Observations, frameworks, and ideas from the practice of formulation science — written for curious minds in product development.
Most stability failures are attributed to the wrong ingredient — when in reality, they are the product of interactions no single component could have predicted. Phase ratio, processing temperature, mixing shear, and headspace oxygen all play a role. Here's how we approach emulsion stability as a systems engineering challenge.
The line between a cosmetic and a drug is drawn not by ingredients, but by claims. We walk through the FDA's "intended use" doctrine, real-world enforcement examples, and a decision framework for staying on the right side of the line.
Every season brings a new "clinically proven" active, often backed by a single in-vitro study funded by the supplier. We've developed a tiered evaluation framework — from mechanism plausibility to human clinical evidence — that helps brands make defensible ingredient decisions.
The most expensive lesson in product development is discovering that your bench formula doesn't behave the same way at 500-gallon scale. Shear rates change. Heat transfer changes. Mixing times change. We outline the five variables most brands ignore — and how to engineer around them from prototype one.
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