FP Labs News & Updates

Recent beauty events offered a look at the ways in which suppliers and contract/turnkey manufacturers can deliver newness to the industry. Here, we round up the latest innovations, including sustainable packaging components, turnkey skin care solutions, trendy tottle formats and much more. Here’s the full breakdown.

Prompted by the survey results, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked 12 cosmetic chemists and manufacturing executives the following: What do you see next for the skinification trend? What hybrid or multifunctional products do you believe are on the horizon?

In recent discussions with beauty brands, we’ve heard a lot about the soaring costs of product launches. To quantify those costs, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked 11 cosmetic chemists and manufacturing executives the following: What’s the realistic cost of an A-level product launch today? How much different is the cost now versus a few years ago? What’s responsible for the change? Do you believe costs will continue to rise?

New federal and state-level legislation is raising the stakes in cosmetics product development. Complex legislation like the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulations Act (MoCRA) and state regulations on toxic-free cosmetics and sustainable packaging are new concerns for many brands looking to grow. Now may be the best time for beauty and personal care brands to consider partnering with a manufacturer that can help navigate new realities in beauty.

Beauty manufacturing is a key component of the industry’s—and indeed individual brands’ and products’—ecological footprint. To minimize or even eliminate these impacts requires complex calculations across many factors.

Learn more at Global Cosmetic Industry magazine.

Ideally, how many iterations should it take for a brand to approve a product? If there are additional iterations, what are common problems leading to them, and how can they be addressed? Do you believe the efficiency of the formulation process could be improved?

Since December 2023, online searches for “whole body deodorant” have exploded, dwarfing traffic recorded over the last 20 years. Why is that?

What’s Driving Whole-body Deodorant Growth?

“Consumers have returned to regular product use post-pandemic and the importance of multipurpose products is gaining traction in the category,” says Melissa Niebes, CEO of Federal Package.

One trend in the beauty value chain has been the consolidation of small manufacturers by private equity firms with visions of building portfolios. Unfortunately, indie beauty brands are often the collateral damage in such transactions because the first step is often mercenary optimization, leaving brands that cannot hit newly established minimum order quantities scrambling for new partners.

Bucking this trend, Federal Package, a preferred contract manufacturer for many leading personal care companies, has doubled down on its manufacturing capabilities with the launch of FP Labs, putting 40 years of experience into building a complete solution for beauty brands of all sizes.

New labs, ingredient supply chain trends, expanded turnkey offerings, AI-driven quality assurance for lipsticks and more top our leading beauty manufacturing trends this month.

In an era of rapid technological advancements, market growth and fragmentation, supply chain realignments and consolidation, and more, beauty’s manufacturing space (turnkey, contract manufacturers, white label producers, etc.) has never been more dynamic.

Consumer usage of sunscreens to prevent cancer grew^a 20% in 2023, versus 2021, per Mintel; in fact, 54% of sunscreen users reported more frequent product application compared to 2022. Yet growth in the sunscreen sector is expected to be modest through 2027 “due to the rise of multifunctional personal care products that include SPF,” according to the firm, which added that 57% of surveyed consumers reported daily use of SPF-boosted personal care.

Hey beauty entrepreneurs! Get the inside scoop on consumer-driven skincare trends from industry expert Jeffrey Martin. Make sure your products are aligned with emerging trends and hear Jeffrey's advice for scaling your business to get into larger retailers like Sephora or Ulta. Jeffrey is the Director of Marketing at Federal Package, a manufacturer of skincare products based in Chanhassen, MN.

In the beauty industry, there’s been a push toward brands owning custom formulas as they seek to differentiate themselves in a crowded market and appease investors prioritizing intellectual property. Still, a substantial portion of beauty products made and sold use stock and private-label formulas.

To find out more about the persistence, upsides and downsides of stock and private-label formulas, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we ask 12 contract manufacturers the e following questions....