Not a Catalog Product With Your Name on It
Develop a formula around your audience, performance target, sensory experience, claims boundaries, price position, and brand story.
Custom Formulation for Creator Brands: what creators should know
Custom cosmetic formulation for influencers creates a product around a defined brief instead of selecting a stock formula from a catalog. Shay Labs develops supported cosmetic, haircare, skincare, body care, grooming, personal care, and non OTC oral rinse products based on performance targets, benchmarks, ingredient direction, packaging, claims, cost, and production requirements. Custom development takes more work than ready made private label, but it creates a stronger basis for differentiation and formula ownership.
Custom formulation is a development process, not an ingredient wish list
A creator may arrive with favorite ingredients, a trend, or a benchmark. The formulator still needs to understand what the product must do, how it should feel, who will use it, how it will be packaged, what can be claimed, and what it should cost at production scale. The technical brief aligns those decisions before samples begin.
What belongs in the formulation brief
- Target user, use case, cosmetic benefit, application method, and frequency
- Format, texture, slip, spread, absorption, rinse, residue, finish, color, and scent
- Benchmark products and the exact characteristics they represent
- Preferred ingredients, excluded ingredients, allergens, standards, and claims boundaries
- Fill size, package type, target retail price, production quantity, and target cost
How benchmarks are used
- A benchmark communicates texture, application, finish, performance, package delivery, or market position
- It gives the formulator a physical reference that written adjectives cannot fully replace
- The goal is to understand the target and build an original formula, not copy another company’s formula
What happens after the first sample
- Compare the sample against the approved brief and benchmark
- Provide organized feedback tied to performance and sensory targets
- Revise the formula where needed and keep packaging implications visible
- Approve final formula, specifications, testing scope, artwork, quantity, and price before commercial manufacturing
Move from signal to a product system
Each stage creates the input required for the next. Speed comes from focus, available materials, and fast decisions, not from skipping technical controls.
Specific feedback shortens the path to the right formula
“Make it better” is not actionable formulation feedback. The strongest creator clients explain what changed during application, how the texture behaved, what remained on the skin or hair, how the package dispensed, and which benchmark characteristic was missing. The program teaches creators how to make product decisions that a lab can execute.
Need more than manufacturing? Start with the Creator Product Accelerator.
Private one on one coaching, custom formulation setup for one approved hero product, product economics, packaging and fulfillment direction, audience validation, launch planning, and a final manufacturing and replenishment roadmap.
Program fee only. Inventory, packaging, labels, testing, freight, fulfillment, and commercial production are separate.
What creators should know before applying
How is custom formulation different from private label?
Private label commonly starts with an existing formula. Custom formulation begins with a technical brief and develops a formula around the client’s product objective.
Can you copy a competitor formula?
No. Benchmarks are used to understand desired characteristics, not to copy another company’s proprietary formula.
How many revisions are included?
Revision scope is defined in the signed development agreement. The objective is to keep working toward the approved brief rather than stopping after an arbitrary first sample.
Do I receive percentages and the INCI list?
After development is complete, the client receives the finalized formula with full percentages and INCI information, subject to the signed agreement.
Can I take the formula to another manufacturer?
The finalized client owned formula can be manufactured by Shay Labs or another qualified manufacturer, subject to the applicable agreement and technical transfer requirements.
Build the product your audience is ready to understand and trust.
Apply for a private review of your audience, product idea, launch timing, and manufacturing path.
Apply for the Creator Product Accelerator