help improve the appearance of aging skin and other skincare needs. We say start simple. Get your skin into shape. Skin Type & Skincare: Oily Let’s start with Oily. It can mystify people with how to control the overabundance of oil. It may sound counter-intuitive but because you are drying out your skin, tightening the large pores and trying to get rid of all that excess oil and stripping your skin of its natural oils, you may end up with a plethora of oil on the surface. The skin is telling your body that there is just not enough nourishment (oil) or hydration (water) in the skin, so it makes up for it by making more and more to satisfy itself. The most basic way to even out the oil in oily skin is to use a non-drying or gentle foaming cleanser. Follow that with a toner, which helps to tighten pores and balance the pH of the skin. Finish with a light-weight moisturizer twice a day, every day. Once to three times a week use an exfoliant which takes away that peeling, flaking skin on the surface (this is not dry skin) and once a week try a deep cleansing mask or alternatively a calming hydrating mask. Get the skin fed with what it needs, and it will aid towards normalizing your skin. When it does get to normal you can then add in treatment products such as serums which would be used once a day, every day, under moisturizers. Normal Most of the time the skin is not picture-perfect in its entirety. Normal skin does not look oily or dry, and there are small to medium pore sizes with on-and-off flakiness on the surface. To keep normal skin normal, try to use a non-drying or cream cleanser, a toner and a light to medium moisturizer. An exfoliant is beneficial here as well, once to twice a week. Keeping this up will give your skin its basic needs to keep going strong. Of course, adding serums, treatments and masks are all a bonus and quite beneficial to this skin type. Most normal skin will be plagued with some oily areas and some dry areas. Hence the N/O and N/D customers. Try to use the same products on the entire face but treat some areas (usually T-zone is the oilier area, and cheeks are the drier) with more advanced treatments to help get the skin back to normal. Peels and Microdermabrasion are great for that rapid exfoliation to reveal new glowing skin layers. All skin types may use this type of exfoliation but normal skin has the fewest contraindications than any other. Dry Our dry skin customers usually can’t get enough lotions and creams. This skin type tends to feel dry and tight all the way down. What is key in helping the appearance of dry skin is finding something that soaks in and fills up the dry cracks and crevices (not completely literally) and satisfies the skin so there is no dry feeling. You will need a cream with the right combination of oils and water that will saturate the skin until it plumps up and is no longer dehydrated, improving the appearance of dehydration lines (those little crisscross lines that fall horizontally across the face). Start with a rich cream cleanser, followed by an alcohol-free toner and a rich moisturizer for day and night. There are a lot of creams out there so read labels and find out what you want and need for your skin. Dry skin doesn’t necessarily need exfoliation, but once a week is great with a mild exfoliator or enzyme mask. There is always room for serums and special treatments with dry skin. These dry skin products are usually the pricier options because dry skin can take in so many more ingredients than other types. Chaotic or troubled Ah, the notorious chaotic skin— troubled, confused, and just doing its own thing. Remind you of someone? Yep, you guessed it—our dear teenagers! Of course, this skin type gets the best of us at older ages too, but the main culprit is hormones which usually attack people in their teens. With chaotic skin, we have found that being gentle and kind to the skin is best. Sometimes using over the counter products can over dry the skin and make troubled skin even worse. By using gentle products, you may find that the skin is calmed and appearance is improved. It is so important to stay on a steady regimen with a clarifying cleanser and toner as well as a light-weight hydrating moisturizer (hyaluronic acid and salicylic acid are good ingredients to look for) and a very gentle exfoliator at least three times a week (and when we say gentle, we mean gentle…oatmeal, jojoba beads, enzymes, etc). There are a lot of people out there that think they are oily when in fact they are not, so check with an aesthetician and make sure you are using the right products for your skin. Anyone with chaotic skin, including adults, can benefit from calming and soothing products. Around the eyes The eye area is very delicate. The skin is much thinner with smaller and fewer pores so it’s beneficial to use an eye cream, gel or serum specific for that area. There are ingredients that help improve the appearance of puffiness, dark circles, fine lines, “chicken” skin and crow’s feet. Eye creams are amazing! Start by twenty-five and you will be so thankful you did. Summary & Sun Protection For all skincare types, there is always a necessity for sun protection, winter or summer. The sun is always there whether it’s covered with clouds or not, and it’s the top culprit for aging so be careful! Also, you are what you eat so if there is something going on with your skin that you just can’t figure out, make a change in your diet. It could be an allergy or something that you are eating. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water and eating a well-balanced diet low in sugar and caffeine. Having a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water is always, of course, a good idea. So just to reiterate, for all skin types, there are only three basic products needed. Cleanser, Toner and Moisturizer. A scrub, serum and eye treatment can be added on for other benefits. Make sure you are using the right products for your skin type and if you don’t know–ask your friendly neighborhood aesthetician!

