How to start a SKIN CARE BUSINESS?
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enjoys freebies · Tue May 06, 2008 4:04 pm Quote

My passion and hobby is skin care and beauty. I have so much of a passion for skin care that I want to start my own homemade skin care line. I have been using a simple fash wash, moisterizer and face mask that I prepared and even have my lil brother and mother using it. I told my boyfriend about my face wash and he uses it too! To top it all off, my boyfriend recently told me that one of "his" friends asked "him" what he uses on his face and my bf mentioned my product. Now I realized that word a mouth can do alot but of course a website and a few products to sell is a start. I really want to start getting this out on the market one step at at time-especially be a hostess and launch a skin care party with a few guests.

My question is how do I go about starting a legal skin care line (homemade)? Some say E-bay? Do I need FDA approval since its products used on skin or no? My goal in the summer is purchasing a few bottles, labels and making a few dozen products. Give to friends and family,let the magic happen with marketing, promoting and hostess parties and go from there. My ultimate dream is having my products on HSN or QVC as well internet marketing.

Tips? Suggestions?

enjoys freebies · Tue May 06, 2008 10:04 pm Quote

Hi Tasha~

I'm not exactly sure about homemade products, but I have been behind the scenes in a contract personal care lab, meaning we work on formulating for our clients and produce the products they 'dreamt up.' As far as I'm concerned, the personal care industry is not regulated by the FDA rather more like their own regulations org. They used to be called the CTFA (Cosmetics, Toiletry, Fragrances Assoc.), but now go by Personal Care Products Council. You can check out their website at www.personalcareproductscouncil.org. I'm not sure about starting a homebased personal care line, perhaps you can shoot an email to PSF maybe they can help out in that area. I know that if you plan on trying to sell international that can get a little tricky probably due to the fact that their are raw material allowable/unallowables in products in a given country. And make sure you do your homework on the max. allowable amts for each raw material b/c that will save you trouble in the long haul.

If you strongly believe your products are great, you might even consider trying to mass market it...which means trying to find a Contract R&D that will produce the products for you, but of course that is costly.

Sorry I don't know too much about homebased personal care companies, but I would suggest trying to seek advice from PSF...Perhaps they can tell you a thing/or two...If you have any questions for me at all, don't hesitate to ask...I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Hope I was somewhat helpful!

enjoys freebies · Wed May 07, 2008 8:18 am Quote

Hi Tasha,

Can you share what's in it?

I'm especially interested in the cleanser for ideas, I've been working on a cleanser recipe for a while now (I have a thread in the DIY section). It's not something I'm going to ever sell, it's just for myself. I want to save money on cleansers by making something good on my own.

enjoys freebies · Wed May 07, 2008 6:29 pm Quote

Hi,

I kinda want to keep my secret on the low in the beginning personal purposes but I will be posting my ingredients in the near future.

Tue May 13, 2008 10:43 am Quote

Good Luck to you!

Just a word of advice before you get going and start passing out products. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row and form your company. Decide whether you are going to form an LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership etc... Once you form the company you can apply for a Tax ID number and set up a bank account. In the meantime I would make sure your name is marketable and trademark it. Next I would reserve the web domain for future use so you can advertise and sell online. Even if you do not want to sell online it would be a great way to tell people about your line.

This is all the technical stuff that, in my opinion, is crucial before you start with all the fun stuff like creating and bottling the actual product.

Hope this helps!

enjoys freebies · Tue May 13, 2008 11:03 am Quote

How about Etsy? It doesnt lead to world cosmetic domination, but it seems to be a cheap and easy way to get your products out there.

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