The methodology, principles, and credentials that shape every Purodem course: how we design our curriculum, how we assess our students, and the professional standards we teach.
Purodem teaches formulation as a professional discipline. That commitment shows up in the way we design our courses, the way we assess our students, and the standards we apply to our own work.
This page sets out those standards in detail. It covers how we build our curriculum, how we assess and give feedback on student work, the professional principles we teach across every course, the credentials of the people teaching them, how our qualifications are structured, and the recognition each one currently holds.
For the broader Purodem story, including what we teach, who founded us, and where we’re heading, see the About page.
Every Purodem course is built from first principles. Modules are sequenced to develop understanding progressively, beginning with the foundations of ingredient function, formulation structure, and safety, and moving from there into applied practice and independent reasoning.
Four principles guide how we design our curriculum.
Students build a working understanding of ingredients, materials, and formulation logic before moving into applied technique. This sequencing matters: it produces formulators and practitioners who can adapt their knowledge to new contexts and design formulations of their own.
Our courses treat cosmetic and therapeutic formulation, essential oils, vegetable oils, hydrolats, and plant actives as interconnected aspects of one craft, so students can draw across them as their practice requires.
We teach formulation and therapeutic application with scientific rigour, while remaining open to the traditional and holistic perspectives that have shaped this field. Where evidence is strong, we emphasise it. Where tradition offers value alongside science, we present both clearly.
Each module is built around defined learning outcomes, so that students understand what they’re studying, what competence they’re developing, and how each element contributes to wider professional practice.
Assessment at Purodem is applied. We use case-based methods that reflect how formulation works in practice: students reasoning their way to a finished formulation, with safety, ingredient understanding, and therapeutic intent all in play.
Students are asked to demonstrate:
In Integrative Therapeutic Formulation, every formulation is recorded in a Client Formulation Plan: the person’s needs as they describe them, the agreed therapeutic intention, the reasoning behind each material, what was made, the guidance given, and what happened next. The Client Formulation Plan is taught and assessed at both levels.
At Level 4, students complete 30 supervised case studies across ten real clients. Client Formulation Plans are reviewed by the tutor before anything is made, and making is observed in each of the four formulation bases. Casework is assessed on the quality of the student’s reasoning, so a case where the student reasoned well, adjusted appropriately, and knew when to stop is a strong case, whatever the outcome for the client.
Feedback comes directly from tutors throughout each course. Its purpose is to strengthen understanding, refine reasoning, and build the confidence that independent practice requires, alongside the grading itself. Interaction and applied feedback are built into the structure of every course, with application tasks read and responded to individually.
Therapeutic and cosmetic formulation carry real responsibility. The work affects the people who use the finished products, and the practitioners and formulators who make them. Our standards reflect that.
Dosage, contraindications, stability, and preservation are taught as foundations of formulation from the first module. Students learn to formulate in ways that protect end-users and reflect current safety thinking in cosmetic and therapeutic practice.
Therapeutic work with essential oils, vegetable oils, hydrolats, and plant actives is grounded in evidence-informed reasoning, careful dosage, and clear professional boundaries. Each material is chosen because it earns its place in a formulation for a particular person, and students learn to explain why.
Students are taught to understand the scope and limits of their practice, and to refer appropriately when a situation calls for medical or specialist input. Integrative Therapeutic Formulation is a non-medical, complementary discipline: practitioners do not diagnose, prescribe, or treat medical conditions, and knowing where that boundary falls is part of professional competence.
We teach formulation and therapeutic reasoning in language that is accurate and proportionate to what the evidence supports. Students learn to communicate clearly about what a formulation supports, without overclaiming, as a core professional skill.
Purodem is founded and led by Deana Kassim, who teaches across every current course.
Deana brings more than twenty years of experience in aromatherapy, natural and plant-based product formulation, and professional education, and holds a professional teaching qualification. Her teaching combines scientific understanding, traditional and holistic perspectives, and applied formulation experience, an integrative approach that shapes how Purodem courses are designed and delivered.
Deana created the Integrative Therapeutic Formulation qualification, developed alongside the Purodem team. As Purodem’s Director of Education and Quality, she leads the development and delivery of its professional training and is head tutor on the Integrative Therapeutic Formulation qualification.
Professional credentials and memberships include:
Alongside formal qualifications, Deana brings substantial professional experience in therapeutic practice and formulation. From the early 2000s she ran a therapy business in Surrey, where bespoke skincare formulated for individual clients became the main reason people came. She still formulates for clients who have ordered from her since. That practical background informs both the structure of Purodem’s courses and the direction in which the school continues to develop.
Purodem is developing a network of mentors drawn from our graduate community: experienced alumni who contribute to student support, course content, and ongoing course refinement. The network strengthens the school’s connection to current practice and supports our long-term direction, a school of formulation whose teaching, standards, and methodology are documented, transferable, and built to last.
Purodem’s qualifications are built on the same structures used across professional and vocational education in the UK, so that the depth and demand of each one is clear.
Credits: 30
Total Qualification Time: 300 hours
Guided Learning Hours: 120
Modules: 5
Supervised Client Case Studies: None
Each module is mapped to defined learning outcomes describing what students know, understand, and can do on completion, and each carries a formal internal assessment.
Credits: 60
Total Qualification Time: 600 hours
Guided Learning Hours: 240
Modules: 6
Supervised Client Case Studies: 30
Each module is mapped to defined learning outcomes describing what students know, understand, and can do on completion, and each carries a formal internal assessment.
The Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is delivered across eight structured modules, each with defined learning outcomes, practical formulation tasks, and tutor-assessed portfolio work.
Our qualifications are designed to align with recognised RQF level descriptors. That alignment gives each qualification clear external reference points today, and keeps open the option of formal external recognition and regulation in the future.
We set out each qualification’s current recognition plainly, so you know exactly what you are enrolling on.
Both the Level 3 Foundation Award and the Level 4 Diploma were submitted to Purodem’s insurers and approved, and are designed so that graduates can obtain appropriate professional insurance to practise. Assessment is continuous and internal, with no external examining body and no separate exam fee.
On successful completion of the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, graduates are eligible to apply for professional product liability insurance. For members of the International Federation of Aromatherapists (IFA), the Diploma is also recognised as CPD and counts towards their annual CPD hours.
At the time of writing neither qualification is currently regulated by Ofqual. Both are delivered to the internal standards described on this page, which are defined and applied consistently across every course.
Our courses are designed to be entered at the level that matches where you are now.
View the ITF Course: therapeutic formulation for the individual, at Level 3 and Level 4.
View the NSF Course: beginner-friendly cosmetic formulation.
About Purodem: founder, approach, and where we’re heading.