Meet bromelain! A natural exfoliant found in pineapple and used extensively throughout skincare. Bromelain is a complex of protein-metabolizing enzymes found in the fruits and stems of pineapples (think about that tingle on your tongue after eating a lot of pineapple). Bromelain’s quality of breaking down proteins makes it fabulous when it comes to sloughing off dead skin cells, providing an amazing effect on skin smoothing and brightening. Usage 0.2-1%, water soluble. Add in to any premade stock for a boost, create a powder-based mask or exfoliating serum. Check out our Spring + Summer exfoliating enzyme mask recipe below! Make sure to patch test exfoliants before trying on the face, as they can irritate or sensitize sensitive skin. Recipe Idea You can have fun with this ingredient and add in other things from your kitchen! This is a single-use idea: Strawberry and Honey Passive Exfoliant – Face Mask 1/2 cup fresh strawberries 2 tbsp honey 1/2 tsp Bromelain How you do it:Combine all ingredients in a small food processor, and blend until smooth. Add a generous layer to clean face, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Rinse clean with warm water. *Please note we have not challenge tested this recipe, and we do NOT sell ingredients for anything other than topical use.

As private label manufacturers, we believe it’s our responsibility to provide customers with guidance on label application protocols. This document outlines the standards employed at NourishUs Naturals to consistently achieve precise label placement on your packaging. Showcasing your Brand Your labels have to do a lot of work to stand out on a shelf crowded full of products. Obviously your logo must maintain a prominent place on your label, but consider, too, how to display the bigger story—let your label express your vision. Does your product contain organic content? Is your product based on an ingredient like olive oil, lavender or honey? Are you a local merchant selling in local stores? Those marketing messages will need to shine through. We highly recommend working with a professional designer with experience designing for the natural and sustainable market. What to Include On Your Label The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires specific information on cosmetic labels. You can find a complete guide to these requirements on their website. There you will also find a guide to help you understand what the law requires. Briefly, US law requires labels to: State “manufactured for (client’s name)” and must include your phone number and street address so your customers may easily identify and contact the distributor. Ingredients must be declared in descending order of predominance. Ingredients present at a concentration not exceeding 1% may be listed in any order after the listing of the ingredients present at more than 1% in descending order of dominance. Color additives of any concentration may be listed in any order after the listing of the ingredients, which are not color additives. If you are importing to another country be sure to familiarize yourself with that country’s labeling regulations. They can vary dramatically from country to country. The actual weight of the product, both in standard and metric (with metric first, so as to comply with EU requirements). Warning statements needed or as required by law. For example, these are needed for bubble baths or products that contain AHA. The US Government Publishing Office provides guidelines here. Cosmetics Europe provides EU guidelines here. Universal Product Code (UPC) Many consumer fulfillment houses, like Fulfillment by Amazon, and larger retail stores require a Universal Product Code that they can scan as part of their inventory management process. You can learn more at GS1 US. You can keep up to date on Fulfillment by Amazon requirements here. Best Practices for Consistent Labels: We recommend a poly material, as opposed to paper, with a permanent adhesive and a resistant UV coating. Paper labels tear easily and are more susceptible to staining from oils and fingerprints during transportation, storage and on your retail shelf. Make sure clear or frosted labels have an opaque liner, such as craft paper so the machine will see the eye mark. UV-coat or varnish your labels to prevent scuffing of the labels in transport and handling. Your labels will look nicer longer, too, when your consumer is using your product with wet hands or in a wet environment like the shower. Uncoated labels will be damaged by Essential Oils. Get samples of your label material to try with your product before committing to the production run. Embrace your label company. Tell them how your final product will be used, the ingredients in it and the market you’re going to. They will help you find the best label for your brand and your product packaging. Creating FDA Compliant Labels: As we mentioned above, the FDA* standardizes cosmetic labeling laws under the authority of both