Purodem® Journal

Skincare Formulation

Skincare formulation as a discipline, not a set of recipes: how creams, balms, gels, and cleansers are actually built, and what makes a product safe, stable, and worth selling.

Skincare formulation is the craft of turning raw materials into finished products that work: emulsions, balms, gels, and cleansers, built to be safe, stable, and effective rather than assembled from a recipe found online. It is one of the two directions the wider craft of formulation takes, the cosmetic one, alongside therapeutic formulation.

This hub gathers the discipline in one place: the material families and how to choose between them, the core product systems and how each is built, preservation and safety, and the practical realities of making and selling natural skincare responsibly. It is written for people who want to understand why a formulation works, not just follow one.

Start with A Guide to Natural Skincare Formulation for the foundations, then work through the material and method articles below. This is the discipline taught in full, and in sequence, in our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation.

Ready To Learn More?

Everything here feeds what we teach. If you want to move from reading to formulating, our courses take you from first principles to your own finished work.

Read about ITF — Coming September 2026, a new qualification in therapeutic formulation.

View the NSF Diploma — beginner-friendly, the route into cosmetic formulation.

View the PEOT Diploma — advanced, for practitioners taking essential oil work deeper.