the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA). Please note that we always recommend that an attorney who is familiar with FDA rules performs a review of your labels, but we will try and guide you on the basics. For a more intensive understanding, please visit the FDA’s website here. *If a product will be exported then it must also follow international regulations. Typical Issues While Creating Compliant Labels Let’s start out with some items that we find to be missing or listed incorrectly almost every time we review a customer’s labels, and then we will continue. First is identifying the manufacturer or distributor AND how to reach them. This is often missing and absolutely required on the cosmetic label. The second item we often find missing is the actual weight of the cosmetic in both standard and metric. The department of weights and measures requires these to be displayed on the label. One example is 2 oz (56.7 g) or 2 fl oz (59.14 ml). The net quantity of contents declaration must accurately reveal the quantity of cosmetic in the container in terms of weight, volume, measure, numerical count, or combinations of count and weight, volume or measure. Unless there is a firmly established, general consumer usage or trade custom to the contrary in your locale, the statement must be in terms of fluid measure if the cosmetic is liquid and in terms of weight if the cosmetic is solid, semi-solid, viscous, or a mixture of solid and liquid. Not only must the ingredients be identified by a standardized name, but labels also require a mandated type size. Ingredients must be listed as 1/16″ OR 1/32″ (Labeling surface, less than 12 sq. in), while the contents must be listed as 1/16″ (PDP less than 5 sq. in.) OR 1/8″ (PDP 5-25 sq. in.) OR 3/16″ (PDP 25-100 sq. in.) and the warning statements must be listed as 1/16” Required Warnings for Compliant Labels When selling your product online or in your marketing materials, you must ALWAYS state the intended use of the product. With that said, there are some warnings that the FDA requires to be listed exactly as they are written in the 21 CFR 740 (please refer to the link from earlier). Please note any claims you make must always be reviewed by your attorney on an annual basis. The reason for this is that “plant-based” and “clean beauty”, to name a few, which were so popular years ago, are now being attacked for truth in labeling. An example of one is Feminine Deodorant Sprays. A feminine deodorant spray which, for the purpose of this regulation, is defined as “any spray deodorant product whose labeling represents or suggests that the product is for use in the female genital area or for use all over the body” must bear the caution stated below. The regulation further states that the use of the word “hygiene” or “hygienic” or similar words renders any such product misbranded. Caution–For external use only. Spray at least 8 inches from skin. Do not apply to broken, irritated, or itching skin. Persistent, unusual odor or discharge may indicate conditions for which a physician should be consulted. Discontinue use immediately if rash, irritation, or discomfort develops. The other warning is for Foaming Detergent Bath Products. A foaming detergent bath product–also known as bubble bath product–is, for the purpose of this regulation, defined as “any product intended to be added to a bath for the purpose of producing foam that contains a surface-active agent serving as a detergent or foaming ingredient.” The caution stated below is required on the label of any foaming detergent bath product which is not clearly labeled as intended for use exclusively by adults. The following are two examples of label statements identifying a product as intended for use exclusively by adults: “Keep out of reach of children” and “For adult use only.” If the bubble bath product is intended for use by children, the phrase “Keep out of reach of children” may be expanded to further read “except under adult supervision.” The regulation further requires that the label “Shall bear adequate directions for safe use” of the product. Caution–Use only as directed. Excessive use or prolonged exposure may cause irritation to skin and urinary tract. Discontinue use if rash, redness or itching occurs. Consult your physician if irritation persists. Keep out of reach of children. Questions for Your Filling House Labeling Compatibility Just to name a few: Love your look – work with your designer to make the label you want Correct information including manufacturer contact info and INCI, and weight. Label size and material UV Coating UPC Code if needed Label and packaging compatibility check Send them to the fill house of your choice or get to hand labeling! Ask your filling house what type of label setup they require before you print your labels. As an example, does their labeling equipment require a central 3” core, should the Label Direction number be “Unwind Direction 4,” with 1/8” separation.